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Ganga_Bridge_MASTER.mp3

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Collection: Part 10 · VIDEHA MITHILA MAITHILI DISCUSSION CRITICISM SERIES PART 10
Status: asr-draft
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Detected language: en (0.988863)
Duration: 49:47
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Timestamped machine output

0:01–1:02विमर्द गोंगा ब्रिज लेबर दिस लेबर दिस ब्रिज बिल्ड विमर्द विमर्द विमर्द विमर्द विमर्द विमर्द विमर्द विमर्द विमर्द विमर्द विमर्द विमर्द विमर्द विमर्द विमर्द विमर्द विमर्द विमर्द विमर्द विमर्द विमर्�
1:02–1:08Why do you need more laborers?
1:08–1:11This number of laborers will not be enough.
1:11–1:13The whole bridge is shaking.
1:13–1:16Hear ye, hear ye.
1:16–1:17Gonga Bridge.
1:17–1:22Laborers are required to repair this bridge built over the sacred Gonga.
1:22–1:26Women and men, young and old, anyone may apply.
1:26–1:29How has it come to this so soon?
1:29–1:36They say that for every pier in this bridge, several cores of rupees were spent on its construction.
1:36–1:38The work was not done properly.
1:38–1:41Hear ye, hear ye.
1:41–1:45Laborers are required to repair this bridge over the gonga.
1:45–1:48Women and men, young and old, anyone may apply.
1:48–1:52Hear ye, hear ye.
1:52–1:53Look at that.
1:53–1:58Even while it was still being built, before it was ready, they had already begun repairing
1:58–2:06Ignoring the first man to the audience. Patch upon patch. They began patching it even before
2:06–2:13the inauguration. It is a government bridge. If it is not patched, how will balconies be
2:13–2:23added to the houses of engineers and contractors? Hear ye, hear ye. Oh, drummer. We understand that
2:23–2:30much. But tell us, bridges are built in other parts of the world too. Do the engineers and contractors
2:30–2:36there also add balconies to their houses from the cost of the bridge? I have never been there.
2:36–2:41But I have heard that the bridges built by the British used to be strong. Here ye, here ye.
2:42–2:48Ho. If they had free money to loot, then surely the few bridges the British built would be strong.
2:48–2:54These engineers and contractors are no less than the British when it comes to looting,
2:54–2:57so why can they not build strong bridges?
2:57–3:01Why are they not like the British in that respect?
3:01–3:05If they build it strong, how will they ever get another repair contract?
3:05–3:09Is that not so, drummer?
3:09–3:11I have never been there.
3:11–3:13Hear ye, hear ye.
3:13–3:17Laborers are required to repair this bridge over the Gonga.
3:17–3:21men and men, young and old, anyone may apply.
3:21–3:26Hear ye, hear ye.
3:26–3:28What can the government do?
3:28–3:32The people themselves are corrupt.
3:32–3:34Who do you mean by, the people?
3:34–3:36You and me?
3:36–3:39No, fool.
3:39–3:41The engineers and contractors.
3:41–3:45Nonsense, old fool.
3:45–3:48This is not the British government anymore.
3:48–3:52Does the meaning of people change because of that?
3:52–3:55Yes, it does.
3:55–3:59So engineers and contractors are no longer people?
3:59–4:02No.
4:02–4:04Then what are they?
4:04–4:07They are the government.
4:07–4:09Rubbish!
4:09–4:12The government is not a human being.
4:12–4:14Of course it is.
4:14–4:19Kings and emperors were human beings, the British rulers were human beings, and this
4:19–4:22This is the government of independent India.
4:22–4:27Then what is the government in Patna and Delhi?
4:27–4:29That is also the government.
4:29–4:31Nonsense!
4:31–4:35This engineer is a man from our village.
4:35–4:38Since when does a villager become the government?
4:38–4:44In the village, people used to call only the Zamandars officials Sarkar.
4:44–4:46That is an old habit.
4:46–4:50We'll still call the Zamandar's former officials, Sarkar.
