"Birth of India's Freedom", "Freedom Era Begins", "India Awakes to Life and Freedom", "Free India is Born", "India Independent"... These were the ringing headlines in top Indian newspapers capturing that history-making moment on the morning of Aug 15, 1947.

As midnight revelry and frenzied rejoicing gripped the country, editors and reporters toiled well into the wee hours to record a newly born nation's "tryst with destiny".

Recording that time up-close for posterity could not have been more exhilarating for those who pen the first drafts of history, as journalists do.

"The entire Delhi kept awake to witness the historic event of ushering in the freedom of India at the hour of midnight," wrote a Times of India correspondent in its lead story headlined "Birth of India's Freedom".  

"Unprecedented scenes of enthusiasm were witnessed both inside and outside the constituent assembly chamber where seething swaying humanity wildly cheered the momentous event heralded with the blowing of conches," said the Times.

Another report entitled "Frenzied Enthusiasm in Bombay" on the front page of The Times waxed lyrical about the spontaneous celebrations that enveloped that vibrant metropolis, bathed in a million lights and a million flags.

"Bombay in the early hours of Friday morning was a pedestrians' paradise. Cars either drove on the pavements, if they got the right of way or were marooned there. Rejoicing crowds held the streets and all the traffic rules were ignored. Trams and buses were packed to doors, but carried passengers on their roofs. Everyone cheered as the spirit of the occasion spread infectiously. And few slept as bands blared and trumpets sounded in wild cacophony."

More poetic flourishes followed. "A million lights over Bombay's public buildings made the Gateway of India a city of light and beauty."

The Hindustan Times, riding on the high tide of patriotism, announced to the world "India Independent" and "New Star Rises in the East" on its front page. Its special supplement was soaked in tricolour and sported a photograph of Mahatma Gandhi with folded hands.

In his lead article, "Journey's End, Beginning of Another," veteran editor Durga Das captured the sense of what it was to be alive in that dawn and singing the freedom song: "Freedom has dawned.

"It has broken in upon us earlier than most Indians expected, much earlier than any Briton imagined. It is the greatest event in India's long and chequered history since it marks the end of the 1,000-year-old subjection to the rule of a succession of foreign conquerors," Das wrote.

The Pioneer, in its lead story headlined "Freedom Era Begins", chose to highlight the historical significance of India's independence as marking the end of the mightiest empire the world has known.

"Imperial Delhi, the graveyard of many an empire, India's city of destiny, coveted as capital seat by successive empire builders but retained by none for more than 200 years, 10 years before the allotted time, saw the end of one more empire, the mightiest the world has ever seen," said the paper.

"One hundred and ninety years ago, Clive won the Battle of Plassey and laid the foundation of the British empire in India. Today that empire goes the way of all other empires, in the limbo of history."

The Statesman had a rather dry matter of fact headline: "Inauguration of Two Dominions." The sense of national rejoicing that pervaded the newly free Indian people was clearly missing from this newspaper managed by British editors.

The Aug 15 edition of The Statesman gave equal prominence to what Lord Mountbatten, the last viceroy of India, said on that historic day with its editorial praising "Britain's sincerity and Lord Mountbatten's speed and skills".

"Britain's sincerity, Lord Mountbatten's speed and skills and the ideals, statesmanship and eventual capacity for compromise of this country's leaders have made August 15 the greatest day in modern Indian history," said the editorial, rather blandly entitled "Independence Day".

As one pores over Indian newspapers published on that historic day, one is awed by the idealism and high patriotism that permeated not only those who were chosen by history to lead the country's first government but also those who reported the momentous event.

Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru's historic "Tryst With Destiny" speech delivered in the constituent assembly chamber and his emphasis on "incessant striving" found reflection and echoes in nearly all the newspapers with high-minded editorials toasting the spirit of independent India and special supplements carrying articles penned by stalwarts like Sri Aurobindo and Vallabhbhai Patel.

There are also surprises in store for the diligent researcher.

It was a revelation to find that The Hindu, published from Chennai, was the only Indian newspaper that did not carry the news of India's independence on its front page. It chose to stick to its traditional practice of carrying advertisements on the front page.

