Bygone Doon by Pradeep Singh

source The acquisition of the Doon Valley by the British as a result of the Anglo-Gorkha War of 1814-15 opened up a Pandora’s Box for them. They not only got possession of a region that was in many ways unsurpassed in natural charms with a climate that was salubrious and congenial to the European constitution, but also opportunities opened for a range of profitable ventures. Of the many cultural preferences that the British had, for long enjoyed and also bequeathed as a pleasant legacy, was tea drinking – the virtues of which were extolled by Cooley Cibber, the poet: “Tea! Thou soft, thou sober, sage, and venerable liquid,… thou female tongue-running, smile-smoothing, heart-opening, wind-tippling cordial, to whose glorious insipidity I owe the happiest moment of my life, let me fall prostrate.” Not surprising, the benefits of tea were lauded by the Chinese philosopher Lo Yu: “Tea tempers the spirits, harmonises, prevents drowsiness, lightens and refreshes the body and clears the percep...

In the second half of the nineteenth century, Cautley’s Canals were bringing the mountain torrents to the Valley tamed by check dams, sluices, weirs and canals that modulated the flow with the finesse of a conductor of a philharmonic orchestra. The sweet clear water often carrying a green twig or a leaf from the foliage of upstream banks came down to villages which were celebrating the goodness of plenty of water where earlier there was none. Thus Cautley’s canals, while increasing the land revenue for the British through extension of agriculture, also added new zest among those farmers who could foresee the potential that now their fields had become capable of. While the government charged a cess for supplying canal water, the music from the same was sweet and free. The Doon Valley hitherto deceptively verdant with luxurious forest cover on the undulating Siwaliks and also in some swathes of wooded spaces had little water for irrigation as it flowed in gorges from which drawing water ...

When the pilgrims to the Guru’s newly settled abode in the Doon Valley came trudging through the defiles and wooded wilderness of the Siwaliks, the lofty Himalayas were spied only rarely. So deep were the forests and foliage so abundant that the snowy tops were a fleeting image for the callus-footed, weary bodied seekers of the spiritual cup. Streams bubbled at every few yards and no lips were parched having slaked their thirst of the sweet waters thereof. The birds sang the silence of the Sal trees to cheer the most despondent soul. Doon Valley, terra incognita three centuries ago, was a treasure undiscovered or perhaps a solatium for Guru Ram Rai, who wandered the wilderness where none could see him in his renunciation, after his disappointment in affairs of the world. His treasury empty but his domain set apart with a wealth that would attract the attention of the high and the mighty who sought the valuable timber for creating their sumptuous palaces and pleasure houses. The ruling ...

It would be unthinkable for an author of popular novels to have the hero die on the first page of the book. It would violate the grammar of a good plot to an entertaining story. But epic battles are not scripted by pens of writers but by blood drops on hallowed grounds. Nalapani would have been different in its emotions and haunting appeal had the two protagonists been other than Major General Rollo Gillespie and Balbhadra Kunwar, or even if the battle had been fought between two other nations. Major General Rollo Gillespie. Balbhadra Kunwar Gillespie, 48, and Balbhadra, 25, were men in their prime, one at peak of his career, the other capable of achieving anything that he put his mind and might to. The two newly emergent imperialistic and expansionist powers in the sub-continent were at the end of the 18th century on a collision path. The British, rather the East India Company, avaricious to the core and relentless in its pursuit of pelf, saw the region as its private burrow. The risi...

The Doon Valley and its Himalayan hinterland for over two thirds of its undulating length and width were clothed in forests of varied flora and fauna. The geomorphology and ecology was unmatched in its beauty, enriched by the boon of two mighty and revered rivers, the Ganga and the Yamuna, and delineated in the south by the verdant Siwaliks. Its charms were legendary as they were enchanting. Memoirs of travellers to the Doon Valley are studded with descriptions of the unique grandeur of its wilderness. In the summer of 1835, Captain Trower crossing the Doon Valley penned his observation: “I cannot describe the mingled emotions of awe and delight which thrilled me as I came up, through these magnificent mountains. I have endeavoured to give an idea of the kind of scenery but pen and ink cannot convey the effect.” The swathe upon swathe of forested Siwaliks and foothills of the upper Doon Valley while pleasing to the eye were nevertheless not very hospitable to the needs of everyday exis...

