My friend Alfred Burnt was posted as a resident officer in the princely state of Gadauli in Rajputana in March 1918. He went with his wife and four boys. Upon Mr. Burnt’s early return to Calcutta he related with me the tale of what had happened to him there.
Mr. Burnt had travelled to Bhatinda in a train, from where ox-carts were arranged for his remaining journey. They were escorted by ten bodyguards because the jungles of Rajputana are notorious for bandits. The journey was covered swiftly. We can say that Goddess Tyche was in their favour that they did not cross roads with any dacoits or man-eater tigers.
They were received by the Maharaja Jaidrath Singh III with a lot of fanfare. As an Irishman Mr. Burnt had a special place in his heart for liquor. Mr. Burnt spent the night letting the wine cool his liver and watching the courtesans entertain them. At the end of the jollification Mr. Burnt unable to hold his vomit because of the strong liquor unconsciously entered a room and vomited. Then he went to the bed-chamber designated for him.
The heavy drinking he did the night before caused him to wake up late in the morning. In order to freshen up he bathed and dressed up. A little while later a servant entered his room who led him to the court. When he entered the court, he heard talks going on about vomiting in Local Deity’s Temple in the palace. He suddenly remembered last night when he vomited in some room but he refused to own up that it was his falt. The talks about the vomit ended, and soon the attention shifted to the administration of the state and the preparations for the upcoming ‘Gangaur’ festival celebrations. He sat there listening to the courtiers and the King discussing the state’s administration and then he joined them for lunch.
After lunch he was asked he would like to go to hunt ‘Godavan’ birds along with the Princes. He agreed to accompany the Princes to the hunt. They went on camels into the scorching desert hunting for the bird. Suddenly the sun disappeared, the sky and the sand turned as white as snow. The camel throwing Mr. Burnt ran away into the horizon and the princes and servants had disappeared.
A dark anthropoid shadow appeared in the white sky and suddenly Mr. Burnt felt as if his entire body was aflame, he casted off his garments and sprinted into the horizon, when, a lagoon appeared. He jumped into it but as soon as he jumped into the lagoon, the lagoon made his entire body sting and his skin turned yellow. He got out and the sun reappeared, but it looked as if the sun was coming right at him. Panic stricken, he ran blindly in the opposite direction only to encounter a wall which extended to as far as the naked eye could see. The large ball of fire came at him and engulfed him, it felt as if a million pins had been put into his body and blood was coming from each of the pores. The paraesthesia was unbearable it was like Satan himself had attacked him with his trident.
Now, the pins were replaced by water infested by gharials nibbling away at his body parts ripping them off and breaking his bones to dust with their muscular tails. Yet again the surroundings changed into the top of a mountain above the clouds with the winds raging. Being naked the cold air got to his head, in no time he fell down on the snow. As soon as he felt he was about die due to hypothermia his head started spinning and he heard a faint murmur “Sahib, Sahib are you okay Sahib….” and the face of a royal servant with a multicoloured turban appeared in front of him.
The princes and the servants conclude that it was just a minute heat stroke due to the hot dry weather which Britishers are not accustomed to but what Mr. Burnt had seen shook him. As soon as he reached the palace he frantically packed the luggage with his wife and told her that they needed to get out of this place as soon as possible. They left Gadauli the same day.
But, this was not the end as soon as they left Gadauli they were met by bandits on the way who managed to take the cart full of their belongings. Upon reaching Bhatinda I had to wire him money so that he could buy railway tickets to return back to Calcutta. After a week they reached Calcutta. As soon as they set foot on the ground, Mr. Burnt went to the company headquarters and resigned. He departed for England the next week itself. Though Mr. Burnt’s family had boarded the ship but when the ship alighted at England Mr. Burnt’s family was nowhere to be found because they had mysteriously disappeared on the way.
Picture Courtesy:
- ^https://markdejesus.com/have-you-felt-rejected-by-god/lost-in-desert/
- ^ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rajputana#/media/File:Rajputana_1909.jpg
- ^ https://www.google.co.in/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nativeplanet.com%2Ftravel-guide%2Fmarine-forts-in-maharashtra-002053.html&psig=AOvVaw3Bz6kwNDNb-akVCTE3UitE&ust=1621492731755000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAIQjRxqFwoTCOj1jaWR1fACFQAAAAAdAAAAABAJ
- ^https://www.gettyimages.in/photos/thar-desert
- ^ https://wsimag.com/science-and-technology/63284-studying-gharials-with-radio-tagging
