I got letters from all four of you on the same day. It was very happy day for me in
my sad and solitary life here. I wish to thank you particularly for giving me some good
information about your new Math teacher and Raja Babu’s Brother*. I have not yet got
any news about Mamoo. Very likely, you have in the mean time heard from Gaga or
Mamna or Ami. Didoon has not written to me yet. I have written a long letter to your
mother and Mashi about how terribly I am missing Didoon. I am sure, she is doing so as
much if not more. She is trying to hide it from herself and others. How is your Bhabi
and how is your brother? Are they quite excited about the one who is to come very
soon? Honestly Munnoo should sit down and write a long and interesting letter about
life at home and outside. That suddenly brings to my mind – forgetful due to old age –
the terrible shock I had got on hearing from Baby about Surendra Bhai’s lovely little
son’s death! Of all the little ones to play with in the Sadhana Kendra, somehow, he was
perhaps the one whom I loved and admired most. I do not know how to console people.
I have never consoled myself. I live with my sorrows, however terrible they may be. That
is my philosophy. I think, if I do not suffer I cease to be a human being. Why is it that
the mother suffers the most for the lost child? The simple reason is she loves the most.
To lessen her sorrow would she like to be something less than a mother? In the animal
kingdom man is the only creature who suffers at the very sight of others suffering
because by nature he is capable loving others outside his kith and kin. Let us love more
and more and bear all the suffering that comes out of this game of love. Jesus perhaps
meant this and not what the pious Christians say, when he mounted the gallows which
used to be like cross in those days in his country.
Aflu, please tell your mother and Mashi that new rules have been made for the
security prisoners. One has to obtain the permission of the detaining authority
concerned (the Cuttack Dist. Magist. in my case) before interviewing me in the Jail. So,
Mashi should go to Cuttack and not Baripada. Please don’t forget to tell them before
Mousha and Mashi leave Varanasi. You should also immediately drop a card to Mamna
or Gaga. I can’t write to them now. I can write only two letters. My second letter I shall
write to Didi. What am I to do? You are all scattered over the whole country - Cuttack,
Bhubaneswar, Varanasi, Delhi, Bhopal, Angul, Ahmedabad and soon Ranchi. I don't know
yet where Mamu is. You all know how I never liked to write letters and even to reply to
others letters. But now see the fun! Give my love to Mousha and heaps of kisses for
you all, including my two daughters. My best wishes for all my young and grown up
friends on the campus - Moorti, Sheomangal and all.
Dadul
*Jayaprakash Narayan's younger brother's name was Rajababu(He not being as famous as his elder brother.)I had given some information about JP by referring to Raja Babu.
1 comment:
This intimate letter, written from the solitary confinement in a prison, shows how you all were concerned about each other, in spite being quite less in numbers.
It's certainly a touching document to be preserved.
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