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

The Indian Mutiny discussed
Mr. Barrie began his talk with me in the following words:-"They may be telling
you that I am your jailor. Is it not?" I only smiled. He added, "And I assure you I am your
friend." The European friends who had accompanied him remained silent. For Mr. Barrie
never allowed any one to talk to me directly, except some like him, and to whom he
could not deny that privilege. "I like to converse with an educated man like you.
Therefore, I come here, sometimes, without any particular reason to do so. They say that
you have written an account of the Indian Mutiny of 1857. Am I right in it?" While he
was uttering these sentences, I simply listened, with a smile on my lips and an eye upon
his countenance. I found out that he had opened the conversation to sound my mind upon
the subject, to press the key and start the music. I was Inclined on my side to let him go
on and listen, as I felt that the talk may afford me relaxation from the very dull time I had
in the solitude of this room. However, I intervened, "I have read a number of books on
the Indian Mutiny. That is a fact. " Don't you feel fed up with those monsters of cruelty?
Can you put up with their monstrosities? What horrors have alley not committed? My
father was himself a victim of that Mutiny He used to tell us that the wicked Nanasaheb
had personally tortured English women and put into their mouths XXX. Will you not call
them monsters? What else are they?" I asked him if his father was an eye-witness of the
scene. He replied, Instantly, that a colonel was an eye-witness when such things
happened in Lucknow, and he had reported them to his father "Then, it must be a down-
right lie, for Nanasaheb was not then at Lucknow. He was in Cawnpore when English
men and women were Imprisoned at Lucknow " Pretending not to hear me, Mr., Barrie
continued, "A thousand Instances like this have happened." I replied, "Very true, but
there are also a thousand canards to keep them company And as the Instance you have
quoted has proved to be a hear-say, so it may be with others as well "
One of the visitors who appeared to be a polite gentleman intervened to remark,
"But, on the whole, don't you think that Nanasaheb, Tatya Tope and other mutineers like
them were selfish men? Will you not recoil from them with contempt?" To him my
answer was, "If you desire to discuss the Indian Mutiny with me in this place and when I
am a prisoner here, I am ready to do so You must forgets however, for the time being,
that I am standing before my jailor, and concede that I am your equal. Otherwise it will
be like shutting up my mouth whale you indulge in criticism against my country and its
past history in a manner Insulting to her That will be entirely a one-sided affair to which,
as gentlemen, you will not subscribe. It will be not only despicable conduct but an act of
utter cowardice." Mr. Barrie said, "By no means, Mr. Savarkar. I have already told you
that I have come here as a friend. Discuss the matter freely."
"Then, I express my opinion without any reservation. I know that you regard me
as an extremist As such you will find my views altogether one-sided and unpalatable. I
open this discussion to make you think if they are really so. I have never concealed them
and I find no reason to conceal them now. This is purely a question of history and if I am
to suffer for my opinion on it, I shall not hide it, for I shall never tolerate any one