Shantiniketan
From Rajkot I proceeded to Shantiniketan. The teachers and students overwhelmed me with affection. The reception was a beautiful combination of simplicity, art and love. It was here I met Kakasaheb Kalelkar for the first time.
I did not know then why Kalelkar was called “Kakasaheb.” But I learnt later on that Sjt. Keshavrao Deshpande, who was a contemporary and a close friend of mine in England, and who had conducted a school in the Baroda State called “Ganganath Vidyalaya,” had given the teachers family names with a view to investing the Vidyalaya with a family atmosphere. Sjt. Kalelkar who was a teacher there came to be called “Kaka” (literally, paternal uncle). Phadke was called “Mama” (literally, maternal uncle), and Harihar Sharma received the name “Anna” (literally, brother). Others also got similar names. Anandanand (Swami) as Kaka’s friend and Patwardhan (Appa) as Mama’s friend later joined the family, and all in course of time became my coworkers one after another. Sjt. Deshpande himself used to be called “Saheb.” When the Vidyalaya had to be dissolved, the family also broke up, but they never gave up their spiritual relationship or their assumed names.
Kakasaheb went out to gain experience of different institutions, and at the time I went to Shantiniketan, he happened to be there. Chintaman Shastri, belonging to the same fraternity, was there also. Both helped in teaching Samskrit.
The Phoenix family had been assigned separate quarters at Shantiniketan. Maganlal Gandhi was at their head, and he had made it his business to see that all the rules of the Phoenix Ashram should be