Mother's Chronicles - Book Five

25

Barin

But again I have got ahead of myself so let us take the back trail.

One who was closely associated with Sri Aurobindo's revolutionary activity, and had great responsibility, was his younger brother Barin.

After their father's death in December 1892, Barin and Sarojini were taken to their grandfather's at Deoghar, where for the first time they were to meet their three elder brothers. It was at Deoghar that Barin went to school. He passed his Matriculation from Patna University in 1900, then continued his college studies at Dacca. His 'Mejodada' Manmohan, who was then professor at Dacca University, offered him hospitality. Barin then fancied the career of a farmer for himself. It did not work out. After a few meanders he opened a tea stall at Patna, 'near the Patna College:

'B. Ghose's

TEA STALL

Half-anna cup, rich in cream'

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Predictably the business failed. So Barin decided to go to Baroda, and get some money from his 'Sejda.' This was his first long train journey —almost 2,000 kilometres in B. N. R. 's Bombay Mail —which lasted for four days and four nights. The train passed through the Sal forests of Midnapore, skirted the Chilka Lake, and, oh, so many sights greeted the young man. Then after a crowded Bombay he reached Baroda early the next morning. He took a rickshaw at the railway station. "Aurobindo then lived at Collector Khaserao's house, very near the Maharaja's 'Lakshmivilas Palace.' The two-storeyed house was built in red brick. In that society of finished gentlemen suddenly one morning appeared a strange creature, in travel-stained clothes, carrying a cheap, torn canvas valise, and wearing canvas shoes in worse condition, looking like a vagabond," narrates Barin in his Bengali autobiography.

"The butler was amazed to see me. He was hard put to it to believe that this was 'the brother of Ghose Saheb.' He dubiously ushered me into the fine drawing room near the portico, and disappeared upstairs to announce my arrival. Almost immediately Sejda hurriedly came down the grand staircase and spirited me away to a bathroom upstairs. With the help of soap and towel I was able to shed the skin of coal and dust accumulated during those four days and nights. Then after donning Sejda's shirt and clean dhoti, and my long hair combed in Rabindric style, when I came out everybody heaved a sigh of relief." By 'everybody' Barin means his Didi (Sarojini), Sejda and Sejo-baudi (Sejda's wife). It was several months after Sri Aurobindo's marriage in April 1901 that Barin turned up. "By

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and by I met the Jadhav brothers in the dining room. 'Well, young man!' and with such other European greetings, Khaserao heartily patted me on the back and welcomed me. Madhavrao, a lieutenant in the army, was dark; with his calm grace and quick smile, he became my friend at first sight."

A new life of leisure began for Barin. This is how he describes the house. "A rather big hall, facing the lawn, beyond which ran the main street from the railway station to Lakshmivilas Palace, two rooms on its right and a covered inner courtyard, with a dining room on one side and servants' quarters on the other. That was how the house was built. The same number of rooms was repeated upstairs, of which the hall was Sri Aurobindo's study. A table, a sofa, a number of chairs, all heaped pellmell with books, and a revolving bookcase groaning under their weight —all thinly covered with dust; a quiet small unassuming man buried there for hours in a trance of thought and very often writing page after page of poetry, that was the picture I became accustomed to daily-

"I set up my abode in a room on the groundfloor, which nestled in the remote corner of the lawn, with my notebooks for writing poetry, my esraj,¹ gardening tools and heaps of novels. It became the rendezvous of the family. Sejda often dropped in after lunch and at night. When Didi and Baudi were in Baroda, they too spent the afternoon in my hole, passing the time in gossip and merry chatter." He remembered the timid eyes and shy half-veiled face of Sejo-Baudi, and the

1. A stringed musical instrument played with a bow, like a violin.

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far-off detached look and absent-minded smile of Sejda.

Whenever Barin brought up the subject of finance for his tea stall, Sejda always evaded committing himself. He, who was so generous with his money, was quite unwilling to spend it on something which did not meet with his approval. Thus the short visit of Barin got prolonged. He led a carefree life, filled with writing poetry and reading novels, painting and hunting and vegetable gardening. He was a young man of many parts, brilliant in all he did, attractive and persuasive. Barin had great energy and capacity. "Yes, he had brilliance," Sri Aurobindo said, and sketched a quick portrait of his younger brother, "but he was narrow and limited. He wouldn't widen himself. That is why his things won't last. For instance, he was a brilliant writer and he also composed devotional poetry, but, because of his limitedness, nothing that will endure. He was an amusing conversationalist, he had some musical ability, he was good at revolutionary activity. He did well in all these matters, but nothing more. He was also a painter, but it did not come to much in spite of his exhibitions."

