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Ganga_Bridge_Cartoon_FULL.mp4

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Collection: Part 10 · VIDEHA MITHILA MAITHILI DISCUSSION CRITICISM SERIES PART 10
Status: asr-draft
Human verified: No
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ASR model: small
Detected language: en (0.990891)
Duration: 50:29
Source: Open preserved recording

Timestamped machine output

0:01–0:03विमर्शक रेक।
0:03–0:51विमर्शक रेक।
0:51–0:53विमर्शक रेक।
0:53–0:55विमर्शक रेक।
0:55–0:57विमर्शक रेक।
0:57–0:59विमर्शक रेक।
0:59–1:01विमर्शक रेक।
1:01–1:03विमर्शक रेक।
1:03–1:05विमर्शक रेक।
1:05–1:07विमर्शक रेक।
1:07–1:09विमर्शक रेक।
1:09–1:11विमर्शक रेक।
1:11–1:13विमर्शक रेक।
1:13–1:20I can see the work is already underway. Why do you need more laborers?
1:20–1:26This number of laborers will not be enough. The whole bridge is shaking.
1:26–1:35Hear ye, hear ye. Gonga Bridge. Laborers are required to repair this bridge built over the sacred Gonga.
1:35–1:39Women and men, young and old, anyone may apply.
1:39–1:43How has it come to this so soon?
1:43–1:50They say that for every pier in this bridge, several cores of rupees were spent on its construction.
1:50–1:52The work was not done properly.
1:52–1:55Here ye, here ye.
1:55–1:59Laborers are required to repair this bridge over the gonga.
1:59–2:03Women and men, young and old, anyone may apply.
2:03–2:06Here ye, here ye.
2:06–2:07Look at that.
2:07–2:12Even while it was still being built, before it was ready, they had already begun repairing
2:12–2:13it.
2:13–2:17Ignoring the first man to the audience.
2:17–2:19Patch upon patch.
2:19–2:23They began patching it even before the inauguration.
2:23–2:25It is a government bridge.
2:25–2:30If it is not patched, how will balconies be added to the houses of engineers and contractors?
2:30–2:34Hear ye, hear ye.
2:34–2:36Ho, drummer.
2:36–2:38We understand that much.
2:38–2:42But tell us, bridges are built in other parts of the world too.
2:42–2:46Do the engineers and contractors there also add balconies to their houses from the cost
2:46–2:49of the bridge?
2:49–2:51I have never been there.
2:51–2:54But I have heard that the bridges built by the British used to be strong.
2:54–2:56Here ye, here ye.
2:56–2:58Ho.
2:58–3:02If they had free money to loot, then surely the few bridges the British built would
3:02–3:04be strong.
3:04–3:08These engineers and contractors are no less than the British when it comes to looting,
3:08–3:11so why can they not build strong bridges?
3:11–3:15Why are they not like the British in that respect?
3:15–3:19If they build it strong, how will they ever get another repair contract?
3:19–3:23Is that not so, drummer?
3:23–3:25I have never been there.
3:25–3:27Hear ye, hear ye.
3:27–3:31Laborers are required to repair this bridge over the Gonga.
3:31–3:35men and men, young and old, anyone may apply.
3:35–3:40Hear ye, hear ye.
3:40–3:42What can the government do?
3:42–3:46The people themselves are corrupt.
3:46–3:48Who do you mean by, the people?
3:48–3:50You and me?
3:50–3:53No, fool.
3:53–3:55The engineers and contractors.
3:55–3:59Nonsense, old fool.
3:59–4:02This is not the British government anymore.
4:02–4:06Does the meaning of people change because of that?
4:06–4:09Yes, it does.
4:09–4:14So engineers and contractors are no longer people?
4:14–4:16No.
4:16–4:19Then what are they?
4:19–4:21They are the government.
4:21–4:23Rubbish!
4:23–4:26The government is not a human being.
4:26–4:28Of course it is.
4:28–4:30Kings and emperors were human beings.
4:30–4:37The British rulers were human beings, and this is the government of independent India.
4:37–4:41Then what is the government in Patna and Delhi?
4:41–4:44That is also the government.
4:44–4:45Nonsense!
4:45–4:49This engineer is a man from our village.
4:49–4:52Since when does a villager become the government?
4:52–4:58In the village, people used to call only the zamandars officials Sarkar.
4:58–5:00That is an old habit.
5:00–5:04We'll still call the Zamandar's former officials, Sir Kar.
5:04–5:09Give it a few years, and no one will call them that anymore.
5:09–5:11You sound like an oracle.
5:11–5:14So what will everyone become?
5:14–5:19The government appoints the engineer and gets the contractor to do the work.
5:19–5:21All of them are the government.
5:21–5:24Whatever they want is what will happen.
5:24–5:27Can you and I do nothing?
5:27–5:30You and I will elect a few people.
5:30–5:34These officials will remain under their direction.
5:34–5:39But government employees include the village watchman and the office peon too.
5:39–5:42Have all of them become the government as well?
5:42–5:45Yes.
5:45–5:48Then only we are left as the people.
5:48–5:52Whatever happens, those officials will do it.
5:52–5:58We shall elect our representatives, and these officials will remain under their direction.
5:58–6:00You mean they will do as we say?
6:00–6:03Yes.
6:03–6:06That is exactly what it means.
6:06–6:15Let us see what rule by the government looks like.
6:15–6:1815th of August.
6:18–6:20Independence Day.
6:20–6:25Children, today this tricolor flies in our hands.
6:25–6:31Now we lived under the rule of others. We were unfree. This flag had been lowered. We could not let it fly
6:32–6:36We must keep working with all our strength to ensure that it continues to fly
6:37–6:41Happiness will now spread through this region. The zamandar's rule has ended
6:42–6:49Everyone will be able to study quarrels and wars. Everything will end a new dawn has come into our lives
6:49–6:53There will be new education and new methods of farming
6:53–6:56Tall factory chimneys and enormous dams.
6:56–7:01Goods that now come from overseas will be made in factories with smoking chimneys.
7:01–7:04Great dams will check and harness the river's current.
7:04–7:10The fields will yield abundantly. Rain will no longer depend on Inder's mercy,
7:10–7:14but on our own power. Water will flow from field to field,
7:14–7:19there will be irrigation everywhere. The divide between high and low will disappear.
7:19–7:26The divide between high and low will disappear. Will the smoke of tall chimneys and enormous
7:26–7:34dams truly erase that divide? Yes. Water will reach every field. Goods now
7:34–7:37imported from overseas will be made here in factories with tall chimneys.
7:39–7:45Large dams and large factories also bring many problems. Those problems must be addressed.
7:45–7:49Otherwise development will become one-sided.
7:49–7:52How can development become one-sided?
7:52–7:55Large factories cannot be built everywhere.
7:55–8:00They will be concentrated in a few places, forcing workers to migrate there.
8:00–8:06When large dams are built, people from the villages within their catchment will also be displaced.
8:06–8:11If a great dam is not strong enough, it will break and bring catastrophe.
8:11–8:15Huge factories and dams can tear people's lives apart.
8:15–8:18One generation must make sacrifices.
8:18–8:23Children, answer me, will you dedicate yourselves to the nation?
8:23–8:29Children, tell us what you want to become. What do you wish to give to society?
8:29–8:37I shall become an engineer and build roads, bridges and canals, so that people's suffering may end.
8:37–8:47I shall become an engineer too. Huge dance. Smoke from enormous chimneys. I love the smell of smoke.
8:47–8:53What wonderful days will come when great dance and towering chimneys spread across the country.
8:53–9:02But smoke causes coughing. My mother is always coughing. I cannot bear smoke.
9:02–9:05My mother never even goes into the kitchen.
9:05–9:07I do, secretly.
9:07–9:11I love the smell of smoke and those great walls.
9:11–9:16I love all of it.
9:16–9:44Have you seen my goat?
9:44–9:50Oh, you are studying here.
9:50–9:52Victory to India.
9:52–9:54Victory to India.
9:54–9:56Victory to India.
9:56–9:58My goat.
9:58–10:00I can see it over there.
10:00–10:04If the goat runs away, I shall find it sooner or later.
10:04–10:09But I, I have run away from school. How will they catch me again?
10:09–10:18Well said. But what form development should take is not in our hands.
10:18–10:23Patna and Delhi will decide what kind of development is suitable for us.
10:23–10:27It is good that Patna and Delhi are thinking about our development.
10:27–10:33But can people sitting there, or visiting in a rush for a day or two, make the right decisions for us?
