Untold story of Bengali Braveheart - Surya Sen



Chittagong Leader and Martyr: Surya Sen



Surya Sen – The Chittagong Hero
(March 22 1894- January 12 1934)
Birth Place: Naopara, Chittagong

On January 12, 1934, British officials entered the cell of their captured revolutionary and brutally tortured him by breaking all his teeth, limbs and joints with hammer. The torture was so cruel and painful that the revolutionary couldn’t even scream. The revolutionary was hanged unconsciously and later his dead body was put in a metallic cage and was thrown into sea. What was such fear in minds of British that they had to brutally hang the revolutionary? This revolutionary was none other than Surya Sen, the valiant Bengali revolutionary who shook the British Empire by simultaneously attacking British cantonment, European club, Telegraph office, railway line and armory in Chittagong. Through this revolt, Surya Sen had created a strong awakening in minds of Indians to lift up weapons against the tyrant British supremacy.

The martyrdom of Bhagat Singh on 23^rd March 1931 has inspired several freedom fighters to plunge themselves in the freedom struggle and Surya Sen was one of them. Surya Sen’s only dream was to make his nation free from the grip of British and his first initiative was to attack the British resources and make Chittagong Independent. A teacher by profession, Surya Sen was fondly known as Masterda (teacher brother) who inspired and motivated students by narrating the stories of famous revolutionaries like Khudiram Bose. He participated in all the freedom movements and activities of Indian National Congress and highly admired the principles of Mahatma Gandhi. But his dreams were short lived. The violent Chauri Chaura Incident not only hurt Gandhiji, but also compelled him to withdraw the non co-operation movement. With the coming times, Surya Sen realized that revolutionary action is only the way to resist the British force.

The initiative and action plan of Surya Sen was supported by his fellow members and colleagues- Ganesh Ghosh, Ambika Chakravarti, Anant Singh, Lokenath Bal, Nirmal Sen and prominent women revolutionaries like Kalpana Dutta and Pritilata Waddedar. With help of bunch of teenagers, Surya Sen devised a strategy to raid the British armoury, cantonment, telegraph office, railway line and European club on the same day – 18 April 1830 and free their homeland Chittagong from British Empire .Though the raid was successful, the revolutionaries later realized that there were weapons, but no ammunition.

Collecting the minimum weapons, Surya Sen and his team confronted the British army and managed to hoist the Indian Flag in police armoury. After the raid, Surya Sen and his group marched to Jalalabad Hills where they again had to face the bullets fired by the British Army. Several teenage revolutionaries lost their lives in the encounter and Tegra, the younger brother of Lokenath Bal was one of them. Later a revolutionary among the group of Surya Sen betrayed him by giving clues and information about their activities to the British. Slowly all the members were captured or killed in the encounter planned by the British. Even Pritilata Waddedar sacrificed her life during the attack on Pahartali European Club.

                                                         A rare photograph of Pritilata Waddedar 

Capture and Death Sentence: Even though Surya Sen managed to escape from the eye of British, he was fatally captured on February 1933 in Gairala Village.  The death sentence to Surya Sen completely shattered the dreams of his members who had cherished a dream to free motherland from clutches of foreign supremacy. Surya Sen was hanged along with another patriot Tarakeshwar Dastidar on January 12, 1934. Though his efforts didn’t succeed, his dream to free India finally came true on 15^th August 1947. It is very sad to know that the effort of the Chittagong martyrs hasn’t been told to young generation in detail.

Literary  Adaptations: The Chittagong armoury raid was been retold into a novel called – Do or Die : The Chittagong Uprising, written by Manini Chatterjee.  Even India Book House published a graphical story book on life, struggle and martyrdom of Surya Sen.

Recently a Hindi motion picture: Khelein Hum jee jaan se, directed by Ashutosh Gowariker was based on life and martyrdom of Surya Sen who played a pivotal role in attacking the British resources with full might.

Even the movie was equally inspiring and retold the legend of Surya Sen whose efforts got dispersed in pages of history. Abhishek Bachchan portrayed the role of Surya Sen with perfection and showcased the patriotic emotions with finesse.

Through this blog post, I have taken a small, humble effort to inform you about the martyrdom of a brave son of motherland who sacrificed everything for sake of our nation’s independence. I am looking forward to write more blog posts on revolutionaries like Khudiram Bose, Veena Das, Jatin Das, Sukhdev, Babu Ghenu and make their efforts informed to the world. Hope you support me in this initiative by reading these blog posts and convey your suggestions.

Vande Mataram
Prashant Badiger

Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer- An unforgettable classic

Novel : Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Author: Mark Twain

Frankly saying, I can’t stay without books. Whenever I rest, work or travel I always make sure to see that I have a book or at least a newspaper to feed my mind with information. My hobby of reading books evolved into writing and I owe this favor to the literary classic masterpiece – Tom sawyer written by Mark Twain. Tom is the character every person can identify with and I feel personally connected with it. Tom sawyer is an orphan innocent boy who stays with his aunt Polly and his brother Sid. Accompanied by his friend, Huckleberry Finn, Tom sets on an endless adventurous journey full of thrills, fun, love and togetherness. Especially for book lovers, Tom Sawyer is a must read who are wishing to revisit their childhood days and refresh their memories. Tom Sawyer written by Mark Twain has entertained millions of readers for generations with  humor and lively youth content. 

