A Historical Feast

By Nimisha Mittal 5 February 2008 112 views No Comment

A Book Review - Freedom at Midnight

History was never so interesting, or thorough, and full of details so vivid and colorful, details about the lives of the people who had something, or anything to do with India ’s independence in 1947 from her British rulers. ‘Freedom at Midnight’ by Larry Collins and Dominique La Pierre is a portrait of the Indian Subcontinent during those last few turbulent months, and its people – leaders like Gandhi, Nehru and Jinnah, the last viceroy Mountbatten, and the common man and woman. The authors, instead of just sticking to the surface facts, dive head-first into the lives of these people, and into the mentality of the ancient land, its cultures and traditions. The book is everything its cover claims to be: “spellbinding and profoundly moving”.

The book, published in 1975, chronicles the rise and fall of the British Raj over one-fifth of humanity in the legendary land of tigers and Maharajas, rivers and impoverished villages. Mountbatten, the last Viceroy of India, and still alive at the time the book was published, provided the authors with an autobiographical insight into how he made the decisions that he did, and successfully made arrangements for the rulers to leave India, a task that even his predecessors shuddered at. Other sources for the book’s hundreds of anecdotes included soldiers, villagers, and relatives of the greatest of the Indian leaders.

The co-existence of two entirely different races for almost three hundred years eventually fell apart, as discontent grew and leaders like Gandhi emerged. Gandhi’s character clearly enticed the authors; they seemed to be in awe of his ideals and choices, and were confounded by his simplicity in life and complexity of values. This gentle prophet who ‘traveled with a goat instead of a machine gun’ revolutionized India ’s resistance against the British, by promoting non-violence and ingenious ideas such as non-cooperation and the Salt March. The spotlight is often turned on his controversial personal life, but it fades into the background before his other regular activities – his countless fasts, and innumerable trips to the jail, and the smallest things that eventually added to his greatness. Towards the end, the authors study the minds of Gandhi’s assassins, and talk in detail about the controversy surrounding his death, even after all the facts were available to arrest the killers.

There is, of course, Jinnah – leader of the Muslim League, who was portrayed as single-handedly responsible for the creation of his Pakistan , ‘Land of the Pure’. Patel, a sturdy, reliable, and efficient personality, and a staunch supporter of Gandhi, was best known for his remarkably passive reaction to the news of his wife’s death. Nehru, who was well-read and idealistic, and good friends with Mountbatten and his wife, parted ways with Gandhi in the midst of the excitement of forming a new government for India .

There is, unfortunately, also the horror of partition – a nightmare that shocked the world. What is tragic is that nobody envisioned the bloodshed that partition of India would produce, except for Gandhi. Hindus turned on Muslims, Muslims on Sikhs, Sikhs on Muslims, Muslims on Hindus – and the viciousness continued. It was a time when the rivers turned bloody, trains would often arrive at stations, full of mutilated bodies of passengers, people killed themselves and their families to save their honor and the possibility of a horrific death at the hands of their fellow countrymen. The bastard child of partition, ‘the most complicated divorce in history’, was Kashmir – which is still a reminder of the current tension between Pakistan and India .

The real beauty of the book lies in its personal and poignant stories about people. Before talking about leaders and what they did, the authors take the time to delve into those lives, and discover what made them into the people they became. We learn about English soldiers for whom India was home – and who had never seen the England of their tea-time stories, and who are uprooted and forced to return to England after independence. We learn about the little graves left behind, of children who never survived the brutal climate or diseases. We also learn about the mental agony that the architect who drew the border between India and the new Pakistan underwent, what led Gandhi’s assassins to their fate, and about the brotherhood between Indian and Pakistani soldiers, who were forced to turn on each other in the battlefield a few years later.

Unfortunately, ‘Freedom at Midnight’ is not without its flaws. It is often criticized for being biased and racist, as it seems to glorify the English culture, while depicting Indians as poor, ignorant, and uncivilized. Mountbatten is portrayed as a handsome, intelligent, magnanimous man, like a fairy-tale hero, while Jinnah is represented as the evil villain who made things difficult for the British Raj and the Indian conference. It is important to realize that history is never simple, and complex events can never truly be deciphered completely, and nor can the blame be placed on any one person.

However, ‘Freedom at Midnight’, is an exquisite picture, disguised as a book, of an important part of the past. It is full to the brim with information, the kind that satisfies curiosity and is almost delectable. It is both inspiring and tragic, and lets the reader become part of the legend during the reading. It is not a book easily forgotten, even months after the last page is turned.