The Mother : Contact
THEME/S
Physical education started with a group of small boys. During the first years of the Ashram there was no organisation for any sports or games here. The younger boys, Mona, Manoj, Harit, Kittu, Gama, Sumantra and several others would wander around and play anywhere. Nirmal-da and Shanti-bhai had made a group of these boys and they used to make some arrangements for them to play. Nirmal-da and Shanti-bhai were these children’s captains.
The real physical education that you see now, started when Pranab came here in 1945. Slowly all the groups got organised and in 1949 the J.S.A.S.A was formed. That same year the first issue of the Bulletin was also printed in our press. Chitra, Sujata, Suprabha, Tapati and I typed this Bulletin in monotype with great enthusiasm. The Mother requested Sri Aurobindo to write something. Sri Aurobindo’s writings started coming out at first in this Bulletin. What an air of eager expectancy there would be among the Ashramites! What was Sri Aurobindo going to write in the coming issue? Everyone would anticipate and imagine different things. We, who used to work at the press, were extremely privileged. We read the issue several times over before it actually came out!
Many years later the Mother remarked in a displeased way that none of us in the Ashram ever read the Bulletin.
“Whereas my children who live outside read it with so much eagerness. They wait in eager expectancy and are impatient to receive the next issue.”
I at once questioned the Mother:
“Who has told you, Mother, that the Ashramites don’t read the Bulletin? Let us see then. Ask me a question from any page. Let’s see if I can answer or not.”
What could the Mother say to this? She kept quiet.
The Mother started coming to the Playground from
In 1948 the Ashram acquired the Tennis-ground and the Volleyball-ground. From then on the sports activities were organised in these three grounds. In 1951 the Sports-ground came into existence.
The Playground was in a pitiable state and so the boys had to dig up the entire area and clean it thoroughly to make it fit for sporting activities. The whole Playground was strewn with pieces of broken glass. This place was connected with some liquor business and so naturally there were pieces of broken glass all over the place. A lot of trees had come up in this abandoned field. How much work the small boys put in to prepare this ground! When there is joy and enthusiasm how much work gets so effortlessly accomplished! The Playground is living proof of this. The difference between the Playground of today and the Playground of those times is like heaven and hell. With discipline and order our boys transformed the place into a beautiful playing field.
What is called today group D was then called group C. Mona, Manoj, Harit and several others were in this group and Biren-da was their captain. Biren-da was a well-known boxer. He used to coach them in boxing, vaulting and many other activities. He would designate two captains for each month and their aim was to give proper instructions in sports to the group of boys. And in this way he always tried to inculcate discipline, order and responsibility in them. At the end of the month a small demonstration was organised.
The Mother came to see this demonstration from time to time. Both captains conducted the “Marching” for their respective groups. The captain who had trained and commanded his group best would receive a prize.
Those times were extraordinary. Everyone’s destiny is fixed beforehand. All that is needed from us is personal effort and aspiration.
Now all the groups were organised. In 1948 all the groups were given their uniform, each a different colour. The Mother appointed five boys as captains: Mona, Narendra (Promesse’s brother), Harit (Pranab’s youngest brother), Sumantra and Manoj. Mona was the head-captain. These boys were then merely 12 or 13.
The establishment of our school—the Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education—occurred on January 6th in
While the Mother was cutting the ribbon on the southern gate Counouma stood beside Her. Everyone has surely seen this photograph. That ribbon and pair of scissors have been carefully preserved in a glass case. The Mother’s touch is still on them. You can see them if you go to the school.
I remember 1950. That year the Mother announced that a prize called Prix d’Honneur would be awarded. To deserve this prize a student had to be good in everything, an all-round development was necessary. The Mother announced this in the Playground. The boy or girl had to be equally outstanding in studies and sports so as to have a complete personality to merit this Prix d’Honneur. The Mother was proud to announce this. Giving Her own child an award with Her own hand She praised him with unrestrained joy. All those who were present in the Playground were thrilled. Pranab was delighted and listened with a gentle smile. He had after all formed them,—Mona, Sumantra, Debu, Harit, Kittu, Manoj, Amarendra, Batti, Narendra, Vishweshwar, and so many others loved and nurtured by Pranab. Therefore Pranab was especially happy to see his efforts bear fruit.
