As his ship steamed into Bombay harbour, Gandhi saw his brother waiting at the quayside. He ran down the gangway to meet him. As they exchanged greetings, Mohandas noticed that his brother looked sad.
'You have bad news for me?' he asked.
'Yes,' his brother replied with tears in his
eyes. 'We did not want to disturb you during your examination. Our dear
mother.She died a few weeks back.'
Mohandas was shocked. His mother had meant so
much to him. He had come back to tell her that he had kept the promises he
had made before he went abroad, but now she was no more. What a sad
At Rajkot, he set up practice as a barrister.
Soon however, he was disgusted with the greed and pettiness that he found
among the lawyers. Gandhi realized that it was difficult for the poor and
the humble to get justice from the courts of law. He was not happy with his
life at Rajkot and he longed to get away.
It was then that an offer came to him to go to
South Africa on behalf of Dada, Abdullah &co. who owned big business
concerns there. They had filed a suit against another firm for four hundred
thousand dollars. They wanted Gandhi to take up the case because he spoke
English well and knew English law. In addition to arguing their well and
knew English law. In addition to arguing their case, they wanted him to
handle the firm's correspondence in English. His services were required for
one year and the company promised to pay a handsome fee and the first-class
The opportunity to see a new country and new
people excited Gandhi and he accepted the offer.
It was painful for him to be parted from
Kasturbai again so soon, but he was determined to go. In April 1893 he left
Bombay for South Africa.