The tale of a hunger strike

Hello, friends and fellow countrymen! Allow me to present a question to all of you--how many of you would have observed hunger strike or a bhook hartal in 1942 at the age of eight or nine years? If you have, join me in hailing the day with a loud “Hurray”!

How many of my friends when I was about eight years old knew what bhook hartal meant? I did not and I am sure that 100% of my friends had no idea what it meant and I was one among that group. Possibly, at that age, I thought that bhook hartal meant that no sweets for the day!

Let me recount the day as it happened in 1942 when I was about nine years old living in Srirangam near Tiruchirapalli in Tamil Nadu. I was a student in Srirangam high school. Subhash was a close friend of my age and also my neighbour. During our holidays we used to play as we wished and in our houses as we desired. His mother was an active Congress party worker and used to address small groups of people in her house or in their garden and Subhash and I had listened to the speeches often without understanding a word!

One day I was told by his mother that the next day was very important for all Indians as a day of fasting in “reverence to all those who sacrificed their lives for freedom”. Subhash and I decided then to fast the next day.

Usually, we would carry our lunch--curd rice and some pickle--in small tiffin carriers. As usual, I left home with my school bag with my books and the tiffin carrier.

Our class teacher talked to us about fasting and the unethical way youngsters were asked to observe the bhook hartal. He then asked those who were “fasting“ to stand up and the two of us from a class of 40 boys stood up!

We were admonished--for no fault of us-- and were told to eat our lunch then and there without further delay. The two of us sat down and ate our lunch in a jiffy! We were following our teacher’s orders! One question that nobody asked us to this day is why we brought a tiffin box when we were observing a bhook hartal!

I still recollect our unique bhook hartal almost 78 years later.