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

them, some of whom were sixty years old, said, "Babuji, come closer to us, do not forget us." And they locked me up in their embrace full of affection and reverence. They added, "You have been on transportation for life long before us. You had passed seven or eight years in the Andamans when we came there. Why then should you be sorry that you go out, while we remain behind! Is it not right that you should precede us? If you are free, we are as good as free. In fact, your freedom will pave the way for us. At least it will pave the road to freedom for our motherland." I answered, "It all depends upon the strength that God will give me to complete the task. But, my brothers, you will surely bear me out when I say that, ground down under the sufferings as I was during the fourteen long years that I spent in the Andamans and even to the last day here, I have not flinched or retracted from what I was preaching all my life. I have given you the stories of all our martyrs and I have advised all along to hold firm by our creed of violent resistance if circumstances were to force it upon us. I have kept the flag flying. When I heard the sentence passed upon me fourteen years ago, the words dancing upon my lips were the same that are dancing upon them today. I uttered them then, I have uttered them during my long stay in prison, and they come forth from my mouth today, to be carved on your heart and mind, and to ring in your ears for good. Let us say all of us, "Glory to the Goddess of Freedom; Victory to our Mother." We greeted one another with these words, we hailed our mother and then I parted from them. As soon as I stepped into the Office, the Superintendent read out to me the order of my release. It was that for five years after my release I was to take no part in politics and stay at Ratnagiri as a prisoner on parole. These two conditions were fundamental and there was no question of my dotting the i's and crossing the t's of these conditions. I was ordered to remove at once from Yeravada and proceed to Ratnagiri. The prisoner's gar- ments were taken off and my own dress was given back to me to wear instead. This was the final order to obey as a prisoner. I was stripped of my own clothing when I was sent to the jail at Dongri in 1910. I was given them back to wear again on the 6th of May 1924. I felt a feeling of vacancy coming on me and also a sense of relief accompanying it. It was a mood of melancholy dashed with joy. The Superintendent heartily con- gratulated me on the event. And he frankly warned me to take care in the future. It was Major Murray who did it. His parting words to me, "Take care of the future" summed up the secret of my melancholy. All the inmates of the prison, my fellow-countrymen, prisoners and officers, the youngest as well as the oldest, formed a circle round me. They said with one voice, "Savarkar you have been an exile from your country like Rama who went to the forest for fourteen years abandoning his beloved Ayodhya. You have passed through similar trials,