A CRUMBLING CITADEL

Meerut: Once the military centre of the British empire in north India, the cantonment is now battling surging population and large-scale encroachments

- SANJIB KR BARUAH

A red sandstone memorial, with a weathered plaque, in Meerut says, “Here stood the Officers’ Mess of the Native Infantry Regiments. Sepoys of these regiments revolted on the eve of the 10th of May 1857 in the First War of Indian Independence.”

Near the memorial, and reclining on a charpoy, is an elderly man who appears to be from a slum. He is sunning himself after hanging his clothes to dry on the memorial’s iron grill.

“Bhai,” someone bawls out, “kapra utha lijiye. Yeh sahi nahi hai; aisa kabhi bhi nahi hona chahiye.” (Brother, take your clothes away. This is not right; this should never happen.)

The scene is an apt metaphor for the state of the cantonment in Meerut, once considered the military centre of the British Empire in north India. Few cantonments have been so overwhelmed by civilians as much as the one in Meerut. There is no clear boundary demarcating the cantonment from the city.