ABSTRACT
In 1922 we were still enrolled in the Sacred Heart Convent School in Lahore. That year, Roman Catholic dignitaries from Belgium were scheduled to visit. We were being coached to sing the Belgian national anthem. Since the imposition of martial law in 1919, “Vande Mataram” [Hail to the Motherland] had come to be regarded as India’s national anthem. Written by the famous Bengali novelist Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, the text appeared first in his novel, Ananda Math [Monastery of Happiness]. It was set to music by the poet Rabindra Nath Tagore. Mother insisted that if the Belgium National Anthem was to be sung, “Vande Mataram” should also be included. The sisters of the convent regarded this as a harmless Indian song and readily agreed.