10:33–10:38Whatever comes, let us never forget that we must work for society with complete honesty,
10:38–10:40with all our heart and strength.
10:40–10:43We must help write the history of this country.
10:43–10:49Today, on 15 August 1947, let us take that pledge and give our word.
10:49–10:52We give our word.
10:52–10:59With complete honesty, with all our heart and strength, we shall write a new history for this country.
11:00–11:0215 August.
11:03–11:25like this. This is how it shakes, this gonga bridge. Built of concrete, cement, sand and
11:25–11:33aggregate, yet it sways more than a village timber footbridge. Whenever I come here, repairs
11:33–11:41are underway. One-way traffic, only one side is ever open. How can the other side
11:41–11:48function when half the bridge is always under repair. This bridge shakes more violently
11:48–11:56than even the wooden foot bridges in our villages.
11:56–12:04Listen, Engineer. You never changed. Sift the sand this way, sift it that way, as if
12:04–12:12it were rice or lentils. I did it. Fine, fine. You said, sift it as carefully as
12:12–12:18flower for bread, only then will the bridge be as good as a well-made loaf.
12:18–12:19Fine.
12:19–12:24So much cement, so much sand, such proportions.
12:24–12:28I told you I would follow every instruction.
12:28–12:33But then where was I to find the commissions for the politicians, the other engineers and
12:33–12:35the gangsters?
12:35–12:41I began sieving the sand because you insisted, and stopped paying commissions.
12:41–12:47Something happened to me, but you were transferred, your salary was stopped, and you had to withdraw
12:47–12:52your children from school and send them back to the village.
12:52–12:57I told you I would sieve the sand and use the proper quantities of cement and sand,
12:57–13:00all according to the rules.
13:00–13:02Why should I object?
13:02–13:07The stronger the bridges and roads in this region, the better for me too.
13:07–13:10But I knew you would be transferred.
13:10–13:16The chief engineer, the politician's right-hand man, had already told me to have you crushed
13:16–13:19under a road roller.
13:19–13:21That dishonest chief engineer.
13:21–13:27At first I thought you were like the others, merely making all this fast to raise your
13:27–13:29own rate.
13:29–13:32Later I realized you were different.
13:32–13:34But what am I to do?
13:34–13:37I cannot take my own children out of school.
13:37–13:44Still, if a chief engineer like you ever comes along, if that day ever comes, I shall begin
13:44–13:47seaving sand again.
13:47–13:53I shall mix exactly this much sand with exactly this much cement, all in the proportions
13:53–13:55you prescribed.
13:55–13:59But only when someone like you is in charge.
13:59–14:14Until then.
14:14–14:22A Convocation at an Engineering College
14:22–14:25Today is your last day at this engineering college.
14:25–14:28Life here is very different from life outside.
14:28–14:31You must now go out into dust and grime.
14:31–14:33You must work.
14:33–14:38Work with devotion, work so hard that these fields begin to yield gold, and prosperity
14:38–14:40enters the lives of the people.
14:40–14:42Do not count day or night.
14:42–14:47That will be my fee from you, my one request on this day of your graduation.
14:47–14:51Our country and our people won freedom through great hardship.
14:51–14:54But freedom must also enter our minds.
14:54–14:58Only when we are economically independent of others, when we no longer have to stretch
14:58–15:02out our hands before anyone, will we possess true freedom of speech.
15:02–15:08An engineer is a maker, a creator, a maker of roads, canals and bridges.
15:08–15:11An engineer is one who connects.
15:11–15:14This bridge will connect one person to another.
15:14–15:15Roads will be built.
15:15–15:17Life will gain momentum.
15:17–15:18People will move.
15:18–15:26In a land filled with canals and ponds, the fields will yield gold.
15:26–15:28You must undertake great works.
15:28–15:31You must build enormous dams.
15:31–15:35That is how development will come, rapid development.
15:35–15:38The whole world has developed in this way.
15:38–15:43India has won freedom, and that freedom can endure only if development proceeds rapidly.
15:43–15:48Rapid development will come through huge factories and great dams.
15:48–15:51I differ with that grand road to development.
15:51–15:55In huge factories, our people may be reduced to mere laborers.
15:55–16:01This country does not possess enough money to build truly strong, permanent dams.
16:01–16:05So vast but poorly built dams may swallow village after village without being strong
16:05–16:07enough to last.
16:07–16:11They will crack and fail, and their repair will never end.
16:11–16:15But the direction of national development cannot be decided at a convocation in Muzza
16:15–16:16Farpour.
16:16–16:20It will be decided in Delhi and Putna.
16:20–16:28And now, I invite to the stage the student who has graduated with the highest marks.
16:28–16:31My friend, you have topped the class in engineering.
16:31–16:32Now real life begins.
16:32–16:35Let us see who comes first there.
16:35–16:40An engineer wins when the bridge he builds is strong, when the canals and dams he designs
16:40–16:44do not obstruct the natural drainage of water, when they make people's lives happier, when
16:44–16:47the work is completed on time.
16:47–16:53The marks earned in that examination determine an engineer's true victory or defeat.
16:53–16:56In great projects, small mistakes are inevitable.
16:56–16:57They are bound to happen.
16:57–17:02For me, I love great cities, great factories and towering chimneys.
17:02–17:05I have loved the smell of smoke since childhood.
17:05–17:06You know that.
17:06–17:09And smoke makes my mother cough.
17:09–17:11I dislike it.
17:11–17:13You know that too.
17:13–17:17Look, brother, this is the difference between us.
17:17–17:20I shall follow the road deli, or puttna lays down for me.
17:20–17:24If they order me to build a strong, permanent dam, I shall build it.
17:24–17:28If they order me to build a weak earthen dam, I shall build that.
17:28–17:32I shall do whatever my superiors command.
17:32–17:35Whether it is right or wrong?
17:35–17:38A person does not rise to the top without ability.
17:38–17:41Why would an able person give a bad order?
17:41–17:45Then what is the point of studying here and acquiring knowledge?
17:45–17:48Let it go brother.
17:48–17:52There may be very little between victory and defeat, but the definitions of victory and
17:52–17:59defeat can be worlds apart. How can I perform work I know to be wrong? How can I walk along
17:59–18:02a road I know to be wrong?
18:02–18:08Just as people define victory and defeat differently, they may also define right and wrong work,
18:08–18:13right and wrong roads, differently. For the person sitting in the chair, what is wrong
18:13–18:16can become right once it enters a file.
18:16–18:22Perhaps for some people. But the foundations of a bridge do not obey definitions written
18:22–18:29in a file. Right remains right, and wrong remains wrong. A mistake may be buried on paper, but
18:29–18:44it cannot be buried in a river.
18:44–18:50Look, brother. I come from a prosperous family. You come from an ordinary one. Even if I earn
18:50–18:56nothing and refuse every dishonest practice, my family will not suffer. But your entire
18:56–18:59family depends on you and has pinned its hopes on you.
18:59–19:03Brother, freedom has come for everyone.
19:03–19:08You think I am poor, but there are people poorer and more helpless than I am.
19:08–19:12And there are people far wealthier and more powerful than you.
19:12–19:15Such as?
19:15–19:19The people whose orders you will obey with your eyes closed.
19:19–19:25Listen, the old Zamandari may be gone, but in these new nations, those who succeed will
19:25–19:29be the ones who secure a place within the new order.
19:29–19:34The new Zamandar who wins an election will survive, or the family whose child rises within
19:34–19:36the new government will survive.
19:36–19:40Their wealth will remain, their splendor will endure.
19:40–19:43And what do you mean by rises?
19:43–19:46Higher in power, higher on the ladder of authority.
19:46–19:50The higher a person climbs, the greater the power he commands.
19:50–19:53The opportunity has come to you, and to me as well.
19:53–19:55But there is a small difference.
19:55–19:56You must acquire power.
19:56–20:00I must preserve the power my family already has.
20:00–20:03Will that satisfy you?
20:03–20:04How can I answer today?
20:04–20:08That can only be said at the end of one's life.
20:08–20:12And if, at the end of your life, you realize that all this power was an illusion, that you
20:12–20:16never found true fulfillment, what then?
20:16–20:18I shall think about it then.
20:18–20:21For now, I think as I have told you.
20:21–20:25And if you wish to turn back then, how will you return?
20:25–20:29I shall repent then, but what if the same thing happens to you?
20:29–20:31How will you return?
20:31–20:34How can right ever become wrong, brother?
20:34–20:37May this stubbornness of yours not destroy you.
20:37–20:39Today is a day of celebration.
20:39–20:49Today you have one, so today your argument is right, but only for today.
