Freedom is not free. True freedom comes from various virtuous qualities such as discipline, commitment, perseverance, and courage. It is because of the sacrifices of our great patriots, we are enjoying freedom today. This is an inspiring story of one of the great Indian patriotic legends.
There was a boy of age 12 in the year 1918. His name was Chandrashekhar Tiwari. He was once sitting in his classroom and sometime later he heard the loud voice of various slogans being shouted outside. He took permission from his teacher and went outside to see what was happening.
He saw a sage leading some groups while shouting slogans. He knew that it was a peaceful freedom movement. However a few moments later he saw there was a change in the situation, some British officer had started attacking the crowd and hitting the sage and his followers. This young patriotic boy was enraged on seeing this. He took a stone and hit one of the British officers. A few other policemen saw this sudden attack and ran after Chandrashekhar to catch him.
The next morning the police submitted Chandrashekhar to court. The judge asked him to tell his name. The brave Chandrashekhar told his name was "Azad" which means freedom. The judge was confused and shocked. He asked the boy to tell his father's name. The boy replied saying "Swadheenta". The judge was losing his patience and with anger filling his voice he asked his last question, "Tell me your address." The boy laughed and replied that jail was his permanent address. With this, the judge finally lost his temper and gave the young Chandrashekhar the punishment to be whipped twelve times with a wet leather rope by a fat healthy person. Chandrashekhar said that it was a shame that he would only be getting twelve whips for his actions and asked the judge to increase the punishment. But the judge refused to tolerate Chandrashekhar further and asked him to be taken away to the place where he should be beaten. He was beaten up brutally without any remorse yet he kept on yelling the phrase 'Vande Matheram'
After cruelly beating up Chandrashekhar, the jailer returned to having a word with the general and informing him how the boy was bleeding and to give the boy a sum of 12 paise only to bandage himself. Chandrashekhar however told the jailer to give that money to Queen Victoria and tell her that it was given by a young Indian patriot. That boy was none other than the great legend Chandrashekhar Azad. Whose bravery in fighting for Indian independence will always be
remembered in our hearts.
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