HANNAH AT THE BOAT HOUSE CLUB

HANNAH AT THE BOAT HOUSE CLUB

By

Lt Gen Dr Mohan Bhandari, Phd, D Litt, FIMA

“For scarily had they timely refuge found,

Then a huge limb of the great mountain fell,

Sweeping the fair hill side of home & land,

And burying dozens of their fellow men,

In one uncompromising living tomb!...

Strong men in the proud glory of life’s prime

Women in joyful trustfulness of love,

With the children in full bloom of life;

All in the twinkling of an eye cut down,

In that rude harvest of the tyrant Death!...

Now the late lovely valley, Nainital

Stands as a witness of the frailty,

Of human strength against the overwhelming night “

(Excerpt from Hannah’s , A Book of Poems “Home Lyrics, 1887”on the catastrophe of Nainital of 1880)

It was a sultry afternoon –very uncommon for Nainital. But things have changed now. Over the years, consequent to global warming, there has been a total climate change  all over the world ,& specially      so ,in the Kumaon & Garhwal Hills, where Rhodos have started flowering in  January end & ‘Kafals’ entering the market in early April ! Mushrooming of poly- houses & other artificial techniques, fruits & vegetables have started growing all over the year-albeit with little taste. With all amenities & luxuries at easy command, values & attitudes have also changed. Call it good or bad. Progress or downward trend-whatever way you look at  it! Nainital has changed so much in the last sixty years in all it’s manifestation, but what has remained intact is the ‘strength ,spirit & passion of people of Nainital to win’. This singular factor is because the town & the area around is blessed by no other than the Goddess Naina Devi ;the original temple lies buried below Alma Dhar & the present Temple stands with all majesty on the Northern fringe of the Naini Lake. Any visit to Nainital is not considered complete without paying an obeisance at this Sanctum Santorum.

It was third week of August this year. It had been raining incessantly for the past three days. You know, how depressing it becomes in Nainital during the rainy season; even clouds follow you to your bed rooms !( No pun intended!). In London, many a time, I have asked the Britons as to why they called heavy downpours  as ‘Raining in Cats & Dogs’, I could get no answer. While you may see dogs moving in rains, but cats are mortally scared of water. You shall never see them. In Nainital, during this period, even dogs do not venture out.

Be that as it may, after my evening academic session was getting over, suddenly, rains stopped. And in the next half an hour, dense fog started building in. This was the best time to feel fresh air & an outing to the town ,I thought. Quickly I changed into my informal dress & my sports shoes & left The Hertmitage towards the Flats. The fog had thickened & by the time I reached the Riksha Stand, it was about 7 PM. Visibility was less than 15 Metres ,& you could not even see the lake. Somehow, whenever I visit Nainital, as old habits die hard, I always go to the Boat House Club ; this ritual continues ever since I was a young lad. Today, being a life member of the Club, I feel amply rewarded!

I descended the steps & made an entry to the Club. Lo & behold, I found only a lone person with his head sunk in his hands. He was at the Reception Desk & barely lifted his head to greet me .We exchanged compliments. He was visibly surprised on my visit in such an inclement & inhospitable weather. There was not even a soul inside. After entering the Club, I went down the sitting place as per my normal practice, wiped a chair & sat down. In between I could see the formations of small & big clouds just over the surface of the lake. In between, smaller clouds settling low on the water surface of the lake moved to & fro with astonishing regularity. Dense fog had encircled me with moments of lesser intensity in between. There was no one around. At the Reception Desk, I had asked for a waiter to be sent  to me & I was waiting his arrival. Cool breeze now started blowing stroking my face & I could see fragments of clouds turning into polka dots playing hide & seek. I was simply mesmerized & went into a different world.