20:49–20:51Someone rolled my card away.
20:51–20:53Where did that crowd go?
20:53–20:57This is a college for highly educated people.
20:57–21:00Let us see what their education changes.
21:00–21:03Will my name ever enter someone's register?
21:03–21:07Or will my cot and my body simply keep rolling and rolling?
21:07–21:09Have you seen my cot?
21:09–21:13Someone rolled it away.
21:13–21:16What kind of college is this?
21:16–21:19A college that makes the government.
21:19–21:22It makes the government?
21:22–21:24Yes.
21:24–21:26It makes the government.
21:26–21:30That engineer said he would not become the government.
21:30–21:33He would remain one of the people.
21:33–21:36Did you not hear what his friend said?
21:36–21:38I heard.
21:38–21:42He seemed to be in rather too much of a hurry.
21:42–21:48There are other schools and colleges like this, places that manufacture the government.
21:48–21:50True enough.
21:50–21:54Yes, true enough.
21:54–21:58Will there not be two kinds of students there as well?
21:58–22:05There are two kinds of students everywhere, those who become the government, and those who wish to remain among the people.
22:05–22:08Are there people inside the government too?
22:08–22:12And government inside the people?
22:12–22:17There are people inside the government, and government inside the people.
22:17–22:21One college, one school, and two kinds of students?
22:21–22:25Every school and college has two kinds of teachers, old fool.
22:26–22:31Two kinds of ideas keep circling through the same school and college, turning everything upside down.
22:33–22:35The students must become dizzy.
22:36–22:39Home and neighborhood are schools too, old fool.
22:40–22:42Do they not shape people as well?
22:43–22:46Shape them? Of course they do.
22:46–22:48Let us see what happens.
23:01–23:02A village courtyard.
23:02–23:11Come, son. Sit here.
23:11–23:15Today you have become the first engineer from this village.
23:15–23:20If your father were alive, how happy he would have been.
23:20–23:23What can anyone do, sister?
23:23–23:27Your son is a stubborn as his father ever was.
23:27–23:30That he certainly is.
23:30–23:36However many obstacles people placed before him, he completed his education.
23:36–23:44The village finally got an MLA, and he turned into a fiend. God knows what grudge he bore.
23:44–23:50One signature from him would have spared my son so much hardship in completing his studies.
23:50–23:57They remember us only at election time. Then their voices become sweet as honey.
23:57–24:02Afterwards they tell people, so what if I won because of your votes?
24:02–24:06I gave that MLA a proper earful.
24:06–24:08When?
24:08–24:10You did not hear.
24:10–24:20At the homecoming ceremony for his son's bride, an uproar broke out in that wretched MLA's courtyard, because the bride's earring had gone missing.
24:20–24:25The policeman shut the gate and declared that no one could leave until it was found.
24:25–24:35cursed them just imagine listen to the rest the earring was found tangled in the
24:35–24:40bride's hair and only then did they open the gate to hell with that whole court
24:40–24:45I scolded the gatekeeper thoroughly and while I was at it I told him how that
24:45–24:51wretched man had refused to sign your son's papers people have begun calling
24:51–24:59me mad. Well then understand this, the madwoman's son has become an engineer.
24:59–25:06What happened is past. If the village becomes educated, the MLA will not like it. Who will
25:06–25:14then run his errands? Did this country become free so that its people would never move forward?
25:14–25:19Everyone must do their own work carefully, with all their heart and strength.
25:19–25:21Does the MLA not know that?
25:21–25:25He will call you mad too, just watch.
25:25–25:31Auntie, people call my mother mad, tomorrow they will call me mad as well.
25:31–25:34Should fear of that stop me from doing my duty?
25:34–25:36Should I become dishonest?
25:36–25:41If a bridge collapses, it is not only brick and stone that break.
25:41–25:43People's trust breaks with it.
25:43–25:46No, child.
25:46–25:56now knows how stubborn you are. They know you will put your whole heart into your work.
25:56–26:03Come son. People have gathered on the veranda. Come outside for a while.
26:03–26:11Alright brother. Officer, tell us what you want today. The
26:11–26:16whole hamlet, village, and region are talking. All the great men were left staring open
26:16–26:22mouthed because the first engineer from this village and region came from our own village.
26:22–26:24Once, the officers were all foreigners.
26:24–26:28That wretched MLA and his kind were petty zamindars.
26:28–26:32The great zamindars used to make men like him stand all night in a pond whenever it pleased
26:32–26:33them.
26:33–26:36And he refused to sign our officers papers.
26:36–26:39We voted him into office thinking he would work for the welfare of the village and
26:39–26:42the region, but he has done nothing.
26:42–26:45His five years will soon be over, then we shall see.
26:45–26:50Not once has he spoken in the Patna assembly for the welfare of this area.
26:50–26:52Do not say that, Darda.
26:52–26:55He did speak once in the partner assembly.
26:55–26:59Sir, Neil Guy are eating my crops.
26:59–27:06Kindly grant me a gun license so that I may shoot them, or at least frighten them away.
27:06–27:09Lala, that age has passed.
27:09–27:14Once, brute strength ruled, then family and lineage ruled.
27:14–27:17Now the time has come for those who work with their own hands.
27:17–27:22They held back education for so long, can they still hold it back now?
27:22–27:24You are right, Bao.
27:24–27:28Who can stop the wind once it has begun to blow?
27:28–27:31Violet, they have certainly tried to stop it.
27:31–27:34But our engineer Sahib is fiercely stubborn.
27:34–27:38If my brother were alive today, you would have seen his pride.
27:38–27:43He would have lifted the whole hamlet onto his shoulders and turned the day into a festival.
27:43–27:46But we uncles shall make up for his father's absence.
27:46–27:50Meat, go to Bao Bao's shop and tell him to send forward higher measures of sugar
27:50–27:52to the door, quickly.
27:52–27:54Put it on my account.
27:54–27:57No, put it on my account.
27:57–28:00No, on mine.
28:00–28:04Oho, that's Bobokcho belong to your Hamlet alone.
28:04–28:07Put it on my account, boy.
28:07–28:13I shall have one at Haya entered in each of your four names.
28:13–28:19From today, the new engineer Sahib will build a small bridge over the stream outside the village.
28:19–28:21It will be connected to the road.
28:21–28:28If everyone allows soil from the edges of their fields to be cut for the road, work that would take a year can be completed in a month.
28:28–28:35The officer says, first measure, then build, first secure the people's route, then award the contract.
28:35–28:55Hear ye, hear ye.
28:55–29:00Son, build the bridge, but preserve the bridge of your own body too.
29:00–29:03This household breathes because of you.
29:04–29:08Only the person who abandons truth is truly alone.
29:08–29:13As long as your eyes are behind me, I shall not falter.
29:13–29:15People trust you.
29:15–29:18But your children wait for you too.
29:18–29:32Do your work, but do not think you stand alone.
29:32–29:37The Chief Minister's Office in Patna
29:37–29:41So many years have passed since independence, yet not one bridge has been built across
29:41–29:43the gonga at Patna.
29:43–29:47After enormous effort, funds have finally been arranged.
29:47–29:51I have called you because the responsibility for the tender will naturally rest with the
29:51–29:53chief engineer.
29:53–30:02Publish the advertisement in the newspapers, but you understand.
30:02–30:06There will be competition on paper, but inwardly the way must remain open for the person we
30:06–30:07choose.
30:07–30:11Many students graduated from engineering college with you.
30:11–30:14By now they have gained useful experience.
30:14–30:19Bringing capable engineers from among them, people who know their work properly.
30:19–30:22Yes, that will be necessary.
30:22–30:26Otherwise, how shall we keep these contractors under control?
30:26–30:33This gonga bridge will accelerate development.
30:33–30:37People who have been sitting idle will begin to travel.
30:37–30:39Movement will open their minds.
30:39–30:45But people won freedom only through great hardship.
30:45–30:50Yet preserving that freedom will demand greater sacrifice than winning it did.
30:50–30:54This river, this bridge, everything demands sacrifice.
30:54–31:00This is the gonga. Do you think a bridge can rise across it without sacrifice?
31:00–31:04It wants blood. Can you give it?
31:04–31:08We shall give blood, as much as is needed.
31:08–31:15That is what I wish to hear. That is what I wish to see.
31:15–31:20The more we sacrifice for future generations, the happier those generations will be.
31:20–31:29It is settled. The contractor is ready to pay the commission.
31:29–31:32And the people are ready to make the sacrifice.
31:32–31:37I am preparing the list of engineers.
31:37–31:42We need people who can actually work, or these contractors will loot everything.
