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CHAPTER III
CHOOSING THE ROUTE - SATYAGRAHA
(1893-1914)
The world rests on the bedrock of satya or truth. Asatya meaning untruth also means non-existent and satya means that which is'. If untruth does not so much as exist, its victory is out of question. And truth being that which is', can never be destroyed. This is the doctrine of Satyagraha in a nutshell.'
The humiliation Gandhi faced at the office of the political agent with whom he had small acquaintance in England coupled with his observations of the intricacies of doing business firmed his mind to find a job beyond Rajkot. So he accepted the opportunity offered by Meman firm of Porbandar to go to South Africa for a year.
Now Gandhi was better equipped for travel due to his visit to England earlier. So he managed the boat journey better, like insisting agent for a first class berth on the boat and the captain to share his cabin instead of staying on the deck and outing with him at intermediate halt in Zanzibar to visit a brothel that he regretted though.
Towards the end of May 1893, he arrived in Durban/ Port Natal. His first week in Durban gave him the first taste of prevalent deepest levels of discrimination against Indians. Natal had a relatively large Indian population. Hindus, Muslims, Christians and Parsees were engaged primarily in agriculture and coal mines as labourers (indentured (girmitiya) and free), in hotels as waiters and in trade as owners and clerks. Indians were further divided as Tamil, Telugu and North Indians. They were called 'coolies', 'sammies' as per their job and place of origin in India.