HINDUSTAN – TIBET ROAD 

“Of the many roads built by the British in India, there were perhaps few as ambitious as what was to be very first mountain highway in this part of the world. For that matter, this may well be the first major highway commissioned in India after Sher Shah Suri built the Grant Trunk Road in the 16^th century. Styled ‘The Great Hindostan Thibet Road’, this road connected the Gangetic plains from the town of Kalka to the Tibetan border.”

Lord Dalhousie

It was Governor-General of India, Lord Dalhousie (1848-1856), who ordered work to begin in June 1850. Various reasons are cited for the initiation of the road. The system of begari prevalent in the hills-where unpaid labourers were pressed into service, including for the transport of timber and files to Shimla-is said to have upset the Governor-General so deeply that he wanted to improve the track these man trudged. It is also believed that Lord Dalhousie wanted to create trade ties with Tibet-this is felt to be the real reason for building the road.

An old song

This was the road that inspired Kipling’s ‘An Old Song’,

            “So long as ‘neath the Kalka hills,

            The tonga horn shall ring,

            So long as down the Solan dip

            The hard-held ponies swing,

            So long as Tara Devi sees

            The lights of Simla town,

            Or duty drives us down…..”

            While Kipling’s horse-drawn tongas (carts) are long gone, the road from Kalka to Shimla via Dharampur and Solan remains unchanged. People travelled in a mind-boggling combinations that included carriages, elephants and camels up to Kalka. Then came the horse-drawn tongas (carts), ekkas (horse-drawn carriages), and bullock carts.  Then there were palanquins-the dandies and doolys. As the road became more demanding and treacherous, it required plain-old foot slogging.

Shipki

Beyond Shimla to the Shipki pass on the border, the trace of the road rarely remained the same. At one time Bagi and Khadrala, in the thick forests beyond Narkanda, were important posts and yet a few years down the line, they were ignored. From Shimla the trace passed through the mellifluous sounding villages of Fagu, Theog, Matiana, Narkanda, Kotgarh, Nirath, Rampur, Sarahan, Tranda, Paunda, Nichar, Wangtu, Kalpa (Chini), Rarang, Akpa and then Jangi, where the road came to an end. After this point, a rough track continued to Labrang, Sugnam, Namgea and finally Shipki-the last was described in Major Gordon’s Guide (1893) as “A large Tartar village; good milk, flour, pumpkins, and sometimes sheep can be obtained: wood and water plentiful.” This route traversed 228 miles from Shimla, while the one that took Bagi in its stride and arrived at Sarahan through Tachlech, added another 22 miles to this distance. In the early years, it seems that the route through Bagi was more popular and was known as the Upper or Forest Road, which even today makes for a wonderful trek.

The ‘hole in the hill’

A major achievement was the construction of the Sanjauli-Dhalli tunnel. Again, this seems to have been a first of sorts; if one discounts the numerous underground passages and tunnels that have wormed their way around practically every one of India’s old forts. Around 18,000 convicts and free labourers were employed in building this thorough-solid rock tunnel. Work began in 1850, under the supervision of Major Briggs, and was completed in the winter of 1851-52. For several years it remained nothing but a hole in the hill, till Lord Kitchener arrived as the Commander-in-Chief in 1902. While ‘Snowdon’ in Shimla was his official residence, Kitchener spent most of his time at ‘Wildflower Hall’ in the suburbs. Riding back from Shimla one night, the Commander-in-Chief’s horse shied, locking the rider’s leg against a beam  supporting the roof of the tunnel. The pressure broke his leg and Kitchener was left to his own devices for several hours before being rescued. After this accident, extensive repairs were undertaken.

The hills

While Dalhousie’s road brought the route into focus, the area had long been on one of the peripheral trade circuits of the legendary Silk Route. The paths that passed the tract carried goods such as musk, borax, wool, livestock, and dry fruit, precious and semi-precious stones to and from Tibet, Kashmir, Ladakh and Yarkand. Apart from the goods that were carried on the path, it was the myriad cultural and historical influences that established the true worth of the road. 

            After Shimla, where once the road took the spurs, it now follows the valley floors. During the Indo-China war of 1962, the importance of the road was re-established and major construction followed. And needless to add, it took its toll in terms of both life and money, and at Jeori-where a fork leads to Sarahan-lies a memorial to the 122 men who died during its construction. All of 150 years after work began, and a full century after these words were written, one can still draw on what Kipling wrote in Kim, “We came and came by such and such a way!…These are the true Hills!…Never were such hills!”