Among the Not So Great

The work(s)

(1) R had the most pleasurable chore of preparing, daily, some fruit-juice for the Mother and Sri Aurobindo.

(2) He would then have to hurry to D.R. (short for The Dining Room, also known as Aroumé to some old, old timers.) Once a high fever was raging through him, he went to D.R. taking support of the walls to steady himself. In that distant past, most sadhaks saw their work, usually given by the Mother, as essential to their sadhana. To miss it even a single day was tantamount to a retrogradation. I suspect attitudes have changed now. Time marches on or is it like Anatole France commented about the march of civilization, where he says: “On avance à reculons, avec nos regards fixés vers le passé (we advance back-walking with our sight fixed on the past).

(3) R = Vandi-da (Cart Brother or Cartman — R was given in the early 40’s a work that earned him this sobriquet of Vandi-da. Why? There was a large tyred hand-cart in D.R. It was equipped to transport tiffin-carriers, which were taken in this cart that stopped at predetermined street corners. Some aged sadhaks picked up their carrier from the cart. This service was in place for lunch and dinner. I am not sure about breakfast. This title of Vandi-da was not inherited by R’s successors — Janardan and Damodar (Maharashtrian). May be people had lost their sense of humour and/or imagination.