I kept looking at everybody. When the Mother came to our group (E) to distribute groundnuts and stood in front of me She looked at me with such exceeding delight that I felt She would burst with joy. The Mother exuded the same pride as human mothers do who praise their children. The first Prix d’Honneur was awarded to Manoj.
The little ones came running to see the Prix d’Honneur. You can see Lakshmanraj in the photograph bending over to catch a glimpse of the prize.
From 1953 onwards the Mother Herself used to give this Prix d’Honneur to one of Her children every year. This stopped in 1960. It was decided to give in its place two prizes. The student who excelled in studies got the Prix d’Excellence, the student who excelled in sports received the Sportstar. This is still the practice.
Our boys kept hurting themselves while playing football and the Mother was concerned. Mona was then a captain. Before one such football match Mona went to the Mother to ask for Her blessing.
This is how Mona has recorded that conversation in his book, Sweet Mother—Harmonies of Light, Part Two, pp. 88-
91:
Can’t you play football without hurting yourselves? What, can’t one do better than that? Accidents! Every day there is something, an accident or an unpleasant story. Someone is limping, another one has broken his arm, yet another has twisted his ankle, and many others... The list is endless. What? Is there no end to all these things? Is that where you are? Can one not be a little more conscious? All of you are in such a miserable condition. You are wallowing in the mud, and you do not want to do anything better.
But, Mother, what to do?
So, this is the effort you are making to be conscious?
Sometimes we try, and soon we forget.
Ah! you don’t want to react against this unconsciousness!
But, Mother ...
No, there is no excuse.
(Silence)
Mother, the only way is to stop football—if football is responsible. If You want, You may stop football, and we’ll see whether accidents still occur or not. You may stop football.
Ah! my little one, how? That I will never do! I can’t take such a decision. It is a very good game requiring tremendous endurance and physical capacities, when it is played well. I remember, I saw a match with a team from Calcutta and it gave me a very fine impression. It was a team from Calcutta.
Yes, Mother, it was ‘Mohan Bagan’.
Yes, yes, it was so beautiful to see and so spectacular. It was a flawless game of a high quality. What unity, what cohesion amongst them, with co-ordinated movements, and each one of them doing his little work. And those passes, and those unexpected feints and, especially, the anticipation of what the other was going to do. On the whole, it was power-packed but neat and precise. And also, without nervous brutality. To me, it seemed to be a complete game in itself. I enjoyed it very much.
It must be played like that, without hurting yourselves, without brutality. Then it is good. And how could I stop the game when so many people like to play football? It is not possible. I can’t do something that would hurt everybody. Moreover, it is a game which requires much talent. Better to find a way to avoid any accident.
And it is not football alone, but gymnastics, sports and everything. I am asking you to become a little more conscious, a little more conscious without getting excited. Then you will avoid many accidents. I am watching over you all every minute, and I am giving you all the Peace and the Force needed so that you all may become conscious. Conscious of what is around you, conscious of yourselves. But without any result. It is not football alone that I am blaming, but all the activities.
First of all, I don’t want anybody to get hurt, because I am protecting my children with transparent cocoons, like a glass case put on each one individually, so that the adverse forces cannot touch them. You are well surrounded by the Force and the Light through which nothing can penetrate. It is an absolute protection I have put around you all, and in spite of all this, if you still get hurt, I do not know what to do. Maybe it is a lack of faith or an excitement of the body. Let us see what I can do. In any case, these accidents must be avoided. And I don’t want anybody to get hurt. Once again I give you the Force and my blessings so that you may become conscious. You have to raise these children out of this unconsciousness, out of this tamas and this excitement; above all, never get excited. I am here to help you. Let us see. Good luck!
