Anecdotes Of Inspirational Days
The writing style is quaint and its datedness has about it the ring of truth... A review by Anjana Basu
Stirring Times: An Autobiography of a Nationalist
By Anand Mohan Sahay
With Excerpts from Asha's Diary by Bharati Choudhry 'Asha'
Purple Peacock Books; Rs 495
The nationalist stories we are used to hearing are the usual stirring stories of freedom fighters at work, Nehru and Gandhi's exploits centred. This, however, is a tale with a difference, the autobiography of a freedom fighter who worked with Gandhi in Bihar and Netaji in Japan and managed to reconcile two widely differing approaches to freedom.
Autobiographies have this habit of drawing readers into the events with greater immediacy. The writing style is quaint and its datedness has about it the ring of truth. This is the story of a man who started out as a medical student in Bihar and was drawn into the freedom struggle by the arrogance of the British that precipitated police action against Sahay's family, mistakenly in the beginning, though later with cause.
These memories were finally brought into the public eye by Bharati Choudhry, the eighty two year old daughter of Anand Mohan Sahay, the close associate and chief advisor to Netaj. Choudhry, a former Lieutenant of Rani Jhansi Regiment was part of the INA when it waged war against the British and marched with the Army to Imphal.
Sahay met Mahatma Gandhi and began to learn lessons of service from him, starting with cleaning the commodes in the bathroom, an act which taught him the virtues of self- reliance when he saw Gandhiji pick up a jharu and clean the commode that he had used. As his involvement with the movement grew, he came into contact with a wide variety of people, including CR Das's family and his future wife, who was a niece of CR Das.
Gradually, when his experience was honed, Sahay attempted to get a visa to go to America and drum up support for the freedom movement there. However, the British government refused to allow him to apply for a visa. Nehru, therefore, advised him to go to Japan and see whether he could obtain a US visa from there since the British High Commission in Tokyo would be less well informed about Sahay's subversive activities in India .
As a result of this advice, Sahay began his stint in Japan . His stories of life there are quaint ones, tales of finding Indian food to eat, being caught by Indian customs for having two dozen silk shirts in his luggage - they were made from samples given to him by his Sindhi employers.
What makes this book interesting apart from the history are these little details that make the young man's experiences more vivid, apart from adding a new dimension to the history of the Indian freedom struggle since there are few insights into the Japanese aspect of it. Sahay also mentions the enormous effort that went into collecting money for Netaji's army, women handing over their gold marriage bangles out of patriotic fervour, Sahay's wife being searched by the police in case she was carrying out money or weapons for Netaji in Japan .
In between Sahay slips in a story of the caste prejudice he had to face from his local villagers when he wanted to marry a Brahmo girl and how he managed to overcome a potentially tricky situation by hinting at sumptuous meal and gifts for the priests. Fortunately the priests gave their approval on the eve of Sahay's departure for Japan , so his money was saved.
In the end Sahay went to jail but was lucky enough to be put in charge of the bakery, so that his afternoon consisted of coffee and a freshly baked bun. However, it was jail nonetheless and his daughter Bharati moved heaven and earth to get him released.
Both historian and casual reader will find something in this autobiography, if it's only discovering that Tagore was known as Dr Tagore to Sahay and accused him of visiting Santiniketan only to steal pretty girls away - a reference to Sahay's wife who was one of Tagore's favourite pupils. Or Mahatma Gandhi thanking a young girl in his awkward Gujarati flavoured Hindi, telling her that she had captured his heart with her gift of gold bangles!
(The reviewer is a freelance contributor)
http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=30&theme=&usrsess=1&id=252318