31:42–31:46The contractor has bought this contract by agreeing to the commission.
31:46–31:52We must keep a tight rein on him, or the people's sacrifice will go entirely to waste.
31:52–32:14I am not satisfied with the progress of the work or with the methods being used.
32:14–32:19There are no proper safety arrangements, and no attention is being paid to the quality
32:19–32:21of the materials.
32:21–32:23Everything is substandard.
32:23–32:28Had safety measures been in place, so many laborers would not have fallen into the river,
32:28–32:32into excavations, or onto machinery and died.
32:32–32:35Many of the injured could have been saved.
32:35–32:38There is not even a first aid station.
32:38–32:42Yesterday Ramdhani's hand was caught in a machine.
32:42–32:47Instead of dressing the wound, they tied a sack around it and sent him away.
32:47–32:51His little boy sat outside crying, father, come home.
32:51–32:5430 laborers died last month.
32:54–32:57300 have died in one year.
32:57–33:01Compassionate relief has been recommended for only 10 families.
33:01–33:04What happened to the files I forwarded for the others?
33:04–33:08Look, you studied with me.
33:08–33:13You are an able engineer, but why can you not confine yourself to engineering?
33:13–33:18Why raise unnecessary questions about compassionate appointments and relief grants?
33:18–33:20You sent forward a huge file.
33:20–33:25What happened next, and why, why should that concern you?
33:25–33:26What do you mean?
33:26–33:30Does engineering mean that a laborer's life has no value?
33:30–33:34A worker dies, what happens to the family?
33:34–33:36How will they eat?
33:36–33:39How will the children receive a mother and father's love?
33:39–33:45Yesterday a husband and wife, both laborers, fell beneath a bridge pier and died.
33:45–33:48Is the government not responsible for their children?
33:48–33:54The money would come from the government treasury, what loss would that cause you?
33:54–33:59If the true number of deaths comes out, allegations will be made against the chief minister and me.
33:59–34:01There will be uproar.
34:01–34:07The laborers come from many places, but if this news breaks, the entire country will erupt.
34:07–34:10We shall be disgraced before the world.
34:10–34:13Criminal cases for homicide will follow.
34:13–34:17Neither I nor the chief minister will survive politically.
34:17–34:19And all because of you.
34:19–34:23Is this why I brought you on to this enormous project?
34:23–34:28Would Mother Ganga not demand even 2,000 lives for a project of this scale?
34:28–34:34When the project is completed, I shall receive great honor, and you will share in it.
34:34–34:36That is the share I fear.
34:36–34:42Along with a share of the honor, I shall receive a share in these sacrifices, or murders.
34:42–34:45I want no part of it.
34:45–34:49What you are trying to do will halt development.
34:49–34:50What development?
34:50–34:52At what price?
34:52–34:55And how long will this development last?
34:55–35:00If laborer's blood is mixed with the sand beneath the foundations, the bridge may stand,
35:00–35:04but society will collapse from within.
35:04–35:08Development has taken place this way everywhere in the world.
35:08–35:13Which is why repairs to this bridge began even before its inauguration.
35:13–35:17That is how strong this development is.
35:17–35:21Development has taken place this way everywhere in the world.
35:21–35:25And that is why people have begun saying that British bridges still stand, while bridges
35:25–35:31built in independent India crack before they are even complete.
35:31–35:35Development has taken place this way everywhere in the world.
35:35–35:39Then people will begin saying that British rule was better.
35:39–35:42Let them say it.
35:42–35:46People will say the engineers swallowed all the money.
35:46–35:47Let them.
35:47–35:52An engineer does not keep it all in his pocket, he spends it here.
35:52–35:56The Rain Falls in India, not in England.
35:56–36:02Along with engineering, you have studied economics as well, Dada Bhai Nehruji's poverty and un-British
36:02–36:05rule in India, the drain of wealth theory.
36:05–36:09Dada Bhai could never have imagined that he was formulating that theory for the engineers
36:09–36:12of independent India.
36:12–36:15So everyone is wrong except you.
36:15–36:17No.
36:17–36:20It seems to me that everyone is right except me.
36:20–36:25But then why are we turning small matters into a great spectacle?
36:25–36:28What you call small is not small.
36:28–36:30You hold power.
36:30–36:33Even the chief minister is in your grip.
36:33–36:35Transfer me.
36:35–36:40But I possess copies of the files, the laborer's names, the dates of the accidents, the accounts
36:40–36:44of inferior materials, everything is recorded.
36:44–36:49If I remain silent, these papers will speak.
36:49–36:51I cannot transfer you.
36:51–36:53The people stand with you.
36:53–36:55The laborers stand with you.
36:55–36:57An election is approaching.
36:57–37:00The chief minister has ordered me not to transfer you.
37:00–37:02And if your papers become public,
37:02–37:06the chairs of power will shake before the bridge does.
37:06–37:08Then what?
37:08–37:11I cannot accept any of your demands.
37:11–37:14I remember that we studied together,
37:14–37:16but once a man sits in the chair,
37:16–37:21His mind sees the file first and his friends face afterwards.
37:21–37:23Then what?
37:23–37:25Then we shall see.
37:25–37:28You will not understand anyway.
37:28–37:34My friend, I am telling you for the last time, change your path, or the path itself will
37:34–37:53crush you.
37:53–37:55He is disrupting the work.
37:55–37:57He is an enemy of progress.
37:57–38:01What can one say about such people?
38:01–38:02Transfer him.
38:02–38:05The election is still some time away.
38:05–38:08The public will forget.
38:08–38:12The public may forget, but the opposition will dig up the matter.
38:12–38:15I feel like having him shot.
38:15–38:17Do not make that mistake.
38:17–38:20You will turn him into Bagotsing.
38:20–38:23How can he become Bagotsing?
38:23–38:25This is no longer British rule.
38:25–38:28He is an enemy of progress.
38:28–38:31We shall label him a terrorist.
38:31–38:35who stands in the path of development must be given a different name, a name that frightens
38:35–38:38people the moment they hear it.
38:38–38:41We cannot label him a terrorist.
38:41–38:44He is a government employee, an engineer.
38:44–38:49He is not some ordinary member of the public whom we can brand at will.
38:49–38:52Trap him in a corruption case.
38:52–38:54Have his house raided.
38:54–38:57He does not take illegal money.
38:57–39:01The raid will find nothing in his house but a wooden cut.
39:01–39:04He must have some weakness.
39:04–39:06Find it.
39:06–39:07He is stubborn.
39:07–39:11That is his only weakness.
39:11–39:12Then have him killed.
39:12–39:17If a man has no weakness, what use is there in letting him live?
39:17–39:20Do not make that mistake.
39:20–39:25You will turn him into Mahatma Gandhi, into Jesus Christ.
39:25–39:27Find a weakness.
39:27–39:29You studied with him from the beginning.
39:29–39:33If you do not want him killed, find a weakness in him.
39:33–39:39If you can neither find one nor kill him, what are we to do, make him commit suicide.
39:39–39:42He is not the kind of man who commits suicide.
39:42–39:44He is stubborn.
39:44–39:48His stubbornness is not a defect, it is his strength.
39:48–39:52That is what makes him dangerous.
39:52–39:56Then have him killed and announced that he committed suicide.
39:56–39:59Some people will not believe it.
39:59–40:02Everyone will say he was murdered.
40:02–40:04Then what?
40:04–40:06He will have to die.
40:06–40:08He will be killed.
40:08–40:12He studied with me, but friendship with the chair has become greater than friendship with
40:12–40:14a friend.
40:14–40:18If it must look neither like murder nor suicide, we shall have to wait until he dies of old
40:18–40:21age.
40:21–40:24It will look neither like murder nor suicide.
40:24–40:26It will look like an accident.
40:26–40:28An accident.
40:28–40:32In this free country, members of the public will be branded terrorists and killed, people
40:32–40:36like him will die in accidents.
40:36–40:38Then put him beneath a road roller.
40:38–40:42But the entire event must look exactly like an accident.
40:42–40:48If people realize he was killed, we shall make a hero of him for nothing.
40:48–40:50His death will grieve me deeply.
40:50–40:52He studied with me.
40:52–41:20He was a brilliant engineer.
41:20–41:23You said the papers would speak.
41:23–41:25Where are those papers now?
41:25–41:28These children's eyes will speak.
41:28–41:30This earth will speak.
41:30–41:34The trembling of this bridge will speak.
41:34–41:37He has left us.
41:37–41:39Oh God.
41:39–41:43A madwoman's mad son.
