Independence Day Reading

As the images of fluttering tricolors and the colorful balloons going up in the sky in celebration of yet another Independence Day kept coming in, I was reminded of someone about whom I had read sometime back by an online news paper article today. At 12, in 1942 she had given her gold ear ring to Aruna Asaf Ali who was speaking in Thrissur seeking to raise funds for the Quit India Movement. She received severe beating from her step mother as a reward for the gesture. She left home after matriculation to take part in the freedom struggle and traversed the length and breadth of the country spreading the message against the British rule.

After independence, she served and studied at the Kasturba Centre at Indore and joined Acharya Vinoba Bhave’s Bhoodan Movement. She was awarded the Kasturba Trust Prize for her services to the Gandhian causes in 1975. Later she founded the Shanthikudeerom in Tirur for spreading Gandhian values.

In old age she applied for pensions given to freedom fighters and Khadi promoters. She was not found eligible as she had no documents to be produced in support of her activities from 1950. It is said that she was asked if she had proof to show that she was a Gandhian. So finally on 10^th of February, 2007 Gandhian Sarojiniji ended her life, hanging by a khadi dress she had spun and woven by herself.

(source: Kerala Kaumudi Online)

Happy Independence Day, have a blast.

Note: If you are Indian, don't forget to keep documentary evidence for all your good deeds. Might come in handy in old age.