Twenty -eight years ago, after staying midnight on August 14, India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru announced the country’s independence with a prestigious speech, Try with DestinyIn Parliament House. At the Art Gallery of Kamaladevi Complex at India International Center, New Delhi, before I examine the exhibition, our Economics Archives of Freedom Fighters, I am engaged in a real study of my proximity with time and location where I am physically and existing. It inspires me to cover a distance of four and a half kilometers from Parliament House and four kilometers from 1947 to about eight decades.
Surrounded by revolutionaries’ attractive and seepia-tone paintings-they chose to kiss hanging to British colonists-and copies of newspapers that used to tell the truth for powers, Nehru’s words come to mind: “In this serious moment when India’s people, resentment and sacrifice,”. A strange installation, a charpoy was placed on top of another charpoy and the tricolor tied to one corner, attracts my attention. As I have indicated to click my phone’s camera, a guard shouts: “pictures are not allowed”.
Gadar Paper First Edition, San Francisco, USA 1 March 1915 | Photo Credit: Hamara History Archives of Freedom Fighters (HIAFF)
Sagri Chhabra says, “I can give you a visit to the place,”, who offers themselves as the founder-director of our Economic Archives of Freedom Fighters (HIAFF). I am now an audience of his performance, considering the meaning of freedom and wrestling, with the idea of ​​classes in which the retrospective is held.
The idea of ​​the exhibition, Sagri says, “It is to make a record of known and unknown freedom fighters in India and around the world. There was not almost or small record of the work done by women freedom fighters. Therefore, we have special focus on our women’s freedom fighters. It aims to educate and induce new and future generations.”
Coming from Punjab, my eyes seek a picture of Gadright Gulab Kaur between Kartar Singh Sarabh and others’ pictures, especially because Punjab Lok Sabyachary Manch is watching Punjab’s Cultural Organization for social change and activism – 2025 as a centenary year of Gulab’s death. But I am participated in other sections that reflect the functions of revolutionaries that fought from foreign shores for India.
Mehrunisa (left), Perumal, Ina. , Photo Credit: Sagri Chhabra, Yangon, 2004, Hiaf
After the names of Sagari lists the names: “International Freedom Fighter: Shyamji Krishna Verma, SR Rana. Other revolutionary abroad: Taraknath Das, Bhupendra Dutt, Ajit Singh – Chacha of Bhagat Singh. Alias ​​Sushila Didi….” And then share: “Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose has a special section on the Indian National Army, which is a special section in the world, which is the first woman in the world, which is located in the world, which is the world’s first woman, which is located in the world, which is located in the world, which is located in the world, which is the world’s first woman, One of the military regiments, with special attention to the queen of the Jhansi Regiment. “
Momota Mehta, Rani of Jhansi Regiment | Photo Credit: Preeta Jaiman, 1998, Hiaf
The National Archives of Malaysia obtained from Arkib Negara; National Archives, Singapore; National Archives of India; Prime Minister Museum and Memorial Library; And some original recording of Hiaf, Sagri informed that the research of about three decades had gone to cure the retrospective. “Archive includes oral testimony, photos, audio, video and film recording in India, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Myanmar. It displays photos and documents from London, Paris, Paris, Geneva, Stutgart, San Francisco and other places, showing that India’s freedom struggle revolutionary and non-disciplinary documents were shown. Bande Matram And Talwar Madame Bhikaji Cam and Gadar Party located in Vancouver and San Francisco, “She says.
Gandhinathan, Tokyo Cadet | Photo Credit: Sagri Chhabra, Kuala Lumpur 2004, Hiaf
For Charpoy and Tricolar Installation, Sagri caressed me to look at the other side of the wall, against which the installation is placed. It has pictures of many women. She said, “She raised the flag from inside the Lahore Women’s Jail in 1942,” she informs, one of the protesters of the jail, pointing to the interview of Bibi Amar Kaur, playing on the screen with her documentary, Real azadi“The courage and sacrifice of our freedom fighters, most of which have become unsafe and unfamiliar, are eligible to be recorded,” she describes in press communu.
The exhibition will be held by 23 August at Art Gallery, Kamaladevi Complex, India International Center, 40 Max Muller Marg, New Delhi; From 11 am to 7 pm.
Published – August 15, 2025 12:20 PM IST