41:43–41:46My brother's son is gone.
41:46–41:50While his wrestler uncle still lives, my nephew lies crushed before me.
41:50–41:53Brother, what answer shall I give you?
41:53–41:55They say it was an accident.
41:55–41:58Can a man be crushed like this in an accident?
41:58–42:02A road roller does not simply wander out of control.
42:02–42:07Have you ever heard of someone being flattened by a road roller in an accident?
42:07–42:10Whose name shall we invoke with pride now?
42:10–42:12Whom shall we point to when we tell people to struggle?
42:12–42:15Who will labor honestly?
42:15–42:17Who will obey the law?
42:17–42:21But if we do not speak the truth, what would the officer say, pilot uncle?
42:21–42:24If we do not struggle, what would he say?
42:24–42:29If we neither work honestly nor obey the law, how can we ever take pride in him?
42:29–42:32What monsters they have become!
42:32–42:36The elder brother is alive, and the younger has left us.
42:36–42:40Mad boy, he used to go to Chanagrove to test his strength.
42:40–42:43Listen, this is the earth.
42:43–42:46No power from outside comes here.
42:46–42:50Good and evil are both in the hands of the people who live here.
42:50–42:54If evil is stronger, must we become evil too?
42:54–42:56The Earth and Sky stand unmoved.
42:56–43:03Even after witnessing this injustice, no earthquake has come, no storm has risen.
43:03–43:12The world will go on as before.
43:12–43:15I went looking for a job.
43:15–43:19I was exhausted from pulling a hand-cut.
43:19–43:25They lured me away with lies to Badohe.
43:25–43:29Whenever work stopped, they beat us with iron rods.
43:29–43:30One meal a day.
43:30–43:40If sleep came to our eyes, a slap, a free country, free schools, free colleges.
43:40–43:41What happened?
43:41–43:42Is he dead?
43:42–43:49The man who told us, a human life is greater than a file, is he dead?
43:49–43:52They killed him.
43:52–43:53Killed him or let him die.
43:53–43:56His life is gone either way.
43:56–43:59Why did they kill him?
43:59–44:00The Gonda Bridge.
44:00–44:04The Gonda Bridge took him as a sacrifice.
44:04–44:08The drummer kept calling, labor is wanted.
44:08–44:09Labor is wanted.
44:09–44:14I used to think I should have become a laborer on the Gonda Bridge instead of going all
44:14–44:16the way to Badohi.
44:16–44:18But now.
44:18–44:21It is good that you went to Badoi.
44:21–44:23Many laborers were sacrificed here.
44:23–44:25You two might have died.
44:25–44:30This engineer opposed those deaths, and he too was crushed.
44:30–44:34And the man who freed us from Badoi?
44:34–44:37He too may have been crushed.
44:37–44:39He too may have been crushed.
44:39–44:41Let me go.
44:41–44:43Let me go back to Badoi.
44:43–44:48If he has not been crushed, I shall save him.
44:48–44:50Let me first see the bridge.
44:50–44:52Let me see Patna.
44:52–44:53Then let me go.
44:53–44:56Let me return to Badohi.
44:56–45:34If he has not been crushed, I shall save him.
45:34–45:35Years later.
45:35–45:38A book launch.
45:38–45:40I am delighted.
45:40–45:45I am delighted that, after 32 years of government service, only the chief engineer could have
45:45–45:47written this book, Gonga Bridge.
45:47–45:52The cover is excellent, the paper is excellent, the printing is excellent.
45:52–45:54Every line is impartial.
45:54–45:57Any historian may trust it with eyes closed.
45:57–46:00It is written and who can strike out the written word.
46:01–46:07The original spirit of the Gonga Bridge was to connect person with person and the chief engineer fulfilled that spirit.
46:08–46:14The voices raised in protest were merely the dust of development, the blood that felt was merely the color of sacrifice.
46:14–46:18I am no longer chief minister and he too has retired.
46:18–46:23yet the Gonga Bridge still stands, though there is now less water in the Gonga.
46:23–46:29Yes, the bridge shakes and has become dilapidated, but today's technology did not exist then.
46:29–46:34The new chief minister has already announced another Gonga Bridge beside this one.
46:34–46:37After all, what in this world is immortal?
46:37–46:42I know the author of Gonga Bridge very well, personally.
46:42–46:46He served as chief engineer while I was chief minister.
46:46–46:53He was renowned for his honesty. This bridge was built under his direction. It is alright,
46:53–46:59quite alright. It is true that the bridge may collapse in a few days and a new one will
46:59–47:05stand beside it. But this book, Gonga Bridge, will make the fallen bridge immortal in history.
47:05–47:11The chief engineer has mentioned me too, and perhaps praised me a little too generously.
47:11–47:13I am a servant of the people.
47:13–47:18Whatever I did in their service was merely my duty and required no record.
47:18–47:25Once again, I congratulate the chief engineer on his industrious life and honest character.
47:25–47:27The chief minister was my mentor.
47:27–47:30I revere him from the depths of my heart.
47:30–47:34Certain and simly incidents involving a few individuals have been omitted from this
47:34–47:38book, lest history become a medium for spreading hatred.
47:38–47:45The task of history is not to reopen wounds but to bandage them even if pus remains underneath.
47:45–47:48Nature change, the river channel dried.
47:48–47:51These and other technical factors affected the bridge.
47:51–47:56Until the new bridge is built, the old one will remain in service.
47:56–47:59And this book will make the old bridge immortal.
47:59–48:03It includes photographs from the foundations to the final span in both black and white
48:03–48:06and color.
48:06–48:08Honesty is indispensable.
48:08–48:12The chief minister is embarrassing me with undeserved praise.
48:12–48:17Had there been no honesty, this breach would not have lasted even this long.
48:17–48:23The appendix records the names of 30 people who sacrificed their lives in its construction.
48:23–48:27This book is dedicated to their memory.
48:27–48:32And?
48:32–48:36Where is the record of the many people who were killed?
48:36–48:38Thank you.
48:38–48:39Thank you.
48:39–48:42Thank you.
48:42–48:47The gonga is now demanding the sacrifice of those who sacrificed human beings, that is
48:47–48:49why her waters are drying up.
48:49–48:50Thank you.
48:50–48:51Thank you.
48:51–48:52Thank you.
48:52–48:58Here ye, here ye.
48:58–49:01Laborers are required on the gonga bridge.
49:01–49:05One carriageway has been closed while the other is repaired.
49:05–49:10The bridge made immortal in history needs yet another patch today.
49:10–49:15On the day this bridge was inaugurated, the hammering of repairs has never stopped.
49:15–49:18That sound is not the bridge being patched.
49:18–49:21It is the bones of history knocking together.
49:21–49:30Hear ye, hear ye.
49:30–49:33Hail Mother Gonga.
49:33–49:35Ann.
49:35–49:38Someone comes to Badohe and frees the labourers.
49:38–49:41Someone is crushed before the Gonga bridge.
49:41–49:43Those are the true tyrants.
49:43–49:46They are the true tyrants, the real tyrants.
49:46–49:49Then people like that engineer come and give us hope.
49:49–49:51Otherwise change might have come long ago.
49:51–49:53People themselves would have brought it.
49:53–49:57But if the one who gives hope is crushed, hope does not die.
49:57–50:01Its voice enters the drum, the hammer, and the cracks in the bridge.
50:01–50:06The real tyrants are exposed when people like that engineer come and give us hope.
50:06–50:08Thank you.
50:08–50:09Thank you.
50:09–50:11Thank you.
50:11–50:12Thank you.
50:12–50:14Thank you.
50:14–50:15Thank you.

