Operation 'Daredevils'- an epic rescue and search mission by ITBP for humanity and human values

Operation ‘Daredevils’

An epic operation by ITBP for humanity and human values

Vivek Kumar Pandey

The most difficult high altitude search and retrieval mission ‘Daredevils’ carried out by the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) mountaineers in Nanda Devi East will always be remembered as an epic to the humanity and human values. The 15 member team of the ITBP led by Ratan Singh Sonal, 2^nd In Command took 20 days and struggled over 500 hours continuously against high velocity cold winds, bad weather, snow hazards and other terrain and altitude challenges including minus 20 degree temperature. In a never before seen operation in such a situation, these brave ITBP men finally searched the bodies of seven mountaineers and took them out from snow at an altitude of 19000 ft.

After rescuing 4 mountaineers (All British) from Nanda Devi Base on 2^nd July, 2019, due to the limitations of flying machines, it was not possible to carry the dead bodies through helicopters from that altitude. ITBP men, then decided to take the bodies by carrying them physically from 19000 feet to 15000 feet through extremely difficult ridge coming in between. This was the most difficult part of the operation.

It was a never before seen operation in which the ITBP men tested their high altitude skills also in such an extreme condition where dead bodies were to be searched, retrieved and then to be transported. First of all, after finding, they lifted the 7 dead bodies one by one after digging them out from the snow. They offered due dignity and respect to the dead. In the nights, they even slept besides the dead bodies protecting them as if they are part of the team. The bodies were found on 23 June, 2019 and finally taken to Pithoragarh on 3 July, 2019. The 12 days’ of being there with those retrieved from snow will remain in the minds of the team of ITBP mountaineers forever.

Nanda Devi is a sacred mountain in the Kumaon Himalayas. The locals worship the mountain and have many folk tales of the Devi. The ITBP mountaineers in their each success during the operation; worshiped the Devi and chanted ‘Nanda Devi maiyya ki jai’ which gave them strength.   Usually, ITBP, while performing its routine security duties also in the higher himalyas always respect the local traditions and pay respect to the mountains. It helps ITBP personnel to face the nature’s fury at times as they always go by the local experience and adopt flexibility according to the weather, terrain and other challenges.

Whenever the temperature rose, the bodies were provided with the snow cover by the mountaineers so that decomposition rate of the bodies could be slowed down.  They tried so hard to retrieve the eighth missing mountaineer, but even after 5 days of efforts, same was not succeded. Instead, some belongings of the mountaineers were recovered from the spot. GPS, Ice Axe, Communication set, ropes, carabiners etc were found. The team got so emotional when they saw a small penguin doll wrapped in a polythene bag lying beside a dead body of a mountaineer. Later, I got a message from a friend of the Australian Mountaineer Ruth McCance, and that, this doll belongs to her friend and its name is ‘Pinga McSack’.

To take the bodies to lower altitude, top class mountaineering skills were required to be practiced with letter and spirit. ITBP is well known for its mountaineering and adventure sports’ skill and training and since its Inception in 1962, the force personnel are known as the pioneers in the mountaineering world. The force has successfully completed 212 Mountaineering expeditions and has the best mountaineers in the country. Every Frontier of the force organizes special mountain expedition every year to expose its men in the field and art of the high altitude mountaineering. In the basic training itself, the ITBP personnel are trained in rock craft and climbing techniques.

The highest border outpost of the ITBP along the high altitude Himalayan border is located at 18,800 feet. The ITBP personnel guard the icy frontiers in the Himalayas traversing through 20 to 22 thousand feet at times as a routine. After such grooming and mountain exposure, ITBP has become second to none in such mountains operations and that is why ‘Daredevils’ was completed with high standards of professionalism displayed by some of the toughest mountaineers. The team of ‘Daredevils’ consisted of the mountaineers who have scaled Mt. Everest, Dhaulagiri, Mukut, Satopanth and many other high peaks in the Himalayas in the past.   

With this, the ITBP has once again proved that due to its deployment in high altitude areas and tough training its men undergo; the Force is one of the best organization in rescue and relief operations. The entire world had witnessed how ITBP rescued more than 33 thousand pilgrims from a grave disaster in Uttarakhand in 2013.

In the Himalayas every year, many road accidents/ landslide incidents happen in which ITBP responds as a first responder and saves precious lives of citizens. In the ongoing Amarnath Yatra, a video of ITBP Jawans shielding the pilgrims from shooting stones went viral. This is an example how ITBP jawans always remain at the forefront in such a situation where eminent danger from nature’s fury exists.

