Resumo de Freedom At Midnight - Dominique Lapierre;Larry Collins

Freedom at Midnight talks about the travails of the Indian subcontinent with respect to its freedom from British rule. Reading the book was an eye-opener. Though it is only 55 years since India achieved her independence, reading the book transported me to another era. It was as if I was a spectator to the happenings in the country in the years 1947-1948. Reading the book made me aware of so many things.

The focus of the book was predominantly on the freedom years, the years 1947-1948. Everything else was a prelude or epilogue. The authors have wonderfully woven the different strands that went into making the fabric of the struggle for Indian independence. Hitherto, my knowledge was limited to whatever I had studied in history in school. Reading the book added many new dimensions, brought in fresh perspectives and got me thinking about the future of India.

The authors have spoken about how British unwittingly ended up ruling India, how India was British?s imperial dream, what had gone into administrating, what was then, one-fifth of humanity.

Some characters leave a deep imprint. They are:
Lord Mountbatten
Mahatma Gandhi
Jawaharlal Nehru

Mahatma Gandhi came out in a new light. His great strength of character is evident in the way he was able to maintain peace and law and order in Bengal at the time of partition. He was able to achieve in Bengal what 55,000 soldiers could not achieve in the Punjab at the time of partition. It speaks volumes about Gandhi as a leader. It wouldn?t be wrong to say he was a saint. He practiced what he preached. He had an unerring understanding of the masses. Even in those times of primitive communication devices, he was able to reach the masses, strike a chord in their hearts. So much so that they were ready to sink their differences and rally behind him. If we consider him as a leader, then he had those unique abilities of a true leader, ability to make people want to follow him, transparency, accountability, a rare concern for humanity at large.

Jawaharlal Nehru came across as an intellectual, a great orator, an idealist. It is largely due to his efforts that India still remains a free nation adhering to the principles of democracy and secularism.

Then there is the word portrait of the princely states and the princes who ruled them. There is also a graphic description of the abject poverty in which masses lived. The sharp contrast in the opulent lives of the princes and the miserable lives of millions of India?s masses is brought out beautifully. One wonders how come so many paradoxes could exist in a nation. Also brought out are the ideological, cultural and religious differences in the lives of the Indian masses. Reading the book conjures up a picture of India as a land of contrasts ? a land of abject poverty on one hand and great opulence on the other, a land of great mystics and intellectuals on one hand and largely illiterate masses on the other, a land of tolerance on one hand and a land of religious wars on the other. The picture that comes up is overwhelming.

One becomes more aware of the history of a country. The book might not present the entire picture and we should not confuse the part for the whole. Nonetheless it brings one close to one's own country in terms of understanding its labor pains and the sacrifices our Motherland does to keep her children happy.

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