Just Plain
(To, L. L. S. R)
BY M. S.
I once heard in a lecture that most of the minerals
in the world could be found in the human body. It was said that there is just
enough of iron in a person to make a nail. I think that we could also say that
different beauties of nature could also be seen in some people. There are some
who are like the Sun, powerful and radiant; some are like the flowers,
beautiful and fragrant; and others like the meadows, calm and pleasant.
At the moment I am thinking of a certain woman; she
is like the ore! And this ought to tell you that she is just plain! I mean that
she is not ‘made up’. There are no jewels, costly dresses, styles and airs. But
there is grandeur in her plainness, just as there is a briliance in ore.
I can never understand why people go distances to
see just a lighted palace, coloured fountains and festooned scenes, when every
moment you could see the dawn, the fields and the waters. That is how I class
women. There are the ‘made up’ ones like illuminations, and the ‘just plain’
like nature.
‘Prapancha’ is the name of this woman. She must be
observed to be liked. Just watch. She gets up so early in the morning that she
could say to the Sun, ‘You late riser!’ And with this morning freshness she
does her household duties so dear to her. She will wash clothes, walk
distances, and take a back seat in a meeting or theatre and will despise you if
you should tell her not to do so. ‘It is my husband who is great, not I,’ she
will chide. In her rounds with her to the servants dwelling places, the garden
and the farm, there is nothing to reveal her aesthetic sense, but she will
relate a moral from these common lives with a simplicity that is her charm.
Her greatest urge is to conscript all women for
social uplift work. To her, as it is to all industrious people, Time is
opportunity for work. To her again, idleness, gossip and social competition are
vulgar pursuits. There are some treasured sentiments, which she will sometimes
quietly unearth regarding religion and society. It is surprising to think that
this woman who in appearance seems to be the symbol of orthodoxy, has the most
advanced ideas and practises them too. ‘Religion,’ she will say, ‘should
consist in abstract worship’ and so she never indulges in pujas and temple
worship. To her mind all classes are the same and she would like to see more of
inter-class marriages provided both the parties ‘match’ in their traits, and
are of the standard human pattern. In her enthusiasm to promote and expound her
theories she will stride through fields of knowledge and culture that would
astonish a scholar. And when caught in this mode of thought ‘Prapancha’ is a
veritable goddess. Her eyes then are bright like crystal waters, her skin is
smooth and glossy like a tender leaf, and her smile is soft like moonlight.
The average woman looks upon her with suspicion;
regards her as quaint, foolish and ascetic-minded. To me, she is like a place
of pilgrimage; I always come back from her imbued with the philosophy, that–
‘In character, in manners, in style–
The supreme excellence is simplicity.’