Mamajee

This is a reference to Protul Bannerjee, Amiya's maternal uncle (the meaning of "mama" in Hindi -- Editor), a great scholar of Bengali and a man of protean interests and capacities. His name is here mentioned by Bhau because Bhau knows that any translation into Bengali would probably be done by Protul Bannerjee.

Amiya tells about Protul Bannerjee as follows:

"My Mama, Protul Bannerjee, was one of the famous persons of Bengal, and was much visited by the great persons of Bengal, still he said he loved me more than even his own sons. And I was very proud to be his nephew, because he was an illustrious person. He was a writer and a copious illustrator of children's books, and a poet, story-writer as well as a great painter. But when he came to know that I was following Meher Baba, then his old conventional notions about God Man and Man God came back to his mind and there was a letter written by him to my mother which hurt me deeply. The letter says, 'Why should he go for a person who is not an Indian, not a Hindu saint, but goes for a foreign person? Does he not know that we in India have got great saints? I'm surprised that he should follow a foreigner as his spiritual master.' I was deeply hurt, but I loved him and respected him for his other qualities. Then the time came when I visited him in Calcutta and he was also comparatively free. I gave him the book God Speaks."

"When he read God Speaks, it was a revolutionary event in his life. Before that he was closed about his prejudices about foreigners having anything to do with spirituality. When he read God Speaks he forgot everything, and he danced with joy, and he said, 'Well, my dear nephew, this can not be written by anyone except one who is one with God. I'd like to translate this, and I'll get a professor from Shantiniketan, a famous university, to do the work for me, and I'll dictate the entire script in Bengali.' I said, 'Mamajee, before you go for such a long undertaking, I'll write to Baba and ask His permission for you to do it.' He said, 'You do it, by all means.'

"Mama, you are such a great painter, one of the greatest in India, why don't you make a sketch of Meher Baba?"

"He said, 'OK, I'll do it.' And he was a magician with his pallet and brush. So he made a wonderful drawing and gave it to me to be sent to Baba with his love. And I sent it to Baba, and Baba wrote back and said He was tremendously happy to receive that beautiful portrait, and He would see that it was kept in Meherazad. And He also gave him permission to translate God Speaks, as far as Baba's part was concerned. But when it came to the Supplement, he said, 'well, this doesn't appear to be exactly from Baba, so perhaps I won't translate that part.' I said, 'The book can not be complete unless the supplement is given.' And after that the question of publication and other things were there. But the work was beautifully done and it is kept in the Calcutta home of my late Mama. Mama died in 1974. I have no idea about the script now, but I think my Mami (his wife) has just died. Mama's son is a film director of Bengali films, and I don't know if he is interested, and about the whereabouts of that script. Mama became a Baba lover forgetting his prejudice. Baba's love flooded him."