Visited my mom's hometown today; its around 80 kms from Bangalore; the gold mines of Kolar. It seems both my maternal grandparents' dads worked as foremen in the mines. I have heard lot of stories and interesting facts about the mines, the working environment inside womb of the earth, the stories of workers hiding gold inside their body by various means(those were the days of manual search).
The heydays of Kolar when it was the 'jewel' always being top of the list; the elite club of KGF- being the forth oldest club of India where membership was not allotted to Indians. It was a typical colonial British town; one of the early industrialized town in India known for egalitarian society.
My mom would tell stories of Anglo-Indian(in fact they were English) women and men; their evening stroll to a bakery to buy a pound of bread and meat. Their attires of skirts and blazers, their accented Tamil and of course their bungalows - complete with lawn, garden, cutlery and royal air. The sad stories of Indians who worked as menial laborers to feed the English greed, women/children working as maids in English bungalows and the fact that they took pride in speaking English!
Today; its a ghost town. The mines are shut since 2001; the English left long ago after partition; along with them - they took all the wealth that is gold. The mining shafts stand tall; rusted and unused. The buildings abandoned; the equipments corroded, weeds overgrown all around them. The area around the mines stand mute; an eerie silence. The so called 'Little England' once stands in ruins now.
I never got to hear stories from horse's mouth however. Dont have to; the place has lots to tell; one just has to listen.
One of the many mining shafts. During its operational days; the shaft carried 150 workers at a time and it took 4 minutes to reach 9600+ ms deep under the earth.
In ruins, the Champion reef facility. To imagine that these very complexes once buzzed with activities and the first place to be visited by dignitaries like Gandhi and Nehrus- dad and daughter is quite difficult.
Many such structures tolerating the decay.
Rubble and earth strewn all around the town as a mining by product.
The once elite KGF club; now empty and reminiscing the old glory.
The old world charm
One of the many bungalows.
Yet the constructions show how "English" they are..Relics of the past ! The second and third photographs I completely loved.The second one and the mode you put for that,made me remember "out of Africa".Cute read as well !
ReplyDeletethese sort of town's souls are troubled ... it feels.
ReplyDeleteNice read with pics.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting, B! The only worthwhile legacy that the British left are the beautiful buildings; thank God they didn't think of demolishing them!
ReplyDeleteKGF club is so beautiful.
So who lives in Kolar now? Can one go there and look around? It is a place with history...
I wish sometimes that we could at least preserve some of these places like they do else where in the world!
ReplyDeleteB, a good summary and pictures. As Balan mentioned the architectural excellence that the English left behind are one of the few great legacies during their two hundred years of plunder .
ReplyDeleteIronically there will soon be many Kolar like towns squeezed out of last bit of natural minerals by the likes of Reddy brothers and their cahoots.
What the British did not or could not the desis will!
WHAT GOOD ARE THE BUNGLOWS AND LAWNS.
ReplyDeleteGOLD HAS BEEN LOOTED.HAVENT WE BECOME BLIND TO ALL THE LOOT THAT HAS BEEN/IS BEING CARRIED OUT JUST UNDER OUR NOSE.
Thats true Sir. And the place is a dying witness
DeleteI am unable to visit any blogs dear as we have power cuts ranging fro 8-9 hrs.
ReplyDeleteLoved this post on Kolar mines. But sad to see its conditin now. The bungalow is very pretty.
Excellent narration Bindu,loved it .And that first picture that you posted on fb as well tells it all.My grandfather's(mom's dad)family used to supply daily essentials and other utility items to Britishers .They still have hats ,walking sticks and many interesting stories to share.
ReplyDeleteDo they still mine the gold nowdays ?
ReplyDeleteAs you wrote the british took everything , an sad to see such places now ghost towns .. reminds me of those western movies ..
ReplyDeletelovely pictures you have clicked though
Bikram's
The buildings look so majestic still!! They have been abandoned completely??
ReplyDeleteMelange,
ReplyDeleteYes. Thanks Melange. It did seem out of Africa :)
Makk,
Its sad
Rachna,
Thanks
Balan,
Yeah! The British didnt demolish anything if you notice Balan. They just looted while the Mughals destructed as well.
There are people staying; KGF has a population of 2,50,000+
In fact, BEML in KGF offers job opportunities for others; they find jobs in Bangalore and commute everyday.
You can definitely go there and look around, the bungalows, the equipment, the mounds/hills of washed mud, hospitals, schools, telephone exchange.... No permission inside the mines though.
Rahul,
Exactly! They can at least maintain and make it as a tourist spot.
Anil,
Well said Anil. The British left back something though they built all those for their purpose.
chitra,
Thats bad ma'am. Its sad to see the state of the mines.
kavita,
Yeah! My mom has lot of stories to share.
neha,
Nope. The mines closed down in year 2001. Though there are foreign companies (esp from Australia) seeking permission to mine; they say the quality of gold will be low and the expense to mine it out will be more than what they can make out of gold. Its mostly extinct.
Interestingly, gold was mined since Mauryan period here.
Bik,
Oh yeah! looks like some haunted place isnt it?
Shilpa,
Yeah the mines are all shut and you can see weeds and other overgrowth. The equipment itself are worth millions of dollars but left to corrode. The bungalows have been occupied though.
Wow! I have passed through KGF so many times during my weekend travel from B'lore to Chennai, but never knew this much of history except it was a Gold Mine. Aren't there any gold left by these Angrezi bas*****?? May be govt should convert that KGFClub into a tourism spot / museum..with some artifacts about the place.
ReplyDeleteVaish,
ReplyDeleteMining continued long after the British tell until 2001. But there was nothing worth.
But yes, I have the same thought; the government should make this as historic town and preserve it but thats the last thing Indian govt will do, isnt it?
Catching up on your blogs Bindu... Really nice pictures. And hey, I really love this new template on your blogs. You can reply to comments and stuff + the layout is so nice. Hi fi!
ReplyDeleteNice to see your presence Gautam. Thanks. Yeah its blogger template and the comment one is embedded. Easy now :)
DeleteWhat a fantastic photo on the top of the page. It is mesmerising!
ReplyDeleteIts the Damublla Cave temple :)
Delete