The thought of what happened on 13th April 1919, sends a shiver down my spine even today. Having been a part of a movement, where many lost their lives, I continue to get flashbacks and horrendous nightmares. The air was pregnant with smoke and blood. The wails of distressed wives, children, and family members rang through the air. My blood boiled.

I was only 12 and wasn’t particularly good at school. It was the occasion of Baisakhi and I was heading to school in my new purple Salwar Kameez when I saw a small gathering. As I approached closer, Baldev Ji was narrating some tragic events involving the Jallianwala Bagh and the angrez. I quickly made up my little mind to bunk school for the day and leave for Jallianwala Bagh at once.

As I walked through the narrow alley, I could hear the loud cries of a mother which still echo in my mind. I looked down and there laid heaps of innocent men, some dead, some wounded, but all very well dressed. After all, little did they know this peaceful procession would turn out to be one of the bloodiest events in the history of our country. A small, stray injured puppy whimpered as it tried getting past the body of a man whose eye-sockets which adorned the upper part of his face, lay empty.

I did not cry like everyone around me simply because I wasn’t sad. I was exasperated. My little self wished to walk up to Dyer’s residence and behead him, scoop his eyeballs out and leave his filthy body for the wild cats. This is when I realized my purpose- TO FIGHT FOREIGN RULE. Here lie my several stainless brothers and sisters who only wanted to celebrate and later be a part of the Langar Seva. But instead, they have fallen to bullets at the Jallianwala Bagh. I crumpled onto my knees and let my tears silently flow, fearing what tomorrow would bring if the angrez didn’t leave.

I brought back a handful of blood-soaked soil and a reason to fight the Whites. Me and Amar Kaur, put flowers on this soil as if paying homage to those who had lost their lives. I quit school the very next year and set out to oust the angrez from Bharat.

From the pages of Bhagat Singh’s diary that were missing but finally retrieved...

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