History of Astell Estate, Mussoorie

History of Astell Estate,

Mussoorie

Vivek Kumar Pandey

2010

               The times gone by of this area is not only a knowledge worthy subject , but also holds significant evidences of the history which is quite interesting and yet to be officially encrypted. Various narrations are received from various people and  intellectuals about the history of the area, which we are going to add into this inclusive document one by one.

            Let us start with the version of Sh. Gopal Bhardwaj, Historian of the local area Mussoories, who state that the first evidence of the ownership in respect of the Astell Estate goes to the early eighteenth century when  the British Infantry Officer Major Edmund Swetenham owned  the whole area right from the Astell Estate to the Cloud Ends during the course of exploring new locations for various purposes for  the British inhabitation. It was the same time when the   British people exactly started swinging to Mussoorie in the early days of British arrival to the area.

            Later on, the family members of Major Edmund Swetenham, who also had the possession of the Cloud End Resort, which was his residence during that time (Clouds End is situated at some 10 Kilometers from the Astell Estate ) detailed various trustees for the respective areas and properties. Astell Estate was such an area where the trustee constructed the Astell Lodge(Presently known as Shail-Shikhar), Lions Paw, also known as Geutian Hill (Top in front of Shivaji Gate) and the Shenstone building(Presently the CO Training residence) and  the Bramliegh Building (Known as DC store at present).

            The road leading to the Manav Bharti and the Guru Nanak School (The Spring Road) was known as the New Circular Road and the red roof house on the first bend from the Shivaji gate and located just over the fencing near obstacle area was known as Mana villa.

ASTELL  LODGE

           

E.F. Swetenham,  the grand daughter of the founder of the area continued the legacy of his father and enjoyed the ownership till early 19^th Century. The Swetenhams left the property in 1930 and re-established themselves in the UK.  The evidence received from the Municipality board  Mussorie shows that The Administrator -General and Official Trustee, United Province , Allahabad, in his letter no 1195/382 Dated 5^th November, 1930 in his letter to The Secretary , Municipal Board, Mussoorie wrote about the sell of 5 related houses of the Astell Estate(Copy of letter in scanned photo is included  in Appendix-A).

                                               LION’S  PAW  BELOW  GEUTION  HILL

           

According to the Municipality board documents,  E.F.Swetenham, the grand daughter of Major Swetenham sold the land to Chaudhary Raghu Raj Singh, son of Ray Bahadur Chaudhary Basant Singh Rai (Tehsil- Siroha, Bijnaur, United Province) in 1933. The Chaudharies then sold this property to some Sh. Ratti Lala , a resident of Mussorie. The land and the property then purchased by the HADSA,  ITBP during 1978-79.

           

                       

A copy of site plan map indicating the Astell Lodge Estate shows that some Mr. Gholam  Ahmed Esqr (May be some trustee of the owner of the lodge and the land) wanted to design certain addition and alterations at the Astell Lodge and sought permission from the Municipal Board which was rejected by the authoritieslater on.(Scanned Copies in pictures below).

                                    BRAMLEIGH TOWERS CAMBRIDGE ACADEMY

            The narration received from Sh. T. P. Cashmore, presently working as a teacher in the L.N. Wynberg School, Mussorie reveals another chronicle of the area in a different manner. Sh. T.P. Cashmore, who served as a teacher during 1965 to 1973 in a school named Bramleigh Towers Cambridge Academy (Presently the DC Store Building) boarding School in the Astell Estate. The name of the principal of the School was Sh. O.B. Craven. Some senior school students (boys) were residing in the hostel located in the Shenstone house (CO Training residence at present) besides some staff quarters also existed in the same building.

 The girl students used to be boarded in a small house in the campus which is presently known as the officers’ accommodation below the MI Room. The main staff quarters were in the Astell Lodge which is presently known as Shail Shikhar  (House near Shivaji Gate). The school had a capacity to carry a total of 200 students at that time. The school was very famous and students from foreign countries like Thailand and Tibet were the students of this prestigious school.

                                                SHANESTONE  BUILDING

              Sh. Cashmore remember that thick jungles surrounded the whole area during his tenure and wild animals such as dear , bear , monkeys and Leopard roamed around into the down areas up to the demolition ground and beyond. The Demolition Ground was used as the play ground for the school children. Sh. Cashmore remember an event in which  a Leopard killed several cows of the local area and it was a terror for the local people. The Principal of the School, Sh. Craven continuously ambushed on the Nelson point and shot the  Leopard  one night with his Gun on the Nelson Point ridge when the Leopard attacked the Cow.

