Bundele Harbolon ke mukh, hamne suni kahani thi
Khub lari mardani, who toh Jhansi wali Rani thi.
Bundel balladeers sang us this paean,
Of a gallant fighter, that Jhansi-Queen
Finally, I managed to reach the last frontier in UP. Jhansi. I had sent an sms to Galatea if she would like to visit Jhansi. She was even more excited about it than I was. One of her friend’s family came form Jhansi. The famous Subodh Mukerji, who made films like Paying Guest, Munimji and Junglee.
She wanted to reach there directly from Delhi as it is a much easier connection, than from Lucknow. Like everywhere else.
I took a night train. It was two hours late. Gal in the meanwhile was on an early flight to Gwalior. She took a 90 min cab ride, reached the 100 year old Hotel Jhansi and had settled for breakfast of Khasta-Kachauri, by the time my travel ordeal ended.
She was humming, ‘Chhod do anchal zamana kya kahega’
As I reached she asked, ‘Sushmita or Ash?’
‘Hello! I am dog-tired from a horrible journey; you are eating poisonous Kachauri, singing a song from ‘Paying Guest’ and asking me to choose between Sushmita and Ash’.
‘In your litany you forgot that we are in Jhansi’
‘Ok?’
‘Dummy. In a new film to be released later this year Sush is going to be our JKR. You think she will be better than Jodha ‘Ash’ Bai?’
‘Who is JKR?’ I asked.
It came to me half an hour later when I was in the shower. Jhansi ki Rani. When I came down for breakfast, I noticed that Gal was dressed in a cool mauve and white Salwar-suit.
‘Unlike most other cities we have visited, Jhansi evokes a very soft, calm, passive feeling. So the conservative look’ she explained.
May heat in barren Bundelkhand is unbearable. We decided to stay in. Gal had already made friends with another guest. Some Eduljee, a Parsi whose ancestors had lived in Jhansi since nearly 200 years. We asked the waiter to buy us some Gin and Limca from a nearby shop and settled down to hear from Mr. Eduljee. Apparently in the early 1800s some intrepid Parsis had ventured here and were selling stuff to the travelers on the highway.
Parsis, Eduljee told us were the original Railway engine drivers in India. They came to Jhansi basically when the trains came here and later settled to become suppliers to the British Army Cantonment. They were really
prosperous but mixed well with the locals. That’s why they escaped the ire of revolutionaries in 1857 despite being very close to the Britishers. They have a history of cricket and rich social life in Jhansi. While most of them have migrated to Bombay or Gujarat, still some old timers have stayed behind. There maybe about 30-40 families still around in the Old Sadar Area in Jhansi Cantt. Eduljee had come to see his uncle whose daughter Diana had been the captain in Indian Women’s Cricket team.After this fantastic initiation into a unique facet Jhansi history we had a light lunch and spent rest of the afternoon sleeping. We had planned to visit the fort only next morning so we went in the evening to Sipri Bazar. It was buzzing with activity. We were told that this is the hub of the Railways community, while Sadar Bazar is for the cantonment. The old city is called simply Shehar.
Literally everything in Jhansi is named after its famous Queen. Whether it’s a park or a hospital or building complex they all proudly associate themselves with the valiant Laxmibai. 400 hundred years ago when this fort was built by the King of nearby Orchha, he once asked his queen if she could see the fort from there. She replied, ‘Jhaeen si dikhe hai’. ‘I can only make out a blurred shadow’. The King announced that the new city should be called Jhansi.Gal began boasting of her knowledge to our poor guide before he could even begin. But the guy was good. His narration of the events transported us to those tumultuous years in Jhansi.
‘Mi mahji Jhansi nahi dehnar’ (I will not give up my Jhansi).
How much determination and courage would she have needed to utter these words? Her gumption to adopt a son so that Jhansi didn’t Lapse was amazing; Her educated attempt to fight the British in the court of British Queen was ingenious; and finally her sheer bravery to ride horseback through guns and canons and die fighting for her land.
As forts go, this one is not very large. It’s on an abutment of a small hillock. Our guide pointed out the ground where soldiers practiced riding; it remains a play-field till date. You could still see the lake and the other land-marks of where the British had laid siege.He also shared some tales of gore and blood as well as some others of secular bravery. The two main canons of the fort were manned by Muslims. While firing at the British, they ensured that a temple was not damaged.
The fort-walk did not take long but it was humbling. The girl, all of 25 years showed such immense presence of mind and bravery to take on the might of Britishers. Of course she lasted only a few months, but she will be forever.
As we drove down, I saw that Gal had her fists clenched.We caught the Sabarmati Express at 5.40 PM. The infamous Godhra incident train.
I was in a quiet mood and dozing off occasionally and I think about two and a half hours had passed when Gal jumped up and dragged me to the door of the carriage. The train was slowing down. I saw Orai station come up. She pushed me off,
‘Go buy Gulab Jamuns and Khasta. Orai station platform no.1 is world famous for these’
As I jumped out I remembered the scene from Jab We Met. Kareena Kapoor jumps off the train to get his guy back on board and here was Gal pushing me off the train. Her information about such strange places is by now legend, so I ran to the shack. There was a crowd of people there, obviously others knew about it too. Eight-pack GJ’s neatly packed in double layer plastic and placed inside mud-kullars. Delicious stuff.
