Hiking from Kalachi to Paharpur Blot Bullot (Deva Kot) Memoirs of Jeevan Das Khatri Kalachiwal (New Delhi)

It is the Wednesday evening of October 20, 1948, when the sun has set in the unknown city of Delhi and it is going to be one year since we migrated to India from our city Kalachi and settled in the strange environment of Delhi including my family. I am comforting myself by recalling those days of my past year 1947 when we along with some local friends, all walked from Kalachi to Bullout and went to Bohriyanwale Thale to visit Keval Ram Maharaj's Asthan. Attended. Maybe a year ago I was a little younger and I was full of a strange kind of energy, not just me but all my friends who would leave Kalachi and find their identity in the streets of Delhi. are walking Last year, when we were all in our country, a party of twenty friends from the neighborhood had expressed their intention to walk from Kalachi to Bullot. The most difficult part of this trip was getting permission from the family. The responsibility was put on the shoulders of Takht Ram and his brother Devi Dayal, which they handled very well. 

Devi Dayal and Takht Ram had convinced most of our parents, but there were two or three friends whose houses The family members were not willing to go on this journey, they had to announce a hunger strike to convince the family members, the family members had to give permission.

After the permission stage was settled, all the friends were gathered in Devi Dayal's sitting room and a long meeting was held, in which it was decided that food and dry goods (flour, ghee, sugar, rice, pulses, (potato, onion and other spices) bags will be made. A donation of two rupees per head was collected from all the boys and handed over to Takht Ram, with which the food was bought. Ganesh Das was a little weak financially in our group so the high command decided. It was said that they would take him with them without receiving anything from Ganesh Das. The goods were collected and placed in sacks and then a camel of seventeen rupees was hired to carry the goods so that there would be no problem in carrying the goods. Who was There was a wonderful atmosphere in Devi Dayal's house, as the days of the journey were approaching, our spirits were getting higher. As soon as Gharial reached home, all three of us closed our bags and started chanting loudly. The people of the neighborhood woke up to the echo of our slogans, especially the priest of the temple also got up. We danced and sang. They came out of Kalachi chatting. 

By the time the sun lifted its red face from the horizon, we had reached Hathala, eleven miles from Kalachi. It was cloudy and the sky was more than half covered with clouds. It happened. We stopped for breakfast at Hathala and then we all started walking. After talking, we left Hathala five miles behind and reached a village called Budha. The curious villagers of Budha village were quite surprised to see us. In which direction and where is the convoy going? On telling us, he gave us an enthusiastic welcome and opened the village temple, and sent us to rest inside. Meanwhile, a very old friend of ours, Tulsidas Punjani, who lives in Budh Basti, got the news of our caravan's arrival. (Tulsidas now resides in Nirankari Colony, Delhi), he threw us a dream feast and packed some food and drink along with us to eat on the way. Jai, after thanking Tulsi, we were preparing to leave when our good friend Roshan Lal arrived along with Taneja, Jat Ram, and Mohan Lal. After getting permission from his father, he reached us in a lorry. 

After the arrival of Roshan Lal, life in the caravan became lively. At the same time, Tulsidas also stood up and decided that I would also go with him. Leaving the village on Wednesday, we continued to walk until the day began to fall and from the evening. Already the trip was stopped. All the boys took their responsibilities, someone went out to fetch water, someone brought firewood and thus the dinner was prepared. Everyone had a good meal and everyone lay down to rest in the moonlight.

The most important feature of our trip was that everyone would be treated the same, everyone would be made to sing otherwise there was an order from the High Command (Takht Ram and Devi Dayal) that those who did not sing would be punished. The penalty will be imposed. Some of our friends had never sung in public, but they had to. After breakfast, Devi Dayal told us that we are all about to reach Paharpur and if we continue without stopping, we will reach Paharpur around ten o'clock. They also passed till they reached the bank of the canal where we were not bursting with joy. Everyone took off their clothes and jumped into the canal. Their food was prepared on the bank of the canal and the convoy started again. In the afternoon we were in Paharpur. The villagers of Paharpur opened the Dharamshala for us.