Sri Aurobindo

Letters on Himself and the Ashram

The Complete Works of Sri Aurobindo. Volume 35

Miscellaneous Matters

Household Questions [8]

People are wondering why the Meditation House leaks so much. It is not like that anywhere else in Pondicherry, and I do not know if it is so elsewhere. Even X seems to be quite tired of Y’s fad of using tectine, and his persistence in using it in spite of repeated failures. People even say that there is some crack in Y’s brain which prevents him from dealing with the point correctly. The thing is so glaringly offensive to everyone — apart from your terrible patience.

Pondicherry houses do not leak! Well, that is news. Every house I have lived in leaked. The Govt. House leaks; the Govt. offices leak and our former Mahomedan landlord told me in the Govt. Secretariat they had to run about carrying tables and chairs to any place in the rooms which happened not to be wet. Z’s roof made only a year ago leaks. Vigie House leaks and when A went to him Vigie showed him his own house leaking from many places and said “Every house here leaks! what do you expect?” It was because of this character of Pondicherry houses that the Mother tried tectine and the first supply was very successful. The Meditation House roof made by B used to leak like a sieve till the tectine was put on, and for years we were dry. Only when new beams had to be put the tectine got displaced and there were cracks over the walls, then there was some leakage, but that was put right and the old tectine up till now has protected us. Unfortunately afterwards a bad supply of almost liquid tectine was sent which could not endure so well and it was this which was used on the NS [New Secretariat] which is leaking because of cracks in the cement, the usual malady of these terrace roofs. People ought to know the facts before making comments, as if it were only our tectined roofs that crack in Pondicherry — and so there must be something wrong with the Asram engineer’s brain. It is rather surprising that X should speak like that, for he knows that it was Mother’s personal order that the remnants of the old tectine should be used this time as there was an emergency. After all the tectine fad, if it is one, was not Y’s; it was the Mother who introduced the tectine as a trial (and, as I say, it was quite successful at first) along with other new things like solignum, Silexore. Some of them succeeded, some failed because of climatic conditions and the inexperience of the masons and painters; the tectine succeeded, then failed because in answer to a complaint that too much had to be used, the firm sent us a bad supply. In all this where is the fad and where is the fault of Y and where is the “terrible patience”?

20 October 1935