King George's legacy

A friend and I wandered through an old hotel in Delhi and I found this photograph on the wall--evidence that the statue of King George V used to inhabit the chatri near India Gate.
It reminded me that I wanted to go visit the statue and see how the park was coming along.

In some ways, I was not surprised by what I found:  the park was still under construction, though it had been over a year.

But I was surprised by other things.
King George was all wrapped up and bound in black plastic.

As were some of the other statues.
It's disturbing, isn't it?

The construction workers and their families had "moved in" and were slowly improving the surroundings.  The scrub brush was all gone, replaced by granite and marble walkways.  But there was a long way to go yet.
Before they are through there will be an amphitheater and a 31 meter flag pole to tower over the coronation pillar left behind by the British.

The only news I could find said the park might be ready in a year's time.  The authorities were also hard at work trying to come up with a name to replace "coronation park", something to be proud of.

I understand the love/hate tension with King George.  And I admire the efforts of the park committee--they could just throw out all the old, unwanted statues and erase this part of their history. 
Instead, they're going to turn it into a nice place to play cricket--admirable.

Kalinga War Memorial

The Kalinga War Memorial signs like to point out that it is the only memorial of it's kind in the entire world.
Why?
Because it was set up by the victorious army to honor their foes.

The British fought with the Gurkhas in 1814 and finally defeated them here.

The Gurkhas caame from Nepal and overtook the fort, but they were unable to take the rest of the territory from the British.
They retreated into the fort where they fought until the last man. For six weeks they defended the fort without food or water and held it against the British.
Finally, the British completely demolished the fort, the remaining Gurkhas were killed, and the British claim over the territory was secured.

To show just how much the bravery and courage of the Gurkha army impressed them, the British put up a memorial.
And, incidentally, started recruiting Gurkhas into their own army--there's still a Gurkha regiment in the UK today.

A former Chief of staff of the Indian army once said, "If a man says he is not afraid of dying, he is either lying or is a Gurkha."

The British may have been impressed by their fighting spirit, but if some historical accounts are correct, the local people probably were not.  They saw the Gurkhas as infamous bands of gangs.  Even so, the British may never have intervened if they hadn't decided the area was a strategic one.
After this battle and the ensuing treaty with Nepal, the land included in the territory of the East India Company grew considerably.

Today there is little left of the fort--just the walls that must have towered over the valley, and the small (protected, as shown in the warning) monument.

Few people stop along the busy road to visit even the surrounding park.
It's so quiet that it takes a lot of imagination to conjure up a battle-to-the last man or cannons soaring over the valley where there are now buffalo grazing.

But still, the monument is there, so it must have happened.

Fort San Domingo

The fort, as one of the oldest existing buildings in Danshui, has been called many things.

It was "Fort San Domingo" to the Spanish who built the first fort here in 1629.

"Hongmao Castle" to the Dutch in 1642 when they kicked the Spanish out and it was called after the red haired folk who lived there (Fort of the Red Heads).

"The Consulate" to the British, who leased it in 1867 and turned it into their compound. 


And "historic site of the first grade" to the Taiwanese who repossessed it in 1980 and turned it into a tourist attraction.

It's a fort, so it needs cannons, but I wonder if these ones were ever used from here, or just put there to look impervious.

This one says, "The cannon is cast by the order of the emperor in Chiaching 18th year of the Qing Dynasty, weighing 800 catties."

I wondered what a catty is...probably not a fat cat...
Nope.  I looked it up.
A catty is a traditional Chinese unit of mass equivalent to about 600 grams.  So the cannon would only weigh about 96 cats, if I've done my math right.
...if we were weighing in cats, that is...

Anyhow.
The British made all sorts of renovations.  The guide pamphlet listed some of them as the "elegant features".

One was these green, glazed bottle railings.  They are pretty, it's true.

Another was the brick carving.  Come to think of it, I've never seen brick carved before.  Cool.

So go to the fort.  Look around.  Learn some stuff.
But forget about measuring in units of cat, people don't really do that.

Vice Regal Lodge

There it is, up there on the top of the hill in Shimla, the Vice Regal Lodge.

This "small" mansion was built by the British when they decided to move the summer capital from Calcutta to Shimla--to enjoy the much nicer weather for a few months.  The lodge was where the viceroy lived.

It sits at the top of a hill, with a marvelous view of the surrounding area.

And is surrounded itself by some nice gardens.

It's where the rulers of India made decisions that changed the fate of the nation.

One being the decision to partition India.  The table on which all parties agreed to this is still inside the Lodge.  The guide pointed it out to us, telling us how important it was and that all confusion about whether this was the table had been cleared up.
This was it:  the table.
I wondered how they came to this conclusion.  Were there imprints of important signatures in the wood?
I also wondered:  if this was such an important table, why had no one dusted it?
Huh.

Anyhow, it has been handed over to the Indian Institute of Advanced Study now, and houses a library and research center, so that scholars can enjoy the cooler weather of shimla and not get heat exhaustion while they are studying.

They let people like me walk around it and take pictures and wonder about the people from decades past who used to walk around making important decisions.
That's cool.

The ambassador looks like it belongs here

Mutiny Memorial

The British built this Gothic style tower in 1863 in memory of the soldiers who died in 1857.
It seems they really took this event to heart, as it is covered with elaborate detail and plaques filled with information of who and how many died or were wounded.

But it's a controversial bit of history, and could easily be thought of as insulting, calling the Indian freedom fighters "the enemy".

In 1972, a new plaque was put up, clarifying who the enemy and heroes really were.

The tower stands above the treeline and can be seen from a distance. But, understandably, it is not often visited.
It was even difficult to explain to a rickshaw, driver where I wanted to go. I pointed to the tower in the distance, called it by different names, including the local one of Ajitgarh, but I couldn't make myself understood by any one who wanted to find such a place.

Maybe they just didn't want to go uphill?
Who knows.
I did find it. I did photograph it. I did add it to my collection of Delhi experiences.