Read Book Online : http://www.archive.org/stream/AnAutobiographyOrTheStoryOfMyExperimentsWithTruth/autobiography#page/n0/mode/2up

Download pdf Book : http://ia311206.us.archive.org/2/items/AnAutobiographyOrTheStoryOfMyExperimentsWithTruth/autobiography.pdf

@Ameeta Roy: This is when history becomes painful when it touches your personal life. Do you have the details? May be you should write a book about this person with the permission of your family.

The ugly side of history....the Noakhali story which Ameeta refered to above : http://www.eastbengal.org/noakhali.pdf

Rare audio recordings : Mrs. Sucheta Kripalani, politician, gives a very detailed and interesting account of the quit India movement, the politics, the atrocities of the pre- and post-Partition riots, and her refugee work after Partition....... http://karachi.s-asian.cam.ac.uk/archive/audio/kripalani.html

Thank you RBSI! What a fitting tribute.

@Ameeta you must write about your family's experiences in Noakhali. These small facts are significant in contribution to history.

@Ameeta Roy, could you talk to your cousin to write the same. it would be really service to the history

"इस बात को तो मै सदा बिना छिपाए कहता रहा हूँ कि में गाँधी जी के सिद्धांतों के विरोधी सिद्धांतों का प्रचार कर रहा हूँ। मेरा यह पूर्ण विशवास रहा है कि अहिंसा का अत्यधिक प्रचार हिदू जाति को अत्यन्त निर्बल बना देगा और अंत में यह जाति ऐसी भी नही रहेगी कि वह दूसरी जातियों से, विशेषकर मुसलमानों के अत्त्याचारों का प्रतिरोध कर सके।" - Nathuram Godse

I think it is in poor taste to quote Nathuram Godse - the fanatic assassin of Gandhiji - on Gandhiji's birthday.

thanks for sharing this!!!!! i was just reading references of Gandhiji in another book i was just finished today called "Autobiography of a Yogi" on Swami Yogananda Paramahansa and was thinking that i HAVE to read Gandhiji's autobiography... your sharing is as if you read my mind :)

I think printing Gandhiji's picture on currency notes degrades his image. It can be said that the Americans do this but this does not bring us closer to Satyagraha which is looked upon as an empty term by most, especially in Delhi.

Gandhij's picture on Indian currency notes does look a bit out-of-place, but he is the acknowledged Father of the Nation - he should be there.

Well said, but Asad you are not worried about over-exposure?

Gandhiji's philosophy should be a part of every person's daily life. So there can be no overexposure, although I suspect he would not have consented to have his picture on banknotes. He was too modest, too simple, and too real a person who have shunned such recognition.

@RBSI: The book by Singha provided by you is hardly a book (including a preface for a thirty page 'treatise'!), it is an invective pamphlet designed and marketed to inflame passions for revenge. You cannot describe it as the ugly side of history, it is in fact ugly side of politics based on religious bigotry. Facetiously, the author says it is based on eye witness accounts (sixty two years after the event) and smattering with references and quotes devoid of any substance. The author of the invective suggests that Gandhi signed his own death warrant and Godse was merely an instrument of destiny. I am not saying that the events at Naokhali were justified or Hindus did not suffer at the hands of riotous Muslim mobsters. I am saying that politics of revenge and violence will never succeed. It is our good fortune that India has such a great heritage. But, it is our misfortune that we are afflicted with hatefilled, impure and ugly thoughts in the minds of large swaths of our society. Bigots of all religions take umbrage of history to inflame passions and to attain their goals of the present day. And what subject other than history provide a better rhetoric?

I agree with you Shekar. I hope to hear Ameeta's opinion as to whether the narrative in this book is politically motivated or this event in particular like many others was particularly frightening.

Sucheta Kripalani's interview gives a graphic description of the events and the situation as also the efforts of the Congress and Gandhi. Hats off to the foot soldiers created by him. Page 27 to 29 of her interview contains the story of Aarti Sur. This event, along with many other gory events were no doubt frightening. It is is not the narration of an event that is politically motivated, it is the response which it is supposed to evoke. The author of the pamphlet wants Hindus to rise in arms and take revenge on people elsewhere in another time.

Elsewhere in another time is an excuse only for barbarians !! Just as the Holocaust Museum and Hiroshima Nagasaki Museum ....evoke extreme sadness at mankinds ability to cause destruction....these events too have to be remembered with the fervent hope that they are not repeated again.

I shall never forget reading of the situation in the Punjab during Partition. Very sad...for both sides.

