the Soviet Republic where the authors are the millionaire class. As things are in Bengal, you are served – you get the fame and Gurudas pockets the money.Sri Aurobindo
Letters of Sri Aurobindo
Volume 3
Letter ID: 925
Sri Aurobindo — Roy, Dilip Kumar
September 12, 1937
Yes, you can keep the money in the bank for the purposes you mention and take Rs. 25 for your monthly expenses. Mother prefers that arrangement.
Evidently if Calcutta publishers are like that – as bad as Madras merchants – writing can’t be a profitable occupation for authors in Bengal. A hundred copies sale for a novel by one of the two best-selling writers of fiction does not sound colossal! Evidently the sooner the Congress Ministers start universalising education and compel Fazlul1 to do the same in Bengal the better. But perhaps they will only insist on the teaching of Charka and cottage industries – in which case things will not be better for the authors. It makes me long for the Soviet Republic where the authors are the millionaire class. As things are in Bengal, you are served – you get the fame and Gurudas pockets the money.
1 AK Fazlul Huq. (1873-1962), statesman, public leader and holder of many high political posts including Chief Minister of undivided Bengal (1937-43).