RIFLE RANGE BOY: Then and now...

Somebody's here!

It is a piece of land right in the middle of the triangular subcontinent, a land so remote that King Dasavaratha thought it was apt for Ram, Sita and Laxman to spend 14 years in exile. A forest lush with various flora, deer, birds with psychedelic-hued feathers, the cursed stone of Ahalya, sages, tribes and demons used as their playground and workstations. It soon came to be non-existent with climate change and invading foreign invaders over the generations.

Locally made pistols

The farangs took a particular interest in this area when they were kings. The abundance of minerals in that area piqued their curiosity. Many mines sprung up, and the visitors thought it was an appropriate venue to host numerous factories specialising in gun manufacturing, ammunition and bombs.

There it was, Jabalpur of the central state of Madhya Pradesh with its gun factories, military barracks and related military training posts.

What used to be a playing field for sages the like of Gautama who sought peace beyond the physical world is now a minefield for training warriors to shatter the living daylights of their enemies.

@India Coffee House

The invaders also brought in uniforms which impressed the locals. Somehow, this uniformed dressing gave authority to its wearers, and the natives were dying to put them on their skin. They did not mind that it would mean thrashing their own kind and playing subservient to the colonial masters.

The locals in foreign costumes were God-sent to the invaders. It made it much easier for the HQ some 7,000 km away to cow their subjects into submission. This is how British troops and officials about 20,000 ruled over the 300 million population in India.