The Hindi movie 'Kondhana/Tanaji - about the capture of a hilltop fortress bearing same name - is ruling the roost at Box offices, joining the 'Rs.100 crore ' club in less than a week. The storyline revolves around the capture of the said fort in the late 1600s - ruled by Mughals under Emperor Aurangzeb, who had shrewdly deputed a brave Hindu Rajput 'qiledaar' (garrison keeper), named Rathore (played by another real life royalty scion, Saif Ali Khan).
As forts go, Kondhana was nearly impregnable in the late 1600s. Built on top of a forested volcanic plateau, it had very steep approaches, thereby eliminating the need for tall fort ramparts, like in the traditional forts. Surrounded by the 3-month long monsoon clouds in the rainy season, with thick forests crawling with snakes, bears and tigers and ready-to-fight tribals known as 'Mavalis', in a location that was remote, rugged and inhospitable.
The fort was wrested - by Tanaji Malsure, a brave commander of Maratha ruler Shivaji, who perished in its capture - famously by throwing a monitor lizard 'ghorpad' with a rope around its waist up the fortress wall. The lizard held to the wall and the guerilla warriors clambered up, fought hand-to-hand combat and won the fort for Shivaji.
Empire building has been the bane of many rulers across history and Aurangzeb, who sat on the all-powerful Mughal throne at Agra fort, could not resist succumbing to the same impulses as Alexander.
He tried in vain to bring the Deccan Plateau under his control, on which sat a series of hilltop fortresses like Kondhana - spending his last 27 years years of life and dying of fever at a lonely spot near the present day home of India's Armoured Corps, at a village named Bhingar, named Alamgir, where a simple mosque named 'Hazrat Alamgir Dargah' marks where the mighty Mughal breathed his last.....100s of miles from his palaces.
While Aurangzeb was a devout puritanical emperor famous for demolishing Hindu temples like Mathura and Kashi, which to date, are sources of endless religious friction, one can't help but notice his appointing a skilled Hindu general to defend the outpost of his Deccan conquests....So history is nothing if not full of pragmatic choices.
It would be of no surprise to anyone that when India's West Point - the National Defence Academy - was set up in the shadow of the same fort, it would have 'consequences' on the sweat-soaked lives of cadets. For starters, the very first camp - aptly named 'Camp Greenhorn' is spent either in the sticky rain-soaked mud during the Fall term or in the baking hot dust when it dries out in summer - causing equal measures of unease irrespective of the time of year one went.
But call it Kondhana....or Sinhagarh (name given by Emperor Shivaji upon winning the fort, albeit with the loss of Tanaji) - the location has an infamous name for NDA cadets...It is referred to as 'Point 4311' the number referring to the height in feet of the fort from sea level.
A 22 km round trip from the Khadakvasla valley, flanking a vast reservoir, would be called 'Endurance Hike to Pt 4311' in Academy parlance. Ensuring that the route is along a vast reservoir, there is no scope of taking any shortcuts, which if detected, results in awards of even more 'Endurance Hikes' thus completing a vicious cycle of Crime and Punishment.
Denizens of this select club of EH awardees could be considered as present-day equivalent of penal convicts being sent to Australian settlements from Victorian England.
Every Sunday, at 0630 hrs, cadets wearing Olive green dungarees and wearing a 'Scale B' - comprising a battle gear outfit devised in WW II Burma - with a blanket, mosquito net and raincoat - irrespective of weather and also including over 20=plus items chosen for their potential to cause distress by their absence - a snakebite kit with a rusty blade that would be more toxic than any snake bite, a 'houewife kit' with sewing kit, toothbrush, toothpaste, PT shoes and your packed lunch and water bottle.
You could well run the 'Endurance Hike' but if you are not able to produce a toothbrush or some silly item, then the hike is 'not counted' (NC) - a shock that had many grown men cry in sheer agony.
