The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Travel by train back to the days of the freedom struggle

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Saturday, Jan 19, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Travel by train back to the days of the freedom struggle

Staff Reporter

Exhibition marking 150th anniversary of Sepoy Mutiny set up in 12 coaches of Freedom Express

Photo: M.Vedhan

TRAIN OF THOUGHT: Union Minister of State for Railways R. Velu views thematic panels displayed on the ‘Freedom Express’ at Chennai Central railway station on Thursday. —

Chennai: To travel back to the time of India’s struggle for Independence, step into the ‘Freedom Express’ at platform No. 11 at the Chennai Central Railway Station.

An exhibition marking the 150th anniversary of India’s first war for Independence — the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 — has been set up in 12 coaches of a train. The ‘Freedom Express’ started its journey on September 28, 2007 in New Delhi and has travelled to several cities and towns in India before halting at Chennai.

Union Minister of State R. Velu inaugurated the exhibition here and made a tour of the train.

The ‘Freedom Express’ collection of photographs, illustrations, historical records and audio-visuals tell a powerful tale.

The first coach has a panel with a quote from Lord Macaulay’s address in the British Parliament in 1835: “… I do not think we would ever conquer this country, unless we break the very backbone of this nation, which is her spiritual and cultural heritage, and, therefore, I propose that we replace her old and ancient education system, her culture, for if the Indians think that all that is foreign and English is good and greater than their own, they will lose their self-esteem, their native self-culture and they will become what we want them, a truly dominated nation.”

The panel sets the theme for the first part of the exhibition, which focusses on how the British grew strong in India. In the ‘Sepoy Mutiny’ section, the shadow painting on the panels — with silhouettes of men mounted on horses with their swords raised — portray the nationalistic fever that spread across the country. Some of the interesting exhibits include the text of the death sentence of Mangal Pande, dated April 7, 1857; a group photograph of the freedom fighters convicted in the Kakori train robbery case and news reports on the execution of Bhagat Singh.

Mahatma Gandhi’s entry into the nationalist movement and his non-violent struggle for Independence is shown through a series of black-and-white photographs.

An audio recording of Jawaharlal Nehru’s ‘Freedom at Midnight’ is played towards the end of the exhibits on the Independence struggle.

India’s milk cooperatives movement, industrial growth, trade expansion and cultural wealth feature in the panels on progress after Independence.

A souvenir shop selling khadi clothes and Gandhian literature is set at the end of the exhibition.

The ‘Freedom Express’ is a project of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and Ministry of Culture and is implemented by the Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity.

Board this train any time between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Entry is free and platform tickets are not required.

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