It was to safeguard against this that they had wanted Pakistan and Pakistan was going to come into being, but they would not be there. Pakistan zindabad, Quaid-i-Azam zindabad, lekai rahain ge Pakistan, bat kai rahae ga Hindustan, these heady slogans that had impelled them to victory, were no longer theirs to say any more. Calcutta was their home and had been so for generations-they always were distinctly different from their neighbours. It had always been so, and it had occasionally led to communal riots but the rest of the time they had lived amicably enough. But now a deadly hate seemed to divide them. It was confusing and they waited as animals for the slaughter. This was the mood till the date of Gandhi ' s going to Noakhali in Eastern Bengal to be with the Hindus there. It was then that Shaheed Bhai made the most courageous gesture of his life. Gandhi was going to Noakhali to be with the Hindus, for there had been riots there during the Muslim League Government, and he felt that the Hindus of Noakhali needed succour and support. Gandhi stopped over in Calcutta for two days to apprise himself of conditions in that city. He arrived in Calcutta on 10 August, Shaheed Bhai was in Delhi discussing the final details of the partition of Bengal with the Muslim League Working Committee and Quaid-i-Azam. On his return to Calcutta on 12 August he went over to see Gandhi at Sodepur to ask him to give up his visit to Noakhali and stay in Calcutta, for as Shaheed Bhai said to him, 'You are needed here.' A conversation, something along these lines, took place between Gandhi and Shaheed Bhai. 'Why are you going to Noakhali? Your place is here.

'I'm going to Noakhali to be with the Hindus, there has been a riot there a little while ago, and they are afraid that now, when there will be a full-fledged League Government, they may suffer.' Gandhi replied.

'They will not suffer, I give you my word, but you must stay here.'

'If I stay here you will have to stay with me, and live as I live,' said Gandhi.

'1 will do that,' replied Shaheed Bhai.

And after some more conversation along these lines, Gandhi agreed not to go to Noakhali but to stay in Calcutta and try and help bring back peace and goodwill between the two communities. Shaheed Bhai agreed to stay with him, in a dilapidated house in Beliaghata, one of the poorest slums of Calcutta. The evening they reached this place, there was a menacing crowd around the house, and as Shaheed Bhai got down from his car following Gandhi there were hisses and derisive calls of hate, 'Kill him, attack him', they shouted as they lunged forward.

'You are responsible for the killings,' the mob shouted.

'We are all responsible,' replied Shaheed Bhai, in a level tone, as he stood and faced them. There is something very powerful in the courage of one man against heavy odds. The ugly crowd receded muttering and growling.

Shaheed Bhai stayed in Beliaghata, as long as Gandhi stayed there. I think it was for about two and a half months. During this period there were several attempts on his life, hand-grenades were thrown at his car, tires were punctured, windshields shattered but he met every danger and irritation with seeming indifference although he suffered deeply because violence was alien to his nature, and shedding of blood repellent. He had left the Congress Swaraj Party, after the first Calcutta riots in 1926, because he was sickened by the miseries of the Muslims, and revolted by the cruelty of the Hindus. Now again a similar change was taking place in him. Shaheed Bhai spent all his energy and risked his life to bring peace to the riot-torn city of Calcutta, and harmony between its Hindu and Muslim residents. He toured the streets and by-lanes of Calcutta with Gandhi. Shaheed Bhai had been doing this by himself since the riots broke out in the city, but now he went with Gandhi. Wherever they went, they talked to the people both Hindus and Muslims, listened to their grievances and begged them to give up the idea of revenge, so that the dawn of liberty and independence in both the domains should not be marred by violence and bloodshed.

Slowly, very slowly the atmosphere changed. Shaheed Bhai slept on a mat on the floor as Gandhi did, he ate the same food as Gandhi-and every one knows what Gandhi ate. He was a regular faddist in the matter of food, and poor Shaheed Bhai, who was something of a gourmet, had to put up with it. I think this was the hardest part for Shaheed Bhai, much more than the danger. Whenever he made a fleeting visit to me during this period, I asked, 'How is it going?'