Unwelcome at the hotel

June 3, 2024

Gandhi’s stagecoach ride on June 3, 1893 was long but uneventful, especially compared to the previous day. It was dark when they arrived in the city of Johannesburg, and Gandhi disembarked, expecting someone to greet and guide him. No one did. His autobiography passes this off as a missed connection and gives the benefit of the doubt to the man who was supposed to meet him, but it seems unlikely there was a dearth of Indian passengers arriving by stagecoach. Rather than wait at the station, Gandhi took a cab to the Grand National Hotel.

The Grand National Hotel was one of the largest hotels in the city, taking up much of a city block and boasting of more than 120 bedrooms. A few years later, Mark Twain would be a guest there when he visited Johannesburg. Mohandas Gandhi walked in, perhaps admiring the high ceilings and imported balustrades, and asked for a room. The manager scrutinized the young man for a moment, the juxtaposition between his smart English dress and dark skin, then politely informed him no room was available. Gandhi retreated back to the cab.

At the offices of his local contact, Gandhi found Sheth Abdul Gani waiting for him. He related the story of the Grand National Hotel and was rewarded with laughter. “How did you ever expect to be admitted to a hotel?” The Sheth went on to explain about life for Indians in South Africa; insults were to be expected and ignored. He grew more serious; the final leg of Gandhi’s journey would be by train, and he would have to travel third class. Indians were never issued first- or second-class tickets in the Transvaal. Gandhi bristled at the idea that it would be impossible.

Perhaps that night he recalled his confrontation with his Modh Bania caste elders five years earlier, when they forbade him from studying in London. The elders had claimed it was impossible to do so without violating their religion. Gandhi had already made a vow to his mother that he would abstain from alcohol, women, and meat while abroad, and despite being declared an outcaste for disobeying the elders, went anyway and kept his vow. He had accomplished what he had been told was impossible… could he do such a thing again? He turned the problem over in his mind as he slept.

Have you ever been told that you didn’t fit in somewhere?