Nov 18, 2006 03:05 PM
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As a kid I always thought of what would it be like traveling in the time machine. What would I do if ever I got a chance to ride and then I answered myself that I would see the freedom struggle. Now of course I know there is no time machine but that didn’t stop me from experiencing the freedom struggle. “ Freedom At Midnight” by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierredefy the fact that history is boring. While reading this book I felt being a witness to the fate of the colonized India.
Though at some point it seemed to me as if I was reading Lord Mountbatten’s biography, but this time I experienced India’s independence from the other side of the table. We have so far read about our national leaders only as heroes, however this time I came to know about their dilemmas and there hidden ambitions.
I would also like to confess here that I was not an admirer of Gandhi and too an extent hated him and accused him of being the person approving the partition. Now after reading this book, I consider my opinion as superficial. Not that I have started admiring him. But certainly he was a tactician who knew that to start anything new, he would have to involve and exploit the grass root faculties. But what was really mind-boggling was the revelation that Zinnah had TB and had the partition been delayed for few months, Map of India might have been different……Really??
