Chapter 28 - Bapat Is Back

With guns

This set of chapters are the most fun I had writing this book. This is the part that attracted me to writing the book in the first place. I’m not sure I’ve done justice to it.

Here is a group of young Indian men in London, figuring out guns and bombs, and putting themselves in danger, and having fun while doing it. It’s not something I ever associated with our freedom struggle - we are fed the Gandhian method of peaceful protest and turning the other cheek to such an extent that imagining literally anything else is difficult.

Sure, there are the “misguided young men” who do revolutionary acts, but those are usually considered lone wolves.

The revolutionaries I write about aren’t either of those. They are an organized group, figuring out how to revolt, after being disarmed for at least two generations. So they aren’t great at these things, but they are smart, they try, and they have fun the way only young men do.

The tales I weave here are 99% fact.

The first story is from Senapati Bapat’s biography - he was a student of engineering in Edinburgh, when there was a conference of some sort about the world in 100 years. This is in 1907, so they are imagining what the world looks like in 2007. He presented a paper there titled India Wants Home Rule Now. His thesis was that India would no longer be under the yoke of the British by 2007. Due to technological advances in weapons technology, he asserted, Britain would no longer be able to keep India down.

At that point, top British voices were saying that India was won by the sword and would be held by the sword. Bapat said that guns rendered that saying obsolete, and India would win its freedom sooner than later. Which makes sense, things did go that way.

But to emphasize his point, this enthusiastic young man brings a loaded gun to his talk, and puts it on the podium in front of him for everyone to see.

Predictably, everyone is alarmed, and he loses his scholarship, and he is rusticated from the University.

The second story is of TSS Rajan, who was a doctor in London and later became a minister in Madras province. This is from the biography of VVS Aiyar. Dr. Rajan wanted to learn how to shoot guns. He enrolls in a gun range, but they cancel his membership with no good reason given. He realizes that the officials are onto him, and decides on a stealthy way to learn to use guns.

He goes to a Polytechnic (vocational school) and enrolls in different classes, like French cooking and baking. Once he is established there as a student, he audits the shooting class. This way, he is not on the rolls, so no official can find out and shut him down. And, he gets to learn to shoot for cheap!

The part where this departs from fact is that Bapat was not acquainted with Savarkar earlier to this episode, but in my book, he is.

I hope you enjoy reading this!

Bapat Is Back

“Your friend is here,” Amin informed Tatya when he came back from Berlin.

“Which friend? Where is he?”

“The one with the mustache,” Amin said, “He seems to have come from far away, and I told him he could stay here till you were back.”

That didn’t quite narrow it down. “Who?” he asked.

“Hello, hello, hello,” came a familiar voice.

“Bapat, you yeda,” Tatya said, “Why are you here cutting class?”

Had he come all the way from Edinburgh? What was wrong?

“We have something in common now,” Bapat said.

“What?”

“I got rusticated too!”

Tatya burst out laughing. What had Bapat done now?

“Oh my god. Sit down and tell me what you did.” Amin, Aiyar and Dhingra had heard them talking and come down too.

“I wrote a paper called India Wants Home Rule. They didn’t like it.”

“What?” Tatya said, “We write that all the time, no one cares.”

“Yes, Mr. Bapat, how did you phrase it?” Aiyar was curious.

“Well, there was this conference, and they wanted me to present a paper titled “India In The Year 2007”. So I did. They didn’t like it”

“What was in it?” Tatya insisted, grinning.

“I said India wanted Home Rule and would have achieved it by violent means.”

“And…?” Tatya prompted

“I said violent killings are the only way to do justice to us.”

“And then..?” Tatya said. Bapat’s story was like a gift that kept giving.

“I pulled out a revolver and put it on the podium”

“You did what?!” Dhingra, who had been silent so far, said loudly.

“Look, I didn’t do that in a vacuum. There was an article in the Times, a few weeks ago, remember, they said the English won India by the sword, and would hold it by the sword.”

“Yes…. But pulling out a gun?” Tatya said, doubling over laughing.

“It’s supposed to be about the future, right. So swords are old technology now. I wanted to say in the future, India gets new weapons that make the sword useless. Hence… the gun.”

They all burst into peals of laughter.

Only Bapat would think to do a gesture like that and be surprised at the outcome.

“Hey, if I could have brought a bomb, I would have. But I can’t find a way to make one. I’ve been talking to the Russians, but all I find is beautiful Russian women.”

Bapat ought to meet Hem, Tatya thought.

“It was a toy gun right?” Rajan said.

“No, a real one.”

“You have a real one?” Everyone was impressed.

“Yes,” Bapat said, “Why, don’t you all?”