Shyness, My Shield - by Mahatma Gandhi (Extract from "The Story of My Experiments with Truth)
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Shyness
My Shield
(Extracted
from the Autobiography “The Story of My Experiments with Truth” by Mahatma
Gandhi)
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Introduction:
- ·
This essay was extracted from
Mahatma Gandhi’s autobiography “The story of My experiments with Truth”
- ·
This essay tells about the
initial fear of Gandhiji to deliver a public speech when he was a student in
England.
- ·
It gives different anecdotes of
Gandhi’s repeated attempts and failures to deliver a public speech while he was
in England.
- ·
Finally the essay says that Gandhiji’s
shyness became his shield.
- Key Points:
- Gandhiji’s initial trouble with Public speaking:
- ·
When Mohan Das Karamchand Gandhi
was studying Law in England, he became a member of the Vegetarian Society.
- ·
He was elected to the Executive
Committee of the Vegetarian Society. He used to attend every one of its
meetings, but never opened his mouth.
- ·
He sat quite silent while other
members were expressing their opinions at these meetings.
- ·
Though he was interested to
speak, he could not open his mouth. He used to think that others knew better
than him.
- ·
Whenever he dared to speak, a
new subject would be started. This went on like this for a long time.
Gandhiji’s first attempt in Public Speaking:
- ·
In the meantime, the Vegetarian
society faced a serious situation because of the differences between two
persons Mr. Hills and Dr. Allison.
- ·
Mr. Hills was the President of the Vegetarian society. He was a Puritan (a
particular section in Christianity). He was the proprietor of the Thames Iron
works. He gave much financial assistance to the society. Many members of the
society were his followers/ supporters.
- ·
Dr. Allison was another important member. He was advocating the ‘new birth
control movement’. He was preaching the birth control methods among the working
classes.
- ·
Mr. Hills regarded the activity
of Dr. Allison as against the morals preached by Christianity. (In those days,
Puritans were against the artificial methods of birth control). So, he wanted
to send Dr. Allison out of the group.
- ·
Mahatma Gandhi also did not
like the Artificial Birth control movement at that time. But, he did not want
to support Mr. Hills’ decision, because the Vegetarian society can have any one
as members if he is practicing vegetarianism. So Gandhiji did not like the idea
of Mr.Hills.
- ·
Mr. Hills brought a motion
(proposal) to remove Dr. Allison.
- ·
Gandhi wanted to oppose the proposal of Mr. Hills. But, he did not
have the courage to speak. So, he wrote down his thoughts on a piece of paper. But,
he could not even read it. So, someone else read his thoughts/ speech.
- ·
In the voting, Dr. Allison
lost. So, he was removed from the society.
- ·
Thus in the very first battle
of the kind Gandhiji found himeself siding with the losing party. Gandhiji was
satisfied that his thought was right. Later, Gandhiji resigned from the
Committee.
- ·
Gandhiji’s shyness to give
public speech remained throughout his stay in England. Even during his social meetings also, he could
not speak to the gathering.
Gandhiji’s second attempt to deliver a public speech:
- ·
In one more incident, Gandhiji
went to Ventnor with Sjt. Mazmudar. There, Gandhiji was invited to
speak at a meeting for the promotion of vegetarianism.
- ·
Once again, Gandhiji prepared
his speech in writing. To speak ex
tempore (without preparation) was out of the question for Gandhiji.
He stood up to read the written speech,
but could not. His vision became blurred
and he trembled. Sjt. Mazmudar had to read it for him. Gandhiji was ashamed of himself and sad
at heart for his incapacity.
- Gandhiji’s final attempt to deliver a public speech in England:
- ·
Gandhiji’s last effort to make
a public speech in England was on the eve of his departure for home
(India).
- ·
Then, Gandhiji invited his
vegetarian friends to dinner in the Holborn Restaurant. During the
dinner also, the people gave speeches. When Gandhiji’s turn for speaking came, he
stood up to make a speech. He wanted to start his speech with a humorous
anecdote (story/ joke), but he could not proceed beyond the first sentence. He stuck
there.
