When Bhagat Singh left his home, he wrote at the end of the letter, "Don't worry about my marriage, my bride is freedom."

When Bhagat Singh left his home, he wrote at the end of the letter, "Don't worry about my marriage, my bride is freedom." On one hand, while the world thought this issue was very serious, on the other hand, our young revolutionaries used to joke a lot about it! When Bhagat Singh raised this issue while pulling the leg of his friend, he got this reply: "I am already married to 'Bamatul Bukhara', and as long as she is with me, no British can catch me." And today, this answer seems less of a joke and more of a prophecy. Bhagat Singh's friend lived as 'Azad', and died as 'Azad'. We are talking about Shri Chandrashekhar Azad. He used to call his Mauser pistol 'Bamatul Bukhara'. Today is his birthday. So I thought, why not introduce you to the real 'Azad' today? Do you know who named him 'Azad'? At the age of 15, his parents sent him to Banaras. They wanted young Chandrashekhar to become a great scholar of Sanskrit. But young Chandrashekhar loved freedom from the beginning. At a very young age, he became a part of Gandhiji's 'Non-Cooperation Movement' and also went to jail for the movement. When he was presented before the magistrate, the magistrate asked, "What is your name? Whose son are you? Where is your home?" Then young Chandrashekhar said, "My name is 'Azad', my father's name is 'Swadhinta', and my home is 'jail'." Seeing this attitude, the magistrate punished him with 15 lashes. He happily accepted it. And from that day onwards, he was called ‘Azad’. But don’t be fooled, Azad was not always so serious! If you ask HSRA (his organization) comrades Shiv Verma, Bhagwandas Mahor, and Manmath Nath Gupta, they will tell you the inside story. Azad was a very sociable person. He would often crack jokes in serious situations! Also, he used to talk with such intimacy that the parents of all the comrades considered him as their elder son. And why not? When the young comrades of HSRA were 16-17 years old, Azad was 20 years old. It was Azad who trained all the new revolutionaries and took care of them like an elder brother. Not only this, he used to meet the parents of the comrades regularly. He kept a constant watch that they did not get any inkling of the revolutionary activities and their anxiety did not increase. Tell me one more thing? Azad loved to ride a bicycle. If someone overtook him, he would get peace only after defeating him in a race. Every morning, he would defeat many soldiers of Jhansi cantonment in this way and in the evening, he would narrate the story with great enthusiasm. When Ashfaqulla Khan and Ramprasad Bismil were caught after the Kakori incident, the police were looking for Azad. There was a reward of thousands on his head. In such a situation, HSRA started falling apart. Then, hiding from the police, he kept all the revolutionaries of Punjab and Uttar Pradesh united and strengthened the struggle for freedom. To stay hidden from the police, he would sometimes change his disguise and sometimes his place. To deliver two meals a day, his companions would steal rotis from their homes. To earn money, he would work in factories and plan movements from the hostels of his friends studying in college. Hunger, thirst, financial constraints, the danger of being caught—nothing could stop him. When, at the age of 25, he found himself surrounded by the British in Alfred Park, Prayagraj, on 27 February 1931, he chose death over sacrificing his freedom. His 'Bamatul Bukhara' fulfilled its promise. ➖➖➖➖ Since then, India has covered a journey of almost 100 years. The population of the country has increased from 27 crores to 143 crores, The literacy rate has increased from 9% to 77%, The average age has increased from 25 years to 70 years, The country has improved in many other parameters. There is just one shortcoming… Now young people like 'Azad' are not born.