Nata-da

Alberto Grassi was a count from Florence. He came to Pondicherry in 1963-64? And soon began to teach Italian. He was an engineer by profession, who had migrated to South America after the second world war and lived there, from where he came to Pondicherry.

Kalyan-da, the son of famous beenteo of big games Kumud Ranjan Chaudhuri knew Italian and he taught the language only to a selected few. But after Nata-da (This is the name The Mother had given him), arrived quite a big group joined his classes.

He conducted his classes in the evening, thus everyone who wanted to learn could assist. We were a group of some eight, ten students, all of us working in some department or the other. (I had already begun to teach in the school). We began with the basics but soon he introduced us to Italian classics. Thus through years we studies Il Gattpardo, I Promessi Sposi, Le Sorelle Materassi and finally La Divina Commedia’. We also read with him “Des Camello” of Guareschi. From La Divina Commedia we studied a couple of cantos in depth. And to read any classic in original is certainly a great boon. But we enjoyed reading “Don Camillo” of Guareschi because we came across the spectrum of small town life and the conversations between peppone the communist mayor & Dar Camillo’s complaint to Christ and Christ’s rebuke to Don Camillo were very enjoyable.

For me there was another reason why we often had to meet. He was interested in Indian mythology and Puranas. He also had very many questions regarding the gods and goddesses. Once he put up this question: If The Divine Mother has four aspects - Maheshwari, Mahakali, Mahalakshmi and Mahasaraswati then who are these Dasha Mahavidyas? Or what does dashanamdhari man? Or is there any deeper meaning of the five “M” of the Tantra?”

So I read and tried to explain many of his questions and thus learnt a great deal on all these subjects.

He began to edit and publish an Italian magazine “Domani” which was to be mainly for The Mother’s & Sri Aurobindo’s works translated in Italian. It is still published periodically and has quite a good readership.

The amphitheater in Auroville was constructed under his supervision. He left Pondicherry early in the morning and returned late in the evening. It was ready for the inauguration ceremony on 28 February 1968. He worked like a machine and achieved the impossible.

After Auroville came into existence, The Mother told him once that he should do something to help the villagers who lived in the surrounding villages. So he put up a grocery shop. After a period it seems The Mother said, “I wanted to help the villagers by giving them.” This he took not as Her wish but Command. That was the genesis of Auroshikha. He started the incense stick factory. The Mother gave the name “Udavi”, which in Tamil means “help”. It was not all. He arranged for a crèche so that the female workers’ babies can be looked after, a school for the children of the surrounding villages. He made provision for their two meals, their dress, their cleanliness. There were people to wash the school dresses, press & keep ready. There were others who saw that the youngsters had a proper bath. The workers of the incense factory were given a big glass of milk at a break. These people who were to sit on the floor and roll the sticks were given breaks so that they could relax. The small unit of Auroshikha is a well known name in the world of incense sticks today and there is not a corner of the earth where it has not reached.

So an engineer by profession comes to Sri Aurobindo Ashram, becomes the professor of language + literature, later an entrepreneur. This is the beauty of this place.