Colonel Bailey's Dungeon,Srirangapatnam

   A stone's throw away from Srirangapatnam railway station lies Colonel Bailey's Dungeon.This is perhaps the least noticed and least visited place of the many places of interest in Srirangapatnam.
     Srirangapatnam is an island formed by the Cauvery as the river bifurcates forming this island and again meets at Sangam. The entire place of Srirangapatnam is dotted with such monuments which speak about the life and struggles of the Tiger of Mysore and it also urges us to know more about our struggle for freedom.
   The small town of Srirangapatnam was once the capital city of the great Tipu ,and is also the place which witnessed the 4 Mysore wars.  It goes without saying that it was the  hub of many political activities in the 18 th century ,  many scars of which are still visible,at this place...Colonel Bailey's Dungeon is one such place which was used to keep  British prisoners of war captive during the four Mysore wars.

     Hyder Ali and then his son Tipu Sultan both  had tried to bar the British extend their empire to the south.It wasn't an easy task  though  ,as the British had already joined hands with the Nizams and the Maratha.

In the war of   Pollilur   , Colonel Bailey and his troops were defeated by Tipu ,and the British officer was held captive here till he breathed his last in 1782.  Later many more British high ranking officials were held captive here like   Captain Baird and Rulay and Colonel Sampson  and Frazer.

   The dungeon, as you can see in the picture above are built a few metres below the ground level ,this was probably so ,to keep it away from view and to make it easier for the sentries to keep watch over the prisoners.  Every effort was made to make the place completely inaccessible to any outsider ,as the stairs we used to go down to the dungeon also did not exist then ,it was made only for the convenience of the tourists. The  four stone slabs that can be seen at the distance on the wall were the  ones used to enter and leave this place

  Once inside, it looks like this with domed archways and walls on all sides. The clean interiors do not speak much of the morbid state it used to be in the past.This place used to be filled three fourth with water in those days ,with captives chained to the walls. It was only in the recent years that the place was cleaned up and painted before a visit by the President Sri Abdul Kalam Azad

That's my husband giving a demonstration of how the captives were chained to the stone blocks and dunked in water for hours 

The picture above shows the holes on the stone blocks through which the captives were chained to the walls. When observed closely ,the place is full of such small details  which substantiate the purpose of this place, that it is not difficult for one to get illusions of prisoners chained and tortured here during the wars.

  The most interesting thing inside the dungeon is the huge wrought iron canon lying right at the centre of it. There are many theories explaining its presence there ,according to some ,the canon rolled out of its place and fell through the roof while Tipu was waging a war against the British,while other theories explain that the canon was always kept there but during a bombardment a bomb fell straight through the roof and chipped off a portion of it .Very aptly, for both explanations the roof has an open portion just above it.

The mark left on the canon probably by the bomb

It is so said that the bomb was actually targeted at Tipu ,as the British had expected him to be here at that time ,but fortunately he was not  present in the dungeon.

The above picture shows an opening

 in one corner of the dungeon,which was later discovered as the entry to a secret tunnel connecting the dungeon to the palace. Secret tunnels have always fascinated me,and this one could not stop me from thinking that Tipu made surprise visits to this place through this tunnel.

And guess what is this ...probably the place in the wall which was used to fill the dungeon with water from the Cauvery ,at least that is how our guide put it.

The captives here were prisoners  of war and so security was very important,the openings on the walls above the dungeon to keep watch and to fire the canons from.

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 The first picture above shows openings on the walls for firing bullets at any attackers but very interestingly   I got this  second picture when I placed the camera inside the hole.....it had three openings to shoot at different directions...hats off to the  military  ingenuity of those days.

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 The dungeon was very strategically built,  the river Cauvery formed a natural moat behind the it .This river must have been more voluminous before the dams were built. The dungeon  which in itself was a small fortress was located inside the fort of the ruler ,needless to say the importance it had for the Sultan!

                Keeping Indian rulers and Sepoy captive by the British was a routine affair during the British rule,but a place built exclusively to keep  British prisoners of war  captive by  an Indian ruler somewhat induces  a sense of pride in us.

