A few months ago, I was witness to a panel discussion on Gandhiji’s life at a college. The number of participating students was very high, proving that his allure is still intact.

Gandhiji’s genius seems to stem from an instinctive knack for choosing the right course of action. And this applies to almost all his health and dietary fads.

His experiments with food and nature cure are fascinating and in a lighter vein he dubbed himself a crank in such matters. But many of his actions have been subsequently validated by modern science as being good for health.

Almost a century ago, Gandhiji had strongly advocated the benefits of regular walking. An ardent walker since youth, he acknowledged in his writings that the habit had helped him stay healthy.

His adherence to the habit was so strong that as Kasturba lay on her deathbed, he gently sought her permission and went for his walk.

Gandhiji always felt that exercise was as important as eating right. In matters of diet he was a firm believer in vegetarianism, and believed it was in no way inferior to meat eating when it came to building a healthy body.

He stayed true to this belief in the face of severe adversity. Once, while in South Africa, Kasturba had to undergo a surgery that had left her exceptionally weak. The surgeon felt that she was unlikely to survive unless she was fed meat broth. Gandhiji was reluctant but he felt that the decision should be left to her. Kasturba asserted that she would rather give up her life. As the surgeon refused to attend to her in his hospital, Gandhiji took her home and kept her largely on a diet of hot milk. Kasturba survived to live into her seventies. Modern science keeps discovering newer benefits of milk all the time.

... contd.