Let’s hear it for...

Arise Free India (AFI) a non-profit trust, is recording interviews of common people who had participated in India's freedom struggle, with an aim to prepare an oral archive of India's Independence movement. These oral histories are put on to the trust's website where they can be heard

Let's hear it for...

It is a step towards preserving history through stories of India's Independence movement, told like never before, through freedom fighters who were central to the freedom struggle.

Arise Free India (AFI), a non-profit corporation in the US as well as a non-profit trust in India, intends to, 'document, archive and disseminate narrations, personal stories and experiences of people who were involved with Indian freedom movement.'

Smita Shah talks to Jayant Palan for Arise Free India

The aim of the project is to prepare an oral archive of our Independence movement, by recording interviews of freedom fighters.

"Apart from preparing an oral history of our freedom struggle, AFI is a platform, where these unsung heroes can just pour their hearts out," said Deepak Parekh, who started this project in 2010.

Parekh conceived the idea of documenting an oral history a few years ago, while visiting a relative in Pennsylvania.
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"My family and I were visiting my wife's aunt (she was 88 at the time but she passed away a few years ago) and we got talking over a cup of coffee.

She started talking about her childhood and about the freedom movement, recollecting memories of Gandhiji. When she spoke about Gandhiji, her eyes just lit up, and her entire demeanour changed.

I couldn't help but wonder what common men and women experienced, living through the 1930s and 1940s, when a new India was about to be born.
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So, I kept mulling over a way to not only bring out these stories, but to also archive them for the benefit of the future generations.
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What Gandhi did, what Nehru and other prominent leaders did is fairly well documented but, the stories of the common men and the impact this unique, historic movement had on average Indians is neither documented nor known."

INSPIRE
Parekh, who is an engineer by profession took early retirement from his job and devoted all his time to the project. What gave shape and form to AFI was Parekh's exposure to StoryCorps, a Non Governmental Organisation (NGO) based in the US.

"What this NGO does is records stories of common men. They have mobile recording booths that they set up in a city and they advertise through local radio stations. Anybody can sign up to record their story by visiting their booth. Periodically, they will air these stories on radio stations," said Parekh.

Unlike StoryCorps, which records only audio interviews, Parekh went a step ahead and did video interviews with his subjects. "My intense curiosity about the architects of one of the most unique Independence movement combined with the process, the know how of archiving oral history is what gave birth to AFI," he said.

u00a0For Smita Shah, project coordinator for AFI in India, interviewing freedom fighters is akin to witnessing history unfold before her eyes. Shah who joined AFI in April 2010, said, "While interviewing them, you get the feel of the era. Most of the freedom fighters interviewed were political prisoners.
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For many, it the most educative period of their life as they could learn from other senior leaders who too were jailed along with them. Many of the freedom fighters tell us that they never met Gandhiji but his words were sacrosanct for them."

EXPERIENCE
The freedom fighters talk about their personal life, their ideology and what made them join the freedom struggle.

For example -Kokilaben Bhogilal Choksi (78) from Churchgate, Mumbai, shares an incident when she was just four years old, "I was playing with my uncle, when Gandhiji came and teased me, 'come I will make you cry'.
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I replied, 'I will not cry'. He took an onion and rubbed it near my eyes.u00a0 I had tears in my eyes. 'See, I could make you cry,' said Gandhiji."

Another freedom fighter, Dr Shantibhau Girdharbhai Patel (87) recalls the day Gandhiji was shot dead at Birla House.

"On January 30, I was surprised to see so many people on the road. In fact, I was surprised to see that so many people were attending Gandhiji's prayer meeting.

Somebody said to me, 'don't you know he has been shot dead'. I climbed up a tree to catch a last glimpse of the Mahatma and that is how I managed to see his dead body."u00a0

Deepak Parekh interviewing Anand Rai

In another incident recollects Patel, "Dr. V L Parmar, one of the city's best orthopaedic surgeon at that time, suddenly came to attend one of our meetings.

Very English in his style, Parmar started showing his tie, watch, hat etc. and asked us 'what is this'? Before we could say anything, Parmar answered, 'foreign'. Then he showed his skin and asked, 'but what is this'? He said, 'Indian'".
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Babubhai Mistry (88) from Charni Road, the first one to be interviewed for AFI, was initially skeptical about the nature of the project.

As the interview progressed, Mistry opened up and shared interesting anecdotes from his life. About AFI, Mistry told MiD DAY, "I don't know if people are really interested in the stories of freedom fighters. Nevertheless, it can bring awareness about the pre-Independence era."

Agrees Justice C S Dharmadhikari, who serves on the board of advisors, "One can get to know about the sacrifices that these heroes had made for our freedom struggle. Moreover, listening has a different impact altogether."

CHALLENGES
But, funds for the project are hard to come by. Also people fail to understand the importance of documenting oral history. "We have three main challenges-- funds, resources and awareness of the project. Without funds, we are unable to hire resources.

Without resources, we are unable to do the interviews (hiring cameramen, renting facilities to conduct the interviews in etc)," said Parekh.

Locating freedom fighters has also been a difficult task as, "Central and State governments dole out crores of rupees, as pension, each month to freedom fighters across the country and so one would think they would have elaborate records of who is receiving the money, where do they live, their phone numbers etc.u00a0 This is not the case.

A good example of this occurred recently. We received a list of freedom fighters (about 400 pages long) under the Right to Information (RTI) statute from the Home Ministry. The list, however, has no addresses or phone numbers and so, is of little use to us.

When we finally managed to get a list of addresses and phone numbers from the government, we found that the phone numbers were incorrect and/or the addresses to be outdated or wrong. We asked around and took help from other NGOs to trace the freedom fighters," says Parekh.

IMPORTANCE
AFI has interviewed freedom fighters in India, US, Canada and Britain and interviews are in Marathi, Gujarati, Hindi and English.

u00a0"Apart from preserving this data in historical archives, one of the purposes of this project is educational, wherein these stories can be incorporated in textbooks, made into documentary films etc," said Shah.

Unlike accounts of various historical events available in textbooks, which propagate nationalism, oral history represents an individual's point of view.u00a0 "There can be multiple interpretations of a specific event.

Most of the time, these versions are not fairly represented in books. In oral history, a person can share his opinion on various events. Moreover, these freedom fighters will not be there after a few years.
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But, their stories can inspire generations to come. It's a way to ensure that a part of our history is not lost. Listening to people, who share their life, is like an aural treat," said Dr Sujata Menon, historian based in Baroda.
If you are aware of any freedom fighters, Call 99203 49177 or send on email to smita.rys@gmail.comu00a0 or write to Smita Shah, 223, Maker Tower B, Cuffe Parade, Mumbai 400005.

Website
The oral histories can be heard at the website arisefreeindia.org

The website states: AFI wants to capture and document the personal stories and accounts of brave individuals, octogenarians many of them, who made history with their involvement in the Indian freedom movement.

Further, AFI intends to make a documentary film connecting their stories for a renewed, contemporary examination of the events leading to India's independence in 1947.