Shekar : Its worthwhile listening to Sucheta Kripalani's eye-witness audio narrative (transcript part 3) of the carnage at Noakhali. Chills down your spine...this is first authentic partition audio I've ever listened to : http://karachi.s-asian.cam.ac.uk/archive/audio/kripalani.html

I know, how chilling it can be. I have witnessed similar violence of this kind in 1992 Mumbai. Gujrath was no different. I read the full transcript (because I knew it would be more chilling to hear the voice). I admire the courage of the woman and also of the man who inspired such courage in so many people. She went to Naokhali with just three or four people with her and without any protection. She confronted the perpetrators of violence face to face. I was upset with the pamphlet because it argued that Gandhi wrote his own death warrant. The writer admired Jinnah because he ate pork and drank wine and had "perhaps" never read Quran. This is the typical style of spraying venom by communal minded people. As Lynne Hadley so aptly put it, communal violence is sad for both sides and we all should strive to pour water over it when the flames start to show. Violence never erupts overnight. Hatred is systematically fomented over a longer period first as described by Sucheta Kripalani. She describes in moving terms how the poor muslims also starved and suffered as a result of the violence perpetrated by the musclemen of their own community in Naokhali.

@RBSI: You are right. There is a civilised way to remember things and atone for injustices. Baying for blood is not one of them.

Shekar, as you rightly said earlier..."taking revenge on people elsewhere in another time".....is the lowest act anyone can commit. This one phrase explains the unfairness of any fascist movement !! Thank you.

Thanks RBSI, hope you'd bring more such books on this site.

A book entitled "While Memory Serves" written by Sir Claude Auchinleck (not sure of the spelling) who was a General (?) in the British Army in India has apparently described in some detail the religious carnage in Punjab in 1947. I have always tried to get hold of this book but could'nt find it. Perhaps Subbiah with his wide contacts can help find it. I agree whole-heartedly with what Shekhar Sathe and Subbiah Yadalam have written above.

Brajesh Dubey's quote of Nathuram Godse only highlights India's helplessness in tackling Pakistan-aided terrorist attacks on our country and its people--as one who has been in one such attack and lost 2 very dear friends in 26/11- I THINK HE IS 100% RIGHT. .All our Govt does is"talk"---on the other hand see "Israel"--and the "danda'--they "CHALAU"--KEEPS 20 MILLION ARABS AT BAY--

According to all accepted standards of human decency, it is inappropriate to quote the killer of a person on his birthday - especially when the victim happens to be an extraordinary man - an angel - like Gandhiji. The Mumbai attacks have been condemned by everyone and the only criminal caught alive should face the maximum penalty under law. No questions about that. But it is not clear if such senseless, vicious attacks on Indian citizens or institutions are the work of small groups of Pakistani fanatics or their Government. In any case, to use the Israeli "danda" tactics in dealing with this kind of terrorism would be a serious miscalculation. India is not Israel, and Pakistan is not Arabs.There is much more at stake here and the repercussions can be serious. The best way to solve this problem is to improve relations and resolve the disputes in a peaceful way.

Some people propose that terrorism be countered by terrorism. The only difference is that you want the Indian State to do it. The irony of Israel is that antisemitism was born and nurtured in the West in the modern times, but it is the Arabs who are paying the price and the whole affair has now acquired the bizarre and ominous shroud of religious fundamentalism. India is getting pulled into that cauldron which should be resisted. People who are enamored or inspired by the likes of Godse should sit back and reflect why is it that most people of all religions actually hold and support the moderate views of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, a Hindu by birth and belief? They should ponder if today's world can really be fashioned after 'their' image of Hindu religion, history, culture, ethnic purity, rituals and their concept of the marshal State? Other fundamentalists of different religions also should answer the very same questions. While we are entitled to do everything to protect ourselves, that does not mean we should kill the calf because our enemy has the cow.

This soft approach on terrorism is why we continue to suffer as a nation---talking never gets results --and that is why a "caught in the act' terrorist-Kasab- still lives to be a "ghar jamai"--at us tax-payers cost. 'As far as anti-semitism is concerned ---the West certainly played a pivotal role--but the Palestinians have themselves to blame--with HAMAS and other terrorist groups declaring the destruction of "Israel"---and paying the price for it Kashmir--our own backyard--is another example--talk--talk--talk---what has it achieved---hundreds dead--and over 2-3 lakh Kashmiri Pandits forced to l eave their own homes---what is their crime--the Govt has been so busy appeasing the Muslims in Kashmir that this peaceful people have been abandoned completely @Shekhar--You have twisted my words to state that the Indian Govt should counter terrorism with terrorism--I want Govt to hit back at the terrorist camps/training centres--terminate convicted terrorists like Kasab and Afzal Guru---so that we are not seen as being "soft on terrorists" with a view to safeguarding the Muslim vote-banks--- President Kalaam "aya aur gaya'--the file was never sent to him---Pratibha Behn will also "come and go'-the file will still lie low By then we will have some more terrorist attacks--more innocent people will die--and all we will do is -TALK__TALK __TALK !!!!!!!!

Until now, I was unable to comprehend why would any sane person go and kill a beautiful man like Gandhiji - and that too at his daily prayers. After reading some of these entries, I can see how much hatred exists in the hearts of some people. Fortunately, it represents only a small minority of wicked people and does not alter my image of the beauty of India, the beauty of its people and, of course, the beloved Gandhiji.

to me afzal guru is a vigilante a Zorro/robin hood who tried to help indians get rid of all those rapists, murderers and looters filling their swiss bank accounts with our money, in one go. although i dont agree one bit with his kashmiri separatist agenda.