A Great Guest Speaks...

The event of the month, for the Lebanese woman, was the visit of Mrs. Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, head of the Indian delegation to the United Nations at its latest session and sister of the leader of the house of Nehru. Lebanon prepared to receive the great guest as international personalities are received: Mrs. Pandit stayed as a guest of the government, and several receptions were held in her honor.
And the women of Lebanon flocked to the two gatherings at West Hall and the Bristol, driven by an intense longing to see this eminent Eastern lady and to profit from her learning and her experience.
Mrs. Zahia Salman succeeded in making contact with her and in learning the details of her private life — matters that will be of benefit to our gracious readers.

It was granted us to hear Mrs. Pandit speak in our women's circles twice, and on both occasions the great guest called warmly for the dedication of oneself to a higher aim; she likewise explained at length the necessity of mingling with the deprived classes and of working to raise their level — intellectually, spiritually, and economically — and she demonstrated the necessity of union and cooperation among all the elements of the nation. She wished it had been possible for her to become acquainted with every Lebanese woman and to talk with her, so as to form beautiful and detailed recollections of woman in Lebanon. And in fulfillment of this wish, she set a special appointment for many of us to gather with her in her private salon and converse with her — the talk of a woman to a woman who is her sister. Here I convey to the readers of The Woman's Voice, as I previously conveyed to the readers of Kull Shay', a summary of what Mrs. Pandit told us, hoping that it may be for us a strong incentive, driving us to positive and fruitful work in our social life.

"I did not enter institutions of learning; I did not obtain a university degree. Yes, that is the very truth, so do not be surprised. And for that reason it was not given me to take part in our women's associations or to share in their charitable and social works; to speak still more frankly, I was not permitted to be counted among the members of those associations, for they were all of the aristocratic class and holders of university degrees. But today, now that I have become what I am by my own efforts and my own attainment, they race one another to confer upon me the honorary presidency of these associations; and I could, if I wished to boast and make claims, show you hundreds of bulletins and circulars of the various associations of the women of India in which my name occupies the first place among their honorary members — while the truth is that I have taken part in their work only for a short time, having presided for two years over the All India Women's Conference.

Among the reasons that kept many of the 'Nationalist' Indian ladies from taking part in the work of those associations was the English patronage of them and the English lavishness toward them, together with a small number of our ladies graduated from English universities. As for my friend Kamaladevi, a pupil of Oxford, her learning and her patriotism fitted her for work in the social and political fields; and she too suffered much torment, and was imprisoned more than once.

I began my public life with political work and the struggle against colonialism when I was eighteen years old, and I married a man who was among the richest of India's rich and the most famous of the fighters in her modern history; and always one of us would be imprisoned as the other was set free — until the matter ended with the death of my husband, the result of the life of hardship he lived in prison."

Mrs. Pandit sighed, and over her gentle jasmine face there passed a cloud of pain and sorrow; then before long she went on to say: "Do you know, ladies, that the Indian woman, despite being man's complete equal

in political rights, is still, in the matter of personal and economic standing, a slave in bondage to him: she is either a wife to her husband, or a sister to her brother, or a daughter to her father? My father was very rich, but he gave up all his wealth when he followed Gandhi and applied his teachings, so that overnight we owned nothing at all. A little after this I married a man of wealth, as I have already said; but do you know that at my husband's death — and we had had only three daughters — I could not dispose of a single piaster of his money, for his whole fortune went, according to the Hindu laws, to his brother? From that time on I have worked in order to live: I work as an official in the government of my country, and I write for various newspapers and magazines.

I used to draw a fair salary when I was India's ambassador in Moscow and Washington; but today I have returned to my country simply as a member of parliament. And a deputy with us draws a very small allowance, and so you see me living a modest life in a modest house; nor do I own a motorcar. My whole life has been difficulties and troubles, private ones and public ones. But I can say that I have overcome them, all of them; and my one aim was, and still is, the service of my country.

Does it occur to you that I spent eighteen years struggling and striving before I was able to enter parliament? — and this though we women of India did not struggle to obtain our political rights: we struggled for the freedom of our country and stood at the side of our men, and we were imprisoned and suffered the bitterest kinds of torment and privation. It was therefore natural, having given what we gave for the sake of our country's independence, that we should obtain what our men countrymen obtained when that independence was proclaimed. So we entered the parliamentary assemblies, and governed the provinces, and headed the international delegations and the diplomatic missions; and beyond this, all the doors of work were opened before us, to such a degree that man today looks upon us as upon a mighty competitor.

It is natural, now that we have rid ourselves of colonialism, that we should turn our efforts to improving our internal condition in the country. The most important thing I have lately been able to do in the national field is what I did toward the unification of legislation and law in the various Indian provinces — every district and every community had had a legislation of its own. I struggled long for the achievement of this aim, and I endured campaigns which the tongue is powerless to describe; but my one consolation was the success I attained, and the stability the new legislation will bring about in my country.

A person in this life must dedicate himself to an honorable work; and he must believe in that work; and he must persevere, and strive, and defy difficulties, and not grow faint before them!!!"

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Mrs. Pandit and her life's story are a source of inspiration for us, the ladies of Lebanon; indeed she is, in my eyes, a great capital for the women's renaissance in the East — she, a woman and the daughter of a woman.

O God, guide us; grant us victory over the selfishness entrenched in our souls. O God, help us to rise high in our thinking, to be sincere in our words, to be earnest in our deeds; and let, O God, our inner selves be clean and shining like our outward appearance — and let each one of us be the "Vijaya Lakshmi" of Lebanon.

And before her departure from Lebanon, Mrs. Pandit was so kind as to send the following word:

Dear Mrs. Salman,

I am leaving Beirut carrying with me many happy memories of this visit. I could have wished that my stay were longer, so that I might become better acquainted with all those who showered me with their affection and friendship and made this visit full of delight.

My special thanks and gratitude go to my Lebanese sisters, who prepared for me that warm welcome which made me feel that I was one of them.

I wish them all success in their work, and I hope that some of them will be able to visit India in the near future, so that we may strengthen the bonds of friendship and cooperation which have been renewed between our two countries.

Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit
Beirut, 8/1/53