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Gandhi's Teachers : Rajchandra Ravjibhai Mehta
contempt were so obvious. Colored people were referred to as "coolies" and thus there were "collie-laborers," "collieclerks," "collie-businessmen," and "collie-bartenders." Gandhi, as a barrister, came to be known as "collie-barrister." Coolies lived in localities set apart for them, they could not own land, had no franchise rights, could not walk on the public footpaths, and without a permit issued by the master could not go out of doors after 9 P.M. Interaction of colored people with the White population was minimal and through their jobs, services, and business relations. Gandhi experienced many of the prejudices and discriminative practices firsthand. Once he was thrown off the train on way to Pretoria even though he had the first class ticket - only the Whites could travel by first class. At another time, he was made to sit on the outside of a coach when room was available inside and he was entitled to it. He also experienced difficulty in finding hotel accommodations and eating in dining commons with the Whites - these privileges were available only to the White population. He was once pushed off the footpath even though a White person was walking with him. Through these and other experiences, Gandhi realized that South Africa was not a suitable place for any self-respecting person. He felt like going back to India, but stayed on to fight the prevalent prejudices and discriminative practices.
Satyagraha Struggle in South Africa
Gandhi got in touch with the Indians living in Pretoria and Orange Free State and tried to assess their conditions. Indians were divided into various groups according to their regional, religious, language, and occupational backgrounds. Majority of them were indentured and non-indentured laborers of Tamil, Telugu, and North Indian backgrounds, some were Muslim merchants, and there were a few Parsi clerks. All of them had accepted the prevalent prejudices and discriminative practices as facts of life and no one had the desire to fight back and remove the oppressive circumstances. Gandhi
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