Suddenly, I heard someone calling out for me by my first name. A low & feeble voice. It sounded as if it was coming from the upper Mall & reverberating  from Ayarpata Hill. ‘Do you know me ‘?, the voice asked. No, I said. ‘But I know you’,was the soft reply. ‘You have been coming to the Boat House Club for so many years. This morning  you were explaining  the Kedarnath Tragedy with waters gushing down from Kedardome, Charbari & Companion Glaciers & other snouts of the nearby glaciers, won’t you ‘? But how you know all this, I asked. ‘Look, this is the tragedy. I had warned Gardener & Traill way back in late eighties about the impending disasters that shall befall upon Nainital. They did not listen to me. The end result ,after ignoring my warning ,resulted in the heavy landslides of   1879 &1886. May be that fellow Britons were settling down in Kumaon & Garhwal Hills & were more engrossed in spreading their might & influence after having defeated the Gurkhas. They visited Nainital mostly for fun & frolic. I recall so many late night parties, Ball Dances followed by sumptuous  Dinners. ‘Khalij’ , ‘Cheetal’ &  Ghural’ meats were specially prepared by the Chief Khansama at the Hotel. How can I ever forget the Lady Get-togethers? Ayahs looked after our children. Where do you get all these facilities?

By this time I was totally engrossed in the conversation that was going on. ‘You know, Barron first visited Nainital sometimes in March 1839 while he & his fellow companions were on a Shikar trip near Kaladhungi &  Ramnagar. It so happened that one of his native servants had talked to him about the existence of a beautiful & holy lake that was possessed by Hindu Gods & Goddesses. While last time he had walked up from Kaladhundi side, this time in 1842, he took a longer detour via Bhimtal. Robert our Manager had told me that Barron had, as a punishment, placed a heavy stone on the head of one of the native  guides who was not willing to guide him to this Lake of Celestial Beauty. The native had to yield finally & give up. Barron this time had brought along a small boat with a couple of his local friends from Bhimtal.’

‘You know that Barron was so ecstatic after he saw the lake & the environs that he said -that it was by far the best site he had witnessed in the course of his 1500 miles trek in the Himalayas.’

‘Now there was no looking back. Nainital became Britishers  favourite town. Even Ranikhet came into existence in 1869.If Lord Mayo has had longer innings & lived long, Ranikhet would have had a railway along  the ridge lines following the old cart road from Ranikhet to Ramnagar.  The gradients offered no engineering difficulty but the question was , “TO BE OR NOT TO BE”.For poor Shakespeare, it was not to be! But this place fascinated so many great people like Rudyard Kipling, Eva Shaw, Munshi  Premchand, Jim Corbett etc. The list is endless. They invariably linked a lot of their writings to Nainital. Nainital is a mystic place.’

By this time, I was totally possessed by the voice. I had heard a lot many similar things from my grandfather who was born in 1886 & had been visiting Nainital almost three/four times a week on official purposes.

‘Remember, I had told you that no one listened to me earlier. I vividly recall that it was on 15 September 1880 when torrential rains began. It continued raining on 16 & 17 September. The Victoria Hotel was almost full. We had about four British honey moon couples & quite a few Soldiers .I also remember that there were about five  to six officers who had come up from Bareilly where  a Brigade HQ was being contemplated to be located. There were three conferences scheduled in quick succession. The Cricket Tournament was to begin in early October. There were three Balls proposed & a number of guests were expected.’  Brigade HQ at Bareilly, I asked. ‘ Yes. Later this was the same Brigade that had its three battalions in Ranikhet & Chaubattia. Do not forget that the Viceroy had more or less decided to make Nainital as the summer capital in place of Simla. Even in those days, a lot of sports activities were organized here .Teams from far & wide came to participate. But no Indian was allowed to play. So much so, that the natives were not allowed access to the upper road. You being a Fauji would know that in WW II, all British colonies in the Far East came under the Eastern Theatre.’  I said, yes. But the WW II was fought & won on the power of  U.S.$ .The voice was quiet. Even in 1962, when the Sino Indian War took place, Lucknow was the Headquarters of the present Eastern Command, I added. There was no reaction.

‘This town was selected as the summer seat of United Provinces Government way back in 1862. This paved the way for settlement of all Europeans & natives here. Much later, a Governor’s House was built in the line of Buckingham Palace with double story accommodation having 113 Rooms for the Officials, Staff & Visitors. It also had its private Golf Course & a Swimming Pool.’ Yes, the Britishers enjoyed their rule to the hilt at our cost, I said.  ‘ Your fault-entirely your fault replied the feeble voice. ‘Aren’t you all still suffering today ?’I kept mum.

