Amitabh
Shukla
Dagshai
in Himachal Pradesh may only be a small hill station or rather a small
Cantonment town, perched on top of a sunny hill on the highway to Shimla, but
when you decide to take a detour and come here and spend a few hours, you are
bound to enjoy the bounty which nature has to offer.
While
going to Shimla from Delhi or Chandigarh, you cross Dharampur, a small Himachal
town on the highway known for its eating joints, the most popular of which is
undoubtedly the time tested Giani Da Dhaba. It may have been demolished now due
to widening of the road and a new structure coming up in place of the old but
not long ago it was difficult to find a seat here on the weekends. Ask the old
students of numerous public schools around these hills and they will swear by
its food. Now, a lot of other eateries have sprung up here, including those of
popular food chains, and doing decent business but the work on four-laning of
the road has ensured that this lively place now looks more like a dusty, war
torn zone.
Anyway,
just after you cross the main crowded market of Dharampur which also has a
heritage railway station, there is a detour on the right to Dagshai. A signage
of the Cantonment Board welcomes you to Dagshai, set up by the East India
Company of the British, to escape the intense summer hills of the plains, 30
kms away.
In
fact, so conscious were the British about their comfort that they set up three
Cantonments nearby — Kasauli, Subathu (the birthplace of Gorkha regiment) and
of course Dagshai in close proximity. Then, a little ahead is Shimla, the
summer Capital of the British, which also has a significantly large military
setting. Whenever I visit these areas, I wonder what the strategic importance
of these Cantonments was in those days which prompted the British to set them
up in the first place. The reason has to be only one — salubrious climate which
reminded the British of their homes and the weather in England.
Of
course, for travelers like me, Cantonment Boards like Dagshai, Subathu and
Kasauli still are islands of cleanliness, devoid of commercialization which
still preserves the old world charm. You can still find and romance with the
glory of a bygone era in these three Cantonments in close proximity.
Back
to Daghshai, what attracts a traveler like me is silence. This is what brings
me back to this place every now and then. When I was in Class I or II, the
teachers used to shout “pin drop silence” whenever the naughty boys were at
play in the classroom. I never understood the meaning of pin drop silence in
school, despite the teachers berating us and forcing us to do so. But here, in
Dagshai, just choose any place off the stiff climb, sit there and all you would
hear is “pin drop silence”. Even if you drop a pin, you could hear it falling
here, literally. Of course, chirping of birds, the melody of flowing breeze,
dancing leaves on the numerous trees as the gentle wind caresses them…these
cannot be considered sound. This is nature’s magic.
There
are no hotels to stay here. Dagshai is not meant for that. But even for a
routine tourist, the place has several sightseeing options. The most prominent
is a British era Jail — a formidable structure, this is popularly called the
Cellular Jail of north India with 54 high security cells. Maintained by the
Engineering Wing of the Indian Army, you can see how tough a jail life was in
the British era for the Indian freedom fighters.
Irish
soldiers, who served in the British Army and revolted in 1920 as part of a
freedom movement back home in Ireland, were kept here during their trial. The
mutineers were shot dead in a Capital punishment and buried in a cemetery in
Dagshai. One of the Irish heroes James Daly, who was buried here for 50 years
after taking part in the mutiny and then being shot as a punishment, got a new resting place in
his home country of Ireland in the 1970s. His mortal remains were taken to Ireland
with military honours and he is still a celebrated hero back home.
Indian
freedom fighters were also kept in the jail which has a wooden floor. This
meant that even the slightest of sound was captured by the sentry who could
raise an alarm. Four Indian freedom fighters of the famous Komagatamaru ship,
all ex-servicemen, who were refused entry in Canada in 1914 had to return back
where 20 of them were arrested on arrival and sent to the Dagshai jail. Four of
them were hanged.
When
I reached this jail and a small museum on a Sunday, it was closed for the
afternoon. But the immaculately dressed friendly army sentry promptly opened
the doors, saying that very few visitors come here. He placed the visitor’s book for my comments.
I simply wrote, “Had never seen a jail in my life before. I hope the world
becomes crime free and jails become a thing of the past in the next century”. I
could not even spend half an hour here and to imagine that freedom fighters
spent years and were even awarded Capital punishment, was indeed a nightmarish
experience.
The
museum in the jail compound houses old photographs which recreates the history
of the place and some memorabilia from the British period. The architecture of
both the jail and the museum are typical British in green color which not only
jell with the woody surroundings but also the entire material used has been
procured locally.
Over
to the cemetery, not used now but well known for several spooky stories built
around it. The spooky stories started when the Irish soldiers were executed and
buried here, triggering local rumours about their ghosts moving around. There
are also local stories of unrequited love and untimely deaths which gave birth
to a different genre of ghost stories. Old timers swear that they used to hear
unfamiliar sounds.
During
my brief visits to the cemetery twice in the recent past, all I could hear on
the road above the cemetery was extreme silence—Nothing else. This was the
final resting place for several army British officers and soldiers, forcing me
to think how they could not even go to their birthplace for their final rest.
Born in United Kingdom, died in India…that is what it should have been written
on the epitaph. As the cemetery was neglected for years, stones and the written
words are missing in most of them. I took a walk and only found squirrels surprise
me with their deft and swift movement, colorful birds finding a perfect mating
place, a hairy street dog watching me carefully from a distance. There was no
ghost to encounter.
There
are boarding schools here, one for the army and at the other a public school
and as part of learning nature, treks by school students in uniform are common,
including in the cemetery area. I envied these kids. What a wonderful place to
be in a boarding school—amid hills, nature, birds and clear blue sky devoid of
smog and fog in the winters and intense heat and humidity of the winters.
The
St Patrick’s Church, now hardly used came up with the small Cantonment town
itself and is a typical colonial architecture, now attracting curious visitors,
keen to know their history and heritage. Thick pine and oak trees ass to the
charm of the place as you decide to take a walk all around the place and stare
at the architectural marvel of a bygone era.
After
spending the day roaming around all over the quite Catonment cum hill station,
sipping tea at a couple of tea stalls, munching some snacks and also closing
your eyes for a quick nap on one of the numerous benches and shades,
overlooking wonderful valleys, drive down to Kumarhatti on the other side of
the hillock where Dagshai is located. The stiff down hill drive will take you
to the crowded market and all of a sudden you will realise how important is
solitude to a human life. How important it is to spend time in nature's
company...How important it is to realise the value of silence and nothingness
which envelops you in these marvels of nature. (November 20, 2017)
