Love and longing

I am tempted to flip through the book in search of names and words that will tell me more about the woman who vanished from the social scene at her prime,but Selvams steady,watchful gaze stops me. The book is half-full already,a reminder of those days in the 1980s when Naidu,along with her then-husband,journalist and poet Dom Moraes,kept an open house,readily receiving friends and visitors whod want to drop by for a chat or a chai.

It was also a famous cultural hub,where young artistes would drop by to read and discuss poetry and seek advice and guidance. Their doors were always open to friends and to many,theirs seemed a Bohemian life. But to writer-poet Ranjit Hoskote,their home was more like the salon-style households common in Europe in the earlier 20th century. Naidu could then be the Gertrude Stein of her times,patronising and nurturing young artistes.

Naidu was pursued by many film-makers for her looks but she never fell for the glitz. She was aware of her beauty but never depended on it to get her through life, is how noted poet Jeet Thayil,one of the young budding artistes to have frequented the Leela-Dom household,explains it. Probably why she never regretted having lost a chance at playing Geraldine Chaplins role in the David Lean classic Dr Zhivago in 1965. It was much later in an interview to a city paper that she spoke about how her flight to Madrid,where she was to audition for the movie,delayed her by half an hour. Lean thought she would never arrive and signed Chaplin.

Prominent journalist and columnist T.J.S. George remembers her as a thinking beauty. Her intellectual sensibilities were honed enough for her to distinguish between the ephemeral and the abiding.
She imbibed the nuances of European aesthetics from her French mother and,from her father,scientist Ramaiah Naidu,the resolve to stand up for her values, he says.
Her elegance,beauty and impeccable conduct were legendary. So were her culinary skills. Her friends fondly remember the many parties Naidu would host with grace. Every meal to her was an occasion and shed lay out even the breakfast table with perfection,says Thayil.

Neena Gupta,who worked with her in Shyam Benegals Trikaal,found her a tad bossy but not condescending. I was playing her maid in the movie and at times she seemed to forget that it was just my character. She would continue to talk to me like my mistress off-screen as well. But it was never offending because you knew she did it good-naturedly, says Gupta. But that was part of her charm,say some.

While close friends speak of her many contributions to the cultural milieu of the city,the public perception of Naidu is that of a beauty drenched in tragedy. Both her marriages,the first to Oberoi scion TRS Tikki Oberoi and later to Moraes,didnt survive. She lost the custody of her twin daughters from her first marriage,Maya and Priya,and spent the last years in ill-health and loneliness.
But the time spent with Moraes was among her best years,say friends. She travelled with him as his assignments with the Unesco took him around the world. The couple also spent a decade in Hong Kong,where Moraes was the editor of Asia Magazine in the 1960s,and later in Delhi,where he worked on Indira Gandhis biography.

She met many celebrities and had wonderful stories to tell. Poet Adil Jussawalla first met Naidu through Moraes but continued to be in touch even after he had moved on. She was a great storyteller and had a sense of humour so unique she could make the worst domestic tragedies sound hilarious, he says. Her interests ranged from politics to arts and poetry. Because the house was always full of poets,what with Dom and all his friends around,she would pretend she loathed poetry and call it pottery instead, Jussawalla says with a laugh. But she was a sharp critic of Doms as well as our poetry.

Naidu assisted Moraes in his works,at times as a secretary,making notes and typing manuscripts and,at other times,translating and interpreting for him. Moraes though never acknowledged all that she did for him. As George puts it: Leela was enormously talented,but her creativity was never funnelled into works of her own. It was utilised in movies others made or books others wrote; as Dom Moraess travel partner,she used to conduct research and even interviews for his books.

Her talents did manifest in a few professional accomplishments. Her career,as Hoskote says,is dotted with instances of notable work. She produced a documentary on mentally challenged children,A Certain Childhood,which was Kumar Shahnis first directorial project under the banner of Leela Naidu Films. Later,she registered under Unicorn Films to make another film,Houseless Bombay,which was never made. She briefly held a job as an editor at the Bombay-based magazine Key Notes. Her friends were surprised when she stopped writing. Overshadowed by Doms achievements,she probably lost the confidence, Jussawalla says.

She put others before her career because she was a product of the times she lived in,says Hoskote. Women were progressive enough to educate themselves but not modern enough to nurture a career. But she had an independent mind. She openly disagreed in politics with Dom and had her own views,especially on the Israel-Palestine divide, says Jussawalla. Thayil remembers her calling Moraes stone-deaf for she was a trained pianist and he didnt have an ear for music.

Painter Jatin Das,who knew her for nearly 40 years,remembers that she would often join them when Moraes would read out his poetry. Sometimes when Leela interrupted,he used to ask her to shut up and say You dont know anything,but she would sit with us and if something touched her immensely,she would burst into tears,but quietly,he says.

While Naidu went through difficult times throughout her life,her separation from Moraes was the biggest blow. She had met most of her friends through Moraes and they moved on when he did. But more importantly,she could never get over her failed relationship. She was lonely and,according to Das,that is what pushed her to alcoholism. A friend recounts how shed often say she couldnt believe Moraes would leave her for someone else. What hurt her more was probably the fact that Moraes flourished as a writer after they parted ways.

It is,however,unfair to assume that Moraes was the villain here,says Jussawalla. They were just not right together. One knew theyd destroy each other but theyve seen good times too, he says as he brings out a book of collected poems by the poet. He opens the page on Future Plans,an unforgettably beautiful poem on his time spent with Naidu.

But more than the separation,her illness she suffered from severe arthritis afflicted her social life. Naidu spent most of the last decade indoors. Financial constraints led her to keep paying guests in the house but she eventually took to them and enjoyed their company.

Jussawalla,who was one of the few who kept in touch with her,says she had a problem walking but didnt want people to know. But she used to like having people over for birthday and Christmas and would hold an elegant dinner party on these occasions. She didnt turn into a recluse; she would call her friends and keep in touch with both her daughters Priyas death a few years ago was a huge blow and grandsons though she missed the constant support of a family member, says Jussawalla.

On some days,she would just brood or spend her time reading while on others,says Selvam,she would play with the cat. Almost on cue,a white,plump cat,with four black patches walks into the room. Quartpatch, he says with a smile. Named because of the patches on her.
I rise to take one last look at the house,that once resounded with people and poetry and is now as desolate as Naidus last years.
With inputs from Harneet Singh and Vandana Kalra