In the name of a hero, unsung

“You will never understand the true meaning of independence because you are born in a free country. You haven’t experienced either the joys or the struggles,” I remember my mother saying. Amma was not yet nine years of age when India attained her independence. She and her siblings had however participated in various activities related to the non-violent movement by then, in both Chikkaballapura and Bengaluru.

Mahatma Gandhi’s visit to Karnataka and Nandi Hills during the 1930s may have been one of the reasons why my maternal grandfather, tatha as we called him, became a Gandhian. Or maybe, he was inspired by others locally. Whatever the reason, tatha, who was a Pleader by profession, was barred from practicing after being jailed twice by the British for participating in the freedom movement.

In addition to supporting ‘Burn Videshi, buy Swadeshi’, tatha would print and distribute pamphlets against the regime. He apparently even had a small cyclostyle machine at home for this purpose. He was also involved in the running of a hostel for Girijan.

The above are but a glimpse into his life as a freedom fighter, as narrated by amma and my chithi. I feel sad to this day that, while he was still with us, I did not spend time with him to hear about the various things he had done in life, both before and after freedom. Tatha moved his family to Bengaluru in 1945 and took up various occupations in order to maintain himself and his family, his extended family included.

He worked as a farm keeper in Ulsoor, traded in copra and cloth, worked as a supervisor for ticket collection for a couple of BTS bus routes including route 11, if I am not mistaken, and as a realtor too. Post-independence life was not easy for him, and yet he slogged on relentlessly. In all this, and till his last day, paati stood by his side, and did whatever she had to do.Not one to differentiate among his children, tatha educated his four daughters and two sons to the best of his ability. In fact, his oldest daughter, T S Rukmayi, became one of the first women corporators of Bengaluru, a role she had to give up once she joined ITI for work.

For his efforts, tatha was awarded the ‘Tamra Patra’ by the Government of India on August 15 ,1972. He was also a recipient of the Political Sufferer’s Pension which was passed on to Shringaramma, his wife after his demise in 1988. To this simple man, my tatha, T S Sampath Kumaran, a true freedom-fighter, I offer this article as a tribute in this 75th year of Indian Independence.