Home and the World | Page 7

nor did I care, what wrong poor Noren might, or might not,
have done to Miss Gilby, but the idea of sitting in judgement on such a
matter at such a time! I should have refused to damp the spirit which
prompted young Noren to defy the Englishwoman. I could not but look
upon it as a sign of cowardice in my husband, that he should fail to
understand this simple thing. And so I blushed for him.
And yet it was not that my husband refused to support __Swadeshi__,
or was in any way against the Cause. Only he had not been able
whole-heartedly to accept the spirit of __Bande Mataram__. [10]
"I am willing," he said, "to serve my country; but my worship I reserve
for Right which is far greater than my country. To worship my country
as a god is to bring a curse upon it."
------
8. The Nationalist movement, which began more as an economic than a
political one, having as its main object the encouragement of
indigenous industries [Trans.].
9. "Babu" is a term of respect, like "Father" or "Mister," but has also
meant in colonial days a person who understands some English.
[on-line ed.]
10. Lit.: "Hail Mother"; the opening words of a song by Bankim
Chatterjee, the famous Bengali novelist. The song has now become the
national anthem, and __Bande Mataram__ the national cry, since the
days of the __Swadeshi__ movement [Trans.].



Chapter Two
Bimala's Story

IV

THIS was the time when Sandip Babu with his followers came to our
neighbourhood to preach __Swadeshi__.
There is to be a big meeting in our temple pavilion. We women are
sitting there, on one side, behind a screen. Triumphant shouts of
__Bande Mataram__ come nearer: and to them I am thrilling through
and through. Suddenly a stream of barefooted youths in turbans, clad in
ascetic ochre, rushes into the quadrangle, like a silt-reddened freshet
into a dry river-bed at the first burst of the rains. The whole place is
filled with an immense crowd, through which Sandip Babu is borne,
seated in a big chair hoisted on the shoulders of ten or twelve of the
youths.
__Bande Mataram! Bande Mataram! Bande Mataram__! It seems as
though the skies would be rent and scattered into a thousand fragments.
I had seen Sandip Babu's photograph before. There was something in
his features which I did not quite like. Not that he was bad- looking--far
from it: he had a splendidly handsome face. Yet, I know not why, it
seemed to me, in spite of all its brilliance, that too much of base alloy
had gone into its making. The light in his eyes somehow did not shine
true. That was why I did not like it when my husband unquestioningly
gave in to all his demands. I could bear the waste of money; but it
vexed me to think that he was imposing on my husband, taking
advantage of friendship. His bearing was not that of an ascetic, nor
even of a person of moderate means, but foppish all over. Love of
comfort seemed to ... any number of such reflections come back to me
today, but let them be.
When, however, Sandip Babu began to speak that afternoon, and the
hearts of the crowd swayed and surged to his words, as though they
would break all bounds, I saw him wonderfully transformed. Especially
when his features were suddenly lit up by a shaft of light from the
slowly setting sun, as it sunk below the roof-line of the pavilion, he
seemed to me to be marked out by the gods as their messenger to
mortal men and women.
From beginning to end of his speech, each one of his utterances was a
stormy outburst. There was no limit to the confidence of his assurance.

I do not know how it happened, but I found I had impatiently pushed
away the screen from before me and had fixed my gaze upon him. Yet
there was none in that crowd who paid any heed to my doings. Only
once, I noticed, his eyes, like stars in fateful Orion, flashed full on my
face.
I was utterly unconscious of myself. I was no longer the lady of the
Rajah's house, but the sole representative of Bengal's womanhood. And
he was the champion of Bengal. As the sky had shed its light over him,
so he must receive the consecration of a woman's benediction ...
It seemed clear to me that, since he had caught sight of me, the fire in
his words had flamed up more fiercely. Indra's [11] steed refused to be
reined in, and there came the roar of thunder and the flash of lightning.
I said within myself that his language had