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विमर्शक रेक। विमर्शक रेक। विमर्शक रेक। विमर्शक रेक। विमर्शक रेक। विमर्शक रेक। विमर्शक रेक। विमर्शक रेक। विमर्शक रेक। विमर्शक रेक। विमर्शक रेक। विमर्शक रेक। विमर्शक रेक। I can see the work is already underway. Why do you need more laborers? This number of laborers will not be enough. The whole bridge is shaking. Hear ye, hear ye. Gonga Bridge. Laborers are required to repair this bridge built over the sacred Gonga. Women and men, young and old, anyone may apply. How has it come to this so soon? They say that for every pier in this bridge, several cores of rupees were spent on its construction. The work was not done properly. Here ye, here ye. Laborers are required to repair this bridge over the gonga. Women and men, young and old, anyone may apply. Here ye, here ye. Look at that. Even while it was still being built, before it was ready, they had already begun repairing it. Ignoring the first man to the audience. Patch upon patch. They began patching it even before the inauguration. It is a government bridge. If it is not patched, how will balconies be added to the houses of engineers and contractors? Hear ye, hear ye. Ho, drummer. We understand that much. But tell us, bridges are built in other parts of the world too. Do the engineers and contractors there also add balconies to their houses from the cost of the bridge? I have never been there. But I have heard that the bridges built by the British used to be strong. Here ye, here ye. Ho. If they had free money to loot, then surely the few bridges the British built would be strong. These engineers and contractors are no less than the British when it comes to looting, so why can they not build strong bridges? Why are they not like the British in that respect? If they build it strong, how will they ever get another repair contract? Is that not so, drummer? I have never been there. Hear ye, hear ye. Laborers are required to repair this bridge over the Gonga. men and men, young and old, anyone may apply. Hear ye, hear ye. What can the government do? The people themselves are corrupt. Who do you mean by, the people? You and me? No, fool. The engineers and contractors. Nonsense, old fool. This is not the British government anymore. Does the meaning of people change because of that? Yes, it does. So engineers and contractors are no longer people? No. Then what are they? They are the government. Rubbish! The government is not a human being. Of course it is. Kings and emperors were human beings. The British rulers were human beings, and this is the government of independent India. Then what is the government in Patna and Delhi? That is also the government. Nonsense! This engineer is a man from our village. Since when does a villager become the government? In the village, people used to call only the zamandars officials Sarkar. That is an old habit. We'll still call the Zamandar's former officials, Sir Kar. Give it a few years, and no one will call them that anymore. You sound like an oracle. So what will everyone become? The government appoints the engineer and gets the contractor to do the work. All of them are the government. Whatever they want is what will happen. Can you and I do nothing? You and I will elect a few people. These officials will remain under their direction. But government employees include the village watchman and the office peon too. Have all of them become the government as well? Yes. Then only we are left as the people. Whatever happens, those officials will do it. We shall elect our representatives, and these officials will remain under their direction. You mean they will do as we say? Yes. That is exactly what it means. Let us see what rule by the government looks like. 15th of August. Independence Day. Children, today this tricolor flies in our hands. Now we lived under the rule of others. We were unfree. This flag had been lowered. We could not let it fly We must keep working with all our strength to ensure that it continues to fly Happiness will now spread through this region. The zamandar's rule has ended Everyone will be able to study quarrels and wars. Everything will end a new dawn has come into our lives There will be new education and new methods of farming Tall factory chimneys and enormous dams. Goods that now come from overseas will be made in factories with smoking chimneys. Great dams will check and harness the river's current. The fields will yield abundantly. Rain will no longer depend on Inder's mercy, but on our own power. Water will flow from field to field, there will be irrigation everywhere. The divide between high and low will disappear. The divide between high and low will disappear. Will the smoke of tall chimneys and enormous dams truly erase that divide? Yes. Water will reach every field. Goods now imported from overseas will be made here in factories with tall chimneys. Large dams and large factories also bring many problems. Those problems must be addressed. Otherwise development will become one-sided. How can development become one-sided? Large factories cannot be built everywhere. They will be concentrated in a few places, forcing workers to migrate there. When large dams are built, people from the villages within their catchment will also be displaced. If a great dam is not strong enough, it will break and bring catastrophe. Huge factories and dams can tear people's lives apart. One generation must make sacrifices. Children, answer me, will you dedicate yourselves to the nation? Children, tell us what you want to become. What do you wish to give to society? I shall become an engineer and build roads, bridges and canals, so that people's suffering may end. I shall become an engineer too. Huge dance. Smoke from enormous chimneys. I love the smell of smoke. What wonderful days will come when great dance and towering chimneys spread across the country. But smoke causes coughing. My mother is always coughing. I cannot bear smoke. My mother never even goes into the kitchen. I do, secretly. I love the smell of smoke and those great walls. I love all of it. Have you seen my goat? Oh, you are studying here. Victory to India. Victory to India. Victory to India. My goat. I can see it over there. If the goat runs away, I shall find it sooner or later. But I, I have run away from school. How will they catch me again? Well said. But what form development should take is not in our hands. Patna and Delhi will decide what kind of development is suitable for us. It is good that Patna and Delhi are thinking about our development. But can people sitting there, or visiting in a rush for a day or two, make the right decisions for us? Whatever comes, let us never forget that we must work for society with complete honesty, with all our heart and strength. We must help write the history of this country. Today, on 15 August 1947, let us take that pledge and give our word. We give our word. With complete honesty, with all our heart and strength, we shall write a new history for this country. 15 August. like this. This is how it shakes, this gonga bridge. Built of concrete, cement, sand and aggregate, yet it sways more than a village timber footbridge. Whenever I come here, repairs are underway. One-way traffic, only one side is ever open. How can the other side function when half the bridge is always under repair. This bridge shakes more violently than even the wooden foot bridges in our villages. Listen, Engineer. You never changed. Sift the sand this way, sift it that way, as if it were rice or lentils. I did it. Fine, fine. You said, sift it as carefully as flower for bread, only then will the bridge be as good as a well-made loaf. Fine. So much cement, so much sand, such proportions. I told you I would follow every instruction. But then where was I to find the commissions for the politicians, the other engineers and the gangsters? I began sieving the sand because you insisted, and stopped paying commissions. Something happened to me, but you were transferred, your salary was stopped, and you had to withdraw your children from school and send them back to the village. I told you I would sieve the sand and use the proper quantities of cement and sand, all according to the rules. Why should I object? The stronger the bridges and roads in this region, the better for me too. But I knew you would be transferred. The chief engineer, the politician's right-hand man, had already told me to have you crushed under a road roller. That dishonest chief engineer. At first I thought you were like the others, merely making all this fast to raise your own rate. Later I realized you were different. But what am I to do? I cannot take my own children out of school. Still, if a chief engineer like you ever comes along, if that day ever comes, I shall begin seaving sand again. I shall mix exactly this much sand with exactly this much cement, all in the proportions you prescribed. But only when someone like you is in charge. Until then. A Convocation at an Engineering College Today is your last day at this engineering college. Life here is very different from life outside. You must now go out into dust and grime. You must work. Work with devotion, work so hard that these fields begin to yield gold, and prosperity enters the lives of the people. Do not count day or night. That will be my fee from you, my one request on this day of your graduation. Our country and our people won freedom through great hardship. But freedom must also enter our minds. Only when we are economically independent of others, when we no longer have to stretch out our hands before anyone, will we possess true freedom of speech. An engineer is a maker, a creator, a maker of roads, canals and bridges. An engineer is one who connects. This bridge will connect one person to another. Roads will be built. Life will gain momentum. People will move. In a land filled with canals and ponds, the fields will yield gold. You must undertake great works. You must build enormous dams. That is how development will come, rapid development. The whole world has developed in this way. India has won freedom, and that freedom can endure only if development proceeds rapidly. Rapid development will come through huge factories and great dams. I differ with that grand road to development. In huge factories, our people may be reduced to mere laborers. This country does not possess enough money to build truly strong, permanent dams. So vast but poorly built dams may swallow village after village without being strong enough to last. They will crack and fail, and their repair will never end. But the direction of national development cannot be decided at a convocation in Muzza Farpour. It will be decided in Delhi and Putna. And now, I invite to the stage the student who has graduated with the highest marks. My friend, you have topped the class in engineering. Now real life begins. Let us see who comes first there. An engineer wins when the bridge he builds is strong, when the canals and dams he designs do not obstruct the natural drainage of water, when they make people's lives happier, when the work is completed on time. The marks earned in that examination determine an engineer's true victory or defeat. In great projects, small mistakes are inevitable. They are bound to happen. For me, I love great cities, great factories and towering chimneys. I have loved the smell of smoke since childhood. You know that. And smoke makes my mother cough. I dislike it. You know that too. Look, brother, this is the difference between us. I shall follow the road deli, or puttna lays down for me. If they order me to build a strong, permanent dam, I shall build it. If they order me to build a weak earthen dam, I shall build that. I shall