Water has been central to the growth and stability of all civilisations that have appeared ever since homo sapiens discovered that they were the chosen ones amongst all species by the virtue of having two thumbs, which enabled them not only to grip objects but do it with dexterity. Water that was abundant was also uncontrollable and destructive but had immense potential to provide security amidst an unpredictable environment. The need for food security to increase size of social groups that sought a stable supply of essential commodities impelled the adoption of socially relevant norms and institutions to deliver on this prime necessity. Thus, from its formative stages, a civilisation sought means to control access to water and its distribution to its members. Control over water gave nascent states their power over the people and their livelihood. Several millennia later, water continues to be the most controlled commodity and an exclusive state monopoly. In the Doon Valley, the...

The Suswa Valley at its broadest point, between Nagsidh Range and Phandowala. The river in its stressed state flows to the left of the pic beyond which is the Rajaji National Park! Today it witnessed three seasons in a single day: early morning was a chilly spring, day was early summer, afternoon was shades of monsoon. Though unseasonal rains help no farmer but hopefully it will restore some life into the near toxic Suswa which is still considered the main tributary to the Ganga from Eastern Doon. This micro valley within the greater Doon Valley is still pursuing some of the crop patterns that were worked out with diligence over a century ago, when the pioneers introduced sugarcane plantations and cultivation of pedigreed basmati rice that benefitted from the alluvial riches brought by the Suswa during the monsoons.

Laxman Sidh: Shrine in the Valley Even at the height of the Mughal rule, the Doon Valley was considered terra incognita not only by the state but also by the common man. The impenetrable forests, numerous swamps and marshes and the uplands and ravines in which water flowed rapidly were not a prospect that appealed to either the farmer or the pastoralists. The terrain did not encourage the farmer, and the teeming wildlife deterred the cattle raising communities even if fodder was aplenty. But these very challenging circumstances provided another very select group of men with what they thought was a paradise. The very wilderness that daunted even stalwart men became a beacon for solace seekers and those on a quest for spiritual uplift. The site was selected due to the solitude that pervaded the area and provided the deep silence and seclusion necessary for contemplation and the spiritual quest that was difficult in a material world. These men were able to tap into the concentrat...

When the Doon Valley was opening its portals to the modern world and allowing its length and width to be traversed by seasoned explorers and men of a scientific bent, the countryside presented a mind boggling landscape. Within its confines lay a kaleidoscope of terrain that changed every few miles. From humid steamy jungles, open grasslands, boulder strewn stretches, countless streams to undulating plains and uplands – all this enclosed by the Siwaliks and the Himalayas. However, the single most striking feature of the geomorphology of the Valley was its ubiquitous wetlands that were encountered at regular intervals in a major part of the Doon. Depending on how one looked at the country it presented a mixed bag of surprises. The biodiversity around the wetlands was a wealth of knowledge lying to be unraveled, perhaps untouched since millennia. What did these wetlands do for the ecology of the Valley? Why were they thought of as being an impediment to development? Much depe...

George Everest Source Wikipedia  Between the apogee of being the residence cum office of Col Sir George Everest and its recent state of vandalised neglect, the Park House had phases in which people actually stayed in it. Today, it is referred to more casually as Everest House. I had the privilege, realised much later though, of seeing Park House as a summer retreat for over two decades when this rambling estate was family property. Before my father acquired it in 1967-68, the Park Estate and Park House at Hathipaon (Mussoorie) had not a few owners which included Col Whish, Col Thatcher, Col Alexander Skinner, John MacKinnon and the Shah family before us. Selected initially as a site for the mansion by Col William Sampson Whish in 1829, the Park Estate became well known for its connection with Col Sir George Everest once he acquired it in 1833. George Everest was a larger than life figure whose untiring efforts completed the Great Trigonometric Survey star...

Villages have the antiquity that cities and towns have envied and never paralleled. They were the nodes of human activity that gave mankind it’s distinct identify in the hierarchy of species. Mahatma Gandhi gave primacy to India’s villages as he held that India truly resided in her seven lac villages. Though in current times villages are not in the forefront of public debate or in the minds of the mandarins of modern nations, yet the emotions villages evoke in the hearts of many are worthy of contemplating. Thus writers like Munshi Premchand, Emile Zola, Leo Tolstoy, Knut Hamsun, D H Lawrence and Thomas Hardy have immortalised rural life in their works now regarded as classics. Old Doon too has its share of a legendary village which is remembered in these few lines. Hemmed in on its southern edges by the Mothorowala swamp and tucked in on its south eastern side by Nagsidh Hill and Nawada lay the orderly and prospering village of Badripur. Much of what is written is from...