Facets Of India: A Quaint Indian "Englishman'' - Part 5
Hariharan Balakrishnan concludes his word portrait of Nirad Chaudhuri, a very special Indian writer and thinker who deserves to be read and re-read down the long decades.
This essay on Nirad Chaudhuri will not be complete without a mention of my friend CV Raju of Coimbatore. He is the one who reckindled my fascination for this “Unknown Indian”. This is how.
Raju and I reconnected after a chance conversation he had with his friends who also happened to know me, while on their way to the golf course in Ooty, This was in 2000, thirty three years after we parted in college. Raju is a globe-trotter and has visited more than 50 countries so far. He makes it a point to go to historical places and meets people whom he holds in some awe, whenever he gets a chance.
Soon after we talked over the phone, Raju sent me some photo-copies of material on and by Nirad Chaudhuri, as well as a letter to his uncle where he describes his meeting with the centenarian in Oxford on July 18, 1999.
Raju knows Bengali and the two took off where they left their previous conversation a month earlier, before Raju left for Europe from London. It was Tagore’s “Ei Jeebon Purno Koro” (Give this life fulfillment) at the end of which Nirad babu said “Amaar Jeebon Purno Hoyegache” (My life is fulfilled in all respects).
This friend of mine was possibly the last Indian to have met Nirad Chaudhuri before he passed away on August 1, 1999. If you, dear reader, want to have a copy of that descriptive letter, you can contact me at fabalas02@gmail.com. I have my friend’s permission to share it with you.
When I told Raju over telephone a couple of weeks ago that I am writing this essay, he generously sent me his personal copies of “Autobiography of an Unknown Indian” and “Three Horsemen of the New Apocalypse”, and also a photograph of Nirad Chaudhuri taken on the occasion of his being honoured with a CBE. Each of these was autographed by the intellectual giant disguised in the diminutive man.
The Daily Telegraph published a 5-column obituary on this Unknown Indian on August 2, 1999. It ends with this:
"He was made an honorary CBE in 1992, but suffered surprising neglect from Oxford. He received an honorary doctorate at 92 and was given a party for his 100th birthday by Trinity, but he was never given dining rights at a college. This worried him little: 'When you realize that you are going to leave this world via the Oxford crematorium, dining rights are a trifle'.''
That, I think, defines the man and his sense of dignity.
**
H. Balakrishnan
283 Shaheed Nagar
Bhubaneswar 751007
INDIA
Tel.: +919338246725