- ·
His memory entirely failed him
and in attempting a humorous speech he made himself ridiculous. He
abruptly sat down by thanking the guests.
- ·
It was only in South Africa
that Gandhiji got over his shyness, though henever completely overcame
it. It was impossible for Gandhiji to speak impromptu (without
preparation).
- ·
Gandhiji hesitated whenever he
had to face strange audiences and avoided making a speech whenever he could.
- ·
Gandhiji admitted that he was
not good at engaging friends in a meeting.
Gandhiji’s Shyness became his Advantage:
- ·
Gandhiji said that though
occasionally his shyness put him in awkward situations, his constitutional
shyness did not become a disadvantage.
- ·
In fact, on the contrary,
it was all to the advantage of Gandhiji. His hesitancy in speech became a pleasure
in his later life. Its greatest benefit has been that it had taught Gandhi the economy
of words.
- ·
Gandhiji had naturally formed
the habit of restraining (controlling) his thoughts. A thoughtless word
hardly ever escaped his tongue or pen. He found no occasion where he had to regret
anything in his speech or writing. Thus,
Gandhiji had been spared from many troubles and waste of time.
- ·
Experience had taught Gandhiji
that silence was part of the spiritual discipline of a supporter of truth.
- ·
Generally, people have the
weakness of exaggerating, suppressing or modifying the truth, willingly or
unwillingly. Silence is necessary in order to surmount it.
- ·
A man of few words will rarely
be thoughtless in his speech; he will measure every word. Most of the people
are interested in speaking a lot and they generally exceed the time-limit. But,
such talking is useless to the society.
- ·
Gandhiji finally said that
unnecessary talk is so much waste of time. He said that his shyness had been
in reality his shield and buckler. It had allowed him to grow. It had
helped him in his judgment of truth.
- · Thus, Gandhiji finally felt that his shyness was shield and it moulded his personality.
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- Summary/ Notes for Exam:
“Shyness, My Shield” is an essay written by Mahatma
Gandhi. This essay was extracted from Gandhiji’s autobiography “The story of My
experiments with Truth”. It gives different anecdotes of Gandhi’s repeated
attempts and failures to deliver a public speech while he was in England.
When
Mohan Das Karamchand Gandhi was studying Law in England he used to fear to deliver
a public speech. He became a member of the Vegetarian Society. When there were
differences between Mr. Hills, the Chairman of the society and Dr. Hills, the
supporter of family planning methods, Gandhi tried to speak for the first time
in the public. But he failed to deliver a speech. Someone else had to read his speech.
In a meeting held at Ventnor, Gandhiji tried
to read a written speech. But he failed in this second attempt also. His vision
blurred and he could not go forward.
Gandhiji’s
last effort to make a public speech in England was on the eve of his departure
for home (India). When he gave a dinner
to his friends in the Holborne Restaurant,
he tried to deliver a public speech. He started with a humorous
anecdote. But, he failed to make an impression. So, he suddenly sat thanking
the guests. Thus, Gandhiji could not learn the art of public speaking while he
was in England. When Gandhiji went to South Africa only, he could learn
delivering public speeches. He still had the fear in him.
However,
Gandhiji felt that his silence did not become a disadvantage. It actually helped
him to develop his personality by sticking to truth. His shyness taught him the
economy of words. He learnt controlling his thoughts. Gandhiji never uttered a
thoughtless word in his life. He also felt that silence was part of the
spiritual discipline of a supporter of truth. Gandhiji finally said that
unnecessary talk was so much waste of time. He said that his shyness had been his
shield. It had helped him in his judgment of truth.
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Notes Prepared by:
Noojilla Srinivas,
Lecturer in English
Lecturer in English
Govt. Degree College, Alamuru, East Godavari Dist, Andhra Pradesh.
Ph: 7981862200; email: noojillasrinivas@gmail.com
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