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Gandhi : A Biographical Sketch
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meet the expenditures of his stay and studies. This was on Gandhi's mind and he felt the need to further reduce the expenditures. He kept on changing his living quarters, so that he would be closer to his places of studies and engagements and started walking rather than using public transportation. These walks often amounted to eight to ten miles a day and later served Gandhi well when he undertook Satyagraha struggles in South Africa and India. Gandhi sought cheaper substitutes for food, started preparing own breakfast and dinner at home, and when necessary ate in inexpensive restaurants. He preplanned all his expenditures and kept account of them in his notebook to the last penny. This habit he continued and it proved useful when he had to manage huge sums of money related to the Satyagraha struggles.
In England, Gandhi also developed the habit of reading newspapers to keep himself abreast of the world affairs. Shyness and inability to speak in public were still his weaknesses and he could not express himself properly even in a small group. Once he tried to read from his notes and did not succeed even at that. It was only later in South Africa that Gandhi was able to partially overcome this weakness and was able to address public gatherings.
Expansion of interest in religion was an important gain for Gandhi during his stay in England. Gandhi was exposed to different religions and religious practices in his boyhood. In England, his religious interest expanded and he became a true seeker of Truth for the rest of his life. This is how it happened. It was Gandhi's second year in England, when two Theosophists brothers who had an interest in reading Bhagavad Gita (Sir Edwin Arnold's The Song Celestial, to be more specific) came to Gandhi and invited him to read the book with them. Gandhi had not yet read Bhagavad Gita and the first reading of the book made a deep impression on him. He considered Bhagavad Gita to be an excellent source for gaining knowledge of Truth and made it a constant guide. Later Gandhi also read Sir Edwin Arnold's The Light of Asia, Madame Blavatsky's Key to Theosophy, Mrs. Besant's How I
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