do whatever my superiors command. Whether it is right or wrong? A person does not rise to the top without ability. Why would an able person give a bad order? Then what is the point of studying here and acquiring knowledge? Let it go brother. There may be very little between victory and defeat, but the definitions of victory and defeat can be worlds apart. How can I perform work I know to be wrong? How can I walk along a road I know to be wrong? Just as people define victory and defeat differently, they may also define right and wrong work, right and wrong roads, differently. For the person sitting in the chair, what is wrong can become right once it enters a file. Perhaps for some people. But the foundations of a bridge do not obey definitions written in a file. Right remains right, and wrong remains wrong. A mistake may be buried on paper, but it cannot be buried in a river. Look, brother. I come from a prosperous family. You come from an ordinary one. Even if I earn nothing and refuse every dishonest practice, my family will not suffer. But your entire family depends on you and has pinned its hopes on you. Brother, freedom has come for everyone. You think I am poor, but there are people poorer and more helpless than I am. And there are people far wealthier and more powerful than you. Such as? The people whose orders you will obey with your eyes closed. Listen, the old Zamandari may be gone, but in these new nations, those who succeed will be the ones who secure a place within the new order. The new Zamandar who wins an election will survive, or the family whose child rises within the new government will survive. Their wealth will remain, their splendor will endure. And what do you mean by rises? Higher in power, higher on the ladder of authority. The higher a person climbs, the greater the power he commands. The opportunity has come to you, and to me as well. But there is a small difference. You must acquire power. I must preserve the power my family already has. Will that satisfy you? How can I answer today? That can only be said at the end of one's life. And if, at the end of your life, you realize that all this power was an illusion, that you never found true fulfillment, what then? I shall think about it then. For now, I think as I have told you. And if you wish to turn back then, how will you return? I shall repent then, but what if the same thing happens to you? How will you return? How can right ever become wrong, brother? May this stubbornness of yours not destroy you. Today is a day of celebration. Today you have one, so today your argument is right, but only for today. Someone rolled my card away. Where did that crowd go? This is a college for highly educated people. Let us see what their education changes. Will my name ever enter someone's register? Or will my cot and my body simply keep rolling and rolling? Have you seen my cot? Someone rolled it away. What kind of college is this? A college that makes the government. It makes the government? Yes. It makes the government. That engineer said he would not become the government. He would remain one of the people. Did you not hear what his friend said? I heard. He seemed to be in rather too much of a hurry. There are other schools and colleges like this, places that manufacture the government. True enough. Yes, true enough. Will there not be two kinds of students there as well? There are two kinds of students everywhere, those who become the government, and those who wish to remain among the people. Are there people inside the government too? And government inside the people? There are people inside the government, and government inside the people. One college, one school, and two kinds of students? Every school and college has two kinds of teachers, old fool. Two kinds of ideas keep circling through the same school and college, turning everything upside down. The students must become dizzy. Home and neighborhood are schools too, old fool. Do they not shape people as well? Shape them? Of course they do. Let us see what happens. A village courtyard. Come, son. Sit here. Today you have become the first engineer from this village. If your father were alive, how happy he would have been. What can anyone do, sister? Your son is a stubborn as his father ever was. That he certainly is. However many obstacles people placed before him, he completed his education. The village finally got an MLA, and he turned into a fiend. God knows what grudge he bore. One signature from him would have spared my son so much hardship in completing his studies. They remember us only at election time. Then their voices become sweet as honey. Afterwards they tell people, so what if I won because of your votes? I gave that MLA a proper earful. When? You did not hear. At the homecoming ceremony for his son's bride, an uproar broke out in that wretched MLA's courtyard, because the bride's earring had gone missing. The policeman shut the gate and declared that no one could leave until it was found. cursed them just imagine listen to the rest the earring was found tangled in the bride's hair and only then did they open the gate to hell with that whole court I scolded the gatekeeper thoroughly and while I was at it I told him how that wretched man had refused to sign your son's papers people have begun calling me mad. Well then understand this, the madwoman's son has become an engineer. What happened is past. If the village becomes educated, the MLA will not like it. Who will then run his errands? Did this country become free so that its people would never move forward? Everyone must do their own work carefully, with all their heart and strength. Does the MLA not know that? He will call you mad too, just watch. Auntie, people call my mother mad, tomorrow they will call me mad as well. Should fear of that stop me from doing my duty? Should I become dishonest? If a bridge collapses, it is not only brick and stone that break. People's trust breaks with it. No, child. now knows how stubborn you are. They know you will put your whole heart into your work. Come son. People have gathered on the veranda. Come outside for a while. Alright brother. Officer, tell us what you want today. The whole hamlet, village, and region are talking. All the great men were left staring open mouthed because the first engineer from this village and region came from our own village. Once, the officers were all foreigners. That wretched MLA and his kind were petty zamindars. The great zamindars used to make men like him stand all night in a pond whenever it pleased them. And he refused to sign our officers papers. We voted him into office thinking he would work for the welfare of the village and the region, but he has done nothing. His five years will soon be over, then we shall see. Not once has he spoken in the Patna assembly for the welfare of this area. Do not say that, Darda. He did speak once in the partner assembly. Sir, Neil Guy are eating my crops. Kindly grant me a gun license so that I may shoot them, or at least frighten them away. Lala, that age has passed. Once, brute strength ruled, then family and lineage ruled. Now the time has come for those who work with their own hands. They held back education for so long, can they still hold it back now? You are right, Bao. Who can stop the wind once it has begun to blow? Violet, they have certainly tried to stop it. But our engineer Sahib is fiercely stubborn. If my brother were alive today, you would have seen his pride. He would have lifted the whole hamlet onto his shoulders and turned the day into a festival. But we uncles shall make up for his father's absence. Meat, go to Bao Bao's shop and tell him to send forward higher measures of sugar to the door, quickly. Put it on my account. No, put it on my account. No, on mine. Oho, that's Bobokcho belong to your Hamlet alone. Put it on my account, boy. I shall have one at Haya entered in each of your four names. From today, the new engineer Sahib will build a small bridge over the stream outside the village. It will be connected to the road. If everyone allows soil from the edges of their fields to be cut for the road, work that would take a year can be completed in a month. The officer says, first measure, then build, first secure the people's route, then award the contract. Hear ye, hear ye. Son, build the bridge, but preserve the bridge of your own body too. This household breathes because of you. Only the person who abandons truth is truly alone. As long as your eyes are behind me, I shall not falter. People trust you. But your children wait for you too. Do your work, but do not think you stand alone. The Chief Minister's Office in Patna So many years have passed since independence, yet not one bridge has been built across the gonga at Patna. After enormous effort, funds have finally been arranged. I have called you because the responsibility for the tender will naturally rest with the chief engineer. Publish the advertisement in the newspapers, but you understand. There will be competition on paper, but inwardly the way must remain open for the person we choose. Many students graduated from engineering college with you. By now they have gained useful experience. Bringing capable engineers from among them, people who know their work properly. Yes, that will be necessary. Otherwise, how shall we keep these contractors under control? This gonga bridge will accelerate development. People who have been sitting idle will begin to travel. Movement will open their minds. But people won freedom only through great hardship. Yet preserving that freedom will demand greater sacrifice than winning it did. This river, this bridge, everything demands sacrifice. This is the gonga. Do you think a bridge can rise across it without sacrifice? It wants blood. Can you give it? We shall give blood, as much as is needed. That is what I wish to hear. That is what I wish to see. The more we sacrifice for future generations, the happier those generations will be. It is settled. The contractor is ready to pay the commission. And the people are ready to make the sacrifice. I am preparing the list of engineers. We need people who can actually work, or these contractors will loot everything. The contractor has bought this contract by agreeing to the commission. We must keep a tight rein on him, or the people's sacrifice will go entirely to waste. I am not satisfied with the progress of the work or with the methods being used. There are no proper safety arrangements, and no attention is being paid to the quality of the materials. Everything is substandard. Had safety measures been in place, so many laborers would not have fallen into the river, into excavations, or onto machinery and died. Many of the injured could have been saved. There is not even a first aid station. Yesterday Ramdhani's hand was caught in a machine. Instead of dressing the wound, they tied a sack around it and sent him away. His little boy sat outside crying, father, come home. 30 laborers died last month. 