मेरा आजीवन कारावास / माझी जन्मठेप (स्वातंत्र्यवीर सावरकर - काले पानी का ऐतिहासिक संस्मरण)

I had to expose them often by humour and laughter. Once, for a whole week, the Mussulmans at Port Blair and in this prison spread the rumour that the German Kaiser had embraced Mohomedanism. The Sultan had plainly told the Kaiser that he should expect no military assistance from him till he had converted himself to Islam. "I stay with you on the battlefield only on that condition; otherwise I withdraw with my whole army. I go back to my country." That was the ultimatum, so went the rumour, that the Sultan had given to the Kaiser. The Kaiser was alarmed and he became a Mussulman ! This fib they uttered before the Hindu prisoners in order to spite them. "Was there any truth in this?" they went about asking. At last, one of the enthusiasts in our camp who was an Arya Samajist said to me that this bubble had to be pricked. I told him, "My dear friend, how can we prove or disprove it? You know that a lie must be met by a lie; a canard can only be exploded by a canard; and I will tell you how to do it. To-morrow as soon as you come back to the prison from your work, go on proclaiming with as much emphasis as you can that the 'Kaiser' had become an "Arya". The Mussulman Arya Samajists in the Andamans pronounce the word 'Arya' with a long 'a'. Whenever you see Muslim prisoners in conference and chatting together, go and gather together and say out 'The Kaiser has become an 'Arya'. And if they asked for the proof, fire off that you had read it in the Bazaar in a Hindi Paper." The Kaiser becomes an Arya Samajist And it was done. The news went round the prison the following evening that the Kaiser had become an Arya Samajist. The Mussulmans lay low and sought to discover what it was all about. They found out at last that the news was brought into the prison by a Hindu warder. On the third day, they met him in a block where they were to do common duty for the night, and the Hindu warder, without waiting to be questioned by his colleagues, announced to Hindu prisoners that the German Kaiser had turned an Arya Samajist. The Mussulmans became fidgety over it, and questioned him what proof he had about the story. The Hindu warder asked them promptly what proof they had to say that he had become a Mussulman. They said that they had read the news in an Urdu Paper, to which the Hindu retorted that he had read it in a Hindi Paper. They asked him to produce the Hindi Paper and the Hindu asked them to get the Urdu Paper. The Mussulmans, so discomfited, began to shout that 'Arya' was the religion of the Kaffirs. Nothing daunted, the Hindu replied that Islam was the religion of the Heathens. So it had nearly come to blows, but there it stopped. The report of the quarrel was next day taken to the jamadar. He was also one of those who had believed and declared that the Kaiser was converted to Islam. But what was the poor man to do when every time that they said that the Kaiser had become a Mussulman, the Hindus were ready with the retort that he had become an Arya Samajist. Ultimately the Mussulmans ceased talking about it, and the rumour was effectively scotched.