Champaklal Speaks

“You are an Angel!”

Sri Aurobindo gave a small pencil to the Mother and. she kept k very carefully guarded. It was of a kind not found nowadays, Whenever she showed it she would say, with a specially notable expression: “You see, this is Sri Aurobindo's pencil.” Her expression when she said this was far more striking than her words.

Once, no one knew how, it was lost. I managed to find it and gave it to her. She exclaimed joyously: “O Champaklal, truly you are an angel! Champaklal, truly you are an angel!” Then she gave me a pen holder as a present saying it was her cadeau (the French word for gift).

In olden days one could buy a type of “paper” pencil which did not need to be sharpened as the lead was covered with paper instead of wood. At short lengths there were grooves into which one inserted a finger-nail and removed one length of paper which came out in circular strips and exposed the lead. Children were fascinated by these pencils.

Once I was present when the Mother removed a strip of paper from this pencil. I took that strip and opened it carefully to make a circle which I pasted on a card. Mother was extremely pleased with that card.