MI KADHIHI MAFI MAGNAR NAHI ! (Marathi)

PANDURANG KHANKHOJE REALIZED EARLY THAT LIFE UNDER THE BRITISH YOKE WAS NOT FOR HIM. THE THEN RULERS OF INDIA WERE EQUALLY QUICK TO GRASP THE FACT THAT THE YOUNG MAN SPELT TROUBLE FOR THE AUTHORITIES, AND CAST A DRAGNET FOR HIM WHICH COMPELLED KHANKHOJE TO FLEE ABROAD. THE ANGRY YOUNG MAN TRAINED IN THE MAKING OF EXPLOSIVES AND IN WARFARE, AND ROAMED THE GLOBE LOOKING FOR LIKE-MINDED PEOPLE WHO EQUALLED HIM IN THEIR DESIRE TO END BRITISH DOMINANCE. HE BECAME A FOUNDER - MEMBER OF THE RADICAL GHADAR PARTY IN AMERICA WHICH WORKED UNRELENTINGLY TOWARDS GATHERING FOLLOWERS SYMPATHETIC TO ITS CAUSE. KHANKHOJE’S COMMITMENT TOOK HIM TO SEVERAL COUNTRIES—JAPAN, AMERICA, PERSIA, GERMANY AND RUSSIA—ALWAYS ON THE RUN, BEFORE HE FOUND SAFETY IN MEXICO, A COUNTRY THAT STRUCK HIM AS BEING ODDLY LIKE HIS OWN. HERE, THE REVOLUTIONARY MARRIED, HAD A FAMILY AND TURNED HIS ENERGIES TO AGRICULTURE, GOING ON TO BECOME AN INTERNATIONAL AUTHORITY ON HIGH-YIELDING FOOD CROPS, ESPECIALLY A NEW VARIETY OF CORN. BUT ALL THE WHILE, HIS HEART WAS SET ON RETURNING TO HIS HOMELAND. IT WAS FORTY YEARS BEFORE HE WAS ABLE TO RETURN TO HIS COUNTRY, BUT HE DID SEE INDIA AGAIN, AND HE SAW HER GAIN HER FREEDOM BEFORE HE DIED. IN I SHALL NEVER ASK FOR PARDON, KHANKHOJE’S DAUGHTER, SAVITRI SAWHNEY, DIPS INTO HIS DIARIES TO RESURRECT THE VOICE OF A HITHERTO SILENT HERO OF INDIA’S STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM.