SHIMLA: As many as 42 writers from across India will ride the Shimla heritage toy train to undertake the 4th Bhalkhu Smriti Literary Yatra on the UNESCO’s Kalka-Shimla heritage track.
Riding the heritage toy train, the writers and poets will recite a marvellous melange of poems, songs, music and memoirs to pay tributes to Baba Bhalkhu.
Bhalkhu was a "shepherd and an amazing innovator with no educational background, who had engineering skills that had baffled the then elite British".
Because of his gift of gab, Bhakhu Ram Jamdar, who came from a nondescript Jhajha village, near Chail, now a tourist town, had put the then British engineers to shame.
He had solved “some jigsaw puzzles of engineering” while laying the arduous world-famous railway track and its 103 tunnels on the Shimla-Kalka rail line, about 125 years ago.
Bhalkhu Smriti Literary Yatra on a moving heritage toy train is unique literary fest not only in India, but also perhaps in the world.
The Yatra is being conducted by Himalaya Sahitya Sanskriti Evam Paryavaran Manch on August 13 and August 14.
42 writers including 13 writers from different cities of the country will recite their poem, lyrics and songs on this “moving toy train Kavi sammelan and Samvad”.
This is the first such unique event in the country on a moving train, in which the sessions of stories, memoirs, poetry and music will be held in the name of stations falling on this train route, said chairman, Himalaya Manch and the convener of this yatra, SR Harnot, who himself is a prominent writer from Himachal.
The writers will ride the toy train at Shimla Railway Station in the morning. They will negotiate the eerie lush green ambience of the Shiwaliks flora and fauna while travelling through its tunnel no 103, Summerhill, Taradevi, Shoghi, Kiarighat, Kandaghat, Solan and Barog.
The bandwagon of poets and writers will recite, sing and dance to their recitals and take the reverse journey from Barog hill in Solan in the afternoon.
Harnot says it is a national level event of two days. On August 14, the author will visit Jhajha, the ancestral village of Bhalkhu, which is 8 km from Chail, he adds.
In the village, the writers will also organize a literary seminar with the local Panchayat and people and will meet the family members of Bhalkhu.
This event is being dedicated to the memory and honor of Bhalkhu, who hails Jhaza, who was described as a “shepherd and an illiterate engineer by Mr. H. S. Harington, Chief Engineer of Kalka- Shimla Railways.
Bhalku helped and guided the British Engineers during the construction of the Kalka Shimla Railway from 1898 – 1903, Harington had noted.
The yatra is dedicated not only to the memory of Baba Bhalkhu but also to honour all the workers of Himachal, who constructed roads and other facilities in remote areas braving difficulties and struggles, Harnot said.
Many of them also sacrificed their lives. This journey aims to promote mutual brotherhood, cooperation, dialogue on contemporary topics and environmental awareness, he explained.
The literary event will also give publicity to the Kalka-Shimla Railway track.
Among the writers participating from outside Himachal include Madan Kashyap, Malik Rajkumar, Rakeshrenu, Ramkishan Sharma, well-known theatre artist from Delhi.
Nilesh Kulkarni, painter Sarita Kulkarni, renowned musician and writer Sunaini Sharma from Chandigarh, Rajurkar Raj from Bhopal, Ghanshyam Maithil, Subhash Agarwal, Shashi Srivastava, Lakhwinder Singh from Amritsar, Manoj Manjul from Lucknow and Jagjit Aazad from Chamba. Then there is a bard, Ajey from Lahaul-Spiti.
“The event is organized by the authors with mutual cooperation and contribution”, Harnot said.
