Mahesh Chandra's Letter of Resignation from Nalanda Club
DESCRIPTION
Letter addressed to Messrs. Mandal and Co. from Mahesh Chandra, dated September 17, 1919. In the letter, Chandra resigns from the Nalanda club and explains his decisions for doing so.
ADDITIONAL METADATA
Date: September 17, 1919
Subject(s): Nalanda Club
Type: Correspondence
Language: English
Creator: Mahesh Chandra
Location: 2043 Center Street, Berkeley, California
TRANSCRIPTION
2043 Center Street,
Berkeley, Calif,,
Sept. 17, 1919.
To
Messrs. Mandal & Co.,
2026. Center Street,
Berkeley, Calif.
My fellow-Countrymen,
I feel it my duty to clear up my position before I give my resignation from the club.
First of all let us discuss why we should have a club. The constitution of our club reads, if I remember correctly, that the aim of this club is to promote brotherhood and unity among ourselves (the Hindu student of Berkeley). But I find that the club is promoting jealousy and hatred instead.
secondly, it is understood, although it is not written in the said constitution, that the members of the same club will help each other and will protected its members from misery and trouble by mutual advice. But instead of helping each other I have found that a member of this club, whom I never believed he was so mean, went to a lawyer and conspirated with a man and brought a case against me without leting (sic) me know my fault if I had any. Parodn me for bringing the personal question but I am forced to do so.
Now let us discus (sic) why we should keep the old name of this club and should not add to it any prefix or suffix: First of all the very thought of changing or not changing the name of this club recalls to our mind the old quarrels and thus effects our unity. And of course the breaking of our integrity is unconstitutional.
Secondly because it was not a deed of bread minded to men to bring the quistion (sic) of changing the name of the club, when it was voted for and was accepted by the previous members, or rather the fathers of our club.
I heard a gentleman saying yesterday that we should not change the name because this example will be followed by the coming students and thus they will also lose their time in such useless things as changing the name.
According to his statement the men who tried to change the name from "Nalanda Club" to "Hindustan Nalanda Club" lost their precious time for nothing. I agree with him and I wish to right hte wrong that he and his coleague (sic) had done last year.
By the way you should remember that the name "Nalanda Club" has been uttered for so many years that if any body knows us at all he knows us by this name. In short it has become a proper name of our club and will confuse the people here and in India if we change it. Thus even the university has not changed the name of our club in spite of requesting them. If we will raise this question again they will find themselves to be vexed and they will have to go under an expense (changing their old stamp) and trouble and thus they will take us as a barberous (sic) people always fighting among ourselves for such unimportant things as one of our worthy member pointed out already.
Now let us discuss the word "Nalanda" etemologically (sic) and find out whether it is an appropriate name for our club.
You all know that our club is strictly a University Club and we ourselves are Hindustani. It is our first intention to keep this club as a university club and keep ourselves as children of Hindusthan. Thus we want a name which will distinguish us from other Hindus than as a university students and from other university students as a Hindustani student. And we are in a need of one single word that would serve our twofold nay rather three fold purpose that is, our scholarship, our relationship to the university, and last but not least, in importance, our nationality. After a great discussion we find that the word "Nalanda" fully expresses our studentship and our connection with the university by its historycal (sic) significance, that, it once was the name of the greatest university; and since it was in Hindusthan and we are Hindusthani, it entirely fulfills our three fold meaning.
I have stated already some of the reasons why I am against of changing the name, that is, adding the word Hindusthan before "Nalanda" club. The rest of them I state here.
To add the name Hindusthan before Nalanda is a logical fallacy, for example it is a very simple mistake as the uneducatedmen offen (sic) commit by saying "John returned back to the East". In this sentence they use return and back both but they do not notice that they must not add the word 'back' to the word return, because the word return contains the word back in itself, that is, returned = went back. However, there may be an excuse for these men for making such mistake but there must be none for the university students. We are the university students and to keep ourselves worthy of this position let us not commit such a common mistake.
