view. Gandhi, who had been talking to Nehru for an hour, asked me to excuse him for ten minutes. He had to go to the lavatory, he explained. When he came back he lay down on his pallet, and one of his secretaries handed him a letter that had come in the mail. Gandhi took it and smiled as he read it, then turned two pages and I saw a folded sheet of music. Turning to Kurshed who was in the room, he said laughingly to her, “Here, sing this for me.” She hummed the notes and read some of the verses, and then I asked for the letter and the music. She gave them to me and I brought them to America with me. The letter was dated “United States of America, Hollywood, California, 1535 North Hobart Boulevard, March 10, 1942.” It was addressed to “Mahatma Gandhi, Indian National Congress, India,” and signed by Marius Mannik. The letter read, “My Dear Mahatma Gandhi: Am sending you this song in a democratic spirit and hope you will receive it as such. I have long been one of your admirers. Most sincerely yours.” The song was entitled “Let’s Beat the Axis” and was dedicated to “General Douglas MacArthur and his forces.” The chorus read:
“So let us grind our Axes to beat the cruel Axis,
Our Faith and Work and Taxes must stay the foe that whacks us;
Then let us grind our Axes and beat the cruel Axis
Till tyranny relaxes from Nome to old Damascus.”
