Ever since we were kids, we have been reading about Mahatma Gandhi. From his childhood and career to his undying fervor during the Indian independence movement, his life is a source of inspiration for all. However, we take you beyond your textbooks by sharing some leser known facts about Gandhiji.

1. He was named the Man of the Year by the reputed Time Magazine in 1930.

2. Being good at English and having studied abroad, he worked in the capacity of an editor for several English, Hindi and Gujarati newspapers in India as well as South Africa.

3. For the famous Dandi March, 60-year old Gandhiji walked for 24 days, covering almost 390 kms, from his ashram in Sabarmati to Dandi, a village at the seaside where the march ended.

4. He was first referred to as 'Mahatma' by the great poet Rabindranath Tagore, whom he addressed to as Gurudev, and in turn, got the name Mahatma.

5. He was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1948, but even before the selection process could begin, he was assassinated. However, in his honor, the committee didn't award that year's Nobel Peace Prize to anyone.

6. He used to be in constant touch with famous people from around the world; some of them were Leo Tolstoy, Albert Einstein and Adolf Hitler.

7. Because of the fact that his first English teacher belonged to Ireland, Mahatma Gandhi used to speak English in a bit of an Irish accent.

8. In every major Indian city, we can easily find an MG Road, named after him. However, this feat is not limited to India. Countries like Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Iran, Netherlands, and of course, South Africa, where he studied and worked for several years, have several roads named after him.

9. When he died, more than two million people took part in his funeral procession, making it almost eight km long, and instead of using the engine of the vehicle in which his body laid, 200 people pulled the vehicle using four drag ropes. It took the procession more than five hours to cover the distance of less than seven kms, from Birla House, where he was assassinated, to Raj Ghat, where he was cremated.

10. Birla House, the place where he was assassinated, originally belonged to the influential Birla family, and Mahatma Gandhi being a frequent visitor to the Birla house, stayed there for the last 144 days of his life. The house was later bought from the Birla family for which KK Birla received Rs 54 lakhs and seven acres of prime urban land. The Indian government converted it into a museum, now known as Gandhi Smriti.