1. I was born on 2 October 1869 in Porbunder in what is known today as Gujarat, India
2. I was married at 14 in a traditional childhood marriage to Kasturbai Makhanji. Our first child was born a year later, but died shortly after birth
3. In September 1888 I left India for London where I studied Law. In June 1891 I was called to the British Bar and enrolled in the High Court. I returned to India the next day.
4. On my arrival in India I met Raychandbhai whom I regarded as my Guru
5. In April 1893 I took a job in South Africa
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6. In June 1893 on an overnight train trip to Johannesburg I was forced out of my first class compartment because I was not white and spent the (winters) night at the station in Pietermaritzburg. Following this and other events I spent the next 20 years fighting to better Indian's rights in South Africa
7. To show the British that the Indians were just as strong and capable as them I organised an Indian medical corps in the Boer War. Myself and 37 other Indian volunteers received the War Medal for their efforts.
8. In 1915 I returned permanently to India where I joined the Indian National Congress. I became the leader of that organisation in 1920 and started to push, using non-cooperation, non-violence and peaceful resistance, for independence from Britain
9. I was opposed to the separation of India on religious lines, but the Muslim League (which wanted a separate Muslim state) supported the British Viceroy's unilateral decision to support Britain in WW1