Freedom!

On the occasion of the Indian Independence Day, I decided to post some links to videos and other resources which you might find interesting. I freely admit that ‘lists’ are always controversial, so I’ll be happy to have “You should have included this!” comments, as long as you link to some resource on what you are talking about. 🙂 I’m sure that way we all will be able to learn a bit more about India.

• Mahatma Gandhi’s speaking: We all know about the great man, but how many of have actually ever heard his voice? I’m sure many of you haven’t. Such collections are few and far between, but you can still find some gems. Here’s a video from Fox News of Mahatma Gandhi giving an interview, another famous speech by him titled The Power of One (there’s a transcript in the description of the video in case you can’t understand what he’s saying), and the oddly-named Multimedia Gandhi (sounds like a nightmare Hollywood movie idea) which contains links to audio / video / picture / article archives. Also check out the Indian National Congress archive on the same site.
• Rabindranath Tagore singing the national anthem: An extremely rare recording of the author himself singing the national anthem. BTW, Tagore trivia – he is also the author of another nation’s anthem. Quite unsurprisingly, the country happens to be Bangladesh. (The name of the anthem is Amar Shonar Bangla.)
• Video of Jawaharlal Nehru’s Tryst With Destiny speech: When India won its freedom, Jawaharlal Nehru gave one of the most memorable speeches in the history of India, better known as the Tryst With Destiny speech. This footage was taken at that session.
• Lord Mountbatten addressing the Indian Parliament on 15th August: Lord Mountbatten, then Governor-General of India, addressing the Indian parliament on behalf of King George VI during the same session of parliament that you saw above.
• Why Gandhi didn’t win the Nobel Prize: In hindsight, the Nobel Prize committee regrets the fact that Gandhi was never given the Nobel Peace Prize, despite being nominated. Read this extensive (and frank) article on the Nobel Prize site on what went on behind the scenes which ultimately led to Gandhi not getting the prize.
• Mohammad Ali Jinnah speaking on the need for Pakistan: Skip Star-Spangled Banner and move on straight to the audio bit on Jinnah speaking on the need for Pakistan. Like it or not, the Partition is part of Indian subcontinent history. Jinnah, BTW, was initially part of the Indian National Congress. He worked with INC for a long time, and then left to join the Muslim League. Accounts differ on why he did so, but almost everyone agrees that he had a fallout with Gandhi. Being a lawyer, Jinnah was a stickler for rules and did not agree to Gandhi’s tactic of flouting the law during the Non-Cooperation Movement.

Speaking of learning about India, do try out this India Quiz I made on behalf of gyaan.in. You will need a Twitter ID to play the quiz, but that’s OK since Youthpad has a kickass beginner’s guide to Twitter.

And do share any other resources / archives / videos that you know about! (Any major event in Indian history will do.)