On A Personal Note

To my extreme sorrow, I was not blessed by Netaji's physical presence. But I was blessed by his dearest friend Dilip's physical presence many, many times. In my adolescent years, Dilip-da appreciated and encouraged me most lovingly and most affectionately. He read at least 200 of my Bengali poems. Hard to believe, one of my Bengali songs he sang, along with thirty young boys, in front of the Mother of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram.

When I was about 16 years old, in 1948, I wrote an article entitled Amader Dilip-da. There I devotedly expressed my deep feelings for those two intimate friends and two most illustrious Sons of Bengal: Subhas and Dilip.

My English teacher, Rani Devi, was all compassion to me. She took that article from me to give to Dilip-da, who was a relative of hers. Dilip-da made a few minor corrections. I treasured his blessingful corrections. Rani-di brought me the following message from Dilip-da: