A letter written by Ashfaq Ullah Khan 'Warsi' to his comrade, Sachinder Nath Bakshi's sister three days before his martyrdom
Farewell
Condemned Cell
Faizabad Jail
16.12.1927
My dear didi
I am going to the next-world, where there is no worldly pains and there would not have to struggle for a better life. Where, there will have death or mortality. I am not going to die but going to live forever. After comrade Bakshi's release, say my love with regards to him and tell him that I breathed last with a firm mind and cheerful heart. The last day is Monday. If you could get an opportunity, you may have interview for the last. If circumstances are not favourable then I depart from all of you forever. Accept my last Bande.... let me pass away. You will come to know afterwards that how I die. May God be with you, with all His blessings. My B.C. to Baba and love to Savetri, Gaur, Kanoo6 and other children and Bandey7 to Nepal8. B.C. to all my elders and love to the youngers. It is my desire to see you all once more in my life. You may come if possible. I think of God and feel not for me. Let Bakshi know about me. I regard you as my sister and you would not forget me. Be cheerful I am dying like Heroes.
Yours...,
Md. Ashfaq Ullah Khan 'Warsi'
B.C. to all
Postcard/postage
Address:
To
My Dear Didi
c/o Mr. Kalidas Bakshi
f/o S.N. Bakshi
Mohalla Pataleshar
Benaras
Great work..........
ReplyDeleteThanks for doing this great job of bringing such docs to light. Vandey Mataram !
ReplyDeleteThank you for posting !!!
ReplyDeletesalutations to the great soul
ReplyDeleteTruly great work they had done..online bookstore is having more books about them!!
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H42G0T2CVt8
ReplyDeletewww.tatyatope.blogspot.com....read it join us in rehabilitation of our heroes descendant families contact jshivnath@gmail.com for sending your contributions come fwd dont only blame govt we r to blamed for this....
"Know Your Martyrs of 1857-1947" mission
ReplyDeleteआन्दोलन: एक पुस्तक से: यानि, अँधेरी कोठरी में एक रौशनदान
आन्दोलन एक पुस्तक से - यानि, अँधेरी कोठरी में रौशनदान is a nationwide movement to identify, rescue and provide a dignified, if not luxurious, life to the descendants of forgotten heroes and martyrs of India’s freedom movement between 1857 and 1947. Kicked off in 2005 with a book "Monograph on the life and art of Bharat Ratna Shehnai Maestro Ustad Bismillah Khan when he had to give a charity show for his own cause at the winter of his life,
NEW DELHI, August 7: “As India changes very fast in this e-age and as our independence becomes a distant event for new generations, work like that will be a constant reminder to us that how much we owe our today to the sacrifices of freedom fighters”, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, who has written preface in a book “1857-1947 Forgotten Heroes and Martyrs of India’s Freedom Movement”, launched the Chief Minister here this evening at her office chamber.
Compiled and edited by Special Broadcasting Service (SBS Radio, Sydney, Australia) journalist Shivnath Jha and his educationist wife Neena Jha, the book, is the fifth in the series of ‘Andolan Ek Pustak Se’. It will be launched in all state capitals throughout the year as a part to impart information about the freedom movement’s revolutionaries and martyrs and give a dignified, if not luxurious, life to the living descendants of forgotten heroes and martyrs of freedom movement.
The book, perhaps first of its kind in the post independence era, comprises pictorial details of as many as 200 forgotten heroes and martyrs of freedom movement and the misery and poverty of 30 descendants located so far by the couple.
“This book has given a new life to Bijender Singh Tomar, the one and only living bloodline of Martyr Ram Prasad Bismil living in anonymity and penury in the country side”, Jha said. Bismil was hanged on December 14, 1927 for his involvement in the Kakori train robbery case.
the nature of call to the service of the nation may have been transformed profoundly; the quality of objectives may well be different; but the sense is the same, of giving altruistically. Given that we encounter hypocracy, cynicism, selfishness, intellectual dishonesty, corruption in abundance and ideology as well as leadership is scare, the heroes of our time need mental endurance much more than physical strength.”
Published under the aegis of “Andolan Ek Pustak Se”, the book is a crusade to bring to light the miserable conditions of descendants and families of freedom fighters as well as an attempt to bring about a change,” Jha, who has spent more than seven years to locate 30 descendants’ families so far, said.
Eight years ago when Bharat Ratna Shehnai maestro Ustad Bismillah Khan had to give a charity show for his own cause at the winter of his life, Shivnath and his wife did a book on the Ustad – Monograph on Ustad Bismillah Khan – that was launched by him five month before he took his last breath on August 21, 2006.
In 2007, Jha found Vinayak Rao Tope (54), a fourth generation descendant of Tatya Tope, martyr of the 1857 uprising. Vinayak Rao Tope, his wife Smt Saraswati Devi and three children were living in penury in Uttar Pradesh’s Bithoor village. Vinayak ran a small grocery shop.
In January 2009, Jha discovered the sad plight of Sultana Begum, the great grand daughter-in-law of Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar. Sultana lived in a Howrah slum and ran a tea stall to make ends meet.
In April 2011, Jha met Jeet Singh, the grandson of Udham Singh, the freedom fighter who shot dead Michael O’Dwyer, the British Lieutenant Governor of colonial Punjab. O’Dwyer had endorsed General Reginald Dyer’s Jallianwala Bagh massacre. Jeet Singh works as a labourer at a construction site in Punjab.
mr Jha couple did four books and provide a dignified, if not luxurious, life to the descendants Tatya Tope, Bahadur Shah Zafar, Udham Singh.
www.tatyatope.blogspot.com