How ironic that the ORGANIZATION of the starting point of the Revolt of 1857 has not changed! ITAWA (the way it is spelled in HINDI) was misspelled by the British as Etawah as were its peculiar spellings of Munghyr (Munger in Bihar) and Cawnpore (today’s Kanpur). Unfortunately, no one cared about this small town from where the sepoy mutiny began and became India’s first war of independence. To show my respect for the place and as a humble tribute to it, I will spell it ‘correctly’ throughout my post and write ITAWA and not silly ETAWAH.
In this historically challenged country, one doubts anyone has ever heard of this rather backward city in UP. Ask a young man living in the subway or even your dad / mom anything about ITAWA and they will give you a blank and empty look as if ‘Ye aap kya poochh rahe hain’? (What the hell are you asking?). Such is the ignorance because the author of this article recently asked a 23-year-old girl in Delhi if she heard the name of Mangal Pandey (the first Revolt hero of 1857 who was hanged by the British on April 8, 1857). ? His nonchalant answer made me shudder: Mangal Panday, kaun? (Who was Mangal Pandey?)
ITAWA is in the vicinity of Eta (again misspelled by the English as Etah). Eta (the correct spelling), Mainpuri and ITAWA are almost grouped cities and modern India knows them as Dacoit-Belt. Again a degenerate irony.
The ITAWA collector during the Revolt of 1857 was AO Hume, who later became the founder and director of the Congress in 1885. Hume loved India and its people. As an ITAWA collector, Hume wrote to the director of the East India Company, Sir Christopher Collins, in Calcutta (not ‘Kolkata’ to me; we can change the names of the big cities because those names were given by the British, but we cannot change them). the spelling and name of ETWAH to ITAWA) than the oppressive rule of the East India Company and due to its corrupt officials, a revolt of the Indians was on the anvil. And that happened. Hume was a British humanitarian officer who was sympathetic to poor Indians and called for the life of Mangal Pandey to be spared. However, he was hanged (publicly) to deter other Indians.
ITAWA is famous for its Lion Safari. It is home to Asiatic lions (originally from Gir, Gujarat). Lions roam freely while visitors roam caged paths. The National Sanctuary of Chambal is also here. The Agra-ITAWA Bicycle Highway (207 km long) is Asia’s first bicycle highway. It is a one-of-a-kind project.
ITAWA has moderately good schools and universities, but nothing extraordinary. There are not very good hotels and restaurants here. But there are reasonably good accommodations in ITAWA and the roadside restaurants offer pretty good food. The city needs a major reform to become a renowned city.
Years ago, Indian President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmad suggested that ITAWA should have a museum dedicated to the 1857 revolt. The remains of that important event have not been properly preserved.
I was at ITAWA (PIN code 206001) and I felt nostalgic. Somehow I could relate to the place, as I have always been a keen student of history, especially. the modern history of India from 1857 to the date of murky politics.
Visit this place and do not forget to pay tribute to those anonymous revolutionaries who gave their lives for us:
When you go home
Tell them with pity
That we have given our today
For your morning.
Always remember this if you ever go to ITAWA.
