"The truth of this view I forst realised in the Alipore jail.
Those who live there are usually thieves and robbers, murderers. Though
we were forbidden to speak with the convicts, in practice this rule
was not strictly observed. ...Those who were arrested with me for the
same
offence, they too have been described in such unspeakable terms and the
most
heartless murderers. If there is ny place where the Indian character
may be looked upon with the eyes of contempt, if it possible to see it
at its worst, lowest and most hateful state, Alipore jail is that
place , imprisonment at Alipore is that inferior and degenerate state.
IN such a place I spent twelve months like this. Thanks to my experience
of these twelve months I have been able to return to the world of
action with tenfold hope, with a fixed notion about Indian superiority,
with redoubled respect for human character, the future progress and
well-being of the motherland and the human race. This is not due to
my inherent optimism or excessive trust. Srijut Bipinchandra Pal
had felt the same way in the Buxar jail; in the Alipore Jail Dr. Daly
who had served here earlier, suported this view. Dr. Daly was a
generous and wise person, experienced in the ways of men, the worst
elements of human nature were presented to him every day, yet he used
to tell me: "The more I see and hear of Indian gentlemen or the poor
folk,
men who are distinguished in society or the convicts in a prison, I am
convinced that in quality and character you are superior to us. Looking
at these lads has further confirmed me in my judgement. Who can judge
from
their behavior, character and other high qualities that they are
anarchists
or asasins? Instead of finding in them cruelty, wildness, restlessness
or impropriety, I find the opposite virtues." Of course thieves and
robbers
do not turn into holy men while they are serving a term in prison.
The British prison is not a place for reform character; on the contrary,
for the ordinary convict it is but an instrument for the dgradation of
character and manhood. They remain the thtieves and robbers they had
been
before being sent to the gaol...But what of that? The humanity of the
INdian
survives every loss. Fallen because of social abuses, crushed out
because of
loss of humanity, on the outside are the distortions of dark dubious
and shameful emotions, yet within, the nearly vanished humanity seems to
save
itself in hiding, thanks to the inborn virtue of Indians, it expresses
itself time and again in speech and act. Those who having seen the filth
outside, turn away their face in contempt, only they can fail to
say that they failed to find in them the least trace of humanity. But
one who has given up the pride of holiness and looks at them with one's
own natural clear vision will never agree to such a view. After six
months of imprisonment in the Buxar jail Srijut Bipinchandra Pal
had seen God among the thieves and robbers, which he had openly
confessed
in an Uttarpara meeting. IN the ALipore jail itself I too could realise
this fundamental truth of Hinduism for the first time among the thieves
robbers and killers, in the human body I could realise the Divine
Presence."
Sri Aurobindo
From "Tales of Prison Life"
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