                                                            GIRLS HOSTEL

                                OUT HOUSE NEAR THE BRAMLEIGH TOWERS CAMBRIDGE ACADEMY

                                During those days,one  Sh. F. Schamp, teacher of Mathematics and English was residing in an isolated house near the Bramleigh Towers which might have been used as a servant Quarter or the out house during Swetenham days. Out house are those temporarily made constructions of those days which were used for toilets by the Britishers. The out houses are constructed outside the main residence and the earmarked servants were asked to clear the stored defecates to carry the lavatory pot to some distant areas on the daily basis.

                                The area down below the karate ground (Presently known as STD) and around was the servant’s Quarter and the servant’s area who worked for the Englishmen residing in the Astell Estate during those days.

            The narration of Anusuya Prasad Baloni reveals another version. Anusuya Prasad , who did his schooling from Mussorie during Sixties say that the area was then famous as ‘Barah Patthar’(Twelve stones) and people know it as a thickly vegetated area and usually used to avoid to enter into the area as it was notorious for  wild animals. He also narrate that at one time some Britishers of the Astell Estate killed a Cow in order to pick the milk organ of the Cow by brutal  means for cooking it for beef and the local people of the Mussoorie area went on an outrage which lasted for various weeks.

Major Edmund Swatenham

            Edmund Swatenham was a cadet at Addiscombe, East India Company's Army Academy, and joined the Bengal Engineers.The story goes that Swetenham, during a walk in the mountains heard the most melodious singing and followed the voice till he came upon the singer, a beautiful mountain girl. frightened, the girl sped home, followed by the smitten Major. 

          

Swetanham – During the young and the old age

Swetenham took the father's permission to marry the girl. her father, a local 'zamindar', had gifted the estate to him as dowry.

He selected a hill near moolti tibba to build his house, one of the first in Mussoorie, which was completed in the spring and summer of 1838 by 500 labourers. It was one of the areas here the major built cloud end(named after a hill in cheshire in UK)  in 1838 and lived with his wife Rose and five children.  One of his son died at the age of 11 while he fell down in a khudd near the clouds end.Major swatenham died in the same house. The last of the swetenhams left india in the 1930's.

            Four generations of the swetenhams went on to live here. Mussoorie in the hot weather and dehradun in the cold weather were home to numbers of swetenhams for the next century. Clouds  end belonged to the family until after 1947 and is now a Hotel.                                                     

                                              

The Astell Estate Site and the Radha Bhawan Estate – Any link?

                                    Babu Radhanath Sikdar (1813-1870)

Father of Mathematical techniques in Surveying in India resided in the Radha Bhawan Estate during 18^th Century. The Radha Bhawan and the Vincent Hill were the centres of discussions and calculations besides the George Everest’s house at various stages while the great trigonometric Survey of India was performed. Radha babu also helped George Everest in designing and calculating the complete survey of the area, and also in the Survey of ‘PEAK XV’ later named after Sir George Everest as Mount Everest.

Nelson Point

            The significance of the Astell Estate site should also be ascertained in connection with the Great Trigonometric Survey of India in the mid 18^th Century and the Nelson Point in the Astell Estate might be also named after any Surveyor of British India which was a key location for the entire Survey process. It is still not clear that why the point is called ‘Nelson Point’ but is sure that among one of some great surveyors of that time may possibly named the place on his name and thus the trig height 1959 was known as ‘Nelson Point’

            Another thought on the naming the places reflects the tradition of keeping the names of such places /hills is that the British people kept the heroic names on the European sub continent line to dominate the colonial societies. In such a pattern, the local Britishers kept the names of Nelson point and Vincent Hill on the names of Great Admiral Nelson and George Vincent. In Cheshire also, which was the native place for the Swetenhams, there is a place called Nelson in the New Hampshire, the features of which resembles the uneven terrain of the Nelson point of Mussoorie. In Cheshire, the name of one city  Monadnock No. 6  was changed in 1814 to Nelson in honor of Viscount Horatio Nelson, British Admiral and Naval hero. Both the country sites are similar in various aspects , hence somehow , the credit of the name Nelson point again goes to the Swatenhams. 

          The history of the Estate is not only out of the ordinary but still seems various additions and deliberations before coming on any conclusion. The Estate site remained isolated up to the beginning of the nineteenth century when some trustees started some construction work in this jungle terrain. The site got initial buildings as school infrastructure and later on construction by various trustees in the area. The site was used for hunting, outing, picnic and sometimes for Surveying the whole area. It was the ITBP who developed the area in such a manner that the features and the land inside the Estate became so noticed.