The meteoric Journey

 In our Writers' club Bangalore, meet  on 17th October the moderator introduced the idea of writing stories based on the concept of "Alternate history". This story was written on the said prompt.

  Alternate history (or alternate timeline or alternate reality) is a fictional setting where one or more historical events occur differently. These stories usually contain "what if" scenarios at crucial points in history and present outcomes other than those in the historical record. The stories are speculative fiction but often based on fact. 

There was a lot of excitement in the house of ten year old, Ramadas. His father was a staunch supporter of his leader Subhas Chandra Bose. Papa’s leader had won  the congress presidential elections in 1938 and 1939. But now there was a lot of disagreements within the party as to the policy and approach of Bose. His father being around the same age as his leader fully supported a stronger resistance to the British. That day was the D day when a decision would be taken  after debates,  as to whether the party will stand by Bose or ask him to step down. 

 It was late in the evening when his father returned home. Even at that late hour about twenty to thirty people accompanied him. Ramdas ran to the door to ask his father whether his leader had prevailed. But there was no need to ask. The jubilation on their faces said it all. Mother and sisters rushed to the kitchen to make tea. Nobody minded doing so,  even as there was a lot of bonhomie  and happiness. It was at that point that Ramdas decided he would follow in his father’s footsteps. He would embrace his father's leader as his own leader and imbibe his ideals for a free and fearless India!   

 In the days that followed many in his class were talking about the  magnificent wedding that took place in the household of the Nawab of Pataudi. But Ramdas was not interested. He  was excited  to talk to Jaggu, the only classmate who would listen to him about how his leader Subhash Chandra Bose managed to prevail on his colleagues and retain leadership of the party. Two to three Years rolled by.  When he was in the eighth class, Ramdas joined the Quit India movement.  The movement turned violent in many places. Ramdas was one of the many youngsters arrested and jailed for three months. He fortunately had his father’s support for all his actions. After all, it was his father who was the first freedom fighter in the family. Jaggu on the otherhand faced lot of difficulties from his family. But he was always willing to be a right hand to him,  prepared to join him  in everything he did.  

After retaining control of the party, Bose was in the process of developing a harder line toward the British. He was putting this  in place when it was obvious that the second world war impacted the British adversely both economically and in terms of their  ability to retain colonial administration & control  all over the world. The focus of the nationalist leader Bose changed around this time from fighting for independence  to planning for effective administration of independent India. When the Labour party won the British elections in July 1945, they decided to handover power to India. 

Gandhiji advised his followers to dissolve the congress party, the primary aim of  the party having been achieved.   The top leaders agreed to the suggestion and five major parties were formed- The Nationalist party led by Jawaharlal Nehru, United India Party of Sardar Vallabhai Patel, Justice for All party of Mohammad Ali Jinnah, Republican party of Babasaheb Ambedkar and the Forward March Party of Subhash Chandra Bose. It was agreed  that Nehru would be the interim PM who would take charge from the Governor General on 15th August 1947. A Lot of water had flowed under the bridge since then.

 It was  the swearing in ceremony  after the  declaration of results in the1972 General elections . In the press meet the youngest Prime Minister of Independent India  Ramdas Khare, at 33 years of age , was recalling his journey from  a  student freedom fighter to the position of the PM. Mr Khare said that he was grateful to his leader, the great patriot Subhash Chandra Bose for grooming him over the years. He expressed his sorrow that neither his father nor his leader who passed away in 1968 and 1969 respectively were able to witness the historic moment.  The new Prime minister introduced his cabinet starting with his Home minister, a long time right hand Jagadish Thakur. The whole of India from Karachi to Kanyakumari participated in the excitement and expectations from a new Government.