मेरा आजीवन कारावास / माझी जन्मठेप (स्वातंत्र्यवीर सावरकर - काले पानी का ऐतिहासिक संस्मरण)

necessary that some members should visit and tour the islands to see their condition
firsthand and to ascertain the economic condition of ten thousand of their own
countrymen who happen to be its permanent residents. They must become the
mouthpiece of those who cannot speak for themselves, and exponents above all of India's
Interest in these islands. Let a member of the Arya Samaj visit the place to give them
proper knowledge of their mother tongue and religion. The Indians have tried hard that
the mother- tongue that their children should learn shall be Hindi, but Urdu is being
forced upon them. And the medium of instruction in these schools is Urdu and not Hindi
or Hindustani. If preachers, leaders and organisers go there to agitate, organise and
educate the Indian population in their own rights, and if officials come to be properly
Informed and guided in these matters, many things will be set right which are now
subject to the policy of drift and let-alonism, or of exploitation and monopoly in favour of
those who happen to be its present masters-the men on the spot. In the present chapter I
have drawn the pointed attention of the reader to certain outstanding factors of the present
situation, other matters, equally vital, being left for consideration in the narrative of the
story and in their proper place in the course of that narration.
Indianise the European names
The many divisions of the Andaman Islands are known today by their English
names. But the Indians domiciled in those parts use their Indian equivalents in common
parlance. And if an expert were to go into them, he can know for himself how effectively
they have converted them into thorough-bred Indian names. For instance, "shore-point"
has become "Suvar Peth", "Dundas point" is "Danda peth" so on and so forth. Gokulban,
Baratang, Kalatang are solve Indian equivalents that are worth noting. New and unknown
things are always best known and expressed through the familiar and the well-known. As
in knowledge so also in the evolution of language and its expression, the law is well
illustrated by the equivalents that we have quoted. Indianisation of foreign words
proceeds along natural lines and its spontaneous development takes place as the foreign
words pass from lip to lip of the common man.
In every division of this island, barracks are built and a factory is attached to each
barrack, where the prisoners are confined and made to work. Thus Phoenix Bay barracks
accommodate four hundred prisoners who are skilled artisans in metal work. Iron, brass
and tortoise shell are turned into beautiful articles by skilled prisoners in the factory
attached to these barracks. Chatham division has a saw mill for sawing planks of trees
felled in the surrounding jungles. Kalatang is famous for its tea plantations. The prisoners
are so much overworked and sweated on these plantations that they shudder to be detailed
there for labour. Cutting down a jungle is a task still more exhausting and arduous than
work in these plantations. In the earliest stages of prison-life in the Andamans, it was a
practice to set the prisoners free so soon as they had landed on its soil. Later on, they
came to be confined in prison-cells and had to undergo hard work under Government
control and supervision. The free ones had applied themselves to the cultivation of land.
and they grew rice upon it. When they had multiplied from generation to generation, their