‘So it rained & rained & rained. The supplies in the Hotel & other Grocery Stores/shops had virtually depleted. There was no electricity. We had big kerosene lamps & there were big gases that were hung on all sides of European Accommodation. After all, how much can you do just huddling together in weather like this? It was just like today. It was dark. You are lucky that it is not raining at the moment but imagine 30 inches of rain in almost 40 hours!’That is too much, I said. ‘The bearers were running up & down attending to the Europeans mostly to the children. Visibility was poorer than this. It was fourth day of intense rain. You call it ‘ Jhar’, I suppose’. Yes, I said. ‘It was frightening .It appeared almost  the end of the world. And now came crashing the entire Alma Dhar. The entire hill side North of Nainital collapsed & it destroyed the Victoria Hotel comprising of all Rooms, Orderly room, Soldiers Accomodation, Conference Room, Library, other houses/hutments/dwellings all around; & virtually everything in the vicinity was wiped out. Also all dwellings & hutments made by the natives nearby including those of the bearer staff were totally wiped out. It was like a small Nuclear Explosion. The mud splashed the Northern right lake side .The water rose in waves like Tsunami with a heavy clouds of mud,dust & smoke. It was a disaster. You know 43 British Nationals & 108 Indians died in this catastrophe. I reiterate here that no one listened to me earlier. Had they done so, possibly, all these precious lives could have been saved!  RIP all!’.What should have been done, I asked the voice.  ‘Look, this part of lower Himalayan Region is highly prone to disasters of various kinds. Furthermore, it falls under a dangerous seismic zone. Why did they make houses, hotels & other hutments right under the hill feature once two landslides had taken place earlier?’.I replied to say that while I had no answer for the question, one basic thing that I learnt as a soldier was that no shelters/living places should ever be made in lower heights that are overlooked by weak hill features & never ever any camp be sited in/just next to a river/rivulet bed- how small it be. ‘Right you are’, the voice said, ‘flash floods & mud slides are very common in these areas’. The voice was getting feeble & I asked whether I shall be possessed by it whenever I visit Boat House Club. I could hear loud & clear. It said ‘No.I came to remind you as to what had happened 133 years ago .That disaster & the Kedarnath Tragedy were a 30:70 phenomena. While 30 % was natural, 70 % was man made. It could have been averted had suitable measures taken at all steps in time’. I said hold on; tell me something more about this 30:70. The voice’s parting words were ‘If you all did not understand it in 133 years, how do you expect me to explain all about it in a few words’. I had understood the underlying theme of the message & our total culpability in the matter.

I suddenly felt some one shaking my hand vigorously. It was Kishan the bearer .He told me that he had come twice earlier & was surprised to see me sitting all by myself overlooking the lake. ‘This time I must see whether you are alright’. Suddenly appeared Imam Baksh who knew me pretty well from my young days .He had moved out from Ranikhet Club in search of greener pastures to Boat House Club. I looked at my watch. It was almost 8 PM. It had started drizzling. I quickly climbed the wooden stairs & made a bee line to the Bar. I asked for two stiff pegs of Brandy. Before the Barman could ask me whether I wanted hot water/soda, I had gulped the Brandy in one go.I kept the money on the counter & left for The Hermitage.

As I was ascending the High Court Bend to reach my room & was breathing heavily after crossing the famous Anda Market, I looked around & asked myself the question, “What have we done to Nainital?” A town of pristine beauty has now become a multi storey concrete jungle. Will the fragile surface be able to take this much of load? What happens if similar ‘Alma Dhars’ take place elsewhere in our hill stations all over India! God forbid it, but will we ever learn lessons from the past? The voice had promised that it shall not return. There was no reply. I got suddenly reminded of “VIKRAM AUR BAITAL” stories. But there was no “BAITAL” that came to put me wise; although there were enough trees   around!!