The tradition of sporting activities has existed since the beginning of the Ashram. Nolini-da, Suresh Chakravarty and a few other younger people used to go and play with local boys in one of the fields in town. They were all very skilled in football. The local players used to praise highly Nolini-da’s style of playing. On everyone’s lips were the names of Roy, Chakra, Basak. All of them used to live here then with fictitious names. They used to play at the Cercle Sportif. After all, these boys were the fearless, young revolutionaries of Muraripukur Bagan.
Let me tell you about two amusing incidents here.
This Chakra was actually Moni or Suresh Chakravarty. He had preceded Sri Aurobindo to Pondicherry to make arrangements for his stay here. Shankar Chettiar revered Sri Aurobindo. He asked Sri Aurobindo, Bejoy Nag and Suresh Chakravarty to come and stay in his two-storeyed house. It is difficult to imagine that under
20-year olds like Moni and Bejoy could stay in that two-storeyed house with Sri Aurobindo for three months at a stretch, day and night. They used to come down once a day just to have a bath. After three months had passed Sri Aurobindo permitted these two youngsters to go out. He had probably understood that now the danger had passed. Well, now let me tell you why I brought this up.
On their first sortie, Suresh Chakravarty and Bejoy Nag went straight out to the market to buy some eggs. After all they needed a change of taste! For one month they had had only rice, moong dal, brinjal and some sort of tomato chutney. At night they used to have some rice and sugar in milk. Now they had their eggs but foolishly they dumped the shells into the pipe upstairs thinking that the pipe was connected to the drain.
One day while Suresh Chakravarty was going down all of a sudden Chettiar caught him. He took him straight to the pipe which ended one foot above the ground. The eggshells were rolling on the ground. Mr. Chettiar seriously enquired:
“Ee Kya?”(What is this?)
It is said that the dumb do not have enemies. Suresh Chakravarty stiffened with fright. He was speechless. Mr. Chettiar:
“Aisa mat karna.” (Don’t do this.)
This did not stop their eating of eggs. But they became cleverer. They used to fill their pockets with eggshells and on their evening walk throw them out.
Then came the fish-chapter.
One day Suresh Chakravarty and Bejoy Nag had a strong desire for fish. They went to Iyer for help. (This Tamil youth used to look after Sri Aurobindo when he stayed in the Arya House for six months. Iyer used to remain in the house day and night during that period.) Even though he was a strict Tamil brahmin vegetarian he did not feel limited by petty traditions. He was quite young. He permitted Suresh Chakravarty and Bejoy Nag to cook fish in his house. They used to cook and cover their fish-preparation to take it home and eat it with full satisfaction. They used to smuggle the fish-preparation in at a time when there was nobody downstairs. One day Moni bought some fish from the market, fried it in Iyer’s house and, wrapping it properly in some paper, brought it directly to Shankar Chettiar’s house. As he entered the house with the paper-wrapped fish he noticed Mr. Chettiar sitting in the living room. The staircase leading to the top floor was at the southeastern corner of this living room.
Without looking anywhere else, Suresh Chakravarti rushed straight for the staircase. But Mr. Chettiar was swifter and he blocked Moni’s path just at the bottom of the staircase. He looked at the bundle and enquired:
“Ismey kya hai?” (What’s in there?)
“Kucch mithai hai” (some sweets), Moni replied.
It seemed somebody was pounding at his heart with a hammer.
“Kahansey mila?” (From where?)
“Baajaarsey kharid…” (Bought from the shop.) Moni’s voice choked with fright. Suddenly he had a divine flash!
“Babukey liye,” Moni exclaimed.
He meant the sweets were for Sri Aurobindo.
That was it! Here, the name of ‘Babu’ was enough to make
Mr. Chettiar at once clear Moni’s path. Moni sprang past him and ran up the stairs like lightning.
