Chapter 92 - An Escape Plan

I’ve spoken before about David Garnett, and his attempt to break Savarkar out of prison in London. This chapter is about that attempt.

The curious thing is, in his memoir, David talks about Savarkar being betrayed by one of his friends, whom he only calls A.A. The one who corresponds to those initials seems to be Asaf Ali, which is what I’ve put in here.

I’ve written about the betrayal here as well. However, I depart from established fact — I say that David’s father gets to know of his son’s activities from a stranger in order to elevate the betrayal. But, actually, Nannie Dryhurst, the Irish nationalist editor who is organizing the escape, is the one who calls his parents and tells them that he is attempting something dangerous, and they try to stop him. Irrespective of these details, the plan gets called off anyway due to bad weather.

An Escape Plan

Word had been sent to Asaf Ali in Paris to find a boat. David had gathered his men; the car was stashed in a shed near the docks. Nanu, who had been collecting funds, parted with some to pay the toughs.

A week before the operation, David took the ferry to Dieppe, then an overnight train to Paris.

At a café by the Seine, David studied the mousey Indian man before him. He had a great air of being put upon and doing his very best under the very difficult circumstances he was in. A far cry from the mocking, carefree man he had met at India House his first time there. The air of entitlement was still there, though.