LEAVES FROM LETTERS
By Prof. K. R. R. SASTRY
(University,
Allahabad)
Immortal
Kalidasa portrays the love-laden letter of Sakuntala to Dushyanta engraved on
the leaves Letter-writing, coeval with the birth of the script, has been used
as a vehicle of persuasion, admonition and adoration throughout the ages. Pliny
(the younger) wrote a vivid letter on the eruption of Vesuvius. In fact in
these matters all masters of substance and style have been urged by the mood of
passing on to posterity wit, wisdom, and urbanity. From Polonius’ advice to
Nehru’s letters, the matter of the theme may vary; the manner has been of equal
importance.
Extracts
from a few letters received between 1921 and 1944 are herein given. The
selection is made on their public value.
Mrs.
Asquith (later Lady Asquith) had just won remarkable publicity through the
publication of her Autobiography (First Volume).
Sutton Court,
Berka.
Dear Sir,
All
books are spoilt for me by padding and many autobiographies by a sort of
pettiness and self-scanned, self-centred complacency which I find suffocating.
I write as I speak and make no pretensions to being an author, as this will be
my first and last work.
I
find nothing improper or spiteful in a single page of the book. It is direct,
very simple and alive and absolutely true. Beyond this it has no merit.
Thanking you,
I am,
(Sd.) Margot
Asquit
P. S. My husband is all
you say and far more. He has character as well as intellect, which alas! is
for the moment lacking in our present government.
While
engaged in teaching in a Governmet School in 1923 the present writer was trying
to tame the grey Indian squirrel.
4, Buckingham
St.,
London, S. W.
(1)
29th November
1923
Dear Mr. S…..
I
was very interested in your letter about squirrels and feel much sympathy with
your desire and effort to tame them. I enclose a memorandum giving my
experience in case it may be helpful to you.
It
is very delightful to get wild things which are under no restraint and which
are leading a perfectly natural life to become tame, and to abandon that fear
of man which is such a barrier between ourselves and so many beautiful things
in the world.
Yours
sincerely,
(Sd.) Grey of
Fallodon.
A
man of brilliant parts, Grey showed a constitutional leaning for “the quiet
life in his country”. He loved angling and has written with authority on “Fly
Fishing”. He was a past champion of tennis and his affection for birds and love
of nature remind one of Gilbert White.
Like the late Sir B. L. Mitter, the Rt. Hon’ble V. S.
Srinivas Sastri commanded a beautiful calligraphy.
10-5-27
My dear R……,
You
are right to think of the apprenticeship. I would like you to concentrate on
it. That Geneva thing is a will o’ the wisp......
When
I wrote the stuff to the “Hindustan Review”, I scarcely thought of myself for
the job (Agent Generalship in S. Africa). Gandhi’s power is indeed great that a
suggestion of his, which I then thought would be laughed to scorn, should have
realized itself and victimised me. But I won’t quarrel with him. He has since
been so nice to me and written in his paper to make my way smooth.
Yours
affectionately,
(Sd.) V. S.
Srinivasan.
Once,
probably in a huff, the present writer wanted to join the Servants of India
Society. Here is a gentle admonition from the late K.
T. Paul, National Secretary, Y.M.C.A.
Madras,
June 20, 1927
My dear S…..,
As
for the bigger question you ask about your own future, that is too sacred a
matter for anyone to presume to advise. The main principles are well-known to
one of your equipment and experience; the rest is for one’s own conscience and
judgment. Not every one is called to completely altruistic service, nor is
everyone happily called to become a money-making machine.
Yours
sincerely,
(Sd.) K. T.
Paul.
The
present writer had the audacity to assert in a letter to Gandhiji that Ahimsa
has never been a rule of State. Here was his reply written in his own hand.
Sevagram
Wardha (C.P.)
11-11-1944
Dear Prof. Sastry,
I
thank you for your kind letter.
(A) My
experience does not bear out the truth of your proposition. I do not claim to
be a saint. But I do not regard politics as inconsistent with the strictest
moral code. Politics I hold to be a noble art which every good citizen must
cultivate. I have not in mind the game that professional politicians play.
(B) is
answered in (A)
(C) Only
posterity can judge. Obviously I can’t.
(D) I
am sorry I cannot subscribe to your opionion. Mine is a new experiment. I plead
for patience in coming to a judgment.
As
to your constructive suggestions you will perhaps forgive me, if I do not argue
about them.
Yours
sincerely,
(Sd.) M. K.
Gandhi.
Every inch a
gentleman, Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru had an invincible code of serene conduct to
guide him. In answer to a plea for preserving the diary-leaves of a life of
peace and goodwill, he wrote from that home of grand hospitality.
19-Albert Road
Allahabad
12th November
1939
Dear Mr. S…..,
I
am not vain enough to assume that there is anything in my life which calls for
a careful and comprehensive study. It has been the usual hum-drum life of a
busy lawyer earning his livelihood in courts and relieving that monotony by
very occasional lapses into politics and by some other intellectual pursuits.
Yours
sincerely,
(Sd.) Tej
Bahadur Sapru.
“It
is myself I portray,” said Montaigue. Even in these extracts are to be found
the “lively’ incandescence of Margot Asquith, the solitary tranquility of
Viscount Grey, the sweet persuassiveness of the Rt. Hon’ble Sastri, the dynamic
guidance of K.T. Paul, the disarming humility of Gandhiji, and the artful
self-denial of Sir Tej.