Tipu was well known for his valour and his military ingenuity   , his rockets had not failed to awe the British. The relatively simple  brick and mortar structure which we had just visited, actually stood in silent testimony to the same valour and the mettle that was so quintessential of Tipu Sultan.

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Srirangapatnam is located about 14 kms from Mysore and 125 kms from Bangalore and lies on the Mysore Bangalore highway.It is very well connected by rail and road ,there are also buses plying regularly to Mysore from Bangalore.The dungeon lies very close to the railway station ,one can visit the Ranganatha Swamy temple ,which is only half a km from this place.The place where Tipu's body was found is also very well marked and lies very close to this place.  Srirangapatnam is generally visited from Mysore as a one day  trip, though there are very good boarding options here itself .We stayed at the KSTDC property ,Mayura River View about 2 kms away.

The ancestral home of the Tagores ......JORASANKO

     We walked from one room to another , in quick succession,eager to see more of the bits and pieces that made up the life of the great renaissance man ,who needs no introduction. We were at the Rabindra Bharati Museum in Kolkata,better known to the common man as the home of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore, a place which saw him grow from a daydreaming child to the unparalleled stature he attained at a very early age.

                Photography is strictly prohibited inside the mansion ,but I must say that the look of it from outside was enough to keep me mesmerised.This mansion was made in the typical Bengali architectural style of the 19th century,and undoubtedly had an old world charm to it.

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   The house was known as the Thakur Bari...Thakur , as the surname Tagore goes in Bengali and Bari in Bengali means house.This place had been the nerve centre of the cultural renaissance of Bengal for over  a century and was frequented by the likes of Raja Ram Mohan Roy,Madan Mohan Malviya and many more. It was in 1961 that  the government of West Bengal converted this mansion  into a museum housing the memories of the great men of this family,and opened it to the public. 

Once inside, one gets to see  galleries where the works of Rabindranath Tagore,and articles associated with his life which has been preserved very well.  His works on art and literature,along with pieces of furniture and even clothing are all very well exhibited.I found it rather interesting to see an old fashioned kitchen used by Mrinalini Devi( Rabindranath Tagore's wife) at one end of the huge corridors.One can also get a glimpse of the rooms where Rabindranath Tagore was born and where he breathed his last, in this building.

      Walking down the airy ,pillared verandah or should I call them corridors ,I could not but feel privileged at the thought that it was somewhere here resting in those huge wooden chairs, the first Asian Nobel Laureate had penned down works like Dak Ghar or Chokher Bali ! One can see Lalbari,which in Bengali means the red house ,which is an auditorium where the plays written by members of the family were enacted and very often had famous dignitaries of those times as the audience.   

          Rabindranath Tagore  shared a lineage of very well learned men,scholars ,philosophers ,artists and even buisnessmen.His grandfather Dwarkanath Tagore was  a zamindar ,(a person who owns many estates),and was the first prominent resident of this mansion.His son Debendranath Tagore (Rabindranath Tagore's Father) was a very prominent religious and social reformer.who was instrumental in reviving the Brahmo Samaj after the death of Raja Ram Mohan Roy.He was one of the very first people to open the doors of higher education for women.This house therefore remained the centre for many important activities for a period of over three hundred years .Hence an entire  gallery is dedicated to Dwarkanath Tagore ,Debendranath Tagore,Abanindranath Tagore

( Rabindranath Tagore's nephew) and to other members of the Tagore family.

A separate gallery is dedicated to many other people who brought about the renaissance in Bengal during that period.

Rabindranath Tagore , is a name with which every child in Bengal grows up,and his works are synonymous to culture in the state ,even a century later   .A family which  gave birth to  such great men in every generation, only makes one wonder what made it happen.Though I do not know the answer,  I left this place with  deep admiration and reverence...for it was here that many reforming thoughts were first shaped.  Of the many ,women were encouraged to take up higher education,           all round development  with the help of co-curricular activities was stressed on in education,   and the method of rote learning was regarded with contempt for the first time. !!!!

