The year was 1942. A strapping young man of 19 decides to leave the protected environs of school and family to fight for a cause. With no one to guide him except faith in himself, in his land and on a man everybody referred to as Bapu (Father) whom he had never met, he decides that his land and its freedom is more important than a school degree or a job. He decides to take on the mighty British Empire and emerge victorious. The young man lands up in an institution of learning ironically thought of by the British rulers as “prison”. But in those times, it was where the university was. Company was nutrition, knowledge was religion and the motherland was universal. The land was not one’s own but a part of oneself and the self was not an end but a collective means to glory. This is hard to imagine in these times..
We have all fought for freedom; we all fight for existence. But do we ever feel the need or get a chance to actually experience what freedom means? Do we love what we fight for or is it just a natural instinct that even an animal in captivity exhibits? Do we realize what we fight for, do we really want what we attain or do we understand what we love? Do we understand what young men and women gave up during a painfully recent past for our present and future? Sri Debeswar Doloi from Jorhat is a living example at 97 years. Most of these stories are unheard of. Many men like him are only known to him and his peers and who won’t even find a reference in discussions. It heralds and calls for courage under fire to climb up a police station’s roof to remove the Union Jack and hoist the Tri-Colour. It is only a few who can say that “I hoisted the Tri-colour on the midnight of 14th August, 1947”
We have tried to put together footage shot for a home video into a film called Destiny’s Warriors. It is a sneak peek into the lives of some freedom fighters from the region and to experience moments of a lifetime of patriotism. Since it was never originally intended for a documentary film and was done a few years back, the video experience may be technically low. The video is an excerpt / trailer of the same.