Last day in Gandhi's life – II

He used to tease the young women in his entourage for having weak physiques. On learning that one of them, who was to have left Delhi that morning, missed her train because she could not find conveyance, he asked why she could not have walked to the station. He was not joking. He expected his followers, like himself, to cope with the problems, without fuss. 

Once, during a tour of South India, when his vehicle ran out of petrol, he cheerfully walked 21 kilometers to the nearest railway station!

At 9.30 a.m. he had his first meal. It consisted of cooked vegetables, 12 ounces of goat’s milk, four ripe tomatoes, four oranges, carrot juice, and a decoction of ginger, sour lime and aloes.

After the meal, Gandhiji held discussion with his closest followers on various matters. A firm believer in naturopathy, he applied a mud pack to his abdomen, as he believed that the mud would absorb all the toxins in his body and cleanse it.