‘China To Mediterranean’

A fine old Mussalman friend met me at My mincing and our conversation naturally turned upon Khaddar. I observed that he had not Khaddar on and gently asked him whether he believed in it. “Oh yes, I do”. I then gave him my definition of Khaddar. It was no use. “All cloth, however and wherever manufactured between China and Mediterranean, is Khaddar for me. You see my Swadeshi is not narrow”, retorted the friend. In vain I tried to show that his first duty lay towards India’s millions from whom he derived his livelihood, that India was well able to manufacture all the cloth for her needs, and that India’s teeming millions were semi-starved for want of an industry supplementary to agriculture. Like Lucy, he persisted in his proposition with the fullest self-satisfaction. He had made up his mind and, therefore, no argument could produce any impression on him. It would have been just the same if I had told him that the English colonials, though they belonged to the same race and religion, protected their industries by imposing heavy tariffs against the sister colonies and England itself, and that every man’s primary and natural obligation was to serve his needy neighbour in preference to one more remote. But I had no time. The company had to break up for another appointment. As if, however, to emphasize his point and yet to show that we were friends in spite of our differences of opinion, he smilingly put a few rupees in my hands for the furtherance of my work, all the while repeating his formula ‘China to Mediterranean’. If he ever sees these lines, let me tell him that if many people were to follow his formula, the several thousands of Mussalman sisters, who are today supplementing their husbands’ earnings in Bengal by hand-spinning, would be without that necessary addition to their all to slender resources.

- Young India: June 4, 1925.