Carpenters, Amulya, Panu, Udar

So that is how I came to be set up at Harpagon and put up a foundry there. This foundry has now been shifted to the Coco Garden. We made all the Golconde fittings at Harpagon, cast them in the foundry and hand-finished them in the adjacent shed.

- Udar -

Mona and I joined the Ashram in 1937. The Golconde building was being built at the time. So, even before it was finished, Mona and I had been associated with it. I was given the fine work of preparing the furniture.

-Udar-

l told the Mother that I would need some money to buy certain tools etc. because when I joined the Ashram I had given all my money to the Mother as most sadhaks had done. She went into Her room and brought out one rupee which She gave me saying with a smile: "Here is the money." Though I was fairly new at the Ashram, I did not protest and understood at once what a great gift She was giving me, and I took it as a compliment.

It was a challenge and given by The Divine Mother to me who, She felt, could rise to it. Most foreign- trained engineers are desk workers and give orders. I had no desk and no one to give orders to and so had to do most of the work with my own hands - and with one glorious rupee from the Mother as a channel of Her Force into me.

- Udar-

Later when the work for Golconde increased I felt that I needed some machines. Mother agreed but said She could not spare any money for this. All She could give was an allowance of Rs. 200/- per month. How to start a workshop on this small allowance? Nevertheless I did not press for more but accepted what She gave with joyful gratitude. Pavitra kindly gave me one small hand-drill on a stand. All the others machines that were needed I made myself. Later I understood the wonderful gift Mother had given me—the challenge! It is not difficult to set up a nice workshop when one has enough money for it but Rs. 200/- a month is really a glorious challenge and I am so happy now that I took it up, even not understanding it then, and succeeded. It is now a source of perpetual joy of fulfilment.

- Udar

The Mother entering Harpagon 26^th April 1954 Niranjan, Viswanath, Pranab, Chandrakant, Udar,

Work of all kinds was done at Harpagon and as the Ashram developed so too its needs increased and with that the activities at Harpagon. Panu was a big asset to Udar. Udar himself had trained him. He too loved challenges. He could work day and night if required and most of the time that was the case. Later on Sati also joined Harpagon.

Udar had already established the smithy, foundry, carpentry, fitter shop, machine shop, stone polishing section - all that was required for Golconde work and also stone repair work that was done before at Pavitra's Atelier (now Chum's office) was shifted there. As the residents increased so did the cycles and hence a department for cycle maintenance was added at Harpagon.

With the inauguration of the Playground and Tennis Ground, the shoe- making and tennis racket stringing also were taken up and later gymnastic equipment like parallel bars, uneven bars, horizontal bars, spring boards etc. as well as athletic equipment. So with the starting of the Sports Ground, equipment such as - javelin, discus, hammer, shot put etc. - were manufactured in Harpagon.

As Harpagon grew and they started taking orders from the public for business purposes a Trust was formed 'Harpagon Workshop Trust' with Udar as sole Trustee, with all the profits going to the Ashram.

- Lilou -

PURCHASING DEPT

As Udar had lived in the outside world and knew how to deal with the world of commerce he was put in charge of the Purchasing Department. Anything that needed to be bought for the Ashram was done through this department so that everything was centralised. Even things that needed to be repaired were brought to him. He was given the work of construction too. Whenever there was anything Mother wanted to get done which was a bit complicated or new, She often called Udar.

- Golden Chain -

The Mother opening Harpagon's new building 26^th April 1954

Niranjan, Viswanath, Pranab, Chandrakant, Udar, Pavitra

In the mid-fifties, in the Ashram, we had a centralised Purchasing Department. All the departments of the Ashram including Dispensary, Building Service, Electric Service, Furniture Department etc. had to route their purchases through Udar who was in charge of the Purchasing Department. The person in charge of his department would get Mother's sanction for his requirement and would pass it on to Udar who would order the material and after receiving it pass it on to the person concerned. This also included imported material and equipment. Udar would get the licenses, open a letter of Credit after receiving the Proforma invoices from the firms abroad and when the material arrived in India, arrange for the clearing through Customs, etc. All this and many other things were done from his office with Wilfy and Lilou working with him.

- Lilou

At Harpagon

Udar was the strong, solid backbone of various services he provided to the Mother and the sadhaks.

- Ramraj -

Once a notice was put up in the Ashram that those interested in extra work between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. could give their names either to Udar or Ravindra. That was normally the resting time, but quite a few names came in. 1 started working in Harpagon. This was a new work. Sheets of plastic or rolls of plastic were bought and I used to make plastic covers for books or for anything whatsoever. This I did for a pretty long time, quite a few years.

- Lata -

Plastic work started with making book covers for the Deluxe edition of 'The Mother'. This work like some of the others was done at night in the office. It was mainly the same batch that came for athletic groupings. Afterwards it became a regular work in our department.

- Lilou -