Esha's recollections of some episodes of her life, as narrated to Nirodbaran in Bengali, who translated it in English. This is presented here in form of a book.
Sri Aurobindo : Contact
Nirodbaran on Esha's story : Esha, the late Dilip Kumar Roy's niece, was a little girl visiting the Ashram when I came to know her through my niece Jyotirmoyee with whom she had become very friendly. She wanted to settle in the Ashram, but her mother did not want it as she was still a minor. When after many years she came to the Ashram again and stayed with Sahana Devi, I became more closely acquainted with her. By that time she had already married and obtained her divorce and had decided to settle here. I came to her help and made all possible arrangements for the purpose. Since then I have come to know her well and listened to her narration of the incidents of her life. As I found them interesting I began to note them down and was thinking of publishing them in Mother India when somehow she got wind of it and strongly objected to it. As I felt I had Sri Aurobindo's sanction for it, I did not listen to her. In spite of my disregarding her objection, luckily she did not stop recounting her saga. Of course she narrated it in Bengali and later I put it down in English as faithfully as I could. When the story began to appear in Mother India, she insisted more than once that I should stop it. My answer was that I believed it could be helpful to many readers and that Sri Aurobindo seemed to support me.
THEME/S
We have rarely found Uncle losing his temper. His wife also used to tell us about it. He is a very simple, frank old man. The first time he came to see me in Pondicherry I was living in Sahana-auntie's house. I had written to him that he could come there with his luggage and that after resting awhile we could go and look for accommodation in the town. Later Sahana-auntie told me that he should not come to her house. I was astonished to hear it, for she had agreed to the arrangement. And when he arrived she said this to his face in such a rude manner and for no fault of his I was in a fix. I took him with all that luggage to another friend's house. They welcomed him and took good care of him. I was relieved. After a short rest, we took him to a hotel. Uncle was not in the least disturbed by Sahana-auntie's rude behaviour. He went to visit her the next day and delivered the presents offered by her friends. Now she apologised for her rude conduct.
On another occasion during the Puja festival in Calcutta, my son, Uncle and myself were making arrangements to go about in a car seeing the many idols of the Goddess Durga in the town. Just then I received a phone-call from a friend inviting me to join her group to see the festival. I told her we were also intending to do the same thing and since I had a friend with me I could not join her. She insisted that I could bring him along. So we got into her car and went around enjoying the various celebrations. Suddenly there was a heavy downpour and all of us got drenched. My friend, after leaving us at home, was going away when I told her that Uncle had no means of going back; there was no vehicle on the road. Could she not see him home? But she left him in the lurch and drove away. I was exasperated but Uncle said, "Why do you lose your temper? I can manage." He did not take even my umbrella and walked all the distance soaked to the skin.
My son on the other hand was a picture in contrast — very bad-tempered and self-willed. Uncle had a son, very rich and unmarried. He was charmed by my son's wife, for which my son was extremely displeased with him. "Why should he run after her? I'll have a word with his father." I tried to mollify him and said, "Uncle is quite innocent. For heaven's sake, don't quarrel with him. He will be mortally hurt. Furthermore, what will be the use of it? If, suppose, you were to run after a girl, would I be able to do anything about it?" That stopped him.
Home
Disciples
Esha
Books
Share your feedback. Help us improve. Or ask a question.