4:50–4:55Give it a few years, and no one will call them that anymore.
4:55–4:57You sound like an oracle.
4:57–5:00So what will everyone become?
5:00–5:05The government appoints the engineer and gets the contractor to do the work.
5:05–5:07All of them are the government.
5:07–5:10Whatever they want is what will happen.
5:10–5:13Can you and I do nothing?
5:13–5:16You and I will elect a few people.
5:16–5:20These officials will remain under their direction.
5:20–5:25But government employees include the village watchman and the office peon too.
5:25–5:28Have all of them become the government as well?
5:28–5:31Yes.
5:31–5:34Then only we are left as the people.
5:34–5:38Whatever happens, those officials will do it.
5:38–5:44We shall elect our representatives, and these officials will remain under their direction.
5:44–5:46You mean they will do as we say?
5:46–5:49Yes.
5:49–5:52That is exactly what it means.
5:52–6:01Let us see what rule by the government looks like.
6:01–6:0415th of August.
6:04–6:06Independence Day.
6:06–6:11Children, today this tricolor flies in our hands.
6:11–6:17Now we lived under the rule of others. We were unfree. This flag had been lowered. We could not let it fly
6:18–6:22We must keep working with all our strength to ensure that it continues to fly
6:23–6:27Happiness will now spread through this region. The zamandar's rule has ended
6:28–6:35Everyone will be able to study quarrels and wars. Everything will end a new dawn has come into our lives
6:36–6:38There will be new education and new methods of farming
6:38–6:43Tall factory chimneys and enormous dams.
6:43–6:48Goods that now come from overseas will be made in factories with smoking chimneys.
6:48–6:51Great dams will check and harness the river's current.
6:51–6:54The fields will yield abundantly.
6:54–6:59Rain will no longer depend on Inder's mercy, but on our own power.
6:59–7:03Water will flow from field to field, there will be irrigation everywhere.
7:03–7:07The divide between high and low will disappear.
7:07–7:10The divide between high and low will disappear.
7:10–7:16Will the smoke of tall chimneys and enormous dams truly erase that divide?
7:16–7:17Yes.
7:17–7:20Water will reach every field.
7:20–7:26Goods now imported from overseas will be made here in factories with tall chimneys.
7:26–7:30Large dams and large factories also bring many problems.
7:30–7:32Those problems must be addressed.
7:32–7:36Otherwise development will become one-sided.
7:36–7:39How can development become one-sided?
7:39–7:42Large factories cannot be built everywhere.
7:42–7:47They will be concentrated in a few places, forcing workers to migrate there.
7:47–7:51When large dams are built, people from the villages within their catchment will also
7:51–7:53be displaced.
7:53–7:58If a great dam is not strong enough, it will break and bring catastrophe.
7:58–8:02Huge factories and dams can tear people's lives apart.
8:02–8:04One generation must make sacrifices.
8:04–8:08Children, answer me, will you dedicate yourselves to the nation?
8:09–8:14Children, tell us what you want to become. What do you wish to give to society?
8:15–8:22I shall become an engineer and build roads, bridges and canals, so that people's suffering may end.
8:23–8:29I shall become an engineer too. Huge dams. Smoke from enormous chimneys.
8:29–8:36chimneys. I love the smell of smoke. What wonderful days will come when great
8:36–8:42dams and towering chimneys spread across the country. But smoke causes coughing.
8:42–8:50My mother is always coughing. I cannot bear smoke. My mother never even goes into
8:50–8:57the kitchen. I do, secretly. I love the smell of smoke and those great walls. I
8:57–9:32I love all of it. Sir, have you seen my goat? Oh, you are studying here.
9:32–9:38Victory to India. Victory to India. Victory to India.
9:38–9:46My goat. I can see it over there. If the goat runs away, I shall find it sooner or later.
9:46–9:51But I, I have run away from school. How will they catch me again?
9:51–10:00Well said. But what form development should take is not in our hands.
10:00–10:05Patna and Delhi will decide what kind of development is suitable for us.