Now and then Barin would go, accompanied by his gardener, for a day-long outing, leaving at four in the morning and returning around eight in the evening. These were actually his hunting expeditions. He shot birds with a small sporting rifle and a breech-loading gun that Madhavrao had given him. But when he returned home, his Didi could not stomach the sight of all those killed or half-killed wild fowl. She refused to taste the 'tastily cooked' meat.

When the Puja vacations came, all of them went to

urn's portrait

Sri Aurobindo

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Deoghar. Barin had taken with him Madhavrao's gifts, the rifle and breech-loading gun. The two brothers would go to the Daroa river bank to shoot birds. Ostensibly. "While my brother Barin and I were at Baidyanath," Sri Aurobindo recalled, "we used to go out with guns to shoot at birds, obviously with the idea of practising. My aunty saw us and said, 'These two boys will be hanged.' The prophecy came almost true, for Barin got a death sentence."

Let us hear a racy tale from C.C. Dutt. "Once Sri Aurobindo came to Thane, where I was posted. It was raining heavily on that day. As we could not stir out, we fell to target-shooting to beguile the time. My wife proposed that 'Ghose Saheb' should be given the rifle to have a try at it. But Sri Aurobindo refused, saying that he had never handled a rifle. At our insistence he finally agreed. We showed him how to hold the rifle and take aim. He then said to my wife, 'Lilabati, come and stand near me. Charu is too restless.' Taking up the rifle he took aim, and the very first shot hit the target; the first hit was followed up by a second, and the second by a third! It took our breath away. Do you know what the target was? The black, tiny head of a matchstick, hung at a distance of ten to twelve feet."

This anecdote is in C.C. Dutt's Reminiscences.¹ Upon hearing this story from Nirod, about his aiming at the tip of the matchstick, Sri Aurobindo commented, "That is all fantasy." About the rest, however, he said, "What was actually the case

1. Purano-Katha Upasanghar.

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was that I and Barin went somewhere in Midnapore to practise shooting. No doubt, it is true that I didn't know how to handle a gun."

Another story Dutt narrates in his book is about playing bridge. This too occurred at Thane. Lilabati was making watermelon ice cream, as both 'Ghose Saheb' and her brother Subodh Mullick were there. The ice cream needed time to set. So Subodh said, "Come, let's play a game of card." Smilingly, Ghose Saheb replied, "Yes, let's. But I don't know your modern games of bridge or poker. Ages ago, in my boyhood I played whist a few times with old people." Lilabati explained the basics of the game to Ghose Saheb who was her partner. On the other side were Subodh and Charu. Then began the game. "And they kept winning and winning!" said C.C. "So I flung down the cards on the table. 'You are quarrelsome fellows,' said my wife. 'All right we release all that we have won. What do you say Partner?' The Partner laughed much and said, 'I have no objection in being charitable and releasing what we. have won. But we won by our sharp intelligence.'"

Sri Aurobindo and the others all laughed upon hearing the story. Sri Aurobindo had half forgotten about the game of cards. "All I remember," he said at first, "is that it was a game of bridge which I didn't know and I and Mrs. Dutt were thoroughly beaten by the opposite party." The others present laughed again. "But the shooting incident I can't forget because that was the first time I was handling a gun."

When the full memory came back, Sri Aurobindo corrected himself, "It is true I didn't know how to play cards

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and bridge is a difficult game, but I kept winning. So he thought I knew everybody's hand. As for shooting with a gun, it is quite easy. I could have taken aim at even small birds high in the air."

It was at Thane that Sri Aurobindo first met Subodh Mullick. Then when he accepted the post of Principal of National College at Calcutta he very often stayed with the Mullicks like a member of the family. He called Lilabati's mother, 'Ma.' And, most unusual with him, he let Lilabati materially take care of him. When he returned from the College, tired out, Lilabati would wipe his perspiring head, and comb his hair. They had really become like brother and sister.

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