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

and beat the prisoner. Instead he gave hard slaps in the face of some of the jeerers. In the
evening, the gentleman delivered to the Jamadar fifteen pounds of coconut oil which he
had pressed from the oil-mill. That was, according to the prison-calculation, half-a-day's
work Others could not have given even that much quantity of oil, but he was a strong and
sturdy fellow, so he could do it. We have already spoken of his courage. He was punished
for his slackness, he was kept on reduced ration, and, at last, the Superintendent had to
promise that they would take him off the oil-mill if only he gave them his complete quota
for three days in continuation. The prisoner, it must be admitted to his credit, completed
his three days' work, taking leave, for the tame, of his strict medical observance. Mr.
Barrie, puffed up by this success, broke the promise and sent him back to the oil-mill.
The prisoner flatly refused to go back. He said that he was not an ox to be tied so to the
grading wheel. "We are all men," he added, "and must be treated as such." Thus began the
prisoners' first strike in the Andamans.
The political prisoners on strike were subjected to all kinds of punishments in
succession. Hand-cuffs shackles, solitary confinement and other regular forms of
punishment were inflicted upon them to last for a week But the prison authorities gave
them punishments severer than these in order to put down the strike They were in some
cases against the sanction of the prison-regulations. Thus the prisoner whose story we
have already related was made to subsist on 'Conji', for ten days continuously, when
other punishments had proved in his case of no avail to subdue him. No prisoner could be
put on 'Conji' for ten days in succession. It was a clear violation of the prison- rules.
Sometimes three days on conji was a limit. And it was inflicted to tame down the
prisoner by weakening his power of resistance. But the prison-calendar did not include
this form of punishment. Later on when a high official from the Government of India
visited the place, we drew his attention to this fact and Mr. Barrie flatly denied that he
ever had recourse to it The prisoners subjected to this ordeal have declared to me on oath
that they were not only kept on Conji but, at the same time, they were treated to large
dozes of quinine, so that they felt dizzy; their stomachs turned, and they had suffered in
body and mind beyond any power of human endurance. But it availed not in the least to
overcome their passive resistance. Their unity and their courage and its unfavourable
effect on the mind of fellow-prisoners at last compelled the authorities to surrender to
their demand which was never to put political prisoners for work on the oil-mill. The
authorities had to assure them on the point, in order that the strike may be called off.
They pledged their word that "Kolu" shall be administered only in rare instances and the
political prisoners shall be detailed for lighter work outside the prison-wails. From what
they had heard of this kind of work they had inferred that it would mean more freedom
for them. And once the right was conceded, it was sure to pave the way for further
concession, namely, after five years' term of imprisonment in the jail they would be
entirely free to work on their own within the bounds of those islands, and in ten years'
time, they shall have the privilege of setting up an independent home there with the
necessary 'ticket' of the prison authorities themselves. These considerations led the
political prisoners to conclude that the relaxation as regards work on the oil-mill was the
thin end of the wedge and, therefore, it would not be unwise or cowardly on their part to
call off the strike although it was not to be done all at once. Some of these prisoners had
already filled their one year's term of Imprisonment, and they would be set free