They will hang me in the morning

 Often I wonder why the death sentences are invariably carried out at the wee hours of the morning ? Don't think the intention is to wish them a "Good Morning Sunshine" to bring a smile on their face in their final journey of life.

Many committed freedom fighters were known to smile their way to the gallows. Amongst them were Raja Nanda Kumar of 18th century and later Sahid Bhagat Singh and the Bengali teenager Khudiram Bose, all were sentenced to death by the British. All happily proudly walked to the gallows.

In contrast Narayan Apte, who was hanged for killing Mahatma Gandhi, shook nervously when he was taken towards the gallows. He collapsed when the hood was put on his head and had to be assisted to stand straight to complete his last journey.

A staunch believer in palmistry, Apte was convinced till end that his death sentence will be commuted to life, as it is written on his hands. The last minute reprieve through Palmistry never came to his rescue. However, his partner in crime Nathuram Godse showed no remorse when he walked towards the hangman's noose.

These days, there are few hangmen left in India. Never heard of any hangwomen as the profession of carrying out as hanging is a men bastion but women are sentenced to death by hanging too. A la lady police accosting women convict, don't think a hangwoman ever shadowing a woman. In many cases hangmen are borrowed from other states to carry out hanging. It's a vanishing profession. Probably its time to switch to lethal injection, a human mean to the end.

In a movie Om Puri played a hangman who had to hang is son. it was poignant.

There are interesting anecdotes related to hanging. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was sentenced to death by his most trusted general Zia Ul Haq, whom the former Prime minister promoted superseding at least a dozen of Zia's superiors. Bhutto would make caricature of Zia in public, calling him "My Monkey General" - ascribing to his Army Chief's looks. Zia, with his short height and protruding teeth was seen as misfit to the handsome Pakistani elites. But the ambitious and vindictive Zia, Bhutto's most trusted General who vouched on Holy KORAN to be WAFADAAR (trustworthy) to his PM, had the last laugh when he ordered the later to be hanged after toppling him.

There was a strong rumor in Pakistan that Bhutto was a closeted Hindu, a Kafir (a derogatory term used for non believers), as his grandmother was a Hindu. It is said a suspicious Zia, a staunch Hindu hater who lend an ear to such rumors, after hanging Bhutto had the later's genitals checked to assertion if his former boss was a closeted Hindu. Not sure what was the outcome.

Hang in there. Before I end this blog, I can't but mention this monologue sonnet delivered by in the Hollywood Western Classic - "3.10 TO YUMA ", based in 19th Century US. Electric Chair wasn't invented yet, when Hanging in the Public was the preferred mode of execution in America's Wild Wild West. A hangman taunts the convict before taking him to the gallows :

"They will hang me in the morning,

They will hang me before dawn.

They will hang me in the morning,

I will never see the Sun".