   

OH!   Almost missed it ...the car used by  the family members,parked in a locked garage right beside the main entrance ,  seemingly in good condition  .(can anyone help me with the name of this

 model ?)

How to reach and other information

Jorasanko is about 2 kilometres from the Girish Park metro station of Kolkata ,and lies in the Dwarkanath Tagore Lane,M.G.Road Kolkata. Entry tickets are very nominally priced,and it is open on all days except Mondays(from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.) A minimum of 3 to 4 hours should be set aside for a proper detailed visit to the place

Rohtang pass...a reason to revisit Manali

   Manali held promises for each one of us...for   my children ,the snow at Rohtang,for me it was the verdant landscapes and for my husband Ambar it was the fried trout,  fished  straight out of the river Beas  ...he has the capacity of hunting up non- vegetarian food at the queerest of places.
  As the car rode on the meandering roads ,Manali slowly receded from our view.The weather gods were benevolent on us ( the skies were clear).... we had experienced rainfall the night before. .We were on our way to the Rohtang La ,a pass in the Pir Panjal range of the inner Himalayas, which connects  Manali in the Kulu valley to Spiti  valley on the other side. The Rohtang La is a pass in the Leh Manali highway.,It was so difficult to pass through this pass due to its biting cold and strenuous terrain that name Rohtang  in the local language means a pile of corpses.

The river Beas on the way to Manali

    The sprawling green of the deodars around us slowly gave way to the barrenness of the mountains ,which soon turned white and whiter with each turn the car took in the winding roads.We wished to capture every moment through our lens but it was not a  good idea to halt in the mountain roads ,with so many vehicles passing every instant.So we had to satiate ourselves by clicking through the car glass.

  We had started quite early ,just after breakfast and the morning rays of the sun reflected on the snow on the mountain slopes.But we had heard that in the peak season it is visited by a large number of tourists at the break of dawn,.For this reason the traffic in the early hours moves slowly.,on these roads .Since we started at about nine in the morning ,we had a very smooth ride,both ways.

  All signs of habitation slowly faded from our view ,the only people other than the tourist vehicles were the people who had set up small shacks ,for renting out the outfits  for the snow.

 The mountains  no longer  seemed at a distance,and we suddenly found ourselves in a sea of ranges, each one mightier than the other.

And there we were at the top  ..the Rohtang Pass ...a road with two mountain  walls on either side,all covered in snow .The place looked somewhat like an uneven tableland to me.

INFORMATION

 In Manali we stayed at the hotel Rohtang Manalasu,a HPTDC  property,and visited Rohtang the very next morning ,because  the weather seemed to be clear .We visited Rohtang in the same Indica we had hired from Shimla ,but one can easily visit it in buses or cars hired from Manali itself.. Information regarding vehicles and booking can be done from the many offices in Manali mall road.

One need not carry sweatshirts and warm clothing for Rohtang exclusively,as outfits and boots for the snow are easily available for hiring all along the way to Rohtang.While hiring them we must remember that haggling is a way of life in the mountains,so they can be got at half the quoted price.

 We had visited the place in the month of October,so there were no snowsports,but during season one can enjoy many snowsports and have a fun time there.

Saint John in the Wilderness and the magic of Mcleodganj

  When the itinerary for the Himachal was planned ,this place had somehow escaped our notice.Saint John in the Wilderness ,the name suggests nothing about the place ..a treasure hidden in the midst of the deodars of the hilly slopes of Mcleodganj.It was only when we set out for Mcleodganj from Dharmashala that our driver insisted that we visit this church. Church...something I was never much interested in..I had visited many in Goa ,Kerala and even in Mysore.At first sight that was just another deodar forest but slowly disclosed this breathtakingly beautiful sight.

