Gandhi in Britain

Mahatma Gandhi llegó a Gran Bretaña en 1931para participar de las negociaciones por la independencia de la India. La gente lo recibió con entusiasmo, curiosos por ver al delgado líder que vestía ropas tan extrañas, y ponía al imperio en una situación demasiado incómoda. Gandhi se alojó en el East End, dejando de lado el lujoso hotel que le había asignado el gobierno. Para saber: Madeleine Slade y en vocabulario: Puddle

She´s one of Mr. Gandhi´s most devoted disciples…

… quite a lot of people had waited in the pouring rain outside the Friends Meeting House in the Euston Road to see what he really looked like…

During the discussions between Gandhi and the British government over 1931–32 at the Round Table Conferences, Gandhi, now aged about 62, sought constitutional reforms as a preparation to the end of colonial British rule, and begin the self-rule by Indians. The British side sought reforms that would keep Indian subcontinent as a colony. The British negotiators proposed constitutional reforms on a British Dominion model that established separate electorates based on religious and social divisions.

The Second Round Table conference was the only time Gandhi left India between 1914 and his death in 1948. He declined the government's offer of accommodation in an expensive West End hotel, preferring to stay in the East End, to live among working-class people, as he did in India. He based himself in a small cell-bedroom at Kingsley Hall for the three-month duration of his stay and was enthusiastically received by East Enders. During this time he renewed his links with the British vegetarian movement.

Ramsay MacDonald to the right of Gandhi, 1931

Gandhi arrives in the UK

In this extraordinary footage from 1931, the legendary Indian Nationalist leader Mahatma Gandhi arrives in London, England to a crowd of enthusiastic onlookers.

The Indian nationalist leader, whose personality is intriguing the whole world, arrives.

—He´s here at last. The mystery man of India. Our first glimpse of the Rajputana comes along the Marseilles and there´s the woman you probably all read but never seen in a picture. Miss Madeleine Slade, the English daughter of an admiral who now prefers to be known as…She´s one of Mr. Gandhi´s most devoted disciples. She´s leading the way ashore now and just behind her comes Mr. Gandhi, dressed as he said he would be in just his loincloth, even in the chilly climes of Europe. He´s carrying with him his pots and pans, which he declares, are a customary. He was trotted around Marseilles to several receptions and made one or two speeches, which rather frightened the French authorities.

When asked to speak into the sound film microphone he said “I think not.”

And so we go on our way to England.

Well, here we are at Folkestone. With the… coming alongside and, as Gandhi said in proper English weather, pouring rain and bitterly cold.

Miss Slade was the first ashore to attend to the luggage…

She was followed by Gandhi´s son and then came the little man still scantily clad but with an extremely wet blanket around his tiny frame. I´m sure he must have been frozen. We were in thick overcoats.

He picked his way through the puddles along the key side. He was wearing sandals by the way.

The waiting motorcar that he decided that he´d rather got to London by road.

He insisted on sitting up on the front sit with the driver. He said that he could see better that way. So he tagged himself in.

So off to London while his followers went by train.

In town quite a lot of people had waited in the pouring rain outside the Friends Meeting House in the Euston Road to see what he really looked like but at first they were quite disappointed because he went in the back way.

Shortly afterwards he left by the front way and then they really see quite a lot of him even his knees.

He won´t speak into the microphone… (transcribed 3 minutes.)

Para saber

Madeleine Slade (22 November 1892 – 20 July 1982), also known as Mirabehn or Meera Behn, was a British citizen who left her home in Britain to live and work with Mohandas Gandhi, the leader of the Indian Independence Movement. She devoted her life to human development and the advancement of Gandhi's principles. She was the daughter of the British Rear-Admiral Sir Edmond Slade.

Vocabulario

Puddle: rainwater on the ground.

He picked his way through the puddles

"Splashing through deep puddles"

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