Mother's Chronicles - Book Five

59

April Fool!

Motilal made secret arrangements for Sri Aurobindo's stay at Chandernagore. Several times the hideaway had to be changed. For had he stayed long in one place he might have been discovered. Everything was done in a cloak-and-dagger manner, so that nobody except Motilal and a few friends knew where Sri Aurobindo was. The first day Motilal hid Sri Aurobindo in his lumber-room. But he spent the night and next day in another house. Brought back to Motilal's in the night he spent a few days in an unused room ... where he was discovered by Motilal's wife I During the five to six weeks that Sri Aurobindo remained in Chandernagore, his hideouts consisted of a thatched hut —in the 'coolie line' —a garden-house in the middle of the town, and the last was a dilapidated shed near a temple of Jagannath. The shed was kept locked during the day, and at night, the revolutionary responsible for him brought dried fruits and nuts ... to keep his body and soul together!

During this time, Sri Aurobindo was plunged entirely in solitary meditation. He often spoke to Motilal about spiritual matters. Seeing the strangely fixed stare of the Yogi, Motilal

Page 534

once asked him what he was seeing. "A multitude of letters come trooping down," he replied, "I try to decipher." That was the akasa-lipi "that keeps the record of all things past, transcribes all that is in process in the present, writes out the future." He also saw divine Forms, "Gods of the invisible worlds become visible," he told Motilal. "They are as significant as the lipi and want to communicate something, which I endeavour to discover." Among the divine Forms he saw at Chandernagore were those of Ila, Saraswati and Sarama, Vedic goddesses of revelation, inspiration and intuition.

But by solitary meditation, I don't mean to say that Sri Aurobindo was completely out of touch with the world. Not at all. He was in regular contact with other revolutionaries. Especially his cousin Sukumar. The latter got a pencil-written note from his Auro-dada, a day or two after he had left Calcutta. Accordingly he sent to Chandernagore some clothes, papers and money —Sukumar was Sri Aurobindo's treasurer!¹ Three or four times a week, says Sukumar, young men came to him with messages from Auro-dada.

At Chandernagore, said Sri Aurobindo, "some friends were thinking of sending me to France. I was wondering what to do next. Then I heard the Adesh, 'Go to Pondicherry.'"

He therefore told Motilal and others about his decision. He wrote to cousin Sukumar to arrange for the voyage. Sukumar,

1. Sukumar says that when imprisoned Sri Aurobindo had given him his 'power of attorney.' Sukumar had it till the end, as Sri Aurobindo never withdrew it.

Page 535

himself under constant double surveillance of the C.I.D., had necessarily to take help from others. But having learnt some stratagem in the conduct of politics and revolution, he kept the number to a minimum, and did not let the right hand know what the left was doing. He proved worthy of his cousin's confidence.

Nagendra Kumar Guharoy, a youth of twenty, whom Sukumar knew well through his connection with the Anti-Circular Society and who had become almost like a member of the Mitra family, was roped in. Surendra Kumar Chakravarty, Nagen's hostel-mate, was to be Nagen's helper. Taking all factors into consideration, Sukumar rejected an overland, long train journey as fraught with danger. He opted instead on a sea voyage as less risky for Auro-dada. Nagen was sent to procure two Calcutta-Colombo tickets, and reserve a second-class two-berth cabin. For the two passengers —Bejoy was to accompany Sri Aurobindo —he chose two names from Sanjibants list of subscribers.

Then there was Amar of Uttarpara. Motilal from Chandernagore sent him word to pick up Sejda from Agarpara, upriver from Uttarpara, on the 31^st. Amar informed Michhari Babu, who would have loved to go to meet Sri Aurobindo. But Amar persuaded him not to, given the risk entailed. But Michhari Babu sent an offering through Amar to Sri Aurobindo. Amar took his right-hand man, Manmatha Biswas, who would draw less attention than Michhari Babu.

It was 31 March 1910.

All the actors in the drama of the day were ready to

Page 536

play their parts. What a responsibility! They were going to be plunged into a whirlpool of danger and be confronted with unforeseen situations. Would they prove equal to the task?

As I speak to you, dear Reader, over eighty years have rolled by. Fog has obliterated many details. I shall try to call back out of the mists of the past those scenes which were brisk enough in the acting. But alas! they may read like flights of fancy in the pages of the worthy men¹ who set themselves to record them ... thirty or forty years after the event. They had grown old, their memories had dimmed. A considerable amount of chaff got mixed up with the wheat. But a little winnowing may provide us with a reasonable amount of grains in all that chaff, who knows!

