The Hindu pacifist, politician, thinker and lawyer Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948) was the most prominent leader of the Indian independence movement against British domination, which would be achieved in 1947 with the practice of the so-called non-violent civil disobedience, together of actions that included the hunger strike.
For decades Gandhi fought for the poorest classes in India and defended world peace as a link between all nations, being nominated five times for the Nobel Peace Prize, although it was never awarded.
Before becoming a world celebrity and a national hero of India, Mahatma Gandhi was a hardworking young man who studied Law at University College London, although there he suffered discrimination due to his origin and race, both from some students as from several teachers.
The story goes that at that London university there was a professor named Peters who couldn’t stand Gandhi, but he was a young man of character who was not willing to be intimidated.
One day the professor was eating in the Faculty dining room and Gandhi sat next to him. At that moment the academic said to him: “Mr. Gandhi, do you know that a pig and a bird cannot eat together?”
“Okay, professor, I’m flying away,” replied Gandhi, who quickly sat down at another table.
The professor, deeply irritated by his student’s sagacity, decided to take revenge in the next written exam, asking him the most complicated questions, but Gandhi answered all of them brilliantly.
The professor, with Gandhi’s exam in hand, then decided to ask him the following question:
-”Mr. Gandhi, imagine that you are standing on the road and you see a bag; he opens it and finds wisdom and a lot of money.” “Which of the two would you choose?”
– “Of course I would choose money, professor.”
-”Ah, I would choose wisdom,” the teacher commented smugly.
– “You are right, Professor,” said Gandhi then, “In fact, each person chooses what they DO NOT have!”
The teacher, already on the verge of suffering an attack of rage, then wrote the word “idiot” on Gandhi’s exam and handed it to him.
Gandhi then flipped through his exam paper and returned immediately, telling Mr. Peters: “Professor, you signed the exam, but you forgot to grade it!”