Mark Twain’s work has been a beacon which motivated many writers to roll out youthful classics to readers. It is this book that motivated me to enter the world of writing and express my thoughts to innumerable readers. Every character is memorable in this book whether it is the mischievous, shabby Huckleberry fin or the bubbly Becky Thatcher.  If you read “Tom Sawyer”, you will also like its sequel – Adventures of Huckleberry Finn where Huck and Tom again move to a new adventure to free a negro slave.  It’s a delightful adventure novel for every age and reading this book takes you back to your own childhood days.  Captains Courageous, Oliver Twist, Kidnapped, Rebecca of Sunny brook farm are novels  targeted to children and are worth reading. I highly recommend these books.

The martyrdom of Pritilata Waddedar

Pritilata Waddedar
(5 May 1911- 23 September 1932)

The pages of Indian history are soaked with blood of countless patriots, revolutionaries who happily laid their lives for the liberation of nation from tyrant British Empire. Along with men, women too have equally given their contribution in freedom struggle, both violent and non violent ways. Among the women revolutionaries, the martyrdom of Pritilata Wadedar is remembered with honour and respect. Pritilata was an intelligent student who passed her matriculation exam in first class and in later days she pursued her graduation in philosophy with distinction from Bethune College, Calcutta. While pursuing her education, Pritilata had a keen desire to put her contribution in freedom struggle and destiny gave her opportunity through her colleague Kalpana Dutta who introduced Pritilata to the great revolutionary leader Surya Sen. Although Surya Sen was reluctant to include Pritilata in his group, but her determination to eliminate British supremacy was so firm that Surya Sen finally accepted Pritilata as the woman comrade and member in his revolutionary group. Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi was a role model and an inspirational force for Pritilata to sacrifice her life for liberation of motherland. It was Pritilata’s intelligence, strategy and efforts that helped Surya Sen and other members to attack the armoury raid, telegraph office, railway lines and make the uprising of Chittagong successful.

                                              Chittagong hero and martyr : Surya Sen

Martyrdom: To avenge the death of innocent teenage comrades in Jalalabad encounter, Surya Sen’s next strategy was to attack the Pahartali European club which had a board titled – Dogs and Indians are not allowed. Surya Sen selected Pritilata to lead this plan along with a team to attack the European club on September 23rd 1932. Pritilata succeeded in attacking the European club, but suddenly in the bloody encounter Pritilata and her members were chased down by British officers. Pritilata was fatally wounded in this attack and there was no way for escape from the Britishers. Finally Pritilata commanded her members to run away from the spot and preferred to sacrifice her life for her motherland. Pritilata ended her life by swallowing potassium cyanide and her martyrdom became a great motivation for several women to plunge in the freedom struggle. At a very young age of 21, Pritilata had given up her valuable life for our motherland.

Recently a bollywood movie – Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey directed by Ashutosh Gowariker was based on Chittagong Uprising and retold the unsung martyrdom of Pritilata Waddedar. Role of Pritilata was portrayed by Vishaka singh while role of surya sen was played by Abhiskhek bachchan respectively. I am looking forward to write more biographies on several patriots like Kanaklata Barua, Babu Ghenu, Jatin Das, Sukhdev so that their sacrifice and struggle is conveyed to world with full details. 

Reading about the extraordinary courageous life of braveheart like Pritilata is really a motivational experience and through this blog post I have taken a small effort to retell the legend of Pritilata whose struggle has got lost in pages of history.

                              

Batman Begins - Rise of Batman

Movie: Batman Begins
Director: Christopher Nolan
Cast: Christian Bale, Liam Neeson, Morgan Freeman, Katie Holmes, Gary Oldman and Michael Caine
Ratings: Excellent 

First of all I appreciate the innovative approach of Christopher Nolan in giving a new edge to Batman movie series and giving it a complete makeover in terms of story, screenplay, and direction. Batman Begins is the journey of Bruce Wayne from a Billionaire to a dark knight whose only goal is to end crime from Gotham City. Traumatized by the murder of his parents, Bruce is left alone in the world with only Butler Alfred as his caretaker in Wayne Mansion. Bruce’s biggest fears in his childhood are the bats which come in his dreams and traumatize his mind. Batman travels round the world to understand the psyche of crime and during the journey he meets Henri Ducard who gives him courage to overcome his fear. After several years, Bruce Wayne returns to Gotham city and discovers that Gotham city is terrorized by a gangster Falcone and psychopath psychiatrist named  Scarecrow. To bring evil to justice, Bruce transforms into a new dark crusader named Batman whose only aim is destruction of crime.

Batman succeeds in finishing all the criminal activities of Falcone and gets him arrested. But Batman is unaware of a new adversary who has already arrived in Gotham and has destructive plans to wipe out Gotham city. Who is this deadly adversary what are his intentions? Does Batman succeed in stopping this demolition? Batman Joins forces with Sergeant Gordon, Lucius, Rachael Dawson to stop the destruction and how he succeeds in vanquishing the evil is best to be viewed on silver screen.

I have seen many actors playing Batman, but in case of Christian Bale, he is a powerhouse performer who infuses a life into the role of Batman/Bruce Wayne. Really a convincing performance indeed! Right from the opening scene of the movie till the climax, Batman Begins keeps you hooked and gives a very important message of overcoming one’s fear. Bruce Wayne’s fear for Bats becomes his power and a horrifying threat for evil. Followed by a superb supporting star cast like Michael Caine as Butler Alfred and Gary Oldman as Sgt Gordon, this movie is really believable and is quite unique from other super hero movies. Go for a thrill ride; trust me this is one of the best Batman movies of all time.