AMONG THE NOT SO GREAT Among the Not So Great PRABHAKAR (Batti) NEW HOUSE KOLKATA First edition Sri Mira Trust 2003 Second enlarged edition New House 2018 Rs 270.00 © Sri Mira Trust 2003 Published by New House, Kolkata - 700 025 Printed at Sri Aurobindo Ashram Press, Pondicherry Printed in India INTRODUCTION I write this about some old Ashramites — interesting people, who I feel should not be lost, buried in the past. I write of them for they are, or were, so garbed in their ordinariness that their coming, going and even their short sojourn here went unheralded, unnoticed and unsung. Maybe I use words too high-sounding, but I would that you let that pass. They did not achieve anything great (in the usual sense of the word) — for no poetry, prose or philosophy spewed forth from their innards. They created no piece of art nor did they even put up a block of masonry. But they achieved this — when you by chance thought of them a bubble of joy rose from your stomach, tingled its way up like a soda-induced burp. What more can one ask of another but this moment of joy? This is reason enough for me to bring them back from the past. These that I mention here were quite closely associated with me, and I think it would interest many who have not had the good chance to rub shoulders with them, nor even see them, probably. This is a homely “Who-is-who”. I first started writing this series with no idea whatsoever as to what I was going to do, once I had written. It was just for the fun of pushing my pen. As such I gave it first to Swadhin of the Ashram Press to read — and enjoy it if he could. Evidently he did — and per- suaded me to publish it. He took on himself the responsibility of get- ting it published in Mother India. Much later some friends mooted the idea that the series be brought out in a book form, with some photos. This too happened. Not being a pucca writer, some shortcomings may stand out which the readers, I hope, will bear with me and overlook them and read on. Some of the facts may not be absolutely precise — they are gleaned from memories, mine and others, of events of long ago — 30-60 years ago or more. But, all are, in their essence, true. Also many of the photographs may not tally with my descriptions (e.g. Rajangam, Prashanto, etc.,) — evidently a time gap of again 30-60 years separate the click and my pushing the pen. But, often enough the eyes will bear out the essential character of their owner. (Well understood that the photo has to be clear.) vi Among the Not So Great A word about the title of the book. I saw somewhere a book by Dilip Kumar Roy titled “Among the Great”, wherein he has writ- ten about some well-known persons he met like Bertrand Russell (if I remember right) and others. That title gave me the cue for this book — as I have spoken mostly of persons who were not much in the “public eye” so to say. A few, of course, were “Great” (Kobida, Sunilda) — but they were too close to me to be ignored. Moreover I did try to bring out an “ordinary” facet of their lives along with their already proven “greatness’’. Also, I am sure in my mind, that one of the great traits of their “greatness” is not to be “insular” from their fellow humans. (not only sadhaks.) So my thanks to all of them. There are a few more such persons. Unfortunately I know so very little about them, to fill even one page. Maybe I can do justice to them in days to come. They have the patience. I hope they can keep kicking up the embers awake in me, for some more time. To them my apology. I hope to redeem them from the Past and so myself from the Present. With this chance idea of retracing some old friends’ footprints on the field of my memory, I cast about and the ones I could first discern were Manibhai’s. So I start rummaging the Past with him — though he is no more. PRABHAKAR (BATTI ) CONTENTS Manibhai … 1 Haradhan-da … 8 Mridubhashini (Mridu-di) … 15 Nishikanto (Kobi) Roy Chowdhury … 21 Roopanagunta Subramanyam Pantulu … 30 Bholanath Ghosh … 45 Poornananda Swami … 53 Yogananda … 62 Biren Chunder … 79 Dara, Chinmayee and Prashanto… … 94 Bula-da … 111 Bihari-da … 123 Gangadhar … 140 Kalyan-da … 147 Sunil-da … 155 Rajangam … 170 Tinkori-da … 176 Kiran Chowdhury … 180 Dadoo (Charu Chandra Dutt) … 188 Selvanadin … 196 Sitaram … 203 Charu-da … 212 