Kasauli is a beautiful little town esconsed in the Shivalik hills that the Britishers established way back in 1842. This heritage town has numerous buildings, some preserved while others are quitely withering away. Nevertheless it is always a pleasure to inhale the cold air filtered through pine trees, and quitely enjoy a cup of tea in the bazar.
However, this one black dog always intrigued me and noone could answer why it sits so quitely guarding the 'English Wine Shop' of Kalyan Hotel.
I would have photographed n-number of times whenever the family visited Kasauli.
This is a beautiful lifelike statue of a black retriever, with its eyes painted red.
This time when I drove up the cloud-filled Kasauli on a weekend, I asked the chaiwala nearby and a vegetable vendor whose shop does thriving business just outside the Hotel building, as to who built this sculpture and why, I could not get much response, except a quick one, "
Angrezon ke zamaane se hai yeh shayad" (It is here perhaps from the British times).
Having read about the Japanese dog, Hachiko (the faithful), whose bronze statue at Shibuya train station in Tokyo is a reminder of dog's affection and loyalty for its owner, I was sure that this dog must have had a similar story.
Several hours of relentless brainstorming with 'Google Guru', feeding it with different keywords, ultimately led me to a blog of probably a senior retired Sikh officer who must have lived in Kasauli... very nicely captioned, "I am Daarji". A very common affectionate sobriquet for father, grandfather and great grandfather. I could not find the real author behind 'Daarji' in any of his blogs and his last entry was of 2012. But 'Daarji' had related the story of this black statue that sits quietly on a pedestal outside the Kalyan hotel, and being the exact life-like replica, is often missed by many.
Indeed it was a memorial to a true friend, a 'hero' of Kasauli. This old building on the 'Y' junction on the mall was earlier a chemist and druggist store known as "B.Kalicharan & Sons" owned by Mr Kalicharan who was a richest landlord of his time in the town who had a large clout and influence in the area. Daarji relates that the DC of Kasauli, who was a representative of the British Queen, would walk behind him when Seth Kalicharan took a walk on the Kasauli mall.
Since drug stores at that time, were also the licensed wine shops, used to have lots of cash, and one day, some thieves broke into the shop and robbed it off imported wines and trinkets and cash. While the robbery was in progress, the Black Retriever of Sethji attacked the robbers who fled from the scene. Our 'Hero' immediately woke up the owner, and led the police to the robbers who were caught sharing the booty.
His fame grew and an Englishman photographed the dog, and sent the picture to a bronze foundry in North Devon in Engliand, where the statue was built and shipped back to India. It was installed outside the Sethji's shop as a memorial to, what Daarji also says, "Man's Best Friend".
So next time, you are in Kasauli, do stop by and appreciate this bronze statue, and salute the 'Hero'.
