Trouble in India

Mohandas’ family was no longer influential so Mohandas was not able to succeed his father as Dewan. Most of the family’s money had been spent in educating Gandhi and sending him to England. Since there were plenty of lawyers in India there was no opportunity for Gandhi to start his own practice. He therefore, applied for a job as a teacher in a school, although he was not considered qualified for it.
When Gandhi went back to India he had to undergo many ceremonial purifications, and although he underwent them humbly he was boiling with anger underneath. Gandhi was so used to the London lifestyle that all of this seemed backward to him. Gandhi wanted everything to suit his newly acquired Westerner ideals. Gandhi had adapted to the British way of thinking where he wanted his wife to learn to read and write. Kasturbai, his wife was a simple homley girl who had a strong spirit to resist being changed against her will.
Gandhi’s behavior was typical of other young men who went to Britain for training. When the men returned to rule over their families they saw them as ignorant and backward. They were often ashamed of their families.
Although the affairs of Ghandhi’s little state Rajkot had not changed, India as a whole was undergoing important political and social changes. The universities were producing large numbers of young men who were educated and wanted to take leadership positions. There were also an increasing number of newspapers and political journals to inform the middle class. Provisions such as railways, telegraph improved sanitation, and the growth of commerce were bringing prosperity to the towns and cities. Local self-governments were also starting in urban communities.
An Indian National Congress had been founded in 1885 with a small number of people and limited objectives. This Congress help yearly conferences in large cities and before long it had a large membership and many sympathizers who wanted a democratic India. The Muslim that were inactive after the Great Rebellion came back into the scene and founder the Anglo-Arabic College in 1875. This college later became the University of Aligrah, which was the source for Muslim social and political advancement. The Muslims also founded the Muslim League in 1906 because the Hindus were the majority and the Muslims wanted a voice. So, while Mohandas was to wonder what to do with his life in Rajkot, great movements and divisions were taking place in Indian history.
Mohandas went to Bombay to work as a lawyer for a while, but that did not work out. Gandhi writes, "I could not think of questions to ask. The judge must have laughed and the other lawyers, no doubt, enjoyed the spectacle." Gandhi was not able to retrieve the sinking fortunes of his family and he began to feel like he had to go abroad to earn a fortune. At the very same time, a Muslim merchant who had a business connection in South Africa offered him a job for a year. Mohandas was assigned to take care of some legal work. Mohandas accepted and left for Durban in May of 1893.