Together We Marched

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Our precious freedom was won through strife, struggle and sacrifice. No swords clashed, no guns boomed, for this battle was fought with unique weapons of non-violence and Satyagraha. Gandhiji held aloft the torch, and millions followed to sacrifice themselves in the fire of this struggle.

The mass movement involved all sections, communities and regions across the length and breadth of our vast country. The people stood up as one nation against the imperial might of the British.

Nameless. faceless and unrecognised they formed a solid backbone to give strength to this difficult struggle. This book tells stories of these ordinary people for whom no bells tolled, no paeans were sung and no histories written. They, too, deserve our admiration.

HE SAT MOTIONLESS. a well starched Gandhi cap on his white head. He was blind but his wrinkled face glowed when we began to talk about the freedom struggle. He brought alive the picture of the freedom movement with his vivid and passionate narration. He was a freedom fighter, one of those rare men who had devoted their entire life to the nation.

We were fortunate to meet him and to get a first person account of those glorious days. Rut will our children ever get to meet such a person who sacrificed everything for the sake of freedom? Do our kids appreciate the sacrifices of the generation which brought them the freedom which they take so much for granted? Will they understar*the real virtues of patriotism that changed an ordinary man into a hero?

We decided to write down the story of this freedom struggle, that is as exciting as any modern mystery thriller, and as moving as any novel. The research done for our book "Triumph of Non-Violence" made us realise that the uniqueness of our struggle was due to the enthusiastic involvement of the masses. These ordinary men fought with the weapon of non-violence, given to them by their extra-ordinary leader-Mahatma Gandhi. These men, women and children set aside all distinctions of class, caste, creed, religion and status to march as one towards the goal of freedom. Whether it was Ourpreet Singh from Amritsar or Jhumki, the Harijan woman from Rardoli, the crippled boy in a town in U.P. or the daughter of the Police Officer, whether it was Khan Sahib or Firdaus or Sharmaji of Meerut-all were aflame with the desire for freedom.

They all, Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians- rich and poor, rural and urban, young and old, men and women, marched together to achieve the goal of independence. We came across these unsung heroes during our research and realised that their contribution was as significant as of the known leaders of our freedom struggle. The bravery and courage of these unknown heroes inspired us to write about them in story form.

**Contents and Sample Pages**