After 190 years of tolerating brutal and barbaric rule of British empire finally on 14th August 1947, Thursday, 11pm our Indian brothers and sisters were able to breathe in free air of satisfaction, contentment and relaxation. To address our Indian citizens our first Prime Minister of independent India, Jawaharlal Nehru read out his world renowned speech of "Tryst With Destiny".
" Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially.
At the stroke of midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance...….
….. The ambition of the greatest man of our generation has been to wipe out every tear from every eye. That may be beyond us, but so long as there are tears and suffering, so long our work will not be over. And so we have to labor and to work, and work hard, to give reality to our dreams. Those dreams are for India, but they are also for the world".
167 days of celebration of independence passed when a person casted an evil eye on our happiness. On 30th Jan 1948, in Birla House, New Delhi when at 17hrs17min30sec the clock stopped ticking, the tides stopped rising and the whole nation was drowned into the ocean of grief and sorrow when Nathuram Godse assassinated the father of our nation Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. Gandhiji died with "Hey Ram" as last words on his lips.
Gandhiji passed away but his seeds of ideologies and philosophies were so well sown and spread across the nation that his soul rested peacefully in heaven. One of the most enthusiastic, righteous disciple with ingenuous eyes who came forward to hold the flag of Gandhian philosophies high up in the sky was once again Usha Ben. After the independence she recommenced her education and wrote a doctoral dissertation on the political and social thought of Gandhi, earning a PhD from the university of Bombay. She also authored various books, articles and essays in English and Gujarati like Gandhi's contribution to the Emancipation of Women, Mahatma Gandhi and Humanism, Women and men voters ,the 1977-80 experiment and many more.
Usha Ben was elected the President of Gandhi Smarak Nidhi, a trust dedicated to the preservation of Gandhian heritage. The Nidhi acquired Mani Bhavan in Mumbai, residence of Sardar Patel's daughter Manibehn Patel, where Gandhi used to reside during his visits to the city and converted into a Gandhi memorial. She also became the President of Gandhi Peace Foundation which was established on 31 July 1958 to preserve and spread Gandhi's thoughts. Its first board was composed of notables including R Diwakar, Rajendra Prasad and Jawaharlal Nehru. She also actively participated in the affairs of Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan where in one of her speeches she said " Our enmity was not against the British but against their administration therefore our dream was to transform swarajya into surajya". She had a long association with the University of Bombay in many capacities as a student, as a research assistant, as a lecturer, a professor, and finally as the head of the department of civics and politics. She retired from the University of Bombay in 1980. She was also awarded with Padma Vibhushan in 1998, the second highest civilian award of India by the Union of India.
However in her later years she became very unhappy with the developments taking place in the social, political and economic spheres of independent India. To express her thoughts and views she made a statement in the press, "It is a pity the new generation of political activists and leaders are paying scant respect to the Gandhian ideas, the chief among which was non violence. If we don't mend our ways, we may find ourselves back at square one, Certainly this is not the freedom we fought for". Nevertheless she did not deny the achievements of free India since independence and concluded by saying " India has survived as a democracy and even built a good industrial base but still, it is not the India of our dreams".
On 11th August 2000, the sun rose and set cheerfully as it did everyday. The moon didn't know that he had to bear the pain once again of losing one of the best creations of God in face of Usha Ben, the sister of night passes away in night. Each and everyone who knew about her and her incomparable contributions was crying and sobbing on each others' shoulders. Only one person who was smiling happily was the soul of Mahatma Gandhi high up in the night sky twinkling among the stars and saying " Come my child, you have performed all your duties very well, now its time to take a peaceful rest in heaven"
"The 22 year old college girl who ran a secret radio station,
Who stood confident and firmly against the British discrimination,
Who knew how to tie the knots of unity within our mighty nation,
Who astounded even Gandhiji with her utmost dedication,
Who served for lakhs of Indian youth as a statue of inspiration,
Who proliferated Gandian philosophies to fight every situation,
That unsung warrior " Our underground nightingale",
Deserves to be remembered generation after generation...…."