Dr. Nripendra … 225 Stranger … 233 Manoranjan Ganguli … 244 Pavitra-da … 252 Louis Allan … 258 Ravindra-ji … 264 Pranab-da … 271 Birendra Kumar Palit … 280 Bheeshmadev Chatterjee … 283 Conclusion … 286 MANIBHAI My belief is that to have no wants is Divine. SOCRATE S MANIBHAI hailed from Old East Africa. He was a Postmaster there, well respected for his work and as a person. He happened to read some literature on Sri Aurobindo and the Ashram and decided to come over — way back in 1929. He visited this place and then pulled out his African roots and set them here in 1930. He ventured out for a short duration, but came back around 1945. That’s when I first set my eyes on him. Before he arrived here, he was, it seems, very fastidious as far as his dress was concerned. When I saw him he was anything 2 Among the Not So Great but fastidious (in dress) — rather its negation. He was a big, powerfully built man, slow of speech and action, but sure of both. The first look at him was not very reassuring. Big, dark, bushy eye-brows with deep-set eyes, further deepened by high cheek-bones and a sharp nose — nothing to relieve the feeling of foreboding — not until he smiled. His face creased up and his eyes shone and lit up the face. This was the outer man. He was in charge of the Smithy. The Smithy was where now stands the Post Office delivery section. A man of iron, he worked on the same metal. Let’s now take a peep inside — maybe you could find some gold! I go back a few years before I met Manibhai and recount at ran- dom a few anecdotes of his life. These have been told to me by others who knew him. They all agreed upon this — that his sincerity was unquestionable as was his simplicity complete. These two comple- mented each other to make a tremendous worker but they often com- plicated matters. I just recount, you may draw your conclusions. In charge of the Smithy — as mentioned before — he adhered strictly to one rule, “No chit from the Mother — No work” — as good a practice as any. One day the Bakery Room lock was jammed, and it had to be opened to start the work early to have the bread ready. So Manibhai was called. He came, saw and shook his head negatively, “No chit, so no work.” The Mother could be seen only later — so? Manibhai was as obstinate as the lock. What to do? Someone took up courage, and did need quite a bit of it to rub Manibhai the wrong way, and broke open the lock. Manibhai was very displeased, to say the least. But the Mother later said it was alright, so that appeased him. Once even Pavitra-da was at the receiving end. He wanted to get some work done — and he did not bring the Mother’s chit. “No” was the answer, until the Mother wrote that henceforth he could do Pavitra-da’s work when he asked for it. There was once a servant-strike at Padmasini-amma’s, some trouble was brewing (Electric Dept. where maids now wait, seeking domestic work). The Mother told Manibhai to go there and shout. He did just that, and the strikers ran away. It seems sound could break walls, so why not a strike! In those days the Bakery made loaves of bread of bigger dimen- sions — maybe a foot long, about 12cm-15cm broad and 8cm high ta- Manibhai 3 pering towards both ends and rounded up. It cut up to about 36 slices. Well, Manibhai would have one of these loaves for dinner! No extra milk or vegetable. Ravindraji offered extra milk, but Manibhai would have none of it. He softened the bread in water and gulped it down. It seems someone told of this phenomenon to Sri Aurobindo and he jok- ingly remarked, “Oh, humanly impossible!”. When Manibhai heard of it, he in his simplicity and limited knowledge of English missed the “joke” part of it and thought to himself, “I am not human.” He stopped eating the full loaf. This was again reported to Sri Aurobindo. The Lord was moved and sent someone to explain to Manibhai that the remark was all a joke, and he should revert to his old diet. There was this strange happening (to Manibhai, M1) back in 1942 or 43 (War Time). He got into his head to go out. He told the Mother and went to Bombay. There he met another Manibhai (M2 for our reference — he was Kumud’s, Chandrakant’s father). He asked M2 for some money, which was given. He went and bought himself a big basket, filled it with mangoes and went round hawking them.