10:05–10:10It is good that Patna and Delhi are thinking about our development. But can people sitting
10:10–10:15there, or visiting in a rush for a day or two, make the right decisions for us? Whatever
10:15–10:20comes, let us never forget that we must work for society, with complete honesty, with
10:20–10:25With all our heart and strength, we must help write the history of this country.
10:25–10:32Today, on 15 August 1947, let us take that pledge and give our word.
10:32–10:34We give our word.
10:34–10:42With complete honesty, with all our heart and strength, we shall write a new history for this country.
10:42–10:4515 August.
10:45–10:57Independence Day.
10:57–10:59Like this.
10:59–11:03This is how it shakes this gonga bridge.
11:03–11:12Built of concrete, cement, sand and aggregate, yet it sways more than a village timber footbridge.
11:12–11:16Whenever I come here, repairs are underway.
11:16–11:21One-way traffic, only one side is ever open.
11:21–11:27How can the other side function when half the bridge is always under repair?
11:27–11:33This bridge shakes more violently than even the wooden foot bridges in our villages.
11:33–11:41Listen, engineer. You never changed.
11:41–11:47Sift the sand this way, sift it that way, as if it were rice or lentils.
11:47–11:49I did it.
11:49–11:51Fine, fine.
11:51–11:59You said, Sivit as carefully as flour for bread, only then will the bridge be as good as a well-made loaf.
11:59–12:00Fine.
12:00–12:05So much cement, so much sand, such proportions.
12:05–12:08I told you I would follow every instruction.
12:08–12:16But then where was I to find the commissions for the politicians, the other engineers and the gangsters?
12:16–12:21I began sieving the sand because you insisted and stopped paying commissions.
12:22–12:28Nothing happened to me, but you were transferred. Your salary was stopped.
12:28–12:32And you had to withdraw your children from school and send them back to the village.
12:33–12:39I told you I would sieve the sand and use the proper quantities of cement and sand,
12:39–12:42all according to the rules. Why should I object?
12:42–12:49The stronger the bridges and roads in this region, the better for me too.
12:49–12:52But I knew you would be transferred.
12:52–12:57The chief engineer, the politician's right hand man, had already told me to have you
12:57–13:00crushed under a road roller.
13:00–13:03That dishonest chief engineer.
13:03–13:09At first I thought you were like the others, merely making all this fast to raise your
13:09–13:10own rate.
13:10–13:14Here I realized you were different.
13:14–13:16But what am I to do?
13:16–13:19I cannot take my own children out of school.
13:19–13:26Still, if a chief engineer like you ever comes along, if that day ever comes, I shall begin
13:26–13:28sieving sand again.
13:28–13:35I shall mix exactly this much sand with exactly this much cement, all in the proportions
13:35–13:37you prescribed.
13:37–13:40But only when someone like you is in charge.
13:40–14:03do then. A Convocation at an Engineering College.
14:03–14:09Today is your last day at this Engineering College. Life here is very different from life
14:09–14:16outside. You must now go out into dust and grime. You must work. Work with devotion,
14:16–14:20work so hard that these fields begin to yield gold, and prosperity enters the lives of the
14:20–14:26people. Do not count day or night. That will be my fee from you, my one request
14:26–14:28on this day of your graduation.
14:28–14:31Our country and our people won freedom
14:31–14:32through great hardship,
14:32–14:35but freedom must also enter our minds.
14:35–14:38Only when we are economically independent of others,
14:38–14:40when we no longer have to stretch out our hands
14:40–14:41before anyone,
14:41–14:44will we possess true freedom of speech.
14:44–14:47An engineer is a maker, a creator,
14:47–14:50a maker of roads, canals and bridges.
14:50–14:52An engineer is one who connects.
14:52–14:55This bridge will connect one person to another.
14:55–15:04Roads will be built. Life will gain momentum. People will move. In a land filled with canals and ponds, the fields will yield gold.
15:04–15:16You must undertake great works. You must build enormous dams. That is how development will come, rapid development.
15:16–15:24The whole world has developed in this way. India has won freedom, and that freedom can endure only if development proceeds rapidly.
