First war of independence

apr 1, 2007

mangal pandey and his legacy. there are no plans to portray 2007 as the 150th anniversary of the uprising in any meaningful manner. at any rate, none along the lines of the 'gandhi seminar' recently which was a naked effort by the kaangress to consolidate the idea that rahul gandhi is mohandas gandhi's direct descendant and therefore born to rule india.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Hriday

Hi Rajeev,

I've been reading your columns on rediff on and off for a few years now.
I must say I enjoy a majority of your work. However, there's one thing
that I am surprised you missed (every Indian media outlet did though).

On March 29th, it marked 150 years from the day Mangal Pandey
disobeyed his sargeant, at Barrackpore, and kicked off the first war of
Independence. By popular opinion that was the first step in a process that
was to last 90 more years in order to achieve independence, and how
come no major Indian outlet has given it any significance?

Before I rant further, let me stop. I do wish, however, that you would
give the event some justice in a column, as columnists like you
wield a lot of power over the diaspora.

Cheers, and thanks for your time.

Hriday.