At dawn Sri Aurobindo began the reverse, downriver sailing from Chandernagore to Calcutta. Amar and Manmatha were at their appointed place, and took up Sejda in their own boat. The two men from Chandernagore went back. From Agar-para Amar's boat sailed down the Ganga to the designated ghat from where Nagen and Suren were to pick up Sri Aurobindo. But where was the boat from Calcutta? Nagen had miscalculated. Amar went up to Chandpal Ghat, where the Colombo-bound ship was berthed, hoping to find Nagen waiting there with the tickets. But again, no Nagen! Amar, not having the ghost of a notion of Nagen's whereabouts, disembarked. The three

1. Nagendra Kumar Guharoy's Farewell to God (Devata-Biday), Arnaren-dranath Chattopadhyay's letter to Nagen in the same book , and Sukumar Mitra's Aurobindo Acroyd Ghose, an eight-part article in Masik Basumati

Page 537

procured a closed carriage, put Sri Aurobindo inside, and directed the coachman to Harrison Road, where he stopped the carriage. He then sent Manmatha to Sukumar at nearby College Square. What a tense ride that was for Amar and Manmatha through the streets of Calcutta! But he for whom their worry remained serene, "as though in samadhi," as Amar put it.

Nagen, in the meantime, having missed the rendezvous with Amar, returned to consult with Sukumar. The latter told him to go back to the ship and retrieve the two trunks he (Nagen) had put in the ship's cabin that morning. While the porter was removing the trunks from the ship, Nagen learnt that the medical examination, compulsory for all passengers, had already been done and the doctor had gone home. The Captain told Nagen that if the passengers went to the doctor's house he might still give them the health certificates, and they could board the ship even as late as 10:30P.M. The porter assured Nagen that he knew the doctor's house. Nagen went back to his hostel, left the trunks there and hurried to Sukumar's. Before he could explain his share of the doings, Sukumar cut in saying that Amar had already informed him of the situation. But when Nagen explained his arrangement for getting the health certificates from the doctor, Sukumar was happy, went inside and brought out some money. He told Nagen to return to Chandpal Ghat, for Amar was waiting there with Sejda, Bejoy and Manmatha. Upon his return, a relieved Nagen found his porter waiting near a closed carriage, and inside were the three men. The middle-aged porter told the twenty-year-old Babu to hurry up. "I have already spoken of

Page 538

you to the doctor, but if you delay longer he won't be available, as he will retire to bed."

They went to the Doctor's, a European, who lived in Chowringhee. It was then about 9:30. They waited for half an hour in the verandah. Nagen then handed over the two second-class tickets to Sejda and Bejoy, as well as the doctor's fees. He also told Sejda that it had been given out that he was a malaria patient, wishful of taking a cruise for the sake of his health. He also told Sejda and Bejoy their respective names as chosen by Sukumar. Obviously Sri Aurobindo could not travel under his own name!

Nagen narrates an incident that occurred while they were waiting. The porter saw the three of them talking among themselves; but seeing Sri Aurobindo who had relapsed into meditative silence, thought that the Babu, having never met any Europeans, was full of fear. When he whispered his thought to Nagen, the latter replied, "No, no, why should he be afraid? He is like that because he is suffering from malaria fever." The man did not feel reassured. He quickly went to Sri Aurobindo, and said slowly, "Don't be afraid, Babu. Saheb is a very good man. There is nothing to fear." Then abruptly he caught hold of Sri Aurobindo's arms in his firm grasp and shook him. All, including Sri Aurobindo, smiled at the man's concern.

Presently the two passengers were called in to the doctor's chamber. Within fifteen minutes they came out with the required certificates. Naturally the European doctor had not forgotten to charge double as late-fee! But he was also

Page 539

struck with the English spoken by Sri Aurobindo —sorry, Jatin dranath Mitra, as was his assumed name for that journey. Bejoy's was Bankim Chandra Bhowmik.

What was Sri Aurobindo's own impression about those interminable rides through the streets of Calcutta? "I had to apply for a passport under a false name," Sri Aurobindo said one day on 18 December 1938. "The District Commissioner required a medical certificate by an English doctor. After a great deal of trouble I found one and went to his house. He told me that I was speaking English remarkably well. I replied that I had been to England."

A shocked Nirod asked, "How could you agree to take a false name for the certificate?"

Sri Aurobindo retorted, "If I had given my real name I would have been at once arrested. With due respect to Gandhi's Truth, I could not be so very precise here. You can't be a revolutionary otherwise."

The night was creeping on, and it was well nigh eleven when they returned to board the ship. The porter went up the gangplank with the luggage on his head, the others followed. In the reserved cabin, Bejoy busied himself making the beds. Amar offered the wad of banknotes from Michhari Babu to Sri Aurobindo; then bowing his head over his folded hands, he made his namaskar, and bade him farewell. Nagen, in his turn, put his forehead on Sri Aurobindo's feet. Amar, Nagen and Manmatha went down with a heavy heart from the ship, and returned to Calcutta and Uttarpara respectively.

The next morning, 1^st April, as the black shaded

Page 540

imperceptibly into grey, S.S. Dupleix, the French liner of the Messageries Maritimes, began to move away from the dock. Then steamed out of Calcutta harbour. Then was out in the Bay of Bengal.

The 'most dangerous man,' the prize Catch eluded the net cast wide for him by the mighty British empire.

On 1^st April 1910, the British Government was made an April Fool I

Whose whimsical humour weaves such time nets? On 4 April S.S. Dupleix reached Pondicherry harbour. There she dropped her anchor.

That is how Sri Aurobindo came to Pondicherry.

Page 541