On 15th August 1947, the seven year old Nair, witnessed a procession in his neighborhood in North Pallur (now Paravur), Kerala notwithstanding the flood. The rain could not dodge the excitement and slogans of "Bharat Mata ki Jai" and "Gandhiji ki Jai" filled the afternoon air. Nair learnt that we had gotten rid of the British rule and that our motherland was liberated. Gandhiji had secured us freedom at midnight.
We were free and that was a happy moment.
However, in the very next year on 30th January 1948, Gandhiji was murdered. The little Nair was baffled and asked why anyone would take a harmless soul's life?
Today we are citizens of a free country. But whether we experience freedom in every sense is something that Nair would like the present generation to contemplate.
Nair leaves us with an insightful Akshara Shloka.
15th August 1947 dawned revealing the dual reality of Independence and Partition. But the greater truth was- that of a glorious struggle, hard fought and hard won, in which many fell martyrs and countless others made sacrifices dreaming of the day India would be free. India became free but was to be partitioned. On the eve of Independence Day Cyril Radcliffe’s maps of a partitioned India were published. 390 million Indians were subjected to arbitrary cartographic fragmentation of the Indian subcontinent. While for his services to the British Empire, Radcliffe received a life peerage as a Baron of Werneth, more than 14 million Indians were subjected to indescribable acts of violence and displaced from lands they had inhabited for millennia. Nearly 2 million people perished in the process of displacement and migration.
The year 2021-2022 will be celebrated as the 75th year of India’s independence. To mark this occasion, Gitika Trust is endeavoring to document oral history of the experiences of the generations who have witnessed this historic moment of India’s Independence. Our aim is to recognize the trauma that this generation suffered and create awareness and empathy among youth. Partition and Independence in India is studied from a macro-political level but micro level effects of partition on our citizens have remained largely unnoticed.
In the backdrop of the current Pandemic situation, collecting data through online questionnaire and focused interview was the mode adopted by us to reach out to the pre-independent generation. Our story-tellers notwithstanding adverse circumstances, recollections, handicaps and/or ill-health, have convened to spread the message of hope and harmony for the sake of India. They dream of a country, where every child has equal access to nutrition, health and education. A democratic society that is endowed with civil liberties and that has no divisions. A land where natural and cultural heritage is preserved for future generations.
The stories from the generation that witnessed India’s liberation from colonialism remind us of the ideals and aspirations this country was born with. A democratic nation that ensures freedom, justice and equality to all her citizens. We are attempting to increase our sample size so that it is representative of this generation, but one prominent theme that all our story-tellers emphasized upon was upholding the values enshrined in our Constitution. It is our social responsibility and fundamental duty as well, as per the directive of chapter IV A of the Constitution to cherish the noble ideals which inspired our national struggle for freedom.
Please visit our youtube page to hear more such stories
Nair's story transports us to Paravur in Kerala from Kolkata where Ahmed's story ended yesterday. See the route map here