The history-shifting event finally figured on page six! Besides Nehru's speech, The Hindu prominently highlighted President Rajendra Prasad's speech in which he assured the minorities that they would "receive a fair and just treatment".

The message was clearly aimed at those Muslims who chose to stay in India after the creation of Pakistan. "They will enjoy all the rights and privileges of citizenship and will be expected in their turn to render loyalty to the country in which they live and to its inhabitants," said Rajendra Prasad.

The Tribune, published from Lahore, gave equal prominence to the birth of two nations on its front page. On the top left side, the headline said, "India Wakes to Life and History" and on the right side was the story of "Birth of Pakistan: An Event in history.'

But amid all that euphoria and sense of ringing in the new was the solitary anguished figure of Mahatma Gandhi, fasting and praying for sanity to return to the country after the bloody mayhem of partition.

Nearly all papers carried the news of Mahatma's conscientious gesture in a small inset box on their front pages that sought to remind the country that the incessant striving to make the nation great, which Nehru spoke so eloquently about, had just begun.

August 13, 2007

60 Years of India's Independence     
Freedom at Midnight by VK Joshi 
Bombay Stock Exchange - Epitomizing India's Growth by Nayanima Basu
Raising a Toast to the Indian Diaspora on Independence Anniversary By Aroonim Bhuyan 
The 60 Days to August 15, 1947 by Joydeep Gupta
When India Wears its Badge of Patriotism With Pride by Anil Sharma
With Glimmer in Their Eyes, They Tell Tales of Valour by Shyam Pandharipande
Abdullah Paid for Favouring India's Secularism by Sarwar Kashani
Confident India Pauses, Remembers, Moves Fast Forward 
'Dear NRI Son', Writes Mother India, Aged 60 by Kul Bhushan
Hope Floats in Kolkata's Heritage Zones by Sujoy Dhar 
Post-Independence, India's Olympic Performance Dismal 
From a 'Babu' to Being the Mahatma's Man by Papri Sri Raman
A Historic Congress Session and Nagpur's Freedom Struggle by Shyam Pandharipande
Booming India Key to Global Economic Growth by Joydeep Gupta
That Blissful Dawn, Those Ringing Headlines by Manish Chand 
The Milestones of Independent India by Joydeep Gupta
60 Sporting Reasons to celebrate India at 60 by Qaiser Mohammad Ali 
A Midnight's Child Wishes Empowerment for Rural Women by Prashant K. Nanda
Revolutionary Who Kept Death at Bay till August 15, 1947 by R.K. Parashar
60 Years After Partition US De-hyphenates India, Pakistan by Arun Kumar 
Nehru's Memorable Dawn of Independence Speech 
India at 60: A Remarkable Success Story by Amulya Ganguly 
At Wagah Border, A Sea Change in 60 Years by Jaideep Sarin 
India is a Model for Universal Brotherhood, says Maulana Parekh by Shyam Pandharipande
Indian Science Conquers New Frontiers 
Sixty Years and a Life of Empowerment by Azera Rahman
Six Decades of Dynamic Filmmaking in India by Prithwish Ganguly 
An Asian City Rises, But Old Charms Fade by Fakir Balaji and V.S. Karnic
Indian Women Still Have Miles to Go by Liz Mathew
60 Years of India-Britain Ties: Onwards and Upwards by Prasun Sonwalkar 
60 Years After Partition, 'Home' Still Beckons by Azera Rahman
Shimla - More Than Just Raj Nostalgia by Baldev S. Chauhan 
In 60 Years, Bhagat Singh's Village is Modern and Completely NRI by Jaideep Sarin
I celebrate Independence Day, Not my Birthday: Rakhee by Aparna
Where August 15 Only Ignites Fear, Sorrow by Syed Zarir Hussain 
Another Special Birthday for Miss Independence by Shyam Pandharipande 
When Kashmiri Peasants Got the Land They Tilled by F. Ahmed 
Painful Memories for Erstwhile Hyderabad State by Mohammed Shafeeq 
Fighting for a Better India - Six Decades and Counting by Jatindra Dash 

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