RIFLE RANGE BOY

The Discovery of India  Jawaharlal Nehru  (3rd Edition; 1947) © FG In school, we as students of history were given the impression that going to prison in the name of nation and justice is noble. Amma told us of the numerous times that Mahatma Gandhi, Nehru and the majority of the freedom fighters of India were imprisoned. The gaols got so packed that inmates had to be freed due to space constraints. There must be some messages lost in translation today as we see leaders entangled in the 1MDB fiasco also try to appear heady and statesman-like under the scrutiny of the press and the glaring flash of the journalist-photographers. We also were told that Nehru wrote his book whilst in prison. Amma was so fascinated with Gandhi and Nehru that she displayed a clay figurine of them in our living room so as to as remind her children to be useful citizens.  Then we grew up... Mixing with people who grew up in India and now with the access to informatio...

Freedom at Midnight Authors: Larry Collins & Dominic Lapiere (1975) Freedom, surviving the tests of time. One look at the title, one might be forgiven to think that it might a draggy almost 600 paged slow account of the events leading to the lowering of the Union Jack and the subsequent hoisting in the full glory of the tri-coloured new flag with the emblem of Ashoka Chakra (Wheel of Righteousness). Luckily, it turns out to be one of the best accounts of the history of British India right down to the nitty-gritty account of little secrets of Indian now lost royalties. It is the result of three years of extensive research and numerous interviews. Browsing through some of the comments online, we can see other people’s viewpoint on this book. Some lament that it is a one-sided Western view of the happenings in a helpless land of the natives. Most of the account of the event are through Louis Mountbatten’s written journals, letters and one-to-one interview with him by the aut...

Einstein meets Tagore http://asok22.wix.com/rifle-range-boy