And Freedom Shall Be Mine

He sat there, motionless and still, waiting for the clocks to strike twelve. At midnight, freedom would be his.

The watch-light from the central tower beamed slowly in circles around the five wings of 498 solitary cells that radiated from the tower, casting long and creepy shadows across the cellular jail.

From one end of the wing in which he was put in, he could hear the distant and broken voice booming from the transistor radio.

“Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom… ”

The familiar voice of Jawaharlal Nehru being broadcast by All India Radio echoed in the empty corridors that adjoined the cells and lead up to the central tower.

Outside, he could hear a couple of guards marching up and down the corridor, keeping a tight watch on the prisoners.

Ram Sharan managed a magnanimous smile. His mind and heart glowed with happiness at the thought of waking up to a new dawn, a free dawn.

Yet, he winced at the irony of it all.

He was one among the 134 prisoners sentenced to be hanged till death, and his turn would be coming up at 4:25 am on the 15^th of August, 1947.

He had heard news that although documents that contained orders of all political prisoners to be freed had been sent by the central command to all jails across the country, they had not yet reached this cellular jail housed on a remote island due to stormy weather conditions.

The jailor, taking advantage of this misfortune, had ordered that until the papers reached his prison, all executions would be carried out as pre-ordained.

The prisoners had revolted against this, but as in the past, the prison guards had managed to silence them with the use of excessive force and inhuman methods.

4:29 am, 15^th August, 1947

As the noose around his neck tightened its grip further, images of himself marching along with Gandhi on the route to Dandi flashed in his mind, along with memories of several revolts and protests in which he had been a part of with such leaders like Nehru , Bose , Sardar Patel and Savarkar.

As the nation arose to a beautiful orange sun that brought along with it the first rays of a free India, Ram Sharan breathed his last, as he set foot into a freedom of different kind.