Going 150 years anti-clockwise sees my maternal blood relatives- ‘Safa-parosh’ Pashtuns riding or striding.....brandishing ‘Kilijs’ and ‘Abbasis’ (swords) on their huge frames.....either giving war cries against the ‘firangee’....or serving at high ranking posts in the British army.....
Maybe this was the reason that, as i stalked the Residency, it was quite natural for a flurry of messages passing my head and ears!...of ushered conversations inside tunnels and desertion....
gun fire from all sides...... clouds of smoke bellowing the clean ambient air of the compound....of frenzied cries and slogans from the supposed strugglers of freedom
.....and of carnage and blood stained walls!....
The British Residency of the United Provinces- a magnificent facet of colonial architecture.....
with its sprawling lawns and luxurious housing....
Come 30th may 1857, it was razed and vandalized!
by none other than the backbone of the colonialist’s power- the sepoys of the British army themselves!
History speaks for it....no rule, autonomous or otherwise, has ever been able to establish suzerainty by suppressing the natives of the empire in question...years of repressing the country folk, underpaid and ill-treated staff, dominating the Mughal rulers and humiliating princely states in the subcontinent......the British had indeed brought this upon themselves!.....
As 3000 odd people, comprising not only infantry both Caucasian and native, but half of whom were non-combatants, seek refuge in the Residency’s compound....
a document for display, that i chanced upon in the memorial chamber (where cameras weren’t allowed) records the abysmal state in which they lived...
a document for display, that i chanced upon in the memorial chamber (where cameras weren’t allowed) records the abysmal state in which they lived...
with soldiers drawing their last ounce of blood to protect the frontiers....and women and children being weaker, driven by hunger and disease...
As much as i condone the British for being the sole cause of all under layers that gave rise to this spate for freedom and independence that was the first of its kind......
i DO NOT hesitate to express utter disgust at the actions of the mutineers!
Freedom!!??....that’s far-fetched...ALL i see, and that is to this day, is a rush of ‘adrenalin’ on the monument walls!!!!....
I mean a look at the structure tells the tale.....in a rather flamboyant manner!
the walls were riddled with bullets and canon ball....
traces of the floor/ceilings were long gone....Everything that was inflammable was burnt...
others that weren’t tensile were broken....
It is actually quite easy to judge the offenders’ psyche’s....
In an act of inconsolable rage and splurge for vengeance, the building was destroyed as much as was needed to render it incapable of providing any refuge.....
YET, everything still hung on to the scraps of extravagance and grandeur!....the fireplace still looked inviting....
the doors, now mere passages, vied for intrigue....
and the stairway probed one to follow...into oblivion!!..
Well, to be very honest, my purpose of philandering about was quite different...
That explains all the philosophy and visualizations!... therefore i keep my profound perspective to myself...!!...
though one thing we did share...the comfort and privacy....
the sweet air that still blows through its walls.....the greenery and creatures it still harbours......
the reminisce of an era long gone!...
a hundred and fifty years seem whizzing past!...
and suddenly the Captain gives his command from the tower....in all its weight and authority.....!!!.....
which is met with an equally bold, but rebellious tone of contention from the mutinous Subehdar who leads the rebels!!!!.......
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