Guwahati: Muruli Bora is keeping history in his closet. He painstakingly cleans and stores the khadi shirt and dhoti his father wore while fighting for India's independence. His father, Bhabiram Bora, was a local leader in the Shanti Sena and a recipient of the Tamra Patra award. He lived in Dhatkata village near Hatbor in Kaliabor.
Bhabiram Bora stood against British rule during the 1942 Quit India Movement. The struggle led to multiple jail terms for the elder Bora, who spent time locked up in both Jorhat and Silchar prisons. He died in 1997, leaving behind these physical fragments of a turbulent era.
Muruli Bora acts now because he fears the stories of the revolution are dying. Younger generations rarely look back. Muruli says his effort is aimed at keeping alive the memory of the 1942 movement for younger generations at a time when the history and significance of the Quit India Movement and India's independence struggle are increasingly distant from their everyday lives.
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