The Story of Escape from India
I was very anxious to hear from Subhas Babu himself how he managed to penetrate the British barricade of espionage and came to Kabul. So I made a request to him and he was pleased to tell me the whole story. The following is the substance of the story in his own words:
"I was anxious to get out of India in order to render greater service to my country. I was to be smuggled out to Moscow by a party which promised to make all arrangements but I could not avail myself of that opportunity then. There were two reasons for my refusal. First, I had to attend to some urgent business of the Calcutta Corporation, secondly, I had no beard which I considered so essential for proper disguise. The person who was to accompany me to Kabul had excellent contacts in the Russian Embassy here.
"After attending to the Corporation business I ceased to get out of my house on the pretext to my shattered health. I gave very strict instructions that none should see me. Only a telephonic talk was possible in cases of urgency. Visitors were strictly prohibited. On the 15 of January, 1941 when my beard was forty days old, I set out of the house at midnight in the guise of a Maulvi. I got into a car, and 40 miles away from Calcutta I caught the Mail. The next day a military Sikh passenger came into the compartment. During the course of conversation I told him that I was coming from Lucknow, and was going to Rawalpindi as an Insurance Organiser and that my name was Ziauddin.
"I was putting on a sherwani and a fez cap. The tight pyjama and my long beard made me look like a perfect Maulvi. I reached Peshawar at 9 p.m. on the 17th January. An already waiting car for me drove me to the appointed place. I spent two days in Peshawar and the arrangements which my friend made at Peshawar for my stay were simply splendid. Nobody knew anything about my stay. On January 19, I put on Pathan clothes, entered a car and drove out of Peshawar on my way to Jamrud. A little distance from the Jamrud Fort a kachcha road bifurcates. We proceeded on that road and reached a village, Gurhi where I had to leave the car as the road was not motorable. I passed the night in Gurhi. Next day Rahmat Khan, the two Pathans and myself started on foot for Kabul. The friends who had escorted me returned to Peshawar with the car. From Gurhi I was to pretend that I was deaf and dumb.
"Next evening we crossed the Indian border and spent the night in the famous shrine of Addah Sharif as guests of the Pir. The two armed Pathans were replaced by three others who were equally armed. We reached Lalpura in the evening and were the guests of a very influential Khan of the place.
"I left Lalpura with a very important letter of introduction from the Chief. The letter was in Persian and its contents were that Rahmat Khan and Ziauddin were going on a pilgrimage to Sukhi Saheb's shrine and that they were inhabitants of the tribal area and that nobody should molest them. That letter of introduction when shown to the Afghan C.I.D. man saved us from his clutches. But that C.I.D. man was more after money than after a certificate of good character.
"After a few miles from Lalpura we reached the Kabul river and crossed it on leather bags tied together. I had to avoid the usual road between Dukka and Peshawar as on this road passports are checked at three places. It was with great difficulty that we caught a lorry. Snow was falling all round. We had no warm clothes. The lorry was packed with boxes. So we had to sit on the top of the lorry. We spent the whole night in the bus and had to take tea several times.
"The next day we reached Buttkhak. The passports are checked here. Rahmat Khan produced Lalpura Khan's certificate and he told the officer that I was deaf and dumb. After taking tea, we got into the lorry and reached Kabul between four and five in the afternoon. We had taken care to bring sufficient Afghan currency with us."
I was thrilled to listen to the adventurous journey of Subhas Babu. Food was served and after meals we listened to the Radio.
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