It happened on Walker Hill, Shimla district on a beautiful summer afternoon. The ‘accident’ that people talk about till today, and just can’t understand how it could have happened.
Or why?
But for some of us who know better, it is clear- it was no accident. The car that was involved, seemed to have simply flown over the protective iron railings on the hillside, and of the three men travelling in that car, one was dying and the other two gravely injured with multiple fractures and severe bruising. And in the moments that Jatanbir breathed his last, he told his father Harjit and brother Amandeeep, '‘It finally managed to get us. I knew all along that this would happen one day, the only thing that I didn’t know was, exactly which day would be my last. Look after yourselves and please, please, look after my children.”
A tortured breath escaped his lips, his eyes rolled up and he found the peace that he had been craving.
Finally, in death, if not in his entire life of a mere forty three years.
For understanding the events of that day, I will need to tell you a little about Walker Hill. And later, I will tell you how that ‘accident’ happened. Or at least, the version that Harjit and Amandeep told us.
A small town on the outskirts of Shimla, Walker Hill is built on an actual hill, 5 km west to the Shimla Ridge and is a part of the seven-hill cluster. In the past, Walker Hill has been used as a residence for Mahatma Gandhi, who stayed here at the Georgian mansion of Rajkumari Amrit Kaur during his Shimla visits. These beautiful pine and deodhar laden slopes have many quaint residences, like the one belonging to the family of stunningly beautiful, world famous painter Amrita Shergil . Besides being a popular tourist destination, the Indian Institute of Advanced Studies housed in the former Viceregal Lodge, which was built in 1884-88, is on the nearby Observatory Hill. Today, it hosts the Himachal Pradesh University, started in 1975 and mainly offers post graduate programmes in Humanities, Commerce, Science, Management, Law and Languages.
In the early 1930’s, a wealthy landlord from Punjab, Sardar Tarlok Singh Sachhar bought an estate called ‘Oakley’ from Brigadier David Bryant, an Englishman who had made India his home after retiring from the Indian army. Sardar Tarlok Singh knew he had managed to get that estate at a real bargain. With over twenty acres of land, apple orchards and a large, beautifully built main house with five bedrooms spread over two floors, indoor plumbing, water and electricity, it was an absolute delight. And so it became the annual summer retreat for the entire Sacchar clan, including his bachelor son, Manvinder and three daughters Kulvinder, Sukhpreet and Amrita who would congregate there for the summer vacations bringing their children with them. It was an idyllic time for all and they absolutely adored the fabulous weather, the picnics in the orchards, complete with fabulous teatime treats- including clotted cream and strawberry jam sandwiches, scones and fruit cake, or at other times, a packed lunch with delicious dry ‘masala chicken ‘sookhe aloo’ and ‘paronthis’ as they were called in Punjabi.
They also had a free run of the entire estate, with one caveat-barring the old garden shed in one corner of the estate. Sardar Tarlok Singh had made it clear to all that it was the one area that they must never venture towards.You see, only he knew that was the sole reason why he had managed to buy Oakley at such a bargain. Just before signing over the property to him, Brigadier David Bryant had shared the reason why he was selling the estate, one that he had grown to love so dearly, and moving back to Oxford in England. He was convinced that his son Captain Jason Bryant had met an untimely death at the hands of Kamalini's ghost Kamalini , was the young daughter of their gardener, who he had enticed, impregnated and finally deserted, when she had insisted that he must marry her. When he had outright rejected her and his unborn child, she had gone to the garden shed in one corner of the estate, locked it from inside and hung herself on the wooden beam that ran from one end to the other.
By the time her father, gardener Roshan Lal finally managed to break down that door with the help of the other servants, it was too late. She was dead, as was the five month old foetus she had been carrying.
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It was only a few days later that Jason began to look terrified. When his father asked him what was troubling him, all that he managed to stutter was that he wouldn’t be around in this world for much longer and that no one should have any doubts as to what had happened to him when they came upon his dead body. And then told his father that Kamalini had visited him the very next day after her suicide and had promised him that she would have her revenge.
( Image sourced from the Internet)
As it happened, both Jason and Kamalini were right, because they found Jason hanging at the very spot that Kamalini herself had been found. Some of the servants thought that it might have been a case of suicide, but Brigadier David Bryant knew better. For he too, had seen the dead Kamalini walking through the gardens in the early hours of the morning, and knew that now it merely a matter of time.
Which was exactly what he shared with Sardar Tarlok Singh when he sold him the estate, who still went ahead and bought the estate, because he knew very well that he would never be able to get this kind of a prime property at such a bargain otherwise.