15:24–15:28Rapid development will come through huge factories and great dams.
15:28–15:36I differ with that grand road to development. In huge factories, our people may be reduced to mere laborers.
15:36–15:42This country does not possess enough money to build truly strong, permanent dams.
15:42–15:48So vast but poorly built dams may swallow village after village without being strong enough to last.
15:48–15:52They will crack and fail, and their repair will never end.
15:52–15:58But the direction of national development cannot be decided at a convocation in Muzza Farpour.
15:58–16:01It will be decided in Delhi and Putna.
16:01–16:10And now, I invite to the stage the student who has graduated with the highest marks.
16:10–16:12My friend, you have topped the class in engineering.
16:12–16:14Now real life begins.
16:14–16:17Let us see who comes first there.
16:17–16:21An engineer wins when the bridge he builds is strong, when the canals and dams he
16:21–16:26designs do not obstruct the natural drainage of water when they make people's lives happier,
16:26–16:29when the work is completed on time.
16:29–16:35The marks earned in that examination determine an engineer's true victory or defeat.
16:35–16:38In great projects, small mistakes are inevitable.
16:38–16:39They are bound to happen.
16:39–16:44As for me, I love great cities, great factories and towering chimneys.
16:44–16:47I have loved the smell of smoke since childhood.
16:47–16:48You know that.
16:48–16:51And smoke makes my mother cough.
16:51–16:53I dislike it.
16:53–16:55You know that too.
16:55–16:58Look, brother, this is the difference between us.
16:58–17:02I shall follow the road deli, or puttna lays down for me.
17:02–17:06If they order me to build a strong, permanent dam, I shall build it.
17:06–17:10If they order me to build a weak, earthen dam, I shall build that.
17:10–17:13I shall do whatever my superiors command.
17:13–17:16Whether it is right or wrong.
17:16–17:19A person does not rise to the top without ability.
17:19–17:23Why would an able person give a bad order?
17:23–17:27Then what is the point of studying here and acquiring knowledge?
17:27–17:30Let it go, brother.
17:30–17:34There may be very little between victory and defeat, but the definitions of victory and
17:34–17:36defeat can be worlds apart.
17:36–17:40How can I perform work I know to be wrong?
17:40–17:44How can I walk along a road I know to be wrong?
17:44–17:50Just as people define victory and defeat differently, they may also define right and wrong work,
17:50–17:52right and wrong roads, differently.
17:52–17:56For the person sitting in the chair, what is wrong can become right once it enters
17:56–17:58a file.
17:58–18:00Perhaps for some people.
18:00–18:05But the foundations of a bridge do not obey definitions written in a file.
18:05–18:09Right remains right, and wrong remains wrong.
18:09–18:22A mistake may be buried on paper, but it cannot be buried in a river.
18:22–18:27Look, brother, I come from a prosperous family. You come from an ordinary one.
18:27–18:33Even if I earn nothing and refuse every dishonest practice, my family will not suffer.
18:33–18:36But your entire family depends on you and has pinned its hopes on you.
18:37–18:43Brother, freedom has come for everyone. You think I am poor, but there are people poorer
18:43–18:48and more helpless than I am. And there are people far wealthier and more powerful than you.
18:48–18:58such as the people whose orders you will obey with your eyes closed listen the old
18:58–19:03Zamandari may be gone but in these new nations those who succeed will be the
19:03–19:08ones who secure a place within the new order the new Zamandar who wins an
19:08–19:11election will survive or the family whose child rises within the new
19:11–19:16government will survive their wealth will remain their splendor will endure
19:16–19:21And what do you mean by arises?
19:21–19:26Higher in power, higher on the ladder of authority, the higher a person climbs, the greater the
19:26–19:28power he commands.
19:28–19:31The opportunity has come to you, and to me as well.
19:31–19:32But there is a small difference.
19:32–19:34You must acquire power.
19:34–19:38I must preserve the power my family already has.
19:38–19:40Will that satisfy you?
19:40–19:42How can I answer today?
19:42–19:45That can only be said at the end of one's life.
