SPARROW

Oral History Recordings

Gowramma

Gowramma was a freedom fighter from Karnataka. Her husband Venkataramayya was a active member of Sevadal and was in the frontline of freedom movement in Karnataka. Following him Gowramma also joined Sevadal. She came into contact with Kamaladevi Chattopadyaya, Sarojini Naidu, Lilavati Munshi, Umabai and others in the freedom movement. Inspired by them Gowramma also participated in the Salt Satyagraha and Non Co-operation Movement. She was beaten up by police and put in the Siddhapur jail during this struggle. She went on a hunger strike while she was in jail. Gowramma recounts with pride feeling Gandhi's blessings, visiting Kamala Nehru while she was ailing and talking to Nehru

Here we produce an extract from her interview.

Interviewer - Rameshwari / B.N. Usha

Hear the audio

Kala Shahani

Kala Shahani was a freedom fighter. She was born in 1919. She grew up in Karachi. From the age of ten, when she had first heard Mahatma Gandhi, Kala has worn only khadi. Widowed at the age of thirty-seven, she took up a job in the Sindhi newspaper Hindustan. Her life is guided by the simple but irrevocable logic that the nation is a part of oneself; working for it should not be for personal benefits. Kala has chosen not to take the pension and other benefits offered to freedom fighters, for she says, "When you work for your mother-you call the country motherland, don't you?-how can you get paid for it?"

Here we produce an extract from her interview.

Interviewer - Dr. Govind Shahani, her son

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