India - the Mother

June 3, 1968

I have just seen some twenty people.... There was Orissa's Chief Minister.... He is a nice man. The people from Orissa, they are nice people; of all provinces, they are the ones who seem the most eager to forge ahead, to change something.

And Bengal? Isn't it ahead?

They're a bit ... fanciful. I mean, they talk a lot—they talk very well! Those from Orissa are more practical—they're generous, a very generous nature: they give a lot.

Bengal ... they know, or feel, that they are the country intellectual leaders, so they are puffed up with themselves. Me, I like simple people.

Mother's Agenda: June 3, 1968