Letter from Gandhiji to Sarojini Naidu, May 30, 1925

Santiniketan, May 30, 1925

Dear Mirabai,

I have your letter as also your telegram. Your description of your place is so enchanting that you make me jealous. May the rest there restore you to tolerable health. I suppose it is useless to hope for complete restoration in your case.

Everybody felt like you the non-necessity of attending the W.C. So there was only Dr. Varadarajulu besides Jawahar and myself. All the same I pardon you for not coming. The rest you are giving yourself is absolutely necessary. You want me to call a meeting of 12 representatives. I do not see the utility at present. No one wants unity of the heart for no one wants to sacrifice anything. You cannot force on a people what they are not ready for. But you evidently believe in the present possibility of achieving it. If you or anyone else calls such a meeting, I would gladly attend. I must not lead.

If girls are bolder with me than boys it is because the former respond more quickly to my call. But I shall make no distinction and therefore send love to both and you also, on condition that you get well quickly.

Yours,

M.K. Gandhi

From: Padmaja Naidu Papers at Nehru Memorial Museum and Library; Collected Works, Supplementary Volume 1, pages 305-06.