Stories behind Independence Day – Blog on Culture & Social History

For Indians, 15th of August, is a date with destiny. And surprisingly a total of six countries got their independence on this date in different years. You can say they were destined too. Bahrain, Congo, the Koreas, Liechtenstein, and my country, India. The largest and most exceptional democracy in the world.

A country that is diverse in every possible sense: geographically, socially, culturally, linguistically. India is exceptional in many ways. And you can count them because of India. After all, it was India that helped the world count. These two gentlemen did. They gave mathematics its most important invention: zero. The circle of life. And speaking of life, the land the world knows as India today was once home to one of the three earliest civilizations in the world.

This civilization was also the most widespread. It covered an area of 1.25 million kilometres, and that too some 8,000 years ago. And if you think this is too much, then beat this: six percent of the world’s languages are spoken in India. That’s some 19,500 languages, dialects, and mother tongues. Each with its own uniqueness, and the numbers keep growing. The claims of many more languages for inclusion are under consideration in India. And speaking of claims, India has never claimed land that belongs to others.

No matter how many maps get fixed, no matter how many boundaries get redrawn, and no matter how much this man provokes, India has never coveted any territory or attacked any country. If anything, India has only taught others how to respect boundaries. Not just geographical, but the ones that cannot be found on maps. I’m talking about cultural and religious boundaries. In August started with Eid al-Adha. Last week, it was Rakshabandhan. It will end with Ona. A total of 14 festivals are being celebrated in August alone.

we could go on, but you get the point. Now let me tell you some very, very short stories from 1947, the year India got independence. Incidents from just before India’s independence that give you a flavor of the times and help you appreciate how complex the process was. There’s a good chance you’ve not heard of these stories.

Story number one: Lord Mountbatten’s description of the key players in India. Nehru, he said, was a man of high principles but had a curious weakness for deferring to the judgment of strong men. These are his words. Patel possessed great common sense and had his feet firmly on the ground. And for Jinnah, Mountbatten said, “My God, he was cold.

Story number two: As partition was announced, do you know what was the first thing that people did? Rush to the bank. In all, six crore rupees were removed from savings accounts in Karachi alone.

Story number three: There was violence, looting, and killing. Guess what Jinnah was bothered about more? His cigars. He wrote a letter inquiring about his carton of cigars. In June, he had bank accounts in Delhi, Lahore, and Bombay. He was informed that his total deposits in 1947 were seven lakh ninety-seven thousand one hundred and forty-nine rupees, twelve annas, and three paisas. He was a rich man. Jinnah’s house in Delhi, Ten Origin Road, was bought by an industrialist, Sait Ram Christian Dalmia, for three lakh rupees. Do you know what he did with it? He set up an office for the cow protection center, apparently, to maintain its historical significance.

Number four: In Delhi, an American visitor asked for Mahatma Gandhi’s autograph. Gandhi demanded 20 rupees in return. After some haggling, they agreed on 15 rupees. The money was donated to the hurricane welfare fund.

Number five: After a prayer meeting, Gandhi quoted George Bernard Shaw. And this is interesting: an Englishman is never in the wrong. He does everything on principle. He fights you on patriotic principles. He robs you on business principles. He enslaves you on imperial principles. He supports his king on loyal principles. And he cuts off the king’s head on republican principles. The English must be leaving India on some principle, said Gandhi. I would like to know what that principle is.

Number Six: In Nagpur, Justice T.L. Shayode took oath as a high court judge wearing a Gandhi cap. A British judge asked him, “Do you sleep with the cap on?” Justice Shayode said, “Yes sir, just the way you sleep with your hat on.”

Number seven: The Delhi government announced a new pay scheme for the army: three thousand rupees per month for a general, and a grand total of thirty-five rupees for soldiers with matriculation. There was a party at the Red Fort. General Karyapa and Brigadier Raza gave emotional speeches, and the soldiers who were to form the armies of India and Pakistan sang for each other, for they were jolly good fellows.

Number eight: There were 470 officers in the Indian Civil Services when India gained independence. They were given a choice. Four hundred of them chose to retire on the 15th of August. Of the 70 who remained, 40 were in India and 30 in Pakistan. That’s where we started.

Number nine: The chairman of the BCCI, the Board of Cricket Control of India, A.S. De Melo, had this to say: “Sports should be spared from partition. This will harm both the games and the spirit of the games.” The BCCI has not changed much.

Number ten: Why did it happen at the stroke of midnight? Well, Mountbatten wrote a telegram to London explaining. He said, “Indian astrologers say it is an auspicious hour.” In fact, at one point, he raised a concern. He said there were no astrologers at the Viceroy House. It was proving to be a hindrance in setting dates, so they had to hire one. Those were interesting times.

The future of a self-reliant India, where a Kashmiri youth can develop a mobile app that is faster than a recently banned Chinese app. The future of a more determined India, where we reduce our dependence on imported military hardware. An India that is a global leader, where an Indian sits on the high chair of the U.N. Security Council. An India that is a global manufacturing hub, where investors and companies shift their base from the land of a rogue neighbour. An India that is an energy powerhouse, where Indians helped build the world’s largest nuclear fusion reactor for a sustainable planet.

Credit: Commons wikimedia

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