I spoke in Hindi.
Born in Allahabad, to a mother who was struggling to complete her residency at the Kamla Nehru Hospital, and a father a young Captain on field, I spent a lot of time with my grandfather who was then the Director Education for UP. A self made man, but of a very humble origin.
Born in Allahabad, to a mother who was struggling to complete her residency at the Kamla Nehru Hospital, and a father a young Captain on field, I spent a lot of time with my grandfather who was then the Director Education for UP. A self made man, but of a very humble origin.
Walk as he would with his penang lawyer, I was his usual and daily companion on this routine to the Alfred Park, the place where Pt Chandrashekhar Sitaram Tiwari died “AZAD” as he could not be captured alive by the police. This story of the supreme sacrifice must have been recounted to me I am sure times without number particularly by the customary raise of the penang lawyer toward the statue, by my grandfather who before he joined the government was himself a revolutionary. But of course, I have no memory of those anecdotal narrations, but for hazy memories of the moustache twirling statue of the great hero. But somewhere down the memory lane, repeated anecdotal references must have made a dent.
This year, when I was asked to make an impromptu speech after I hoisted the flag - being averse to public speaking I was ill prepared - I unconsciously recalled the story of Azad.
An ace shooter, priest to Hanuman temple, which proved to be one of the best disguises for Panditji, a new convert to the socialist thought, and of all a mentor or guru to Bhagat Singh, Azad was the icon who co founded the HRA with Pt Ram Prasad Bismil. I seemed to have culled it out of my cached memory quite effortlessly.
Talking about independence which most of us take so matter of factly and for granted, my grandfather would tell me stories of how the sole purpose of youth of that age was independence. Curisously, when it were the kings fighting, the rebellion of 1857 was quite successfully suppressed and the resistance was decisively quelled. But when the people – the hoi polloi - rose, when women sold their ornaments, when kids mindlessly ran with the diminutive Gandhi ( walking with him was well nigh impossible, his pace was such ), it was impossible to for the British to quell the popular uprising and prolong their stay in India. The manifestation of a popular uprising is so protean, that it becomes impossible to even recognize it, so it is never possible to suppress it. You just smart it.
My grandfather once told me, when his friends had no money for a Mauser, the stationmaster of Mainpuri, a small railway station of UP (United Provinces), suggested to them to raid his office, beat and tie him up and decamp with the Rs 50/- that was needed for the Mauser, which of course the group bought.
Closer to independence, the tricolor ( with the charkha, the chakra was not adopted until 1947, used to be unfurled along with the Union Jack, albeit a few incheS lower. The district Gazette has it, that on one occasion being enraged by the 3 inch lower position of the tricolor, my grandfather – Harishankar, pushed a the District Magistrate J JOHNSTON aside, manhandled him in the presence of a huge gathering and an equally huge police force and pulling the Union Jack down raised the Tricolor to its eminent height. Of course daring acts always have a shock appeal, and by the time, a taken by surprise force reacted, Harishankar was already on the roof of one of the houses, and apparently the house owners were all fighting to get the privilege of giving refuge to this fugitive.
It was this participative patriotism, the revolution of the common man, the last man, that shook the roots of the Raj. The situation, and it mascot - Gandhi, had ensured an all inclusive resistance. The all pervasive hate for the Raj, euphoria for swatantŗatā and swaraj were voices that were cutting across strata. GD Birla wanted riddance from foreign yoke as much as Gajodhar, the quintessential boorish village stereotype of stand up comedian Raju Srivastava.
I vividly recall, we got a negative observation in an audit of our Pharmaceutical factory by a MNC just because, some bottom rung contract house keeping worker did not understand that a steel drum had to be scrubbed clean beyond imagination. The MNC audit team made a critical observation that the solvent making equipment was not clean and the SoP though existed was not being followed. So down the line, the people have to be completely aligned with the goal and aspiration of the organization and contribution of the bottom most rung as critical as that of the top most.
Well, the above was broadly the content of my I - Day speech also. My impromptu speech after I hoisted the flag. I spoke in Hindi. My first speech in Hindi it was. Completely unpremeditated. Something in me impelled me to speak in Hindi. For a few moments I seemed to be quite possessed.
This year, when I was asked to make an impromptu speech after I hoisted the flag - being averse to public speaking I was ill prepared - I unconsciously recalled the story of Azad.
An ace shooter, priest to Hanuman temple, which proved to be one of the best disguises for Panditji, a new convert to the socialist thought, and of all a mentor or guru to Bhagat Singh, Azad was the icon who co founded the HRA with Pt Ram Prasad Bismil. I seemed to have culled it out of my cached memory quite effortlessly.
Talking about independence which most of us take so matter of factly and for granted, my grandfather would tell me stories of how the sole purpose of youth of that age was independence. Curisously, when it were the kings fighting, the rebellion of 1857 was quite successfully suppressed and the resistance was decisively quelled. But when the people – the hoi polloi - rose, when women sold their ornaments, when kids mindlessly ran with the diminutive Gandhi ( walking with him was well nigh impossible, his pace was such ), it was impossible to for the British to quell the popular uprising and prolong their stay in India. The manifestation of a popular uprising is so protean, that it becomes impossible to even recognize it, so it is never possible to suppress it. You just smart it.
My grandfather once told me, when his friends had no money for a Mauser, the stationmaster of Mainpuri, a small railway station of UP (United Provinces), suggested to them to raid his office, beat and tie him up and decamp with the Rs 50/- that was needed for the Mauser, which of course the group bought.
Closer to independence, the tricolor ( with the charkha, the chakra was not adopted until 1947, used to be unfurled along with the Union Jack, albeit a few incheS lower. The district Gazette has it, that on one occasion being enraged by the 3 inch lower position of the tricolor, my grandfather – Harishankar, pushed a the District Magistrate J JOHNSTON aside, manhandled him in the presence of a huge gathering and an equally huge police force and pulling the Union Jack down raised the Tricolor to its eminent height. Of course daring acts always have a shock appeal, and by the time, a taken by surprise force reacted, Harishankar was already on the roof of one of the houses, and apparently the house owners were all fighting to get the privilege of giving refuge to this fugitive.
It was this participative patriotism, the revolution of the common man, the last man, that shook the roots of the Raj. The situation, and it mascot - Gandhi, had ensured an all inclusive resistance. The all pervasive hate for the Raj, euphoria for swatantŗatā and swaraj were voices that were cutting across strata. GD Birla wanted riddance from foreign yoke as much as Gajodhar, the quintessential boorish village stereotype of stand up comedian Raju Srivastava.
I vividly recall, we got a negative observation in an audit of our Pharmaceutical factory by a MNC just because, some bottom rung contract house keeping worker did not understand that a steel drum had to be scrubbed clean beyond imagination. The MNC audit team made a critical observation that the solvent making equipment was not clean and the SoP though existed was not being followed. So down the line, the people have to be completely aligned with the goal and aspiration of the organization and contribution of the bottom most rung as critical as that of the top most.
Well, the above was broadly the content of my I - Day speech also. My impromptu speech after I hoisted the flag. I spoke in Hindi. My first speech in Hindi it was. Completely unpremeditated. Something in me impelled me to speak in Hindi. For a few moments I seemed to be quite possessed.
