Sunday, January 16, 2005

Nehru’s refreshing humour K.J.S. Chatrath Reading about the release of a new edition of Pandit Nehru’s letters to his sister has brought back an interesting episode to my mind. Searching for a book in the Orissa Government Secretariat library about a decade back, I chanced to see an old book. The book was Nehru’s Letters to His Sister (Krishna Nehru Hutheesing). This book gave me an amazing insight into Nehru’s personality. Panditji was very fond of his little sister. There was a considerable age difference between the two and as Hutheesing herself explained in the "Introduction", she was treated more like a daughter, both by Panditji and his wife. The letters of Panditji address her affectionately as "Betty", Beti and, sometimes, as "Bets". What struck me was that a good number of these 93 letters in the book had been written from various prisons where Panditji had been detained — Almora, Bareilly, Dehra Dun, Naini, Calcutta and Ahmadnagar. Some of the letters were written from his ancestral home Anand Bhavan in Allahabad. The first letter in the collection written from Delhi, dated February 21, 1931, gives the address as I, Daryagunj. Two letters, written in 1947, give the address of 17, York Road, while there are some letters which just say "Delhi". Only in the letter dated July 20, 1955, the address is given as "Prime Minister’s House, New Delhi". Almost every letter introduces us to some aspect of Nehru’s humour. This subtle sense of humour comes even while mentioning the place from where the letter is written. The letter, written on June 30, 1945, notes the place of writing as "Running Train", while another letter that he wrote from a ship while returning from Ceylon records it as having been written from "S.S. Something". There is a nugget in the letter written from the ship which is worth quoting, "Kamla has often been taken for my daughter. But what do you say to Indu being taken for my mother? This has happened repeatedly." This shows the ability of Nehru to laugh at himself and his family. When he got the news of the birth of a baby son to his sister, Panditji sent a lovely telegram on February, 2 1935, from Almora Jail. He wrote, "Cheerio get well soon darling and bring the howling infant here for display and criticism — love Jawahar". In his letter dated October 12, 1943, he jokes at the Nehrus. He writes, "November seems to have been a favourite month for the Nehrus to be born in". He was referring to the fact that he was born in November and so were Krishna Hutheesing and Indira Gandhi. This delightful humour is also evident in his letters from the prison. From the Ahmadnagar Fort Prison on February 25, 1945, he wrote: "This is likely to be my last letter to you from Ahmadnagar Fort. Today we complete 960 days here — a long chunk of one’s life. But the longest lane has a turning somewhere and we turn to — another prison". In his letter written on July 12 1953, from Delhi, when he came to know of a little accident his sister had met with and had injured her nose, he remarked tongue-in cheek. "I am glad to know that you are safely back with more or less a complete nose". He reports in his letter dated January 17, 1943, that a bottle of honey sent to him had broken down in the box during transit. "I gazed awestruck at the mess just one bottle of honey could make when given the chance to do so..." Two books in the box had also got covered with honey. And reaction of Panditji to it was sharp and sweet, "There was Zimmern’s book, but this Zimmern is and has always been a sticky person. And Lewis Carol? Was it a new adventure for Alice to float about in honey?" There is a wonderful mix of humour and finality of views in his letter written from "Somewhere in India but not at Anand Bhavan, Allahabad" on September 18, 1942. He wrote, "I am horrified to learn that Raja (pet name of Krishna Hutheesing’s husband) is growing a beard. This is wholly inexcusable and you must tell him so." Yes, Panditji’s brand of humour was unique and refreshing.

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