By: Ganesh Saili
At midnight, while the chowkidar slept, the robbers slipped in. They slit the canvas from the picture frames and stuffed the paintings into their bags already bursting with loot. In the silence of the night, their rampage lasted only until an eerie sound distracted them at midnight.
It had been all too easy. Perhaps too easy. Come to think of it, all they had had to do was work their way into the good books of the old fogey. The weeds were their way in. After the monsoon, the undergrowth does tend to get out of hand, and this place was no exception – it had run riot and taken over the grounds of the sprawling estate. This is where the old man lived alone; he was no more than the result of the Remainder Theorem or a relic of a noble family. He had hired the two boys to help clean up the mess.
Elsewhere, the romance of castles continued. You found them scattered around these hills: Castle Hill Estate, Connaught Castle, Grey Castle, Katesar Castle, and at the very edge of Barlowganj loomed Whytbank Castle.
Well aware of the outrageous ways of the royals, the Raj discouraged the royals from settling down in Shimla. The Chail story is too well known. Getting away from the heat and dust, the royals found this corner, as an old map from 1929 shows properties – some castles, others little more than a house of cards – that were built exclusively for the royals. There’s Airfield, for instance, which belonged to the Begums of Bhopal and turned into a home for the Nabha family; Rushbrook, also known as Padmini Niwas, belonged to HH Rajpipla and later became a hotel; HH Kalsia’s Ranbir Villa, below Masonic Lodge, became a bunch of hotels; HH Bhopal’s Summerville near the Kutchery is still there; while HH Tikari’s home in Happy Valley was Eric’s Own; and HH Gaekwad found a perch in Dunsvirk & Guthrie Lodge.
Beyond the library, HH Jagajit Singh of Kapurthala built the Chateau. Walton’s Gazetteer found it to be ‘the only residence in Mussoorie with any pretensions of architecture.’ Through its wrought iron gates, emblazoned with their coat of arms, came British officers, their companions, and the rich and famous. Its spacious tennis courts and manicured gardens welcomed guests, and the tables were piled high with food to be washed down with the finest wines. Tales of these wild happenings were carried to Shimla, the summer capital of the Raj. The brass hats were not amused. Over time, Mussoorie picked up the reputation of being a frivolous place.
Down below in Barlowgunj, just past Douglas Dale Spring along the bridle path, was Happy Garden which belonged to the handsome Raja Lal Singh of Punjab and where Deepak and Kumud Vaidya now live. In one of these homes, the owner returned to find the place had been burgled.
I must say the police rose to the occasion.
‘A crumpled bubble-gum wrapper!’ recalled the Station House Officer, adding, ‘That was the only clue we had.’
‘We went from store to store dealing in imported confectionaries. Usually, they were brought by parents from Thailand and sold in the bazaars to help pay for their child’s exorbitant school fees.
‘Near Kala School, we struck gold!’ remembers the SHO. ‘We were about to leave when the shopkeeper mumbled something about two boys who suddenly seemed to be flashing money and had bought themselves a new motorcycle. They’d bought boxes of bubble gum.’
When the police arrived and knocked on the door, the boys seemed relieved, whimpering, ‘What took you so long? We had hoped you would arrive and end this ‘tinkling’ in our ears!’
‘We have been unable to sleep a wink!’ they told the constabulary. ‘Even in our dreams, the eerie sound of tinkling of ankle bells comes loud and clear from the empty ballroom downstairs.’
‘We recovered everything!’ the S.H.O. gloated, pleased as punch, adding, ‘They had left a bolt open during the day and crept over the fence at night and entered through that door.’
Sometimes, karma strikes in mysterious ways.
Ganesh Saili born and home-grown in the hills belongs to those select few whose words are illustrated by his pictures. Author of two dozen books; some translated into twenty languages, his work has found recognition worldwide.
