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Introduction
to
Dreamland
[Lala
Ram
Saran
Das
was
convicted
for
life
in
1915
in
the
first
Lahore
Conspiracy
Case.
While
in
Salem
Central
Prison,
Madras
presidency,
he
wrote
a
book
in
verse
entitled
Dream
Land.
After
his
release
in
the
mid-twenties
he
contacted
Bhagat
Singh
and
Sukhdev
and
became
active
in
the
HSRA.
He
was
arrested
again
in
connection
with
the
second
LCC.
This
time
he
wavered
and
accepted
king's
pardon.
Soon
he
realised
the
mistake
and
retracted
his
statement.
He
was
charged
of
perjury
and
convicted
for
two
years
which
was
subsequently
reduced
to six
months
in
appeal.
It
was
during
this
conviction
that
he
passed
on
his
manuscript
to
Bhagat
Singh
for
an
introduction.
In
this
article
Bhagat
Singh,
while
appreciating
the
spirit
behind
Ram
Saran
Das's
work,
has
criticised
his
utopian
approach
to
the
problems
of
revolution.
He
has
also
expressed
himself
on
such
subjects
as
God,
religion,
violence
and
non-violence,
spiritualism,
literature,
poetry,
etc.
]
My
Noble
friend,
L.
Ram
Saran
Das,
has
asked
me to
write
an
introduction
to
his
poetical
work,
'The
Dreamland'.
I am
neither
a
poet
nor a
literature,
neither
am I
a
journalist
nor a
critic.
Hence,
by no
stretch
of
imagination
can I
find
the
justification
of
the
demand.
But
the
circumstances
in
which
I am
placed
do
not
afford
any
opportunity
of
discussing
the
question
with
the
author
arguing
back
and
forth,
and
thereby
do
not
leave
me
any
alternative
but
to
comply
with
the
desire
of my
friend.
As
I am
not a
poet
I am
not
going
to
discuss
it
from
that
point
of
view.
I
have
absolutely
no
knowledge
of
metre,
and
do
not
even
know
whether
judged
from
metrical
standard
it
would
prove
correct.
Not
being
a
literature
I am
not
going
to
discuss
it
with
a
view
of
assigning
to it
its
right
place
in
the
national
literature.
I,
being
a
political
worker,
can
at
the
utmost
discuss
it
only
from
that
point
of
view.
But
here
also
one
factor
is
making
my
work
practically
impossible
or at
least
very
difficult.
As a
rule
the
introduction
is
always
written
by a
man
who
is at
one
with
the
author
on
the
contents
of
the
work.
But,
here
the
case
a
quit
different.
I do
not
see
eye
to
eye
with
my
friend
on
all
the
matters.
He
was
ware
of
the
fact
that
I
differed
from
him
on
many
vital
points.
Therefore,
may
writing
is
not
going
to be
an
introduction
at
all.
It
can
at
the
utmost
amount
to a
criticism,
and
its
place
will
be at
the
end
and
not
in
the
beginning
of
the
book.
In
the
political
field
'The
Dreamland'
occupies
a
very
important
place.
In
the
prevailing
circumstance
it is
filling
up a
very
important
gap
in
the
movement.
As a
matter
of
fact
all
the
political
movements
of
our
country
that
have
hitherto
played
any
important
role
in
our
modern
history,
had
been
lacking
the
ideal
at
the
achievement
of
which
they
aimed.
Revolutionary
movement
is no
exception.
In
spite
of
all
my
efforts,
I
could
not
find
any
revolutionary
party
that
had
clear
ideas
as to
what
they
were
fighting
for,
with
the
exception
of
the
Ghadar
Party
which,
having
been
inspired
by
the
USA
form
of
government,
clearly
stated
that
they
wanted
to
replace
the
existing
government
by a
Republican
form
of
government.
All
other
parties
consisted
of
men
who
had
but
one
idea,
i.e.,
to
fight
against
the
alien
rulers.
That
idea
is
quite
laudable
but
cannot
be
termed
a
revolutionary
idea.
We
must
make
it
clear
that
revolution
does
not
merely
mean
an
upheaval
or a
sanguinary
strife.
Revolution
necessarily
implies
the
programme
of
systematic
reconstruction
of
society
on
new
and
better
adapted
basis,
after
complete
destruction
of
the
existing
state
of
affairs
(i.e.,
regime).
In
the
political
field
the
liberals
wanted
some
reform
under
the
present
government,
while
the
extremists
demanded
a bit
more
and
were
prepared
to
employ
radical
means
for
the
same
purpose.
Among
the
revolutionaries,
they
had
always
been
in
favour
of
extreme
methods
with
one
idea,
i.e.,
of
overthrow
the
foreign
domination.
No
doubt,
there
had
been
some
who
were
in
favour
of
extorting
some
reforms
through
those
means.
All
these
movement
cannot
rightly
be
designated
as
revolutionary
movement.
But
L.
Ram
Saran
Das
is
the
first
revolutionary
recruited
formally
in
the
Punjab
by a
Bengali
absconder
in
1908.
Since
then
he
had
been
in
touch
with
the
revolutionary
movements
and
finally
joined
the
Ghadar
Party
but
retaining
his
old
ideas
that
people
held
about
the
ideal
of
their
movement.
It
has
another
interesting
fact
to
add
to
its
beauty
and
value.
L.
Ram
Saran
Das
was
sentenced
to
death
in
1915,
and
the
sentence
was
later
on
commuted
to
life
transportation.
Today,
sitting
in
the
condemned
cells
myself,
I can
let
the
readers
know
as
authoritatively
that
the
life
imprisonment
is
comparatively
a far
harder
lot
than
that
of
death.
L.
Ram
Saran
Das
had
actually
to
undergo
fourteen
years
of
imprisonment.
It
was
in
some
southern
jail
that
he
wrote
this
poetry.
The
then
psychology
and
mental
struggle
of
the
author
has
stamped
its
impressions
upon
the
poetry
and
makes
it
all
the
more
beautiful
and
interesting.
He
had
been
struggling
hard
against
some
depressing
mood
before
he
had
decided
to
write.
In
the
days
when
many
of
his
comrades
had
been
let
off
on
undertakings
and
the
temptation
had
been
very
strong
for
everyone
and
for
him,
too
and
when
the
sweet
and
painful
memories
of
wife
and
children
had
added
more
to
the
work.
Hence,
we
find
the
sudden
outburst
in
the
opening
paragraph:
"Wife,
children,
friends
that surrounds
me were
poisonous
snakes
all
around."
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