Again if we add the name Hindusthan before nalanda we generalize the club and lose its specialty, that is, the club becomes a club for all Hindusthanies, and we know, that, it is not true. This club is for only college Hindusthani students. Whate-ever non-colege (sic) Hindusthanies we have up to this time or will have in future will be with us not because the club is for them, but because we do not have sufficient fund to mentain (sic) the club by ourselves. We take them under the polite or rather haypocratic (sic) name, which I hate, non-active members. For this reason to add the name Hindusthan before nalanda is not only a logical fallacy but a moral wrong. That we call our club Hindusthan Nalanda and when our brother a Hindusthani come, to become its member we put him the lower roll and don't give him the right of vote. I wish we should clear up to every non-active member about this right of voting. You remember once I even let my broth Ramesh walk out of the club on this subject. I loved him very much and did not like his going out but because of my principle and my habit of impartiality I stood firm. ALthoguh I almost felt a heart break, when I saw the other day you, denying him the right of free speech.
By the way I call your attention to the fact also that the word Hindu, specially, in California has lost its real meaning and has become a synonim (sic) for laborer, and I have noticed that since we have added the word Hiindusthan to Nalanda it has reputated us in a very wrong sense. The proof for this is that several men have come to our club at different times to offer us a cooking or boarding and room jobs.
Last time when we had the 'Asiatic Night' Mr. Mandel two whole days before requested me to speak at the occasion, but when the occasion came, I even begged him to give me a few minutes, he made an excuse. Although he allowed those of our country-men who were not even associate-member and whose speech were proved totally worthless. For instance one gentleman got up and began to say at Asiatic Night that his brother passed the high school at the age of 14 years & his friend stood first in every class in India. In short this speech was full of self praise, entirely out of place.
The same thing I noticed yesterday in the meeting that Mr. Hardat Singh raised his hand several times and he wanted to talk on the subject which we all were ruthlessly fighting; but Mr. Mandal did not give him a chance, while he gave several turns to other non-active members as Laoji etc. At last I marked that Mr. Hardat Sing left the meeting politely.
In yesterday's meeting I also remarked that there was only one man conspicously (sic) stood for principle and the rest of us were wholly full of party feeling. I found that men like him and me can not do anything because some time our principle agree with A & Co. and Some time with B & Co. and ultimately we are left in the middle and, so n one care for us. Because I fought both parties and supported both of them and the result was that none of them had any respect for me because I have not support one of them wholly. For this reason I think that I am not fit for the club as long as the club is going to follow its party spirit and not the sprit of right. Although you might take me as a beast or a god, as Aristotle in his political philosophy has said that "He who does not live in a society is either a beast or a god". I don't care what you will think of if you do not get rid of your party feeling I humbly request to drop my name from your register till you learn to follow the right and not a party.
Your truly,
Mahesh Chandra
Berkeley, Calif,,
Sept. 17, 1919.
To
Messrs. Mandal & Co.,
2026. Center Street,
Berkeley, Calif.
My fellow-Countrymen,
I feel it my duty to clear up my position before I give my resignation from the club.
First of all let us discuss why we should have a club. The constitution of our club reads, if I remember correctly, that the aim of this club is to promote brotherhood and unity among ourselves (the Hindu student of Berkeley). But I find that the club is promoting jealousy and hatred instead.
secondly, it is understood, although it is not written in the said constitution, that the members of the same club will help each other and will protected its members from misery and trouble by mutual advice. But instead of helping each other I have found that a member of this club, whom I never believed he was so mean, went to a lawyer and conspirated with a man and brought a case against me without leting (sic) me know my fault if I had any. Parodn me for bringing the personal question but I am forced to do so.
Now let us discus (sic) why we should keep the old name of this club and should not add to it any prefix or suffix: First of all the very thought of changing or not changing the name of this club recalls to our mind the old quarrels and thus effects our unity. And of course the breaking of our integrity is unconstitutional.
Secondly because it was not a deed of bread minded to men to bring the quistion (sic) of changing the name of the club, when it was voted for and was accepted by the previous members, or rather the fathers of our club.
I heard a gentleman saying yesterday that we should not change the name because this example will be followed by the coming students and thus they will also lose their time in such useless things as changing the name.
According to his statement the men who tried to change the name from "Nalanda Club" to "Hindustan Nalanda Club" lost their precious time for nothing. I agree with him and I wish to right hte wrong that he and his coleague (sic) had done last year.
By the way you should remember that the name "Nalanda Club" has been uttered for so many years that if any body knows us at all he knows us by this name. In short it has become a proper name of our club and will confuse the people here and in India if we change it. Thus even the university has not changed the name of our club in spite of requesting them. If we will raise this question again they will find themselves to be vexed and they will have to go under an expense (changing their old stamp) and trouble and thus they will take us as a barberous (sic) people always fighting among ourselves for such unimportant things as one of our worthy member pointed out already.
