Number of words: 265

Impressions of Gandhi from my sister and the Privats. He is small, with a well-shaped head, not bald but shaven bare; ugly and likeable (in the end he appears charming), a receding brow, a large turned-up nose, a more or less toothless mouth (which is normally closed, but when he laughs, he shows off the gap in his front teeth, and the Privats ended up by finding this made his laughter all the more irresistible),—his complexion not very dark, almost European,—very sharp eyes behind a large pair of glasses, which look at you full in the face and see right through you,—much mischief and humour, immediately followed by great seriousness and concentration,—a very good voice, grave and tenor (without Tagore’s lofty intonations, but he makes an effort to keep it on a medium level, calm, even and without inflexions); he handles the English language with purity and perfection, without ever correcting himself and without stumbling; each of his sentences is thought out and says exactly what he wants to say. He is well built, quite broad and strong in the chest and the upper arms, with refined and cool hands. But his fore arms and above all his legs are extremely skinny (perhaps as a result of the Indian habit of sitting cross-legged) : for the last two years, he says, he has not been able to speak in public in anything other than a sitting position. Meticulously clean (as are all in his entourage). No detail escapes him.

Excerpted from”page number 151 – 152, of Romain Rolland and Gandhi Correspondence.”