One day a professor came to meet Mahatma Gandhi. He had fixed an appointment with him for 11 o’clock. He arrived at 10 minutes to 11 and found only one man sweeping the floor of Gandhi’s cottage at Wardha
The professor ordered the man to go and inform Mahatma Gandhi that he had arrived. “He has asked me to come at 11 o’clock,” he said. The man replied, “Sir, Gandhi is very punctual. He will come and meet you at 11 o’clock.” The professor thought the man was irreverent. The professor was annoyed and said, “Didn’t I tell you to go and inform Mahatma Gandhi that I am here”?
Again, the sweeper replied, “Sir, he will meet you at 11 o’clock sharp.” At exactly 11 o’clock, the man who was sweeping the room, came and stood before the professor and said, “Sir, what can I do for you?”
The professor said to him, “ You are a nincompoop. I have told you to go and inform Mahatma Gandhi that I have come, and yet you ask me what you can do for me.” Then the Sweeper smiled. That is when the professor realized that the man who had been sweeping the room was none other than the Mahatma himself? He fell at his feet and begged to be forgiven.
