"My departure for America has been postponed till the 21st of Aug. We shall rach Seattle about the 16th of Sept."
31st Aug. he wrote to Earnest E. Speit;
" My day of departure has been fixed on the 2nd of Sept."
But he wrote to Pratima Devi;
" Today our ship will sail for America, and we are busy in packing our luggage."
Actually the ship started on 3rd Sept.Mr Yokoyama Taikan, Hara Tomitara and Nomura were present to bid him farewell. There were no other persons from Kobe.
In an interview given to a journalist from Simbun news paper, Rabindranth said in reply to the comments of his criticism that he was misunderstood. It was simply an over simplification that he had remarked the material civilization of the west was a curse. Comparing the material civilization with that of a sharpen knife he said;
" if you want to use it, please do so carefully. But do not be so attracted by material civilization as to forget completely your spiritual civilization . In a word, I would like to say; Use a sharp razor, but do not be used by it."
Rabindranth started for America with Pearson and Mukulchandra. Andrews returned earlier to India.
