Watching the Republic Day marchpast on Raj path has always been a matter of pride and joy. The recently observed 66th anniversary of the republic rekindled the blissful memories connected to the celebrations of the golden jubilee of Indian Independence in 1997.
I was then posted in Andaman administration. An opportunity dawned to interact with venerated freedom fighters. The administration was observing the occasion in a big way and invited freedom fighters to be part of the celebration from the ‘mainland’; that is how the rest of the physical landmass of the country is known in the islands.
The term, ‘mainland’, I found sweet and amazing at the same time, when compared with different appellation (like India) given to it in some other territories that are physically not so apart. Coming back to our subject, the freedom fighters were brought by special flight to Port Blair escorted for reasons of their advance age by a companion each, most of them being in their 70s and 80s.
It was inspiring to hear these heroes of yesteryears recalling their exploits who despite their frail frames exhumed rare strength, pride, enthusiasm and warmth. Many of them had spent their youthful years in the dreaded Cellular Jail on the island with much sufferings and untold miseries.
Port Blair for them now was a pious place that had all the glory of a tirathsthan. Being a witness and a participant in that carnival was a matter of pride and privilege for those of us who were then serving in Andamans.
We tried not to miss any opportunity to hear stories of those days. The drudgery of captivity in such a far-flung territory, cruelty of prison officials, made poignant by coarse food, murky water, lack of medical care and inhospitable climate was further aggravated by the malevolent presence of dangerous pests and reptiles of all hue; mortality was very high. Many also suffered heightened brutalities during the Japanese occupation of the islands from 1942 to 1945.
We heard of a horrifying story related to a surviving islander actually living off a human corpse on an abandoned island for few days during the Japanese occupation of Andaman Islands. Unhealthy labour prisoners were taken in boats, shot and dropped in for the sharks.
This person feigned dead with minor bullet injury swam ashore an uninhabited island and finally rescued after the surrender of the Japanese forces. The other one related to a horrific incident about 54 Indian prisoners taken by the Japanese in a lorry, shot from point blank range and interned in a mass grave at Wimberlygunj, 15 kilometres from the capital town of Port Blair.
The story of heroic resistance, including various failed attempts to escape from the jail, was hair-splitting in its intensity.
Reminiscing about those tortuous and gloomy days they could also recollect some romances involving the earliest prisoners some of whom after completing their prison terms came out, had some romantic dalliance, married locally and settled on the island town. That was the indomitable proverbial human spirit. We met some members of families whose ancestors had been incarcerated in Port Blair during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
We were told of early efforts to grow vegetables and fruits despite high salinity and thunderous torrential rains lasting more than six months. Then came the next best initiative to start school education at Port Blair for the offspring of settlers.
Thus, despite extreme hardships, deprivations, tortures and even high rates of morbidity and mortality, the determined human will could not be suppressed. By indulgence in newer vocations many started finding the meaning of life in their new abode of inhospitable climes.
BR Ambedkar said, “I feel that the constitution is workable, it is flexible and it is strong enough to hold the country together both in peacetime and in wartime. Indeed, if I may say so, if things go wrong under the new Constitution, the reason will not be that we had a bad Constitution.
What we will have to say is that Man was vile.” I am also reminded of a beautiful line I read somewhere about the Republic Day, “Freedom in mind, faith in words, pride in our hearts and memories in our souls” — perhaps very nice conveyance of rational and clear thinking about a solemn occasion like this. Viewed in the above context, the following was an eye-opener.
On our repeated query about the distinction between the ‘then administration’ and the ‘present bureaucracy’, we were left shame-faced and about the image of the existing administrative infrastructure. To our consternation the comments were not flattering.
The freedom fighters felt that the quality of governance had gone down drastically; that the bureaucracy was much more efficient during the British rule as also more fair and honest then. The respect and awe with which some ICS officers were talked about did not compare favourably with their today’s counterparts.
The freedom fighters did not mince words in pointing out that there was much corruption in administration ‘now’. Some put the final nail in the coffin by opting, given a chance, to go back to the British system of governance rather than the ‘present’ dispensation. That was a sad commentary on our administrative culture and organisation, and we could not stop ourselves from reflecting, where we had gone wrong.