Page:Fischer - A Week with Gandhi.pdf/128

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pocket of thought. An interview with him is a voyage of discovery, and he himself is sometime surprised at the things he says. His secretaries, who sat with us as he spoke, were often surprised at the novelty of his assertions. That is why I learned so much from Gandhi and so much about Gandhi. He did not merely give me fact and opinions. He revealed himself. He also supplied one with ammunition against himself. Gandhi did not have to tell me, for instance, that he had ascribed qualities to his weekly day of silence which he knew it did not possess. But that is Gandhi. His brain has no blue pencil; he doesn’t censor himself. This makes him a baffling or even irritating person to some politicians. He says, for instance, that if he had the opportunity, he would go to Japan and try to end the war. He knows, and immediately adds, that he would never get the opportunity to go, and if he went, Japan would not make peace. Then why did he say he would go to Japan? Because he thought it. As a pacifist he would really like to bring about a cessation of hostilities. The fact that this hope is impracticable is for Gandhi not reason not to mention it.

Gandhi sometimes takes delight in expounding ideas which are impractical anachronisms. He scoffs at modern inventions. He is aware that he cannot turn back the clock. He cannot abolish the automobile. But he can make fun of it. He asserts