46 SOCIAL SCIENTIST and on returning to Chittagong she wrote many pamphlets that were periodically issued by the underground IRA. She too went underground and led the attack on the Pahartali Club. She chose to commit suicide by swallowing cyanide after completing the raid, because she wanted tp become a martyr to the cause of freedom. From what little we know of her, she was a very quiet, intense, brooding girl. The deaths of many of her comrades during the struggle affected her deeply and intensified her desire to embrace death. I would like, in conclusion, to emphasise two important aspects of the revolutionary women of this period. The first is the kind of preparation that went into the making of a revolutionary woman cadre. Although the male leaders only allowed women to take part because they had no choice, the women had been physically, mentally, and ideologically preparing for an active role from before. The physical aspect of this preparation is very significant. Today, fitness has become a fad with many girls going to 'gyms' et al as a means to enter and win beauty contests. It is therefore somewhat amazing that in the 1920s girl students in Calcutta, Dhaka, and even smaller towns were keenly aware of the importance of physical exercise — not to enhance their looks but strengthen their ability to participate in the freedom struggle. Swadeshi-minded girl students formed autonomous groups and physical culture clubs of their own, where nationalist ideology and literature were also imparted in secret. Physical exercise not only improved their ability to face the hardships of revolutionary life; it also gave them enormous self-confidence. Kalyani Das, the elder sister of Bina Das, ran a popular Girl Students Society in Calcutta. Kalpana Dutt was among the girls who trained at the society. She also received training in lathi and swordplay at a gymnasium near Bethune College. Similarly, Pritilata who did her intermediate at Eden College in Dhaka took classes in martial arts and was .a member of the Depali Sangh, a militant revolutionary outfit for girls. The physical exercise stood them in good stead not just during their underground days, but also in jail and in later life. The second aspect is that women of this period were more concerned with being treated as equals, at par with their male comrades. In the last couple of decades, the politics of identity has seemingly overtaken the ideals of equality in the women's movement. Women increasingly like to celebrate their 'difference5 and there is talk of quotas and reservations. I do not wish to go into the contemporary debate on the subject in this lecture. But it is important to realise that women in the 1930s — be they in the Gandhian Civil