INDEPENDENCE IN THE WORDS OF AMERICAN

Introduction:

75 years ago the moment of India celebrated “freedom at midnight”.

A remarkable document, a letter written on August 27, 1947, by a young American woman, Mildred Talbot, who had the rare privilege of being present at the Independence ceremonies of both India and Pakistan.

FROM KARACHI TO DELHI

• Karachi was still a Hindu majority city and a large section of the population was understandably subdued at partition.
• Delhi‘s mood was altogether more joyous.
• TheTalbots arrived at the constituent assembly just in time after a hair-raising journey from Pakistan on the afternoon of August 14.
• Mildred describes Jawaharlal Nehru‘s famous “Tryst with Destiny “speech, recounts the now forgotten exuberance of a delegate who marred the decorum of the occasion by shouting a cheer for the Mahatma, and then tells a story.
• At the moment when the clock was chiming the (midnight) hour, there was a rude interruption which started everyone’s conch shell was blown long and loudly from the rear of the hall. Involuntarily every head turned.
• It was revealing to witness the Relief when they saw that it was one of the most highly respected members of the assembly, a devout Hindu, simply invoking the gods to witness this ceremony.
• Mildred describes the pressure of the throngs outside the Assembly clamouring for a glimpse of their idol, Nehru, whom the police obliged ‘to slip out by a back entrance.
• There are numerous fascinating vignettes in her letter of the next morning’s Independence day events of Nehru’s horror at seeing a horse fall of the US Ambassador‘s irritation.
• US President Harry S.Truman ‘s cable of congratulations had been omitted when other leader’s greetings were read (it turned out that it had been misplaced), of Louis Mountbatten’s demeanour of” sincere pleasure, a sharp contrast with his stiffness in Karachi.
• Amidst the chaos, Indira Gandhi looked “woebegone and bedraggled.
• Her sari was torn, her hair straggling, her fingernails ruined and she was one of the dignitaries.

WHEN THE FLAG WAS RAISED

• But the highlight of Mildres’s account is of the morning of August 15, 1947, when the national flag was raised over the council hall.
• The multitudes had gathered as far as the eye could see in the two-mile long parkway approach to the secretariat, on tops of buildings, in windows, on cornices, in trees, perched everywhere like so many birds.
• The raising of that first flag was the single most thrilling experience of the entire celebration. The first who spotted it pointed like eager children, others looked up and tried to push their way to a vantage point so they too could see this miracle.
• For a few minutes, there was almost a subdued hush over the whole crowd, then a soft bass undertone slowly swelled until perhaps when the flag reached the top.
• There was a breathtaking roar of cheering, shouting and excited cries which others said penetrated the hall inside and made their spines tingle.
• While I was being stirred by the sheer power and grandeur of the spectacle…the Indians either stood mute, immersed in their overwhelming thoughts, or were shouting almost uncontrollably.
• It was a grand emotional experience that left most of us with shaky voices or a complete inability to speak.
• These are words not of an Indian nationalist but a young American woman.
• Seventy-five years later, the memories of that first Independence day have faded in all but a minuscule percentage of our population.
• But the power of that magical moment when India became free, and the hopes raised of what we would make of that freedom, must never be forgotten.