The Suez Canal
September 14, 2024
At the age of 18, Mohandas Gandhi left India.
His destination was London. The heart of the British Empire was the world’s largest city, with more than four million people living in the metropolitan area, and home to the law school where he would prepare for a career as a barrister.
In August 1888, the young man bade farewell to his friends and family in Rajkot, including Kasturba, his wife of six years. She wept, knowing it would be years before he returned. “Don’t go,” she pleaded. He kissed her and said goodbye, leaving her with their newborn son, Harilal.
His ship, the S.S. Clyde, left Mumbai on September 4. The voyage would take a little over three weeks, and the first five days were spent sailing across the Indian Ocean. Gandhi was shy, and said little to his fellow passengers, but was befriended by a Mr. Mazmudar. “He spoke to me… as if we were very old acquaintances,” Gandhi wrote in his London journal. (Sadly, only the first 20 pages survive.)
The steamship brought many new experiences. Seeing the stars dancing on the ocean reminded him of sparkling diamonds. The ship’s bathrooms left him “astonished,” because he was “obliged to use pieces of [toilet] paper” instead of the water for washing he was accustomed to.
On September 14, they entered the Suez Canal. It had opened in 1869, just a few weeks after Gandhi was born. Although he wrote that “the Canal belongs to the French,” the British had invaded Egypt in 1882 and taken possession of it. The shortcut between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean was about 10 days faster than sailing around Africa, and crucial to British commerce.
Gandhi found the canal “marvelous.” The 120 miles of dirty water took nearly 24 hours to traverse. “The construction of the Suez Canal I am not able to understand,” he admitted. “I cannot think of the genius of a man who invented it…. It is quite right to say that he has competed with nature.”
It would be another two weeks before he arrived in London, and Gandhi would find himself tested along the way. But that’s another story
Tomorrow, September 15th, is the monthly fast for peace. If you’d like to join with others around the United States in the shared self-sacrifice, the fast is simple: No food or recreational intoxicants for whatever 24 hours works best for you, but drink all the water you like. You can add your pledge here.
For today’s discussion question: What’s the most “marvelous” man-made construction you’ve ever seen?