LUCKNOW: E-rickshaw operator Sagar Sharma's diary talks of the "fear" of going down the untrodden path, the "fire raging in my mind", his determination to "do something" and the dilemma of telling his parents "it's time to leave home" - all with the lyrical sweep of a young man consumed by revolutionary passion.
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Parliament Security Breach News Live The lines are from a passage in Hindi that the 27-year-old penned in 2021, two years before he would be arrested with three others for a security breach in the Lok Sabha.
The pages of the diary contain many such notes, patriotic poems and thoughts on revolution that he started jotting down around 2015, the year he cleared his Class 12 board exams. Sagar's restive spirit comes across strongly in jottings from January 2021 onwards, which his family recalls was the period he had returned from Bengaluru and was ostensibly "in contact with like-minded youth".
The family has offered police the diary if it helps in the investigation into the Parliament breach, where Sagar scaled the benches and approached the speaker's table before pulling out a canister and spraying yellow smoke inside the hall.
According to his family, Sagar went to Bengaluru in 2018 to work in a flour mill there. He returned after the pandemic infected businesses as much as it did people.
Sagar's diary provides an insight into his disenchantment with many things around him. The first page of the diary, which he wrote on June 8, 2015, starts with "Inquilab Zindabad" before speaking of his wish to break the status quo.
"I work only for my country, and for its full freedom...Things like rape, corruption, hunger, murder, kidnapping, smuggling, fighting for religion are against the country's interest...I am not rich; I belong to a middle-class family. I need some friends who are honest about working for the country," he writes. On another page, he quotes a couplet from Ram Prasad Bismil's epic "Sarfaroshi ki Tamanna".
"Hausale jo hote hain buland, woh jhukte nahi lalkar se/Sar jo uth jaate hain, woh katate nahi talwar se."
In another note, dated August 3, 2016, Sagar writes about the issues plaguing the country's education system.
Sagar's diary contains 30-odd names with their phone numbers, most of which are no longer operational. Some of the numbers TOI dialled either didn't elicit any response or the receiver couldn't recall knowing him.
Sagar's collection of books makes for an interesting mix - from Sherlock Holmes: Jasoosi Ki Rochak Aur Romanchak Duniya to the Hindi translation of Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf.
Stay updated with the latest news on Times of India. Don't miss daily games like Crossword, Sudoku, Location Guesser and Mini Crossword. Arvind Chauhan is an experienced journalist with a demonstrated h...
Read MoreArvind Chauhan is an experienced journalist with a demonstrated history of working in the newspapers industry as well as for the social media wing as digital content creator. He has covered subjects like railways, aviation, defence, energy, health, real estate, minority affairs, women and child development, crime, customs, telecom, district court, district administration, roads and infrastructure, armed forces tribunal, and regional politics across Uttar Pradesh. He began his career in Lucknow, and has done reporting in West Uttar Pradesh. He has won the Times Scribe Award four times including for busting fake news, and extensive coverage on Covid orphans. He graduated with a journalism degree from Times School of Journalism and BA (Honors) in English from Lucknow University.
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