The Biography of Famous Personalities of India will tell you about the controversies, the dark sides of a person that you may have never heard of.
Childhood and Early Life of Shaheed Bhagat Singh
Childhood and Early Life
I shall grow guns all over the field and drive the British out of India.
Bhagat Singh was born on 28 September 1907 at village Banga in Lyallpur district of Punjab (now in Pakistan) to Sardar Kishan Singh and Vidyawati. At the time of his birth, his father Kishan Singh, uncles Ajit Singh and Swaran Singh were in jail for demonstrations against the Colonization Bill implemented in 1906.
His uncle, Sardar Ajit Singh, was a proponent of the movement and established the Indian Patriots’ Association. He was well-supported by his friend Syed Haidar Raza in organizing the peasants against the Chenab Canal Colony Bill. Ajit Singh had 22 cases against him and was forced to flee to Iran. his family was the supporter of the Ghadar party and the politically aware environment at home helped incite a sense of patriotism in the heart of Bhagat Singh in his childhood itself.
One evening child Bhagat Singh was out for a walk with his father. There was also an elderly man with the father. Chatting they walked on and went beyond the village. Green crop delighted their eyes. The elders were walking along the edge of a field. Not hearing the footsteps of the boy, the father looked back. Bhagat Singh was sitting on the ground and seemed to be planting something. The father became curious.
“What are you doing?” asked he.
“I shall grow guns all over the field” was the innocent reply of Bhagat Singh. His eyes shone with the strong faith that guns would grow in the field to drive British out of India. Both the elders were struck with wonder at the little boy’s words. Truly, Bhagat Singh later fought like a hero for India’s freedom and sacrificed his life to drive British out of India.
Bhagat Singh was a lovely child. His smile was charming. People used to say that he would become very famous some day. His mother Vidyawati’s life had been full of sorrow right from the beginning, the revolutionary husband would always be away. Always lurking in Vidyavati’s mind was the fear that he might at any time be sent to jail. It was a family of freedom fighters and one or the other would always be in jail. Vidyawati herself had to look after the affairs of the family. At such anxious times, her children were her only comfort. They were intelligent and brave and this made her forget her misery.
Child Bhagat Singh was admitted to the primary school. From his childhood he was highly interested in studies. He was ahead of the others in his class. He used to write in beautiful hand. He was the favourite pupil of his teachers. Very much liked by his class-mates, he was their leader. Big boys used to carry child Bhagat Singh on their shoulders to the school and back home. His childhood itself indicated that later he would become a leader of some sort.
Child Bhagat Singh easily made friends with one and all. His companions were naturally his friends. But ordinary cartmen and coolies, and the very men who swept the streets were also his friends.
“Every one in the village is my friend,” Bhagat Singh used to say. The ability to win the hearts of men grew in Bhagat Singh right from his childhood. Bhagat Singh had two uncles — Swarn Singh and Ajit Singh. They had been sent to prison by the British. Life in prison was wretched and Swarn Singh fell ill. His health did not improve even after his release and he died. When Ajit Singh came out of the jail, he left the country.
Bhagat Singh’s aunts would often recall their husbands’ misery, and lament over it. Seeing this, Bhagat Singh would bravely say, “Don’t weep, aunt. When I grow up, I will drive out the British and bring back my uncle. I will take revenge upon the British who are the cause for my uncle’s illness.” On hearing the heroic words of the little boy, the weeping women would often forget their sorrow for the moment.
Once, when he was in the fourth class, Bhagat Singh asked his friends, “What do you wish to become when you grow up?” The boys started thinking.
Then each boy gave a different answer. “I wish to become a doctor,” said one. Another said, “I will become a government officer.” Still another said he would become a merchant; while another said he ‘would marry’. Bhagat Singh then remarked, “Is marriage a big achievement? Anyone can marry. I will become someone to drive the British out of India.”
Bhagat Singh finished his primary education at Banga. Next he went to Lahore to join a secondary school. The patriot Sardar Kishan Singh did not want to admit his son to a school run by the followers of the British. So Bhagat Singh continued his studies in a private school.
Bhagat Singh was a village boy. His father was afraid he would lag behind in his studies. So he engaged a teacher to teach him at home. But within two days the teacher saw how intelligent the boy was. “What can I teach this boy? He has already learnt everything,” said the teacher to Kishan Singh.
Bhagat Singh took to his studies with great zeal. His teachers wondered at his intelligence. He scored good marks in subjects like history, geography and arithmetic. But he had a bad score in English. It must have been because he had always hated the British (English People)!