Tit- willow

Mohandas K. Gandhi was amused. To the tune of Tit-willow from Gilbert & Sullivan's The Mikado, Khorshed Naoroji sang him a song just published in the Times of India:

"A Mahatma sat singing on top of a fence

'Quit India, quit India, quit India.'

He would pause for a while, then again would commence

'Quit India, quit India, quit India.'

And I said, 'Oh Mahatma, I fear I am dense

But your song doesn't seem to make very much sense.'

His reply was to chant in a tone more intense.

'Quit India, quit India, quit India.'

So I said, 'Oh Mahatma, pray why do you chant

Quit India, quit India, quit India?

For with things as they are it's quite clear that we shan't

Quit India, quit India, quit India.' And, he answered indulgently, 'Brother, I grant

That at present perhaps it is true that you can't,

But it's just the idea that I wish to implant:

Quit India, quit India, quit India.'"

Khorshed Naoroji, who heads Gandhi's foreign secretariat, is a slim Bombay Parsi with an easy sense of humor and a pleasant, informal manner. Her grandfather was Dadabhai Naoroji, first president of the Indian National Congress and first Indian member of the British Parliament. She was recently released from prison. First jailed (for her political views) in Bihar, she was moved under escort of eight armed policemen and one wardress to the Poona jail. On the train the sleepy police men handed her their revolvers to guard. She asked: "How can you dare do this?" Answer : "Oh, we know you're nonviolent."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.