Time passed and after his death, Sardar Tarlok Singh’s only son, Manvinder inherited the estate.He occupied it and started spending his summers there while continuing to live in Patiala and managing his farmlands during the rest of the year. Since he was a bachelor, there really weren’t any complications and he had a very efficient estate manager, Hukam Chand who kept his life stress free and both estates in Punjab and Himachal running smoothly.
Occasionally, a rumour went around, people in Walker Hill wondered, was he really the heir, or a mere pretender to the estate, but since the answer was entirely unknown with no one to answer it, life went on.
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1995
But things have a way of changing and sometimes they tend to take an ugly turn. As is exactly what happened when Harjit, (Manvinder’s son) found a loophole in the their deceased grandfather's will and decided to take matters into his own hands. Accompanied by his sons Jatanbir and Karamjeet, one a beautiful summer day, , they drove straight into ‘Oakley’ in their 4WD, broke the front lock and after gaining entry into the main house, set up home and hearth in the estate. Harjit was a severe alcoholic and had three sons, of whom Jatanbir was the oldest. Jatanbir was also the most cunning of them all and despite not having had the opportunity of a college education as he was always busy trying to pick up the pieces left behind by his drunk father, he also had the responsibility of providing for the rest of the family, which had increased considerably by then.
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And from here, a chain of inexplicable events began to unfold and things soon begin to spiral out of control. Weird and scary things started happening to the residents of that property and concluded with a terrible tragedy. One day, soon after their arrival, a series of small fires broke out within the house and as soon as they put out one, another one started. It almost seemed as if an unseen, yet very determined, invisible hand was starting those fires. And that was repeated at least once every week, they just never knew when it would start and when it did, nobody knew how to bring it under control. Everyone’s nerves were shot and the tension, unimaginable. A couple of the ladies felt as if they would have a nervous breakdown and then, one of them actually did.
Then there were other times when a wraithlike figure was seen walking in the vast grounds in the early hours of the morning. The only time someone dared to follow her, and come up fairly close, she appeared to evaporate into thin air. All that remained hanging in the still early morning air was a faint fragrance, something that smelt like a perfume but the top note was unmistakably that of rotting flesh! And once that choice bit of information that they tried very hard to keep under wraps, (but failed miserably) became public, everyone in the house, including all the servants were absolutely petrified. You see, just like the fires, they never knew when this eerie figure would make its appearance, and then quite literally, vanish into thin air.
In all of this, it soon became clear that was one person who was more affected than all the others, and that was Jatanbir. he became extremely ill with a very high fever that refused to break for five whole days and even when it did, it would recur every two weeks or so. He fell very ill and lay in bed, weak and gasping, it seemed that the doctors could really do very little to help him. And even when he recovered, he remained extremely fearful- with very good reason.
One day, when he was feeling considerably more ill than usual, his father Harjit insisted on taking him to hospital where numerous tests were conducted on him. The result was a rude shock for all of them- one of his kidneys was very weak and the other one was doing badly too. The doctors immediately started him on a treatment plan to help him in the short run, but were fairly candid about the long term course of treatment- it was clear to them they said, a kidney transplant was the only option and advised them to look for donors at the earliest.Of course, that was easier said than done- the clock was ticking and unless they managed a kidney donor, Jatanbir was only going to be around for the short, and certainly not for the long run.
Not long after this, Jatanbir’s wife, Marina fell gravely ill too. The reason for her illness was identified many tests later- it was fourth stage lung cancer. The attending lady doctor had tears in her eyes when she told them that the only thing they could do for her now was to keep her as comfortbale as they possibly could- she had only months, if not a few weeks to live. Mercifully for her, Marina’s weary and broken body gave up the fight sooner than anyone could have predicted- three weeks after the diagnosis she was no more. A thirty six year old woman in the prime of her life passed away , leaving behind two small children, a husband who was already seriously unwell and a large family, all of whom loved her unconditionally and would have done anything to save her.
If only, there had been even the slightest possibility of that.
But events for the family were to go from bad to worse, until finally one day, a Honda car was seen by eyewitnesses as “ flying high up into the air, almost as if it had been thrown up like a giant ball.“
This was followed by a loud bang, after which there was only silence.
Followed by the groans of the grievously wounded and dying.
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It happened on Walker Hill on a beautiful summer afternoon. The ‘accident’ that people talk about till today and just can’t understand how it could have happened.
Or why?
But for some of us who know better, it is clear- it was no accident. That Honda car had gone over the protective iron railings on the hillside and of the three men, travelling in that car, one was dying and the other two gravely injured with multiple fractures and severe bruising. And in the moments that Jatanbir breathed his last, he told his father Harjit and brother Amandeeep, ‘It finally managed to get us. I knew all along that this would happen one day, the only thing that I didn’t know was, which day would be my last.
"Look after yourselves and please….please look after my children.”