Item 132 - Letter from Hasan Shahid Suhrawardy to R. C. Trevelyan

40 Theatre Road, Calcutta. - Wrote last November but received no reply, so is trying once more: asks if he could recommend a young man to the Master of Trinity [Trevelyan's brother George] for admission next Michaelmas. The usual way is to approach the Master through the High Commissioner, but is afraid that 'our best men do not get places in the good colleges' since these are 'reserved for sons of people who have rendered loyal service to government'. Has know the young man since childhood, and he is the nephew of their mutual friend Apurva Chanda. Had news of Trevelyan from [E.M.] Forster when he was here for the P.E.N. conference. Hopes Bessie and Ursula got the packages of tea and butter he sent from Darjeeling. Enjoyed reading Trevelyan's study of Chinese poetry ["From the Chinese"]. He himself studied Chinese intensively for two years, learning about two thousand characters; unfortunately he is now forgetting them all as the Chinese community in Calcutta diminishes. Has translated the poems of Lee How Chu [Li Yu] with the help of a Chinese poet [Liu Yih-ling]; the book is with a local publisher and he will send a copy when it comes out. Is afraid he may not be able to come over in England as he had planned; only people 'living at Delhi and known to the Viceroy and his councillors' are getting foreign missions and passages. Andriusha [Kalitinsky] and his wife had a daughter last October; longs to meet [Trevelyan's grandson] Philip Erasmus and was very touched by his poem on him.