A Tale of the Twin Towns!

How the towns are evolving and taking a particular shape or pattern over the years is a matter of great interest and excitement. It does provide a good background of the history and topography of the place. It also tells us the path “civilisation” has taken so far, whether in the right or wrong direction, and how we could have done still better.

Yamuna Nagar and Jagadhri are two small twin towns located in the north of Haryana on a railway line connecting Punjab in the west to Uttar Pradesh in the east. The towns also abut Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh to the north. These twin towns assumed prominence only after 1947, when settlers, mainly Hindus and Sikhs, from West Punjab (now in Pakistan) made the twin towns their abode, to begin their lives all over again, from a nought. My family was one such example.

Back then, the two towns were about 6 miles apart and the intervening part was uninhabited, a jungle, and a journey by tongas was a nightmare after dusk. The present Yamuna Nagar was a very small place about 65 years back at the time of independence. It was called Abdullapur. Soon after Partition a new name, Jamna Nagar was given and as the time passed it took on its present name, Yamuna Nagar. 

The first high school of great repute at that time established by a great philanthropist, Seth Mukand Lal of Radaur, was established here in Yamuna Nagar and named after him, as Mukand Lal National High School. Though the school has undergone several changes with the time, (sadly decay is one of them), and till date, the main building bears the original name of the school with Abdullapur and Jamna Nagar on its face. The school building was a great structure of those early days soon after independence. Realizing the need for a college, the school gave away half of its northern wing to start the college in 1955. These institutions played a great role in imparting education to the children at very nominal fee in the post partition era.

A few months back, I visited the school and I was surprised to see my name on the “honour board” for securing 679 marks, in my matriculation examinations, way back in 1958, along with my more illustrious friends. It was really nostalgic seeing this.

The other two important industries in the town were a paper mill of Thapar Group and a sugar mill which are thriving till now and doing very well. With these major industries already there, an industrial area was developed for other ancillary factories. In fact Yamuna Nagar became a small industrial town of great significance in Haryana after Faridabad.

Jagadhri, located about 6 miles in the northern direction, with the courts and a missionary hospital also had and an industry of brass utensils, which has thrived since the Mughal era. With the passage of time brass has given way to steel. As we observe the progress of Jagadhri has been sluggish in comparison to that of Yamuna Nagar. However, the intervening land between the two towns has undergone a sea change with industry, schools, hospitals and residential colonies. As the development proceeded, the breathing spaces, like parks for greenery and to cater for small children were neglected. Now, it is difficult to discern where one town meets the other one. These have mingled in each other. 

As children soon after independence we saw a narrow gauge railway which used to ply between Jagadhri and Yamuna Nagar to ferry goods to and fro, popularly called chhoti line. It was discontinued after a few years. Interestingly, it finds a mention in the memoirs of the retired Director of CBI, Joginder Singh, who landed in Jagadhri soon after Partition and did have a joy ride in the same train.

The areas surrounding Jagadhri had been a thriving hunting ground for centuries with thick vegetation providing the right habitat for wildlife. It is said that the Mughals and medieval aristocrats used to hunt for Nilgai and wild boar over here, in the jungles of Kalesar. It is also believed that the great Birbal, a courtier in the imperial court of Emperor Akbar belonged to these parts, from a village called Buria, a few kilometres out of Jagadhri!

Undoubtedly, this area is dripping with juices of history, only if we care to enjoy that sweet taste of heritage!

One interesting incidence happened in 1989, when I was working in the Christian Hospital. One of the newly qualified doctor from CMC, Ludhiana, Dr. Lovina Bhatti, was posted to our hospital in Jagadhri (she is now married with two children and working in UK as an eye surgeon).  She boarded a train in Ludhiana, headed for Jagadhri and got down at the station and took a rickshaw to go to her destination. Little did she realise that Jagadhri railway station is located in Yamuna Nagar and town called Jagadhri is far away. She wondered why it took so long for her to reach her destination. With a great laugh she narrated the whole story of her arrival in Jagadhri.