To
His Father-in-Law [1]1Sri Aurobindo
Autobiographical Notes
and Other Writings of Historical Interest
Part Two. Letters of Historical Interest
1. Letters on Personal, Practical and Political Matters (1890–1926)
Family Letters, 1890–1919
To
His Father-in-Law [1]1
Calcutta
June 8th 1906.
My dear father-in-law,
I could not come over to Shillong in May, because my stay in Eastern Bengal was unexpectedly long. It was nearly the end of May before I could return to Calcutta, so that my programme was necessarily changed. I return to Baroda today. I have asked for leave from the 12th, but I do not know whether it will be sanctioned so soon. In any case I shall be back by the end of the month. If you are anxious to send Mrinalini down, I have no objection whatever. I have no doubt my aunt will gladly put her up until I can return from Baroda and make my arrangements.
I am afraid I shall never be good for much in the way of domestic virtues. I have tried, very ineffectively, to do some part of my duty as a son, a brother and a husband, but there is something too strong in me which forces me to subordinate everything else to it. Of course that is no excuse for my culpability in not writing letters,– a fault I am afraid I shall always be quicker to admit than to reform. I can easily understand that to others it may seem to spring from a lack of the most ordinary affection. It was not so in the case of my father from whom I seem to inherit the defect. In all my fourteen years in England I hardly got a dozen letters from him, and yet I cannot doubt his affection for me, since it was the false report of my death which killed him. I fear you must take me as I am with all my imperfections on my head.
Barin has again fallen ill, and I have asked him to go
out to some healthier place for a short visit. I was thinking he might go to
Waltair, but he has set his heart on going to Shillong – I don’t quite know why,
unless it is to see a quite new place and at the same time make acquaintance
with his sister-in-law’s family. If he goes, I am sure you will take good care
of him for the short time he may be there. You will find him, I am afraid,
rather wilful and erratic,– the family failing. He is especially fond of 
knocking about by himself in a spasmodic and irregular fashion when
he ought to be sitting at home and nursing his delicate health, but I have
learnt not to interfere with him in this respect; if checked, he is likely to go
off at a tangent and makes things worse. He has, however, an immense amount of
vitality which allows him to play these tricks with impunity in a good climate,
and I think a short stay at Shillong ought to give him another lease of health.
Your affectionate son-in-law
Aurobindo Ghose
1 June 1906. Sri Aurobindo wrote this letter to his father-in-law Bhupal Chandra Bose (1861–1937) towards the beginning of his active political career.