Gandhi was a British trained barrister
There is often a misidentification in the modern age of the nature of the imperial relationship between India and Britain, painting an almost slave and master like relationship that really does not do justice the facts. The great Indian nationalist Dadabhai Naoroji, often regarded as the grand old man of Indian nationalism, served a term as a member of the British parliament, having stood for and won the Liberal seat of Finsbury Central in 1896. It was almost de rigueur for ambitious young Indians of pedigree and means to seek education and polish in Britain, and one need only witness that pomp and ceremony of Indian Independence Day to get a sense of how influenced Indian public life still is by the imperial experience.
Gandhi was one of those. Although his family could claim some inherited position in local Porbandar society, they certainly were not wealthy. Nonetheless, in 1888, having begged and borrowed the necessary funds, Gandhi set sail from Bombay, arriving in London, and commencing his studies early the following year. He attended the University College London and the City University of London, where he studied jurisprudence before enter the Inner Temple, one of the celebrated British bars.
It cannot be said that Gandhi was a brilliant student, and his frequent letters home requesting additional funds were often returned along with grumbling remarks from his family that be might study harder. His time in London, however, was extremely formative in many other ways. He was, for example, introduced to the work Tolstoy, the Russian novelist and social theorist whose ideas on non-violence, along with those of Theroux, set in motion a thought process that would result in Gandhi’s own concepts of passive resistance. He also experimented with diet, adopting vegetarianism as a consequence of his engagement with the strong vegetarian movement in London at the time. He was also a regular visitor to the local theosophical society, and as a rather dapper and self-possessed individual, he was fond of informal debates at the local tea shops, and regular dance lessons during which he excelled at the foxtrot.
Besides his law degree, perhaps the greatest benefit bestowed on Gandhi as a consequence of his period in London was his cultivation of a great fondness for the British people, and at least those in London, and that fondness was reciprocated. As would be the case for the remainder of his life, he found devotees and followers among his fellow Indians, but his closest friendships were almost always forged with non-Indians.