  Built by the British about 2 centuries ago ,this church had survived the earthquake of 1905.The earthquake destroyed the bell tower of the church .In 1925 a new bell was brought from England ,but the bell being too heavy could not be installed in place ,so it lay in the church premises,but soon in a few years time attempts of theft were made for this bell ,consequently this is how the bell can be seen today in the churchyard.
We visited the church in a Sunday ,and saw the Father holding the morning prayers ,the church is very much in use till today

James Bruce the erstwhile viceroy of India was buried at this very place.where the grave memorial now stands in the churchyard..The mortal remains of the.lieutenant general of Punjab Donald Friell McLeod after whom Mcleodganj was named was also laid to rest in this churchyard.

early morning rays in the churchyard

We had already made a fine start to the day with an early morning visit to the church,and now proceeded on the journey uphill ...a quaint small place ,Mcleodganj awaited us a little up the slopes. 

If I were to describe my first glimpse of this place, I would say it was  a rather crowded place,something I have always tried avoiding ,but slowly as I walked down the lanes of this place ,my perception about this place changed as I soaked up the ambience of the place .In my entire trip of the state it was one of the very few places where I came very close with the local people and saw them busy in their daily routine  .For once I felt that not many things were designed only for tourists like us ,rather they let us blend into the environment,as life moved at its own pace .

I can recall my first glimpses of children going to school , narrow lanes lined with shops selling every possible ware , fair skinned foreigners strolling  leisurely around  cafes which served Italian pizza or lasagna and Tibetian thukpa or  momos with equal ease.

I had visited the church ,and the Bhagsu Nag temple (a shiva temple)a little downhill and now I was about to visit the monastery for which Mcleodganj is so renowned....as we all know this was the seat of the Tibetian government in exile and the residence of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

Amidst all this chaos and confusion which by now I had started enjoying, had I missed out on something ,I guess yes, I know ,I had not noticed that the place which was called little Lhasa was actually a melting pot of different cultures and religions from far and wide.

The monastery casts its divine spell on one as one makes the rounds of the different halls with towering statues of the Buddha (photography is prohibited inside the monastery,so could not get pictures).A few words of enlightenment did penetrate our minds if not but for a few moments.As I turned the prayer wheels inside the monastery a lady of Tibetian origin  walked up to me and told me a few words...Om Mani Padme Hum...These were the words I should have uttered while turning the prayer wheels.When she saw me fumbling with the words she made it simpler saying "Just say Jai Shri Krishna ,you see it is all the same"......insightful words from plain mortals ..an experience  that shall remain etched in my memory forever.

This was a home to the monks who walked past every now and then in their maroon robes,they always seemed to be deep in conversation with their companion.

A place where prayer wheels and stupas could be seen even in the market place,and a place where prayer flags were put up to bring luck ,happiness ,compassion,prosperity,longevity and even to bless the surrounding countryside ,brightening up the green landscape in red and yellow splashes.

It was a place with never ending lanes of shops selling statues of Buddha ,Ganesha and Natraja

and the everlasting bounty of nature which rendered the atmosphere so sublime......

            

what then could stop the magic of Mcleodganj linger in my mind for quite sometime.

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Mcleodganj is located at a distance of & 7 kms.from Dharmashala in the state of Himachal Pradesh .A quaint little hillstation situated little uphill from Dharamashala,Mcleodganj can be reached by car ,in an hours time.The nearest airport is at Dharmashala. The Dal Lake of Dharmashala and the Church Of Saint John  can be visited on the way to Mcleodganj. The Bhagsu Nag temple and the Bhagsu Falls are the major tourist options from here. Mcleodganj has many mid and high range stay options .One need not drive back to Dharmashala the same day ,instead can spend one night here.The food as said above, varies from Tibetian to French. Situated only 10 kms from Triund , Mcleodganj is also a trekkers paradise. Sorrounded by the snow capped  Dhauladhar ranges, Mcleodganj presents a very unique character that can be comprehended only when experienced.

Kangra fort ---history in the lap of nature

        Built by Raja Bhuma Chand of the Katoch dynasty,ransacked by Mahmud Ghazni,conquered by Mohammad Bin Tuglaq,garrisoned by Jahangir, reconquered by Raja Sansar Chand the second,attacked by Akbar the great, usurped by the Gorkhas ,annexed by the Sikhs ,and finally overpowered by the British; need I say more about the significance of this place.!!!!!!!
    So this is a fort in a place called Kangra about 17 kms from Dharmashala in Himachal Pradesh.It was once the capital of the Katoch rulers and a part of the ancient Trigartha kingdom.The ancient Trigartha kingdom finds mention in the epic of Mahabharata and was spread  over Kashmir,Himachal Pradesh, Multan ,Punjab and even Uttar Pradesh. 

