Charan Samudrik

On 13^th of March, 71 years ago Shaheed Udham Singh shot down, Michael O’Dwyer, in Caxton Hall , London, to avenge the massacre of innocent civilians at Jalianwala Bagh , Amritsar , on Baisakhi day in 1919. I came across an article, “Rethinking a Revolution in New India ” in the Sunday Times , which also carried a photograph of the martyr.

This took me back to many years in time when I came across an anecdote with the heading ‘Charan Samudrik ‘ in a Hindi magazine, about the Martyr.

As per the anecdote, one afternoon Udham Singh was sitting in the company of a few friends, when a palmist came along and offered to read the palm of the small group. When the turn of Udham Singh came, jokingly, he offered to advance his foot instead of palm, in case the palmist had no objection. . The palmist took no offence and started reading the lines at the bottom of the foot and told Udham Singh in no uncertain terms that he would go to England but won’t come back. Udham Singh and his friends may have dismissed the prophecy at that time, but it was to come true, years later when the above event took place on March 13, 1940 and subsequently Udham Singh was hanged on July, 31^st, 1940 after a hurried trial. Only his ashes came back in the year 1974, when he was formally cremated and his ashes were immersed in the river Satluj.