Jain Journal 1970 01

Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 39

JANUARY, 1970
145
When a few days later I met him again in his home, we talked further about my intended work with him and about Indian matters in general. A maid brought in a tray of tea and biscuits, and Schubring explained, “In our country it is customary to talk as we eat and drink something "-he was referring to the Indian habit of silent meals of course. Mrs. (or Frau Professor) Schubring also I met during our talk. On a later occasion when I was again with them for an afternoon party, I met also their daughter, their only child, who was an art student. Frau Professor was an artist too, a painter. Schubring's great hobby was music and he hardly missed an opportunity of listening to good music. He was very fond of drinking coffee but never smoked, and had never been to a cinema. Out of respect for his susceptibilities, his pupils abstained from smoking in his presence even if he granted us permission to do so. A few years later however, his daughter started smoking and she would light her cigarette in her father's parties ; when he told us that now that his daughter smoked, we could do the same as well, we readily joined in ! He was a great admirer of Goethe whom he frequently quoted.
Before the University reopened I met also Professor Meyer-Benfey and Frau Professor. She had translated many of Rabindranath's works into German and knew Bengali well. I had taken with me a letter of introduction to them from Rabindranath, which they were very happy to receive. I was invited to visit them regularly once a week and have dinner with them in their house, first in Hamburg and subsequently in a suburb. Meyer-Benfey was Professor of German and Philology and a great linguist. He occasionally dropped in at the Mensa for lunch and it was a common joke for students to warn each other against indulging in light talk in his presence for he would understand no matter in language, even of Africa, one sopke. It was arranged after some time that I would help Frau Professor Meyer-Franck (that being the name she had adopted) in her translation of a new work by Rabindranath, and Meyer-Benfey also used to sit with us when we worked. She once translated a poem by Rabindranath in such wonderfully graphic language that it was hardly recognisable as translation and sounded as fresh as an original composition. She had done the translation in the same metrical scheme as of the original verse, a point which learned translators in the West, as I later found, always held closely in view, for metrical rhythm breathed the heart-throbs of poetry. This childless and aged couple belonged to the highest and most refined and cultured literary circle of Germany. Rabindranath had stayed as a guest in their house at Hamburg. They showed their kind and boundless helpfulness towards me in a hundred ways and in the most unostentatious manner during my long stay in Germany. Within a few days of my first meeting