Amrita's Correspondence with The Mother

12 September 1933

Mother,

M. B. Desai gave me a cheque for Rs. 91.5 annas this afternoon, saying that Rs. 60 was for the Asram for the month of September and that the rest was for his wife which he would send to her at the end of the month. In the evening he told me not to encash the cheque now since it is only the 12th of the month. He said to add the amount of Rs. 91.5 to his deposit account and to pay the Mother either at the end of the month or on the first of next month.

I was simply stunned. I told him, “I am not paying you any interest till the end of the month, and I am not interested in guarding your money. Why keep the money with me?”

His cheque will not be paid to me, the money will go straight to my account as it is a crossed cheque.

If he goes on like that, I do not see why I should cash his cheques for him and pay out of my own pocket the expenses of cashing them (some 8 to 12 annas usually).

He further said that if you had accepted him in the Asram, then you could have cashed the cheque and kept the money with you. Only the Asram would have to send, on the first of every month, Rs. 31.5 to his wife from his pension of Rs. 91.5. He added: “I am only here temporarily. I will wait and see up to November what happens to me.”

This attitude is not very encouraging to take him as a permanent member!

12 September 1933