18. The Child Walking Stick

A lot of children accompanied Gandhiji when he went for a walk. They enjoyed talking to him.

Actually they enjoyed something else. Gandhiji needed support while walking. He needed the support of a walking stick. The children would hug him by the waist and put his hand on their shoulder.

In this way, Gandhiji would have two live walking sticks on both the sides and they would walk down chitchatting and enjoying the weather.

Gandhiji called them child-walking sticks. The children would miss it if they didn't get the opportunity for many days.

Don't think that becoming a child walking stick was an easy job. If you think that being old Gandhiji walked slowly, you are wrong. He used to walk rapidly and with a lot of energy. If the child walking sticks were very small, the poor things almost had to run with him.

The enthusiasm would often make the children forget the time for prayer during their walk but Gandhji would never miss it. If it was getting late he would start running! Then the child sticks also had to run with him.