The chief tormentor in our days was Subedar (JCO) Rajan - a 6 foot tall, dark Guardsman from Tamilnadu, who would refer to himself as a 'kaala bhooth' (Dark Ghost), in the third person, no less.
Since he was a Services level Basketball player, promotions came fast to him and that caused some consternation to other JCOs who had tenures in the Kashmir valley or Siachen glacier. They would insinuate Rajan as a 'sports quota' type and probably that triggered his fastidious urge to screen hapless cadets with a fine comb (which was also a part of the items one was supposed to carry). It would be as if Dr Mengele himself had come to preside over the demise over your Endurance Hike.
These hikes would come and go as per the Commandants of the Academy - An army general would re-instate them as the 'Academy seemed to be going soft' while a Naval/Air Force Commandant would remove them - to provide a human touch. Not surprisingly, my tenure there was when these were handed out like free candy.
Over time, the edge of the paved road would have a metallic gleam - lined with flakes of metal from the studded boots we wore, up and down the fort.
But going on these hikes had a certain 'stud value'.
Irrespective of your term, you would be allowed to rest that Sunday, provided you completed it of course. In some 'hot' squadrons, going on these punishments was still considered preferable to facing the shenanigans inside the squadron.
During rainy weather, when most college teenagers would gingerly climb in their Nike/Adidas, you would be sprinting up in your loaded packs and heavy boots, yelling 'Move to a side, you clods!' to those lily-livered damsels would ooh aah or berate their boyfriends for not being so 'agile'.
On returning, the most intrepid would shower, change and get our Liberty passes to Pune signed - where a massive burger called 'King Burger' of indeterminate bovine meat - awaited us at a very reasonable price.
But doing so in the 4.5 hours, gave you a level of fitness that would be elusive later in your life.
Ah.....those halcyon days!
Tailpiece.
Got up on the dot, though groggily as I'd woken up in the wee hours to ease my bladder. Went through the chores and were ready well in time. The water bill was handed over and I'd made a quick dash to town to pay it up and recharge our dish TV channels. It was a quiet day, thereafter.
Have to go early morning, tomorrow, to Neelamperoor to attend Gomathi peramma's funeral at 1400 hrs. It's gonna be a hectic day!
As forts go, Kondhana was nearly impregnable in the late 1600s. Built on top of a forested volcanic plateau, it had very steep approaches, thereby eliminating the need for tall fort ramparts, like in the traditional forts. Surrounded by the 3-month long monsoon clouds in the rainy season, with thick forests crawling with snakes, bears and tigers and ready-to-fight tribals known as 'Mavalis', in a location that was remote, rugged and inhospitable.
The fort was wrested - by Tanaji Malsure, a brave commander of Maratha ruler Shivaji, who perished in its capture - famously by throwing a monitor lizard 'ghorpad' with a rope around its waist up the fortress wall. The lizard held to the wall and the guerilla warriors clambered up, fought hand-to-hand combat and won the fort for Shivaji.
Empire building has been the bane of many rulers across history and Aurangzeb, who sat on the all-powerful Mughal throne at Agra fort, could not resist succumbing to the same impulses as Alexander.
He tried in vain to bring the Deccan Plateau under his control, on which sat a series of hilltop fortresses like Kondhana - spending his last 27 years years of life and dying of fever at a lonely spot near the present day home of India's Armoured Corps, at a village named Bhingar, named Alamgir, where a simple mosque named 'Hazrat Alamgir Dargah' marks where the mighty Mughal breathed his last.....100s of miles from his palaces.
While Aurangzeb was a devout puritanical emperor famous for demolishing Hindu temples like Mathura and Kashi, which to date, are sources of endless religious friction, one can't help but notice his appointing a skilled Hindu general to defend the outpost of his Deccan conquests....So history is nothing if not full of pragmatic choices.