300 have died in one year. Compassionate relief has been recommended for only 10 families. What happened to the files I forwarded for the others? Look, you studied with me. You are an able engineer, but why can you not confine yourself to engineering? Why raise unnecessary questions about compassionate appointments and relief grants? You sent forward a huge file. What happened next, and why, why should that concern you? What do you mean? Does engineering mean that a laborer's life has no value? A worker dies, what happens to the family? How will they eat? How will the children receive a mother and father's love? Yesterday a husband and wife, both laborers, fell beneath a bridge pier and died. Is the government not responsible for their children? The money would come from the government treasury, what loss would that cause you? If the true number of deaths comes out, allegations will be made against the chief minister and me. There will be uproar. The laborers come from many places, but if this news breaks, the entire country will erupt. We shall be disgraced before the world. Criminal cases for homicide will follow. Neither I nor the chief minister will survive politically. And all because of you. Is this why I brought you on to this enormous project? Would Mother Ganga not demand even 2,000 lives for a project of this scale? When the project is completed, I shall receive great honor, and you will share in it. That is the share I fear. Along with a share of the honor, I shall receive a share in these sacrifices, or murders. I want no part of it. What you are trying to do will halt development. What development? At what price? And how long will this development last? If laborer's blood is mixed with the sand beneath the foundations, the bridge may stand, but society will collapse from within. Development has taken place this way everywhere in the world. Which is why repairs to this bridge began even before its inauguration. That is how strong this development is. Development has taken place this way everywhere in the world. And that is why people have begun saying that British bridges still stand, while bridges built in independent India crack before they are even complete. Development has taken place this way everywhere in the world. Then people will begin saying that British rule was better. Let them say it. People will say the engineers swallowed all the money. Let them. An engineer does not keep it all in his pocket, he spends it here. The Rain Falls in India, not in England. Along with engineering, you have studied economics as well, Dada Bhai Nehruji's poverty and un-British rule in India, the drain of wealth theory. Dada Bhai could never have imagined that he was formulating that theory for the engineers of independent India. So everyone is wrong except you. No. It seems to me that everyone is right except me. But then why are we turning small matters into a great spectacle? What you call small is not small. You hold power. Even the chief minister is in your grip. Transfer me. But I possess copies of the files, the laborer's names, the dates of the accidents, the accounts of inferior materials, everything is recorded. If I remain silent, these papers will speak. I cannot transfer you. The people stand with you. The laborers stand with you. An election is approaching. The chief minister has ordered me not to transfer you. And if your papers become public, the chairs of power will shake before the bridge does. Then what? I cannot accept any of your demands. I remember that we studied together, but once a man sits in the chair, His mind sees the file first and his friends face afterwards. Then what? Then we shall see. You will not understand anyway. My friend, I am telling you for the last time, change your path, or the path itself will crush you. He is disrupting the work. He is an enemy of progress. What can one say about such people? Transfer him. The election is still some time away. The public will forget. The public may forget, but the opposition will dig up the matter. I feel like having him shot. Do not make that mistake. You will turn him into Bagotsing. How can he become Bagotsing? This is no longer British rule. He is an enemy of progress. We shall label him a terrorist. who stands in the path of development must be given a different name, a name that frightens people the moment they hear it. We cannot label him a terrorist. He is a government employee, an engineer. He is not some ordinary member of the public whom we can brand at will. Trap him in a corruption case. Have his house raided. He does not take illegal money. The raid will find nothing in his house but a wooden cut. He must have some weakness. Find it. He is stubborn. That is his only weakness. Then have him killed. If a man has no weakness, what use is there in letting him live? Do not make that mistake. You will turn him into Mahatma Gandhi, into Jesus Christ. Find a weakness. You studied with him from the beginning. If you do not want him killed, find a weakness in him. If you can neither find one nor kill him, what are we to do, make him commit suicide. He is not the kind of man who commits suicide. He is stubborn. His stubbornness is not a defect, it is his strength. That is what makes him dangerous. Then have him killed and announced that he committed suicide. Some people will not believe it. Everyone will say he was murdered. Then what? He will have to die. He will be killed. He studied with me, but friendship with the chair has become greater than friendship with a friend. If it must look neither like murder nor suicide, we shall have to wait until he dies of old age. It will look neither like murder nor suicide. It will look like an accident. An accident. In this free country, members of the public will be branded terrorists and killed, people like him will die in accidents. Then put him beneath a road roller. But the entire event must look exactly like an accident. If people realize he was killed, we shall make a hero of him for nothing. His death will grieve me deeply. He studied with me. He was a brilliant engineer. You said the papers would speak. Where are those papers now? These children's eyes will speak. This earth will speak. The trembling of this bridge will speak. He has left us. Oh God. A madwoman's mad son. My brother's son is gone. While his wrestler uncle still lives, my nephew lies crushed before me. Brother, what answer shall I give you? They say it was an accident. Can a man be crushed like this in an accident? A road roller does not simply wander out of control. Have you ever heard of someone being flattened by a road roller in an accident? Whose name shall we invoke with pride now? Whom shall we point to when we tell people to struggle? Who will labor honestly? Who will obey the law? But if we do not speak the truth, what would the officer say, pilot uncle? If we do not struggle, what would he say? If we neither work honestly nor obey the law, how can we ever take pride in him? What monsters they have become! The elder brother is alive, and the younger has left us. Mad boy, he used to go to Chanagrove to test his strength. Listen, this is the earth. No power from outside comes here. Good and evil are both in the hands of the people who live here. If evil is stronger, must we become evil too? The Earth and Sky stand unmoved. Even after witnessing this injustice, no earthquake has come, no storm has risen. The world will go on as before. I went looking for a job. I was exhausted from pulling a hand-cut. They lured me away with lies to Badohe. Whenever work stopped, they beat us with iron rods. One meal a day. If sleep came to our eyes, a slap, a free country, free schools, free colleges. What happened? Is he dead? The man who told us, a human life is greater than a file, is he dead? They killed him. Killed him or let him die. His life is gone either way. Why did they kill him? The Gonda Bridge. The Gonda Bridge took him as a sacrifice. The drummer kept calling, labor is wanted. Labor is wanted. I used to think I should have become a laborer on the Gonda Bridge instead of going all the way to Badohi. But now. It is good that you went to Badoi. Many laborers were sacrificed here. You two might have died. This engineer opposed those deaths, and he too was crushed. And the man who freed us from Badoi? He too may have been crushed. He too may have been crushed. Let me go. Let me go back to Badoi. If he has not been crushed, I shall save him. Let me first see the bridge. Let me see Patna. Then let me go. Let me return to Badohi. If he has not been crushed, I shall save him. Years later. A book launch. I am delighted. I am delighted that, after 32 years of government service, only the chief engineer could have written this book, Gonga Bridge. The cover is excellent, the paper is excellent, the printing is excellent. Every line is impartial. Any historian may trust it with eyes closed. It is written and who can strike out the written word. The original spirit of the Gonga Bridge was to connect person with person and the chief engineer fulfilled that spirit. The voices raised in protest were merely the dust of development, the blood that felt was merely the color of sacrifice. I am no longer chief minister and he too has retired. yet the Gonga Bridge still stands, though there is now less water in the Gonga. Yes, the bridge shakes and has become dilapidated, but today's technology did not exist then. The new chief minister has already announced another Gonga Bridge beside this one. After all, what in this world is immortal? I know the author of Gonga Bridge very well, personally. He served as chief engineer while I was chief minister. He was renowned for his honesty. This bridge was built under his direction. It is alright, quite alright. It is true that the bridge may collapse in a few days and a new one will stand beside it. But this book, Gonga Bridge, will make the fallen bridge immortal in history. The chief engineer has mentioned me too, and perhaps praised me a little too generously. I am a servant of the people. Whatever I did in their service was merely my duty and required no record. Once again, I congratulate the chief engineer on his industrious life and honest character. The chief minister was my mentor. I revere him from the depths of my heart. Certain and simly incidents involving a few individuals have been omitted from this book, lest history become a medium for spreading hatred. The task of history is not to reopen wounds but to bandage them even if pus remains underneath. Nature change, the river channel dried. These and other technical factors affected the bridge. Until the new bridge is built, the old one will remain in service. And this book will make the old bridge immortal. It includes photographs from the foundations to the final span in both black and white and color. Honesty is indispensable. The chief minister is embarrassing me with undeserved praise. Had there been no honesty, this breach would not have lasted even this long. The appendix records the names of 30 people who sacrificed their lives in its construction. This book is dedicated to their memory. And? Where is the record of the many people who were killed? Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. The gonga is now demanding the sacrifice of those who sacrificed human beings, that is why her waters are drying up. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Here ye, here ye. Laborers are required on the gonga bridge. One carriageway has been closed while the other is repaired. The bridge made immortal in history needs yet another patch today. On the day this bridge was inaugurated, the hammering of repairs has never stopped. That sound is not the bridge being patched. It is the bones of history knocking together. Hear ye, hear ye. Hail Mother Gonga. Ann. Someone comes to Badohe and frees the labourers. Someone is crushed before the Gonga bridge. Those are the true tyrants. They are the true tyrants, the real tyrants. Then people like that engineer come and give us hope. Otherwise change might have come long ago. People themselves would have brought it. But if the one who gives hope is crushed, hope does not die. Its voice enters the drum, the hammer, and the cracks in the bridge. The real tyrants are exposed when people like that engineer come and give us hope. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

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