The time went by. The days turned into weeks, months and years. Azad’s father, Sitaram Tiwari passed away without seeing his son come home. Azad’s brother who had been serving as a postman after school education also died of pneumonia. The mother was now alone and without any support. She was shifted to Kanpur to live in a small rented room. Azad took care of her. He himself stayed out mostly doing his bit for the liberation of the country through revolutionary activities. He would come home once or twice a week on short time visits sometimes lasting only a few minutes.
The old lady had just one occupation to brood over the past while keeping her eyes fixed on the door hoping her son to materialise out of thin air. When she was not brooding she would be praying for her son’s return. She was doing the same on that day. Thoughts were worrying her, ‘My son is serving the cause of the country. But white men are very cruel. My son is challenging those white men. Would they harm my son? O god, guard my son against the white men.’
Suddenly she heard soft foot steps and her son materialised. Her old face lit up.
Azad came to he saying, “Pranam, mother.” Azad he touched her feet. Jagrani Devi was overjoyed, too happy for any words. Azad was accompanied by two of his comrades. He spoke, “Give me something to eat, ma. I am hungry.”
“Eat later. First I will treat you to pedas, your favourite sweet meat. I have been waiting for you for so many days. Nice of you to come.”
She went in and quickly came back with plateful pedas. Azad and his comrades began eating. They drank water after finishing pedas and went to sleep. Meanwhile, Jagrani Devi was cooking food. She woke them up when the food was ready and fed them. After eating Azad and his comrades prepared to leave. It pained the mother.
“Stay for a couple of days, son,” she pleaded.
“Don’t stop me, ma. I’ve some urgent tasks.”
“There always will be some task or the other all the life. Son, stay the night for me. I have not even seen you properly. Your stay will please me.”
“Ma! I understand your motherly feelings but I can’t see the mother suffering with my eyes. I won’t rest until I see you truly happy.”
“You don’t understand, son. My happiness is in seeing you around me, having you within my sights.”
“Ma! The mother of three hundred million Indian’s is suffering in the shackles of the British colonialists. What is your happiness compared to her fathomless misery. She is the mother of us all. I live for her cause. I take a vow to free her from the tyranny of the whiteman. I can’t tolerate it any more. I only seek you blessing of the success. The more you bless me the more powerful I will become morally. And one day I will definitely drive out British out of my motherland an our country will be free.”
“How will you accomplish such big task?” the mother asked.
“Through dedication and courage. They say that nothing is impossible in this world. Then, I am not alone, ma. There are thousands of other revolutionary soldiers. I won’t fed at home till Mother India is enslaved.”
Fears rose in the heart of the mother. Her knowledge was limited to whatever she had over heard whenever the men folk talked. She cautioned in trembling voice, “Son, don’t go against whitemen. They are very mighty and cruel. Whoever comes in their way gets crushed, so I have heard. Don’t challenge them openly.”
“I don’t like to live like a coward, ma. I must rise against them. Don’t forget that you have fed me tiger flesh hoping your son to be a tiger. You must behave like a mother of the tiger. Encourage me. Order me to tear the enemy apart. This country has millions of Chandra Shekhars like me. If one dies, he will become inspiration for other. And eventually the whiteman will be thrown out of this land or he will be buried inside it deep down. That is for sure.”
“Son, you are still a young boy. Do you know really what you are doing? There are many experienced old leaders who are leading big Satyagraha movements. Let them do the front running. Learn from them.”
“I can’t hide behind the backs of others, ma. I must lead from the front. Ma, our battle is different from the battle of other leader. We challenge the enemy directly. They announce war against enemy and after that shake hands with them and sit down for tea and dinner.”
“But you are very few in numbers, son. How will you take on the whitemen’s might?” Jagrani Devi was doubtful.
“We are few but we shall act as sparks. A spark can burn down a forest or a godown. Ma, rest assured that your son is doing no bad thing. Whatever we are doing it is for the sacred cause of the liberation of the motherland. Life or death and gain or loss are immaterial. One must just do one’s duty as Lord Krishna has said in Geeta. That’s what we are doing.”
“I don’t know son. But my blessing shall always be with you. Have no doubts about it. I will always pray for you victory. God bless you, sons.”
Azad touched the feet of his mother. His comrades also did the same. And the three figures departed and dissolved into the dark night.
Jagrani Devi stared into the darkness with tears in her eyes.
Kakori robbery
9th August, 1925—Ten young people waited for some train at Balamau railway station. They were Bismil, Ashfaq Ulla Khan, Azad, Banwari Lal, Rajendra Lahiri, Keshav Chakravarti, Mukandi Lal, Manmathnath Gupt, Murari Lal and S. N. Bakshi.
Moradabad-Lucknow passenger train was coming in. As soon as it steamed into the railway station the ten youngman boarded it. The three of them went to the II class and the rest in III class. After a short stop the train gave the whistle and steamed off.
As the train neared Kakori station someone pulled the emergency chain and brought the train to a screeching halt. The ten youngman spilled out of the train. They were holding guns. The two of them raced to the engine and tied the driver and the fireman with ropes. Another one got on the guard’s cabin and forced him out at gun point. He was made lie on the ground face down. The rest of the seven moved along the coaches on both sides warning the passengers to stay put and make no trouble. They were saying. “Beware! Don’t anyone move. Anyone making trouble or raising an alarm shall be shot dead. We are looting the government treasury. We don’t want to harm any innocent passenger. So, stay quiet and cooperate.”
The warning froze the passengers. The young revolutionaries pulled out the treasure chest from the guard’s cabin. Some of them hammered the chest to break it open.
Meanwhile, they saw Punjab Mail approaching from opposite direction. All the revolutionaries lied down. The train passed without suspecting anything wrong. The revolutionaries resumed their task and broke the chest open. They took out the money bags and disappeared into adjoining forests. The revolutionaries had drawn the plan of this robbery sometime ago. It solved all their immediate financial problems. When the news reached the authorities they moved swiftly. Entire U.P. was barricaded. The aim was to catch or kill the people involved in that robbery to serve as an example to others.
The looted amount was the collection of several railway stations which used to be sent to Lucknow. This robbery was on open challenge to the government. The police and the C.I.D. went after the revolutionaries as the statements of the passengers and the railway personnel had revealed enough clues. The police raided the suspected hideouts. The police had spread a wide dragnet. One by one most of the involved revolutionaries fell into the police hands barring Azad and a few others. The arrested persons were so severely tortured by police that they spilled the beans. More revolutionaries were arrested and put behind bars. Some youngman were forced to become prosecution witnesses.
