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Gandhi: A Biographical Sketch
registered the help of a prominent Muslim businessman Sheth Tyeb Haji Khan Muhammad and called for a meeting of the Indians. It is here he delivered the first public speech and made Indians aware of the prevalent injustices and discriminative practices. He advised them to fight unjust laws while obeying just laws. He also advised them to disregard petty differences among themselves, follow only truthful practices in business, work, and public dealings, develop good sanitary habits, improve physical surroundings, create better self-image for themselves, learn English to communicate better, and form associations for free exchange of ideas and collective representation. Indians were to press for their rights only after their blemishes and weaknesses had been purged.
Gandhi succeeded in achieving many social and political reforms in South Africa. But his stay was also personally very beneficial for him. It is here that he got the first opportunity to engage in public service and recognized his ability and potential for it. He realized that the practicing of law did not need dubious practices. In fact, the secret of successful law practice was the use of only truthful and unselfish means. A successful attorney did not depend on cleverness, but on his desire to pursue the truth under all circumstances. Gandhi stressed that lawyers should settle as many cases out of the court as possible by bringing compromises among the clients and without caring for personal monetary gains. This approach, he said, saved the clients money and spared them of unnecessary hassle. Gandhi, himself, resorted to no falsehood in his law practice. He did not tutor his clients and witnesses and did not encourage them to lie. He did not take false cases and public service was his only motive in practicing law. Whether a client won or lost, Gandhi expected only his fees and charged out-of-pocket expenses (sometimes not even that). Once Gandhi discovered that a client had lied to him and he told the judge to dismiss the case. Gandhi concludes that it is possible to be truthful in the practice of law, as in other areas. These truthful practices of Gandhi endeared him to many and won him friends. Many of these people later
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