Leaves from Letters

By Prof. K. R. R. SASTRY
(University, Allahabad)

Immortal Kalidasa portrays the love-laden letter of Sakuntala to Dushyanta engraved on the leaves Letter-writing, coeval with the birth of the script, has been used as a vehicle of persuasion, admonition and adoration throughout the ages. Pliny (the younger) wrote a vivid letter on the eruption of Vesuvius. In fact in these matters all masters of substance and style have been urged by the mood of passing on to posterity wit, wisdom, and urbanity. From Polonius’ advice to Nehru’s letters, the matter of the theme may vary; the manner has been of equal importance.

A Few Unpublished Letters

Extracts from a few letters received between 1921 and 1944 are herein given. The selection is made on their public value.

Mrs. Asquith (later Lady Asquith) had just won remarkable publicity through the publication of her Autobiography (First Volume).

Feb. 25th 1921

The Wharf

Sutton Court, Berka.

Dear Sir,

All books are spoilt for me by padding and many autobiographies by a sort of pettiness and self-scanned, self-centred complacency which I find suffocating. I write as I speak and make no pretensions to being an author, as this will be my first and last work.

I find nothing improper or spiteful in a single page of the book. It is direct, very simple and alive and absolutely true. Beyond this it has no merit.
Thanking you,
I am,

Yours truly

(Sd.) Margot Asquit

P. S. My husband is all you say and far more. He has character as well as intellect, which alas! is for the moment lacking in our present government.

Viscount Grey and His Hobby

While engaged in teaching in a Governmet School in 1923 the present writer was trying to tame the grey Indian squirrel.
4, Buckingham St.,
London, S. W. (1)
29th November 1923

Dear Mr. S…..

I was very interested in your letter about squirrels and feel much sympathy with your desire and effort to tame them. I enclose a memorandum giving my experience in case it may be helpful to you.

It is very delightful to get wild things which are under no restraint and which are leading a perfectly natural life to become tame, and to abandon that fear of man which is such a barrier between ourselves and so many beautiful things in the world.
Yours sincerely,
(Sd.) Grey of Fallodon.

A man of brilliant parts, Grey showed a constitutional leaning for “the quiet life in his country”. He loved angling and has written with authority on “Fly Fishing”. He was a past champion of tennis and his affection for birds and love of nature remind one of Gilbert White.

The Rt. Hon’ble Sastri on Gandhiji’s Power

Like the late Sir B. L. Mitter, the Rt. Hon’ble V. S. Srinivas Sastri commanded a beautiful calligraphy.

Lucknow

10-5-27

My dear R……,

You are right to think of the apprenticeship. I would like you to concentrate on it. That Geneva thing is a will o’ the wisp......

When I wrote the stuff to the “Hindustan Review”, I scarcely thought of myself for the job (Agent Generalship in S. Africa). Gandhi’s power is indeed great that a suggestion of his, which I then thought would be laughed to scorn, should have realized itself and victimised me. But I won’t quarrel with him. He has since been so nice to me and written in his paper to make my way smooth.
Yours affectionately,
(Sd.) V. S. Srinivasan.

The late K. T Paul on Altruistic Service

Once, probably in a huff, the present writer wanted to join the Servants of India Society. Here is a gentle admonition from the late K. T. Paul, National Secretary, Y.M.C.A.

Y.M.C.A. Buildings

Madras,
June 20, 1927

My dear S…..,

As for the bigger question you ask about your own future, that is too sacred a matter for anyone to presume to advise. The main principles are well-known to one of your equipment and experience; the rest is for one’s own conscience and judgment. Not every one is called to completely altruistic service, nor is everyone happily called to become a money-making machine.
Yours sincerely,
(Sd.) K. T. Paul.

Gandhiji on Politics

The present writer had the audacity to assert in a letter to Gandhiji that Ahimsa has never been a rule of State. Here was his reply written in his own hand.
Sevagram
Wardha (C.P.)
11-11-1944

Dear Prof. Sastry,

I thank you for your kind letter.

(A)  My experience does not bear out the truth of your proposition. I do not claim to be a saint. But I do not regard politics as inconsistent with the strictest moral code. Politics I hold to be a noble art which every good citizen must cultivate. I have not in mind the game that professional politicians play.
(B)  is answered in (A)
(C)  Only posterity can judge. Obviously I can’t.
(D)  I am sorry I cannot subscribe to your opionion. Mine is a new experiment. I plead for patience in coming to a judgment.

As to your constructive suggestions you will perhaps forgive me, if I do not argue about them.

Yours sincerely,
(Sd.) M. K. Gandhi.

Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru on his Life

Every inch a gentleman, Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru had an invincible code of serene conduct to guide him. In answer to a plea for preserving the diary-leaves of a life of peace and goodwill, he wrote from that home of grand hospitality.

19-Albert Road
Allahabad
12th November 1939

Dear Mr. S…..,

I am not vain enough to assume that there is anything in my life which calls for a careful and comprehensive study. It has been the usual hum-drum life of a busy lawyer earning his livelihood in courts and relieving that monotony by very occasional lapses into politics and by some other intellectual pursuits.
Yours sincerely,
(Sd.) Tej Bahadur Sapru.

“It is myself I portray,” said Montaigue. Even in these extracts are to be found the “lively’ incandescence of Margot Asquith, the solitary tranquility of Viscount Grey, the sweet persuassiveness of the Rt. Hon’ble Sastri, the dynamic guidance of K.T. Paul, the disarming humility of Gandhiji, and the artful self-denial of Sir Tej.