At the exhibition, one of the several taking place in Kolkata to mark 75 years of India’s Independence, the organisers placed a bundle of postcards and a handful of pens on a large table and asked visitors to write down their family memories of that defining moment in history. What has emerged is a still-growing collection of heart-warming as well as heart-wrenching stories that may not be found in history books but which are still a valuable part of history.
“My late grandfather’s account of 15th August is rather funny,” wrote Gangotri Chattopadhyay from Singur in her message. “A bunch of village kids with no money or resources stole a bunch of gamchha (thin cotton towel) and hoisted them on a bunch of sticks and ran through the rice fields, overjoyed about a free India. It is the spirit that counts.”
Ms. Chattopadhyay’s is among the nearly 600 postcards that the DAG, or Delhi Art Gallery, has collected so far from its ongoing exhibition, ‘March to Freedom’, being held at the Indian Museum. The exhibition, showcasing 200 years of art, began on July 23 and will end on September 18. In one of the galleries, a poster is asks visitors: “Do you know your parents were doing on August 15, 1947? What are your family memories or experiences from the time of India’s independence?” The outpouring has been unexpected, what with fresh blank postcards and pens at hand.
