Sheuli, my best friend since 1969, when I was a first year student, and later my wife, had chosen the works of W.H. Auden and three other poets of the thirties for her Ph.D dissertation. I played a small but important role in her choice of topic. I was quite infatuated with Auden when she was groping around for a topic, and kind of persuaded her to work on Auden. Later she cursed her gullibility in letting me choose for her. We lost Sheuli in 2002, to what I think is a case of post operative medical negligence that couldnt be established even though the doctor who operated on her was a close friend of the family and had given us all the support to make out the case. Here is Auden on Radcliffe who partitioned India. Unbiased at least he was when he arrived on his mission, Having never set eyes on this land he was called to partition Between two peoples fanatically at odds, With their different diets and incompatible gods. Time, they had briefed him in London, is short. Its too late For mutual reconciliation or rational debate: The only solution now lies in separation. The Viceroy thinks, as you will see from his letter, That the less you are seen in his company the better, So weve arranged to provide you with other accommodation. We can give you four judges, two Moslem and two Hindu, To consult with, but the final decision must rest with you. Shut up in a lonely mansion, with police night and day Patrolling the gardens to keep assassins away, He got down to work, to the task of settling the fate Of millions. The maps at his disposal were out of date And the Census Returns almost certainly incorrect, But there was no time to check them, no time to inspect Contested areas. The weather was frightfully hot, And a bout of dysentery kept him constantly on the trot, But in seven weeks it was done, the frontiers decided, A continent for better or worse divided. The next day he sailed for England, where he quickly forgot The case, as a good lawyer must. Return he would not, Afraid, as he told his Club, that he might get shot. Partition, 1966 by WH Auden.
Posted on: Fri, 15 Aug 2014 09:05:19 +0000
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