Srinagar, Sept. 9 -- The morning of 9 September 1947 was humid and strained. Independence was three weeks old. Partition was already tearing the capital apart. Gandhi had left Calcutta two nights earlier. To avoid the crowds at Howrah he was driven to Belur, a wayside station. The party reached the platform around nine. West Bengal's ministers came to see him off. At 9.30 p.m. sharp on 7 September the Delhi Express pulled out. Gandhi named the train himself in a letter that day to Manibehn Patel. He was still writing on board on the 8th. The train did not go on to Delhi Junction. The old-city station was no longer safe. It stopped at Shahdara on the morning of the 9th.Sardar Patel and Rajkumari Amrit Kaur were on the platform, along with ...