It would be of no surprise to anyone that when India's West Point - the National Defence Academy - was set up in the shadow of the same fort, it would have 'consequences' on the sweat-soaked lives of cadets. For starters, the very first camp - aptly named 'Camp Greenhorn' is spent either in the sticky rain-soaked mud during the Fall term or in the baking hot dust when it dries out in summer - causing equal measures of unease irrespective of the time of year one went.
But call it Kondhana....or Sinhagarh (name given by Emperor Shivaji upon winning the fort, albeit with the loss of Tanaji) - the location has an infamous name for NDA cadets...It is referred to as 'Point 4311' the number referring to the height in feet of the fort from sea level.
A 22 km round trip from the Khadakvasla valley, flanking a vast reservoir, would be called 'Endurance Hike to Pt 4311' in Academy parlance. Ensuring that the route is along a vast reservoir, there is no scope of taking any shortcuts, which if detected, results in awards of even more 'Endurance Hikes' thus completing a vicious cycle of Crime and Punishment.
Denizens of this select club of EH awardees could be considered as present-day equivalent of penal convicts being sent to Australian settlements from Victorian England.
Every Sunday, at 0630 hrs, cadets wearing Olive green dungarees and wearing a 'Scale B' - comprising a battle gear outfit devised in WW II Burma - with a blanket, mosquito net and raincoat - irrespective of weather and also including over 20=plus items chosen for their potential to cause distress by their absence - a snakebite kit with a rusty blade that would be more toxic than any snake bite, a 'houewife kit' with sewing kit, toothbrush, toothpaste, PT shoes and your packed lunch and water bottle.
You could well run the 'Endurance Hike' but if you are not able to produce a toothbrush or some silly item, then the hike is 'not counted' (NC) - a shock that had many grown men cry in sheer agony.
The chief tormentor in our days was Subedar (JCO) Rajan - a 6 foot tall, dark Guardsman from Tamilnadu, who would refer to himself as a 'kaala bhooth' (Dark Ghost), in the third person, no less.
Since he was a Services level Basketball player, promotions came fast to him and that caused some consternation to other JCOs who had tenures in the Kashmir valley or Siachen glacier. They would insinuate Rajan as a 'sports quota' type and probably that triggered his fastidious urge to screen hapless cadets with a fine comb (which was also a part of the items one was supposed to carry). It would be as if Dr Mengele himself had come to preside over the demise over your Endurance Hike.
These hikes would come and go as per the Commandants of the Academy - An army general would re-instate them as the 'Academy seemed to be going soft' while a Naval/Air Force Commandant would remove them - to provide a human touch. Not surprisingly, my tenure there was when these were handed out like free candy.
Over time, the edge of the paved road would have a metallic gleam - lined with flakes of metal from the studded boots we wore, up and down the fort.
But going on these hikes had a certain 'stud value'.
Irrespective of your term, you would be allowed to rest that Sunday, provided you completed it of course. In some 'hot' squadrons, going on these punishments was still considered preferable to facing the shenanigans inside the squadron.
During rainy weather, when most college teenagers would gingerly climb in their Nike/Adidas, you would be sprinting up in your loaded packs and heavy boots, yelling 'Move to a side, you clods!' to those lily-livered damsels would ooh aah or berate their boyfriends for not being so 'agile'.
On returning, the most intrepid would shower, change and get our Liberty passes to Pune signed - where a massive burger called 'King Burger' of indeterminate bovine meat - awaited us at a very reasonable price.
But doing so in the 4.5 hours, gave you a level of fitness that would be elusive later in your life.
Ah.....those halcyon days!
Tailpiece.
Got up on the dot, though groggily as I'd woken up in the wee hours to ease my bladder. Went through the chores and were ready well in time. The water bill was handed over and I'd made a quick dash to town to pay it up and recharge our dish TV channels. It was a quiet day, thereafter.
Have to go early morning, tomorrow, to Neelamperoor to attend Gomathi peramma's funeral at 1400 hrs. It's gonna be a hectic day!
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