Listen to Suresh Chakravarty’s concluding words:
“In human society it is customary to to use the name of a great man for satisfying one’s personal desires but this was probably the first time it was being used to eat fried fish!”
You cannot imagine the joy I derived from reading these two stories. How impossibly hard it must have been for two young Bengali youngsters to live without fish or meat or eggs!
Let us now return to sports. From the very beginning, importance was given to the body in sadhana. But it was done in a different way then.
Even Sri Aurobindo would take a walk on the verandah for a long time after Nolini-da and Suresh Chakravarty had gone away to play football. His walking stopped only when the boys returned in the evening.
Amrita-da had the privilege of seeing Sri Aurobindo walk. The house in which Sri Aurobindo lived then had three terraces and each terrace was surrounded by walls. Sri Aurobindo lived in the third block. In the block in front Nolini, Souren, Bejoy stayed. Moni lived in the second block. It was in this house that Sri Aurobindo walked around the terrace daily, from five in the evening till eight or half past eight. One evening Amrita-da and his friend, Chettiar, on their way to the sea-front for a walk, suggested leaving their cycles in Sri Aurobindo’s house so that they could walk peacefully. On arriving in front of Sri Aurobindo’s house they found the door closed. They reluctantly knocked. The door suddenly opened. Sri Aurobindo had quietly come, opened the door and immediately gone back to His walk. And so this is how Amrita-da had the privilege of watching Sri Aurobindo taking His walk. Sri Aurobindo had been accustomed to walking all His life. When he moved to the Guest House He used to walk in His room during a fixed time. What was astonishing is the fact that His continuous walking had left footprints on the floor. It is our misfortune that His footprints completely disappeared when the floor was repaired. Later, when He was living in the main building of the Ashram, Sri Aurobindo used to walk in the passage of His room taking support of Champaklal-ji’s and Nirod-da’s shoulders. After His accident it had become impossible for Him to walk all by Himself. But He would still walk. It is important to keep the body healthy for sadhana. Some sort of exercise is indispensable. And this is what He taught us right from the beginning.
From 1942 small children started coming to the Ashram. These were children of those families that wanted to shelter their children here away from the dangers of war. At that time regular, organised sports had not yet started.
In the beginning only a small portion of the present Playground came into the younger children’s use. With a goal post of two sticks and a string tied across to serve as the crossbar, the children used to play football with great enthusiasm. Most children had their first lessons of football on this field. It was also here that the first match was played between the young men and the adults. The adults lost that match by 16 goals! Following this there was another match between the two groups and this time it was on the famous Cercle Sportif in town. This match ended in a goalless draw. Nirod-da scored a goal but it was nullified because of an offside. Kalyan-da, Rishabhchand-da, Kalikumar-da used to play beautifully. The other players were Udar, Bula-da, Rajen-da.
Then football was started at the Tennis-ground. The Ashram boys played their first match at the invitation of a teacher from the French College, Professor Saravane and a wealthy landowner, played against a team of boys from outside. Our boys lost as they had not yet got used to playing on a regular field. Ranju had been made the team captain. An eyewitness report of the match was prepared on the Mother’s instructions and submitted to her by Sri Aurobindo’s follower and revolutionary of the time, our dear father and professor of philosophy, Narendranath Das Gupta. On the same ground in a return match our boys were victorious. The Mother went to witness this match but came away before the end. The Mother had been to quite a few football matches. In one such match while playing with outside boys, Hriday (Pranab’s younger brother) was playing at the back. He was extremely agile, strong and courageous. He was injured when an opponent attacked him unfairly and so could not play any longer. Just before the end of the match in a head duel between Ranju and that same boy, the latter received a head injury and began bleeding. The Mother was present at that time in the Terrain Militaire (the Police Ground). After the match when everyone came to the Mother, She told that boy from the rival team:
“Ce n’est pas si facile!” (It isn’t all that easy!)
