The Making of the Mahatma Page #4

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We are now ready to effect a landing

I have instructed my men not to

allow any demonstrators on board

If they do, the Union Jack

will be lowered and presented to them

They dare not molest you

if we surrender the flag

I ask you to be calm,

and don't panic

Good luck to you all

Let me pass, please

Fellow citizens,

you have won your battle

The government bows to your wishes

The legislative assembly will pass

the necessary legislation...

to restrict future Indian immigration

You will soon be armed with this law

But you do not have this law now.

So you must allow these Indians...

to disembark peacefully

Go back to your homes now

and leave the rest to your government

Mr Gandhi! A message to Mr Gandhi!

Yes

Kastur...

- Yes?

Mr Eskam has sent me a note. He doesn't

want me to land with the others

He wants me to leave after dark

with police escort

You'd better go ahead with the boys,

I'll join you later

No, we go with you.

- Don't worry about me

I'll be all right. Dada Abdullah

is waiting in his carriage

He will take you to Rustom

kaka's house. Here, take this

Manilal...

- Hari, hold Mani's hand

Now, carefully

I'm Lawrence

Mr Abdullah sent me to ask

why you are not going ashore

Mr Eskam has asked me to wait until

dark and only leave with police escort

Nonsense! Are you a thief

to steal away in the night?

The town is already full of talk

of how scared you are

Why? I have nothing to be afraid of.

It's just that...

Mr Eskam has shown concern and

I have deferred to his request

Deferred to Eskam?

Do you not know that he is behind

the anti-lndian demonstrations?

If you sneak away in the dark,

he will have proved that you are a coward

Well then, let's go

Gandhi! It's Gandhi!

Mr Gandhi...

Mr Gandhi, are you all right?

Those hooligans. You should have

them all arrested

I couldn't let that crowd attack you.

You should lodge a complaint

My husband will gladly

record your statement

I think I've been vindicated

Their act of violence was just

a result of their ignorance

I must get to my family.

They will be anxious

Of course. I will have you escorted.

I'm superintendent Alexander

And this is my wife. See to it

that Mr Gandhi gets home safely

Thank you

I'm sorry you were assaulted. I apologise

on behalf of the people of Durban

The Prime Minister of England

has cabled us that...

your assailants must be prosecuted.

Are you able to identify anybody?

Perhaps one or two. But I do not

wish to prosecute them, sir

They were only acting on

the information given to them...

by their leaders, which includes

yourself and the government of Natal

Will you or the government of Natal

prosecute yourself, sir?

If you had followed my advice

there would've been no attack

I should not have doubted

your intention. That was a mistake

Mr Gandhi, a word of friendly advice

This is not England or even India

Here, in South Africa, the interests

of the European settlers come first

Otherwise we stand to lose

everything to the natives

Her Majesty's government

knows this, and so should you

Writing that pamphlet

was not a wise thing to do

In such matters, sir,

it is better not to be wise

"And so we settled down

in South Africa"

"Bapu's law practice was doing well"

"And his involvement with the Indian

cause kept him very busy"

Hari...

come here and take this inside

Don't be clumsy

"But he seem to have changed"

"Having other people serving you

hand and foot"

"now appeared wrong to him"

"He wanted to live more simply"

"But this was not so easy

on our children or me"

Why are you keeping him

from his studies?

If the boys are going to do all this

when will they study?

And when are you sending

them to school?

We've gone into that before. The local

Indian schools are of no use to them

And I will not use my influence to get

them admitted into European schools

I don't want any special concessions

for my children

I'll teach them myself.

- You don't have the time

Will you give up your law practice

and everything else to teach them?

The outcaste has forgotten to clean

his chamber pot. Can you hear me?

Your outcaste has forgotten to clean

his chamber pot

So? You clean it.

- I will not

I will not clean the chamber pot

of anybody and everybody

Look, I've tolerated it so far

because of you

And now you want me to clean

the chamber pot of an untouchable?

No one is untouchable

This is so wrong! Have you

forgotten your religion, your beliefs?

Don't you care for these things?

I will not listen to such nonsense.

If you don't do it, then I will

Give it to me

Don't act as if I'm forcing you

because this won't do in my house

Your house, your wife,

your children, your guests!

All right, keep them all to yourself.

I'm leaving

You want to go?

You want to go?

Then leave now

Get out of my house this very minute!

- Leave me! What are you doing?

What are you doing?

Have you no shame? You are

pushing me out in this condition?

Where am I to go?

And just because I'm your wife,

I have to put up with your nonsense?

Just behave yourself.

What will the neighbours think?

I'll do it

And though I bestow all my goods

to feed the poor...

and though I give my body

to be burned and have no charity...

it profits me nothing

Charity suffereth long and is kind

Kastur... what is it?

What is it?

Has the time come?

- Get the midwife

Hari!

Go and call Rukhmaniben quickly. Go

Is it bad?

- Yes

She'll be here soon

It's all right, don't worry

It's going to be all right.

I'm here, it's going to be all right

Okay, now just breathe hard,

breathe from your mouth

Slowly... yes, all right

Slowly

Slowly

Don't push so hard. Yes...

If you are going to push so hard,

you'll have a tear

I won't know what to do

All right... yes

Another boy

How are you feeling?

You would have made

an excellent midwife

Durban 1899

So the British are going

to fight the Boers

No matter who wins,

we remain exactly where we are

I still think we must support

the British

Why should we? The British treat us

not better than the Boers

My British friends assure me that

one of the issues in this war is...

Indian rights in the Transvaal.

- Nonsense

The Boers are fighting for their freedom.

Why should we have to crush them?

The goldmines in Transvaal

is what the British want to grab

That is what this war

is all about. Gold

Haven't we claimed to be British

citizens in every single petition?

This is the chance to prove it.

- Prove what?

The whites are fighting

amongst themselves. Let them

It's not that simple. We are always

being accused of being parasites

What you want us to do? March out

on the roads with those volunteers?

Are you serious?

- I don't know how to be a soldier

I don't even know how to fire a gun

Rustom kaka, there are

other ways to serve

Mother, a letter for you

Read this for me

"My respected wife Kastur"

"I hope this letter finds you

and the boys well"

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