In gratitude for the sacrifices made by our freedom fighters at Port Blair’s Cellular Jail.
On the last morning in Port Blair, it was time for some group photos, to celebrate a wedding anniversary, to visit an anthropology museum and to visit the (infamous) Cellular jail.
It was my first time visit to a jail which is now a tourist attraction. I decided to experience the jail not as a tourist, but in respectful silence to the memories associated with it.
During the days of our freedom struggle the Cellular jail of PortBlair was one of the most dreaded places ever to be banished to.
As a child, I remember hearing the threat of sending a person to ‘Kala Pani’ for any mistake, but I did not know it meant this cellular jail. Here our guide told us ‘Kaal’ meant time (or death) and these surrounding waters or Pani were such that no one could escape from this place.
The freedom fighters who were sent here had to undergo an unimaginable torturous life.
Bravehearts from all over India were sent here, and entered with a strong spirit and commitment to freedom.
The British officials under the supervision of the dreaded David Bearry did their best to break this mental spirit.
We saw the cells and I could imagine being locked in solitary confinement in a single cell from 6 pm to 6 am with just a copper plate, a small earthen pot and a wooden bed in the rooms. Only thrice a day they were allowed toilet facilities. The food was terrible and they were flogged or chained at the slightest pretext.
We saw the traditional oil mill in the jail complex, which is supposed to make coconut oil or gingelly oil using 2 strong buffaloes to go round and round with a heavy yoke on the shoulders. Instead the Britishers used the prisoners to take out the oil using human muscle power. And if the minimum quantity of oil was not produced in the day, the prisoners were mercilessly flogged on their bottoms so that they would not be able to sit or sleep for long.
We saw the different kind of metal chains used to restrict the movement of the prisoners.
A small podium was the place where condemned prisoners stood to express their last wish about death rites before going to the gallows. The site of the lever attached to the collapsible floor sent shivers at the thought of the number of martyrs who were executed just because they demanded a free country that we take for granted to live in today.
I saw the replica of the original jail that was very thoughtfully designed. The central tower was connected to seven extended wings with collapsible wooden bridges, so at any given point if the bridges were raised up, there would be no access to get out of the seven wings.
Now only 3 wings of the original jail are left intact, the others were destroyed partiality by an earthquake and were re-converted into a hospital.
As we visited the cells, we realized even more of the intense misery that these prisoners would go through. The latches were covered under the wall, such that, they could never to opened from within, even if someone managed to get a key.
I had read of the story of the famous freedom fighter Veer Savarkar whose cell I visited in silent respect. He managed to write motivational poems to keep up the morale inspite of all the trouble he went through during the eleven years he was in this jail. We really salute the sacrifices made by our freedom fighters, which have not gone in vain.
I bowed in reverence to the martyrs memorial, the eternal flame, and the peepal tree in the jail complex and gave a smile of gratitude for living in a free country today.
So in 2018 do notice these simple smiling moments.Have a smiling year!
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