With time the Ashram boys became extremely talented in playing football. They went to play a match against a local team in Cuddalore. This time Manju played in place of Hriday as the right out. The Mother went to see this match as well.
By then our own football field at the Sports-ground was ready. It had been Jalad-da’s groundnut field before. The boys went and pleaded with him to convert that field into one for playing football. Jalad-da agreed at once to give up his groundnut field.
Then we got a second field. It was in this ground that the Ashram boys played against the formidable Bengal team. When the reputed Mohan Bagan played an exhibition match with a local team at the Police Ground the Mother was present as the chief guest. Thangaraj, Sailen Manna, Sharat Das, Anil Dey, Nair, Manas Dasgupta who was a classmate of Ranju’s in his college days, were some of the players of the Mohan Bagan team. The game was clean, beautifully coordinated and skilful and the Mother remarked: “C’est un jeu artistique!” (What an artistic game!)
Our boys inevitably got injured while playing. Sunil-da was always the team-captain. Sunil-da also played the sitar beautifully. Unfortunately he broke his right hand badly during one of the football games and his sitar-playing came to an end. We were all saddened by this, especially his mother, Indumukhi. After seeing so many people get injured in this game the Mother nicknamed football a ‘jeu brutal’ (a brutal game).
When Mohan Bagan came to play here, however, the Mother changed Her mind. After the game She affectionately gave all the players a gift. At the conclusion of the game, their captain, Anil Dey thanked everybody and then along with the rest of the team they all loudly hailed the Mother:
“Three cheers for our Ma!”
Needless to say the Mother was deeply pleased by Her children’s, Her devoted footballers’ exemplary conduct.
At the beginning Arun used to play at the goal. Arun’s game was flawless and he was a most dependable player. As backs we had Hriday and Sudhir from Chittagong. Later Kashi Das too joined. Bir Singh, Abhay Singh, Dayakar, Kunjbehari and Robi Gupta used to play in the midfield. As forwards we had Sunil-da, Amiyo, Kanak, Jayant, Manju and Ranju Gupta. Sunil-da often led the team. His game had courage, agility, powerful kicks and heading and he was just perfect as centreforward, what today is called a striker.
Kanak was very good at clever passing and as inside-forward he used to feed the ball to everyone and his play’s main strength was his discipline.
We had subsequently a second team of younger people that came up too! Among these the notable ones were Rathin, Kalu, Mona, Prabhakar, Amarendra, Kittu, Debu, Manoj, Arvind-babu, Shailesh, Ashok and some others. Mona’s game was most complete. He could kick equally well with both legs, had great ball-control, could head well, was strong, fast and had great stamina. He was a perfect pivot as a centre-half. Had he wanted he could have made any state team.
Debu’s game also had great attraction but he did not play as much. It was enough, however, to win praise from connoisseurs of the game. Kittu and Prabhakar also played well.
Often there would be exhibition matches between the young men and the adults. There is a photograph of one such match in the Bulletin. The Mother would start off the match by touching the ball with Her Foot. In the photograph you can see the captain of the adult team, our revered Nolini-da, who is gently smiling and looking at the Mother’s Feet. This photograph was taken on 31st July in the year {{0}}1954[[I am indebted to Ranju for all the information pertaining to football.]].
We would all watch from far the Mother’s way of kicking the ball and playing with it. We enjoyed that moment thoroughly. What enthusiasm and delight there was in everything the Mother did! And these would infect everybody around!
Before going to their football match the boys assembled in front of Pavitra-da’s workshop. Now is Pavitra-da’s office where our Chum works. Chum looks after the replies to all the letters that come from abroad. Mother would call Chum sweetly ‘Choom’.
The Mother used to come down to bless the boys as they were going out to play. How enthusiastic She looked! And we too would be filled with the same enthusiasm and joy, as if we ourselves were going to play!
Home
Disciples
Priti Das Gupta
Books
Share your feedback. Help us improve. Or ask a question.