'Bhagat Singh used to literally devour books; set a record of sorts'

Bhagat Singh (1907-31) studied a lot till his arrest on 8 April 1929, yet his days of imprisonment are not less significant. Apprising us with this fact, one of his co-prisoners of the Lahore Central Jail, Shiv Verma, says, "Though we all had a passion for reading, Bhagat Singh was a class by himself. Despite having a soft corner for socialism, he always clung to his passion for reading novels, particularly with political and economic themes. Dickens, Upton Sinclair, Hall Cane, Victor Hugo, Gorky, Stepnik, Oscar Wilde and Leonard Andrew were among his favourites. He frequently got emotionally involved with some particular characters in novels, to the extent that he wept and laughed with them."His love for booksis legendary like him. As per some estimates, he read nearly 50 books during hisschooling (1913-21), about 200 from his college days to the day of his arrest in1921, and, approximately 300 during his imprisonment of 716 days from April 8,1929, to March 23, 1931. He was exactly 23 years, five months and 25 days old atthe time of his execution, and had by then had studied hundred of books —a record of sorts. Throwing some light on Bhagat Singh's thirst forbooks, a well- known librarian of Dwarka Das Library (Lahore, now in Chandigarh)Raja Ram Shastri, once told Shiv Verma, "Bhagat Singh literally used to devourbooks. He would read books, makes notes, discuss with his friends and criticallyexamine his own understanding in the light of new knowledge, rectifying themistakes that came to be discovered."Bhagat Singh always moved witha small portable library. According to his nephew, Prof Jagmohan Singh, "BhagatSingh established a library of 175 books by around 70 authors at Agra where theAssembly bomb plan was finalized. Bhagat Singh's collection ofbooks, the heritage of our great freedom struggle that was confiscated and usedas evidence to award him capital punishment, is still lying in a state ofneglect in a lower trial court of Lahore."His love for books endured till the very end. Pran Mehta, Bhagat Singh's lawyer was allowed to meet him on March 23, 1931, just a few hours before the hanging. Bhagat Singh was then pacing up and down in the condemned-cell like a lion in a cage. He welcomed Mehta with a broad smile and asked him whether he had brought him Vladimir Lenin's book, "State and Revolution". As soon as he was handed the book, Bhagat Singh began reading it as if he was conscious that he did not have much time left. Soon after Mehta's departure, Bhagat Singh was told that the time of hanging had been advanced by 11 hours. By then, he had finished only a few pages of the book. Manmathnath Gupta, a close associate of Bhagat Singh,writes about those moments, "When called upon to mount the scaffold, BhagatSingh was reading a book by Lenin or on Lenin, he continued his reading andsaid, 'Wait a while. A revolutionary is talking to another revolutionary.' Therewas something in his voice which made the executioners pause. Bhagat Singhcontinued to read. After a few moments, he flung the book towards ceiling andsaid, "Let us go."