Bunga. Burj. Watchtower.
Ramgharia Bunga twins still stand watch, the last of many
Bungas constructed to protect Darbar Sahib (Golden Temple) Amritsar. Before the
tanks marched in, in that dystopian year of 1984, and ushered in an era of
darkness in Punjab’s history, it was the sentinels on these two watchtowers who
let the courts of the then ‘saint’ of Punjab run unchecked and invited that
darkness into a place of light. The duty of the sentinels was to watch and
protect the sanctity of the sanctum sanctorum, but they became the eyes of the
‘saint’, they became his watchtowers.
A few days after the tanks had left and public allowed
back in the complex, many eager eyes climbed the top of the three storey bungas,
for a panoramic view of the rubble left behind, for a panoramic view of the
fruits of the darkness that the sentinels had let in, and for a panoramic view
of the embers that burned in that darkness and will continue for over a decade.
Bunga. Burj. Watchtower.
The Parliament and the Supreme Court are the twin
watchtowers to protect our ‘tryst with destiny’ and guide the India of the 26th
January 1950. And as the ‘saint’ of ‘New India’ holds his court, the sentinels
manning these bungas have started following in the footsteps of those atop the
Ramgharia twins nearly four decades back. They are fast becoming his
watchtowers. And as these sentinels look away, new bungas of this ‘New India’
arise – near Sardar Sarovar Dam, near Saryu, in reclaimed bit of Arabian Sea
near Mumbai and many more, and the 15th of August slowly inches
towards 5th of August.
These twin watchtowers must stand up and be counted or become
part of the rubble that will be left behind when the proverbial tanks roll in. They
must keep the light of the 26th January of 1950, or there will not be
an era of darkness, there will only be darkness.
