Barasarthi Naidoo, the eldest son of Thambi and Veerammal Naidoo, was born on 22 December 1903. At a farewell banquet for Mohandas (Mahatma) Karamchand Gandhi on 14 July 1914, (Gandhi was returning to India), Thambi Naidoo offered his four sons [Naransamy, Barasarthi, Balakrishnan and Pakirisamy] to Gandhi, saying, “I have the honour to present these four boys to be servants of India”.