The view of the fort from the well manicured lawns at the entrance of the fort

The fort was built in an elevated piece of land covering an area of nearly 4 square kilometres.

The picture above shows the Jayanti Mata temple ,a temple built by the Gorkhas after their victory over the fort.

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another view of the temple from the fort premises

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The main entrance to the fort also known as the Ranjit Singh darwaza.The fort has several gates each one attributed to the invaders who held the fort .Interestingly, the gates were built in succession, the outermost one ,that is the one in the picture was built by the Sikhs.Another prominent gate which comes next as one enters the fort is the Jahangiri gate ,named after the Mogul emperor who captured the fort a few centuries before the Sikhs. The innermost gate which leads us to the palace area is the Darshini gate ,is the oldest gate in the fort
     .Does this imply that as more and more invaders eyed the fort ,the ones who were successful felt the need of fortifying themselves even more.Why was the fort such a coveted one ?This was the question that kept bothering me.Was it only the strategic location of the fort that made it so important,that the rulers wanted to use this place as a bastion for their future territorial ambitions.?       
There used to be a common saying in Kangra that he who holds the fort rules over Kangra .I guess then it was perhaps the territory of Kangra which held a significant place in history.


    A few more minutes of pondering ,and I know the answer----,it was the sheer magic of the place ,with an abundant greenery ,and the overshadowing snowcapped peaks of the Dhauladhar ranges that awed the rulers as much as we are awed now. Happy with my conclusion I continued my journey into the annals of history.......

A moment of pause for a photograph at the Jahangiri gate.

Ever wondered why the forts had such  narrow gates?Was it easier to keep the invaders at bay from inside the fort.

A view of the many darwazas inside the fort and one of the two dogs that gave us company till the top .

 

The  Darshini gate flanked by the defaced statue of the river goddesses Ganga and Yamuna,needless to say it was built by the Hindu rulers of the fort.

And at last, we are at the top...through the Darshini gate ,to the place where once existed the temples the palaces and the courtyards,most of which are in ruins now.The Kangra fort suffered huge damages in a massive earthquake in 1905.

The first view of the place after we entered the Darshini gate

The dome shaped temple...the Adinath jain temple, which can be seen at the corner is the only one still in worship.This temple was the only one which survived the earthquake.

The walls of the Sitalamata temple and the Lakshmi Narayan temple,only  one wall and the platform on which the temple was built remains now.The intricate carvings on the walls gives us an indication of the grandeur of these temples

The walls of the Sitalamata and  Lakshmi Narayan temple

Do you notice the courtyard on the other side of the walls..the temple doors opened to this courtyard..probably used for public gatherings inside the fort.Nothing remains of the palace except for a raised platform.

The fort is located on a hillock at the confluence of the rivers ..the Banganga and the Patalganga..the confluence though could not be spotted from the fort.The rivers formed a natural moat around the fort.

 A view of the fort gates from atop the fort,the elevated level of the fort allowed the guards to keep constant vigil on all directions .

                  One of the many arcades and walls of the fort which stand tall even in the ruins,bearing testimony to the battles fought in this very place.
         So this was a place which  witnessed many invasions one after the other,a silent onlooker of  greed and an insane craze for power which we humans term as glory and which leaves a subtle message to linger in our minds long after........

How to reach and where to stay
The airport at Kangra is known as the Gaggal airport, about 10 kms from Kangra town.Kangra is well connected by rail to Pathankot about 94 kms from here.
The nearest place for boarding and lodging is Dharmashala ,17 kms from here,where options are in plenty ,including HPTDC hotels which can be booked online.
One can visit the Kangra fort as a one day trip from Dharmashala coupled with a visit to the ancient Masroor temple which is only 20 kms from here.