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Journalism of Courage
THE City celebrated ‘Independence Day’ with unprecedented enthusiasm. From early morning, citizens came out in their tens of thousands in the brilliantly decorated thoroughfares of the City with the joy of a new life radiating in their faces. The entire City was, as it were, on the move.
Never before in the history of Madras, have such unforgettable scenes of unbounded enthusiasm been witnessed.
An extensive tour round the City revealed that there was hardly pace or a vehicle, which did not fly the National Flag. The National Flag also found a proud and prominent place on the person of everyone — irrespective of caste, creed or colour.
The awakening of the people to the new era of freedom that has opened before them found its manifestations in several ways. Some showed their welcome in a deeply religious spirit — by organising ‘bhajans’ and by worshipping in the temples, where the bells announced the dawn of freedom and where special ‘pujas’ were offered. Some others paid a round of visits to important and interesting places in the City while the rest mutely joined in the endless streams of humanity, which moved about, apparently aimlessly but with the one idea uppermost in their minds — that they were free.
Of the prominent places of interest, in the City, those which attracted the largest number of visitors were Fort St. George, the Harbour, the High Court, the Corporation Building, the Central Station, and the Government House at Mount Road.
At Fort St. George, hundreds of people had gathered overnight eagerly awaiting the moment when the National Flag would fly aloft on the Flag Staff, where the Union Jack symbolic of alien rule had been flying for nearly two centuries. As the early hours of the morning approached, the crowd had swelled to thousands and the Beach opposite the Fort was literally a sea of humanity. When the National Flag was at last hoisted on the Flag Staff, wild cheering broke out from those who had kept a long vigil and national slogans rent the air. The Fort continued to be flooded with streams of visitors for the rest of the day and all eyes went up proudly to greet the Flag of a Free India.
At the Harbour, all restrictions with regard to admission, movement etc had been relaxed in the honour of the historic occasion. The interest displayed by huge concourse of people that moved freely inside the Harbour, in the ships that were now their own was very encouraging and indicative of their feeling of responsibility for the preservation of their hard-won freedom. One particular ship, HMS Madras, was besieged by eager crowds. Commander Khatare, in charge of the ship, with the help of his men regulated the crowds and had them shown round the ship.
Cycle and motor-cycle processions carrying National Flags were constantly on the move round the City.
Children — future citizens of Free India — also played a prominent part in the day’s celebrations. Led by their teachers, batches of them went round their respective places in procession carrying national flags and singing songs. Sweets were distributed to them in the schools.
Meanwhile, the Tamil Nad Congress Committee celebrated the “Indian Independence Day” by taking out a massive procession on Friday evening from the People’s Park, which ended at the Tilak Ghat, where a public meeting was held.
The procession was headed by two caprisoned elephants, camels and horses, started from the People’s Park at about 3.30 pm and was led by the President of the Tamil Nad Congress Committee, K. Kamaraj …
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