The Last Heroes - P Sainath

 P Sainath does a great service in tracking down unknown and unheard of heroes from the freedom struggle and documenting it down lest we forget that not all heroes are mentioned in text books or given national holidays for. His heroes are ordinary, forgotten ones who dared everything in a moment of madness or clarity of purpose - and that's all that mattered. Most of them paid a heavy price of it, but have not regretted a moment of it.

From the lady who led a band of women an charged the British police with lathis and drove them out to those who fought on using the pen as an instrument, farmers, homemakers, labourers, the book covers it all. Hausbai of Sangli who staged a drama of getting beaten up by a fake husband distracted the police so they could steal arms for the struggle. Demati Dei Salihan who as a 16 year old led a lathi charge on the British police who were attacking her father and drove them away. Bhagat Singh Jhuggian, a 11 year old who shouted pro-India and anti-British slogans and got rusticated from school, then led the struggle in his own way as a courier, (his classmate Afzal Tauseef became a famous writer in Pakistan - a romantic angle to the whole story). Sobharam Gehervar from Ajmer who keeps the good fight gong on even today - I would ave met him had I read this book before my Ajmer trip last month. Our own Mallu Swarajyam from Telangana who fought with slingshots and was trained in using firearms against the razakars and the British, overpowering them and taking off with their weapons. Captain Bhau Ramachandra and his band who looted a train carrying money to fund the struggle. N Sankariah who gave up his final exams to go into the struggle and remained a revolutionary ever since. Baji Mohammed who was part of a peace team that sat peacefully despite the police pouring water, hitting them with lathis and fracturing his skull. in Ayodhya. Laxmi Panda who trained in firearms, cooked food for the revolutionaries, now works as a maid. Chamaru Parida who told the British Police to leave because he hailed himself as the magistrate and got them to leave as well. Ganapati Bal Tadav who was part of the gang that looted the train. Bhabani Mahato who fed the hundreds of revolutionaries that dropped by at their house to meet and stay with her freedom fighter husband.  H S Doreiswamy who fought the British through his many publications, using the pen and satire to make his point. Thelo Mahato who was part of an uprising that led an attack on a police station in Bengal. R Nallakannu's fight for justice, his commitment to greater good, his loyalty to communist idealogies.

People who gave everything up for a purpose. Who got nothing in return. But satisfaction of having lived life on their terms. Glad I bought this book at the HLF last year. Don't know why I did not get it signed by the author who was around for a long time.