Shashank

#3 Posted by SSS on November 26, 2003 10:34:58 pm

#2 by Kort

The error is due to a mistake on my part, not Mr. Handley`s. My aplologies to all of you. Sincerely,
SSS

#2 Posted by kort on November 26, 2003 3:33:59 pm

Mr.Handley
The Mother was not Sri Aurobindo`s wife. She was His disciple.

#1 Posted by Essensaur on November 25, 2003 8:41:21 pm

Dear Author,

I had read the late Mr. Lele’s novel with considerable interest when it was published on Chowk. Although I did not interact, I remember having liked the memoirs that one reader likened to couch-confessions. Some others said they had liked it for the lucidity and simplicity of presentation.

Your style of writing and the thoughts behind what you say seem to be harder to understand, and even though I have read your eulogy a couple of times, I am not sure I get the drift properly. And yet, I seem to sense that you have something deep to say. Could it be because your English heritage does not permit you to wear your heart on your sleeve? ;)

Part of the problem could be that the CHOWK readers are reading your letter out of context. The reader does not know who it was addressed to, and the various references that you shared with the recipient. But perhaps you merely were jotting down your musings upon suddenly learning of the demise of someone whom you had met briefly and liked intensely.

Are the bold subtitles the various topics you discussed with the other “agent provocateur”, and the poetry that follows each topic the drift of what you remember having discussed once upon a time, or merely a triggered chain of thought? Your profile says you write terrible poetry. I disagree. I suspect that bit of terrible poetry can stand on its own.

What does stand out lucidly and clearly however, is that your friendship with the late Shashank Lele meant something truly special to you, and you developed a lot of respect and affection for someone who was a self-declared “sinner” and a manic depressive to boot (he says so in his memoirs, without telling us exactly what sins he had committed and against whom).

Could you tell us something more about Auroville?

Perhaps I should go over what you wrote once again! 

-- E