Lover of Light Among Luminaries Dilip Kumar Roy

Author(s): Amruta Paresh Patel
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

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A LOVER OF LIGHT AMONG LUMINARIES : Dilip Kumar Roy Subhas Chandra and said that he had long lost faith in politics but if it was necessary for him to join politics and go to prison, he would do it only for the sake of his dear friend, Subhas. Subhas Chandra answered:
"Dilip, do you think I am a fanatic or what? I know politics is not your line. I know also how deeply you love poetry and mysticism and music. How then can I ask you to sacrifice your ideal for mine? No. Follow your own bent-swadharma. I am not a narrow politician. Dilip."97
When they were together in England, it was Subhas Chandra who inspired Dilip Roy to follow his career as a musician. He advised:
"....music-though I know very little about it-is not a sport: it is something uplifting, as I have felt specially after I came to know you at close range. So you could never forfeit my unwavering support if you really proposed to take to it wholeheartedly. Only remember you have to be single-minded.":98
He further continued:
"Must we come to England only to fabricate clerks and bureaucrats and barristers-which is done' ? No, and of course your idealism has my full support-for music, I am persuaded,
can be an ideal in the real sense of the term."99
Subhas Chandra held Dilip Roy in high esteem. He liked to share all of his thoughts and emotions with his bosom friend, Dilip. He was very happy to find such a friend near him whenever he was released from jail. Moreover, he always expressed his feeling of gratitude for the smallest favour shown by Dilip Roy.
Hence, while painting the portrait of his close friend, Dilip Roy tried to fulfil
"... a threefold purpose: first, to substantiate my thesis that Netaji was nothing if not an idealist and dreamer in the essence of his being; secondly, to prove that even when he consorted with the Nazis he never forgot his heart's one dream: that he felt himself missioned to achieve the political deliverance of his beloved land, not to exult in the petty pride of the cheap patriot who vaunts and blusters, but to make India great, nay, even greater than her past; and lastly, to show that he was a
mystic at heart.”100 These purposes are fully realized in the book.