It was only a few days after the second world war ended. The victorious army marched into the city, the city which was all set to bask in its new found glory under the new regime…the army was tired, from the long march, but more so from the fierce skirmishes with the remnants of the enemy forces… but it had marched on, knowing that this was the dawn of a new era, and that they were about to make history…
all around them, people lined the streets, eager to welcome the forces that would take control of their country, their destiny, and eager to catch a glimpse of their leader, who was, by now, a living legend… the man who had fought their oppressors in different ways at different times, who had been their prisoner for years.. who had travelled across continents, with one burning dream, that of a free country..and that dream had been achieved, when the enemy had surrendered unconditionally…
the enemy had been part of a coalition that had called themselves the ‘Allies’ during the second world war, and had been ruling the country for centuries… but the ‘allies’ had been devastated in the second world war, and the man and his army, who had been fighting the allies were now about to take charge of the country… for he was the leader of the provisional indian government that had been formed during the war, and therefore the rightful leader of the now free country…
while the rest ofthe city blissfully celebrated, a few men huddled together in a small room, trying to chart their future course of action…these men were the working committee of the indian national congress.. the congress which believed that it had done all the hardwork to get the country free, but did not get what they considered their rightful due, not by any lack of effort from their part, but because of the shocking defeat of the ‘allies’..for all of them, their joy at attaining freedom was tinged with a bit of sorrow, but all the more for a certain jawaharlal nehru, the man who would have been ‘king’ instead of netaji, if the die had been cast differently….
until next time, each different past could have meant a different present…
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