by Anita Anand
Recommended by a friend, who was reading this when we met for coffee a couple of months ago. I had already heard of this book, as I follow the ‘Empire’ podcast of which Ms Anand is a co-host (with William Dalrymple).
The book is the story of Udham Singh, a Sikh man with a difficult orphan childhood, who, appalled by the Jallianwallah Bagh massacre in 1919, vows to avenge the victims by killing the lieutenant-governor of the Punjab who was responsible, Sir Michael O’Dwyer.
Udham Singh’s quest is finally fulfilled in 1940. The story opens with a sketch of the final event in the perpetrator’s life: his execution, somewhat botched by the chief executioner but carried out with professionalism by his deputy, one Albert Pierrepont.
The story of the massacre is made all the more poignant by the recollections of the author’s own grandfather, who was in Amritsar that day, had visited the Bagh (garden) with friends and only missed becoming a victims of the shooting because he had left the Bagh a few minutes earlier to fulfil an errand. Two of his friends were killed, and the experience stayed with him for the rest of his life.
Anand tells Udham Singh’s life story with compassion, but she does not idolise him. His army service in WWI Iraq (where he failed to distinguish himself); his movements from country to country in the service – and the pay – of the Ghadar movement seeking independence for India and with a focus on Punjab; his ‘normal’ family life in California for a few years, where he married and held down a regular job – all anecdotes are recounted by an author with a clearer interest in her subject’s life and circumstances, but also with an eye to his personal failings.
Alongside the murderer’s story, we learn something about the life of his victim, in particular his continuing right-wing views and unapologetic defence of his own actions. In contrast to O’Dwyer, the army officer who ordered his men to fire on the crowd (which included many women and children), Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer, lives his later life in seclusion and with some remorse at his actions.
Altogether a good read, indeed unpardonable in the final chapters. Thank you Jenny Y for recommending this!
A rug and a book 