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

to himself and would open his talk with me upon that subject. He would bestow full
praise upon those who had turned informants; he severely censured those who had gone
on strike, who had resisted his authority, who would not tolerate his abuse, and who burnt
no incense at his shrine And he indulged in panegyric or censure to convince the person
he talked to, that he should never follow in the wake of the recalcitrants and the resisters
but behave in a manner that became him as a man of high education and culture. In this
lay his good finally and truly. This appeal to me I heard with perfect silence. I neither
endorsed nor contradicted him so far as I could help it. But sometimes his conversation
became intolerable, full as it was of Jibes, abuse, scandal and misrepresentation of those
who, I knew, did not deserve them. To say ditto to him was impossible for me. To be
silent was equally unpardonable. Mr. Barrie ever sought to draw me out. "What do you
say to that? How does it strike you?" That was his constant refrain. To quote only one
Instance but of many, he, would describe the gentleman who had given him the utmost
trouble and with whom, I have already told, began our strike in this prison, as an insane
fellow and as a man of low birth. And he capped the observation by praising me to the
skies. He would draw me out to know what I thought of the man and his action, if it was
hot an action of a madman and an idiot.
Mr. Barrie's Plot
I could no more listen to him with patience, and I told him plainly that I knew
some of the persons whom he had mentioned; yet, the account he had given to me about
them did not make me thank that they had done anything unbecoming to them, or which
went to show that they were off their minds. If their sufferings had become intolerable
and if the prison authorities had begun to punish them in defiance of their own
regulations, what remedy had they against them, and what other method could they hit
upon, except that of striking work, and of passive resistance? And it was true as much of
ordinary prisoners as of political prisoners Desperate diseases demanded desperate
remedies. I added, "Whatever you may tell me about Mr. , he looks a gentleman. He is no
rogue or a mere quill-driver." My plain answer exasperated Mr. Barrie. He grew red in
the face and he brought his conversation abruptly to an end, but next day he arranged
another drama to Influence me The political prisoners that were sent out for work every
morning returned to their cells at about eleven in the afternoon to have their morning
meal. They had been asked that day to take their seats for dinner near me They had not
yet finished their bath, their clothes were all dirty with the mud they had worked in it had
covered their body and their clothing. In that wretched condition they were standing right
in front of me. Suddenly Mr. Barrie came there and began scolding them. He looked at
me, and then turning his back upon me said to the batch in a stern voice, "How is it that
you have not thrown in as many buckets of mud as your Jamadar had directed you to
throw? Look here, I shall not tolerate this any longer. I will give you a sound thrashing."
Then turning to the Jamadar he continued, "Look here, Jamadar, if these fellows do not
complete their task by the afternoon, bring them up to me. I will cane them all right. I
will cane them on the buttocks till they burst " As if to excuse himself for uttering such
foul language within my hearing, he addressed me, "Mr. Savarkar, a man like you ought
not to mix with such people They are a despicable lot You are well-bred and a gentleman.