A Centenary Tribute

The Magic Shoes

IN Satyajit Ray's famous film "Gupi Gyne -Bagha Byne" one comes across the king of Ghosts who gave three boons. One of the three was a gift of magic shoes. These were beautifully brocaded shoes of the Lucknow's Nabab's era. They carried Gupi and Bagha anywhere they wanted to go and finally the shoes carried them to Shundi, their final destination.

In case of Amal Kiran's magic shoes, I am sure they were not of Nabab's era but they were the "Bahanas" to have carried him to his ultimate destination - Pondicherry -not only physically but inwardly to a destination of soul's climb.

Born in an well-to-do Parsi family, the humorist Yogi never faced any material need but the need of his soul to grow, to develop, to reach higher and higher was always a necessary yearning of his being and still at the age of a hundred, the climb up with determination and persistence has not diminished. Age is no bar when the spirit is immersed in the Sadhana of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother.

At a very early age an attack of Polio deformed one leg and here too he is a living example that a physical incapability need not hamper the growth of intellect and spirit. A Stephen Hawkins of our Ashram, he spent his early life in Bombay. Tall, slim, fair, with attractive features, he would be noticeable, in any case, among many others but his deformed leg would make one look at him with sympathy. Not in the least! His sense of humour, his vast knowledge, his alertness of mind, quick thinking and stuttering while speaking enhanced his charm and drew many towards him, especially his charming smile attracted the ladies.

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In Bombay, one day, he went to a shop to buy shoes. Back home he opened the newspaper covering that was wrapped around the shoes. His life took a sudden turn. An article on Sri Aurobindo had appeared in that newspaper and it caught his eyes. A voracious reader, he read the article, and a hidden small flame lit up in his innermost being. It was undistinguishable in the beginning, then the flame started growing and an urge to know the spiritual heritage of India grew. He met Sadhus and Sannyasins mainly due to the interest of his wife Lalita. They went to Calcutta, then came to Pondicherry. The "Bananas" carried him to his final destination They settled down in Pondicherry but after a few years went back to Bombay. But the "Bahanas", the magic shoes knew of his inner urge and Amal came back to Pondicherry and settled down here permanently.

In our school days in the Ashram we were in awe of and respeced his vast knowledge and intelligence - a man who could correspond with Sri Aurobindo on Savitri!

For us there were two Pandits in the Ashram - Nolini-da and Amal Kiran. Later on, a few casual meetings unveiled the loving, caring and understanding aspects of his nature. His whole being is so immersed in intellectual pursuits that he hardly bothered about his physical disability.

In 1991 when he fractured his thigh-bone, I went to meet him in the Ashram Nursing Home with some errand. His tall body was supine on the bed, one leg held high in traction. The upper body inclined on the pillows was bare and slurring bright, his face was calm and composed, aglow with a pink tinge -immune to any pain. He was holding a paper with his left hand, engrossed in reading and with a pen held in his right hand was doing proof-reading, as if the pain, the uncomfortable position, the agony were not his. His intellect was separate from his body - the agony and ecstasy co-existing side by side!

One after another he is climbing the hills, one after an-other, new splendours engulf him, his incessant march for-ward may never end because of the magic shoes wrapped in the newspaper with an article on Sri Aurobindo. We may close this piece with the following poem of Sri Aurobindo:

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Hill after hill was climbed and now,

 Behold, the last tremendous brow

And the great rock that none has trod:

A step, and all is sky and God.

("One Day - The Little More")

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