Now let us discuss the word "Nalanda" etemologically (sic) and find out whether it is an appropriate name for our club.
You all know that our club is strictly a University Club and we ourselves are Hindustani. It is our first intention to keep this club as a university club and keep ourselves as children of Hindusthan. Thus we want a name which will distinguish us from other Hindus than as a university students and from other university students as a Hindustani student. And we are in a need of one single word that would serve our twofold nay rather three fold purpose that is, our scholarship, our relationship to the university, and last but not least, in importance, our nationality. After a great discussion we find that the word "Nalanda" fully expresses our studentship and our connection with the university by its historycal (sic) significance, that, it once was the name of the greatest university; and since it was in Hindusthan and we are Hindusthani, it entirely fulfills our three fold meaning.
I have stated already some of the reasons why I am against of changing the name, that is, adding the word Hindusthan before "Nalanda" club. The rest of them I state here.
To add the name Hindusthan before Nalanda is a logical fallacy, for example it is a very simple mistake as the uneducatedmen offen (sic) commit by saying "John returned back to the East". In this sentence they use return and back both but they do not notice that they must not add the word 'back' to the word return, because the word return contains the word back in itself, that is, returned = went back. However, there may be an excuse for these men for making such mistake but there must be none for the university students. We are the university students and to keep ourselves worthy of this position let us not commit such a common mistake.
Again if we add the name Hindusthan before nalanda we generalize the club and lose its specialty, that is, the club becomes a club for all Hindusthanies, and we know, that, it is not true. This club is for only college Hindusthani students. Whate-ever non-colege (sic) Hindusthanies we have up to this time or will have in future will be with us not because the club is for them, but because we do not have sufficient fund to mentain (sic) the club by ourselves. We take them under the polite or rather haypocratic (sic) name, which I hate, non-active members. For this reason to add the name Hindusthan before nalanda is not only a logical fallacy but a moral wrong. That we call our club Hindusthan Nalanda and when our brother a Hindusthani come, to become its member we put him the lower roll and don't give him the right of vote. I wish we should clear up to every non-active member about this right of voting. You remember once I even let my broth Ramesh walk out of the club on this subject. I loved him very much and did not like his going out but because of my principle and my habit of impartiality I stood firm. ALthoguh I almost felt a heart break, when I saw the other day you, denying him the right of free speech.
By the way I call your attention to the fact also that the word Hindu, specially, in California has lost its real meaning and has become a synonim (sic) for laborer, and I have noticed that since we have added the word Hiindusthan to Nalanda it has reputated us in a very wrong sense. The proof for this is that several men have come to our club at different times to offer us a cooking or boarding and room jobs.
Last time when we had the 'Asiatic Night' Mr. Mandel two whole days before requested me to speak at the occasion, but when the occasion came, I even begged him to give me a few minutes, he made an excuse. Although he allowed those of our country-men who were not even associate-member and whose speech were proved totally worthless. For instance one gentleman got up and began to say at Asiatic Night that his brother passed the high school at the age of 14 years & his friend stood first in every class in India. In short this speech was full of self praise, entirely out of place.
The same thing I noticed yesterday in the meeting that Mr. Hardat Singh raised his hand several times and he wanted to talk on the subject which we all were ruthlessly fighting; but Mr. Mandal did not give him a chance, while he gave several turns to other non-active members as Laoji etc. At last I marked that Mr. Hardat Sing left the meeting politely.
In yesterday's meeting I also remarked that there was only one man conspicously (sic) stood for principle and the rest of us were wholly full of party feeling. I found that men like him and me can not do anything because some time our principle agree with A & Co. and Some time with B & Co. and ultimately we are left in the middle and, so n one care for us. Because I fought both parties and supported both of them and the result was that none of them had any respect for me because I have not support one of them wholly. For this reason I think that I am not fit for the club as long as the club is going to follow its party spirit and not the sprit of right. Although you might take me as a beast or a god, as Aristotle in his political philosophy has said that "He who does not live in a society is either a beast or a god". I don't care what you will think of if you do not get rid of your party feeling I humbly request to drop my name from your register till you learn to follow the right and not a party.
Your truly,
Mahesh Chandra
PROVENANCE
Collection: Vaishno Das and Kala Bagai Family Materials
Donor: Rani Bagai
Item History: 2013-07-01 (created); 2013-07-24 (modified)
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