Learning with the Mother

INTRODUCTION TO DISCIPLINE

Thereafter, Pranab Da would write out the lessons in a notebook everyday and Usha and I would teach the Group. He would stand near by to watch and correct us when necessary.

Around 1947, when we were all pursuing physical education activities very enthusiastically, Pranab Da wanted us to learn to march smartly. The Mother contacted the governor of Pondicherry who then sent us a French Military officer to teach us marching. Naturally all the orders were in French since we were in French India. The Mother wanted that we should also give the orders in French. French was then the compulsory medium of instruction in all the schools of the French colony.

Consequently, She started taking the lessons that Pranab Da wrote for us and translated them into French in our notebooks. My notebook was taken up by Her on 27th August 1948. Usha and I, both being captains of Group A, our notebooks would go to her alternately every week, and we would receive our lessons in French in Her own handwriting. We would learn these by heart and then teach the members of our Group. This did not continue for long because Mother soon grew very busy and could not continue the translation work, but it got us started.

A sample facsimile from my notebook figuring below gives an example of how the Mother took keen interest in the minutest of details. She even translated the simple physical education lessons in our notebooks neatly, thereby teaching us to be organised and meticulous. The remarkable point to note is the interest and pains She took in every minute and apparently insignificant detail of the children’s welfare and nurturing.

A sample facsimile from the physical education notebook in Mother’s handwriting in French

It may not be out of place to recount an incident that happened a few years later of how Mother instilled into us a sense of duty. We had a small programme in the Playground after which the Mother got up to leave and so did most of the people who were sitting and watching it. I then saw that several mats were lying around and had not been put back in place. Without thinking much I started to roll the mats to put them back to where they belonged. In the meantime, Mother had gone just a little further when a visitor stopped her and started talking to Her. While talking to him She must have been observing my actions. After putting everything in place I came back and like many others waited beside the Mother’s route. This was a daily routine for many of us as we would stand and have the last darshan of the day as She walked towards the main gate of the Playground where Her car would be waiting to take her to the Ashram. As She walked towards the gate, She suddenly stopped in front of me and gave me the most tender and divine hug. She praised me for my conscious dedication to duty and said this is what She expected from an ideal captain. This small gesture of recognition has remained with me for the rest of my life and I am always alert when things are not taken care of or when they are out of place.

Activities were getting more organised in the physical education department and facilities were being expanded. The body building Gym had already started in a small way. The Tennis Courts, the Basketball and Volleyball Courts, the Boxing Ring and the Wrestling Pit were all under construction. Udar and Manoranjan Ganguly were planning, supervising and executing the different plans in the Tennis Ground along the beach.

It was during this time, in 1947, that Udar got made a Ping Pong table in his workshop -‘Harpagon’. This table was placed in a hall in Udar’s house, called Fenetres, and Mother was invited to inaugurate it.

When Mother came to inaugurate the table, naturally all the senior boys and girls, as well as Pranab Da, were present for the occasion. The Mother carried out the inauguration by playing with some of the youngsters present there. She enjoyed it so much that from that day she started coming three days a week at first and soon after almost every evening to play that game. Since I was busy taking Group A’s physical education classes, I never actually saw the Mother playing Table Tennis. Pranab Da attended on her throughout, from the very first day. As a result, Usha and I were completely on our own, teaching children who were often barely one or two years younger than us.

Soon after this, the Tennis Courts were ready and Mother started going to the Tennis Ground for playing Tennis. Pranab Da was always Mother’s partner during the Mother’s game of Tennis. Since She played from 4:30 p.m. which was also the physical education time of Group A, Usha and I were again left completely to ourselves for conducting the activities of the youngest Group.

Our training as captains comprised mostly of self­discipline. We had to come punctually ten or fifteen minutes before the students; check on what the children were to be taught; bring out the equipment and arrange it. If any markings had to be made on the ground, we had to make them ourselves. Then exactly on the dot we would blow our whistles for the members to assemble in front of us in a line and we would mark their attendance. All these little things gradually became more and more ingrained in us and taught us to value discipline, punctuality, dedication, hard work and the effort to always give our best. We also learnt time management from an early age. After the lessons, we were expected to put all the equipment back in place and count them to make sure nothing was lost or missing. Everything had a place and everything had to be put back in place.

In those days there were hardly any clocks around and no family gave a wrist watch to a child until the age of eighteen. Since Mother laid so much stress on punctuality, one day I asked my father to give me a wrist watch so that I could be on time for all my physical education activities. As I was still young he probably did not want to encourage me to have a wrist watch so he asked me to get permission from the Mother. When I asked Mother, She promptly wrote a note for my father which I gave to him and he said he would go to Delhi and bring me a watch next time. The next day when I went to the Mother, She asked me whether my father had agreed to give me the watch and I told her that he will get one for me when he comes next time from Delhi. She looked surprised and said that watches are much cheaper in French Pondicherry as they were duty free. She probably realised that my father had no intention of giving me the watch. She immediately went inside and brought me a small lady’s gold plated wrist watch which She said She had used extensively in Japan. Thus I got a wrist watch. Mother gave a lot of importance to the fact that I was serious in my punctuality as a captain and therefore rewarded me.

The Mother’s handwritten note

By then the Mother started coming to the Playground after her game of Tennis. Her daily presence in the Playground gave great impetus to the growth of physical education in the Ashram and it also inspired us to do our best.