19:45–19:50And if, at the end of your life, you realize that all this power was an illusion, that
19:50–19:54you never found true fulfillment, what then?
19:54–19:55I shall think about it then.
19:55–19:58For now, I think as I have told you.
19:58–20:03And if you wish to turn back then, how will you return?
20:03–20:04I shall repent then.
20:04–20:06But what if the same thing happens to you?
20:06–20:08How will you return?
20:08–20:12How can right ever become wrong, brother?
20:12–20:15May this stubbornness of yours not destroy you.
20:15–20:17Today is a day of celebration.
20:17–20:26Today you have won, so today your argument is right, but only for today.
20:26–20:29Someone rolled my card away.
20:29–20:31Where did that crowd go?
20:31–20:34This is a college for highly educated people.
20:34–20:38Let us see what their education changes.
20:38–20:40Will my name ever enter someone's register?
20:40–20:45Or will my card and my body simply keep rolling and rolling?
20:45–20:47Have you seen my card?
20:47–20:51Someone rolled it away.
20:51–20:54What kind of college is this?
20:54–20:57A college that makes the government.
20:57–20:59It makes the government?
20:59–21:01Yes.
21:01–21:04It makes the government.
21:04–21:08But that engineer said he would not become the government.
21:08–21:11He would remain one of the people.
21:11–21:14Did you not hear what his friend said?
21:14–21:16I heard.
21:16–21:20He seemed to be in rather too much of a hurry.
21:20–21:26There are other schools and colleges like this, places that manufacture the government.
21:26–21:27True enough.
21:27–21:31Yes, true enough.
21:31–21:35Will there not be two kinds of students there as well?
21:35–21:39There are two kinds of students everywhere, those who become the government, and those
21:39–21:43who wish to remain among the people.
21:43–21:46Are there people inside the government too?
21:46–21:49And government inside the people?
21:49–21:55There are people inside the government, and government inside the people.
21:55–21:59One college, one school, and two kinds of students?
21:59–22:03Every school and college has two kinds of teachers, old fool.
22:03–22:08Two kinds of ideas keep circling through the same school and college, turning everything
22:08–22:10upside down.
22:10–22:14The students must become dizzy.
22:14–22:17Home and neighborhood are schools too, old fool.
22:17–22:21Do they not shape people as well?
22:21–22:22Shape them?
22:22–22:24Of course they do.
22:24–22:39Let us see what happens.
22:39–22:46A village courtyard.
22:46–22:48Come, son.
22:48–22:50Sit here.
22:50–22:54Today you have become the first engineer from this village.
22:54–22:58If your father were alive, how happy he would have been.
22:58–23:01What can anyone do, sister?
23:01–23:06Your son is a stubborn as his father ever was.
23:06–23:09That he certainly is.
23:09–23:15However many obstacles people placed before him, he completed his education.
23:15–23:20The village finally got an MLA, and he turned into a fiend.
23:20–23:22God knows what grudge he bore.
23:22–23:26One signature from him would have spared my son so much hardship in completing his
23:26–23:29studies.
23:29–23:32They remember us only at election time.
23:32–23:36Then their voices become sweet as honey.
23:36–23:41Afterwards they tell people, so what if I won because of your votes?
23:41–23:45I gave that MLA a proper earful.
23:45–23:47When?
23:47–23:49You did not hear.
23:49–23:54At the homecoming ceremony for his son's bride, an uproar broke out in that wretched
23:54–23:58MLA's courtyard because the bride's earring had gone missing.
23:58–24:04The policeman shut the gate and declared that no one could leave until it was found.
24:04–24:06Cursed them.
24:06–24:09Just imagine.
24:09–24:11Listen to the rest.
24:11–24:16The earring was found tangled in the bride's hair, and only then did they open the gate.
24:16–24:19To hell with that whole court.
24:19–24:23I scolded the gatekeeper thoroughly, and while I was at it I told him how that wretched
24:23–24:28man had refused to sign your son's papers.
24:28–24:37have begun calling me mad. Well then, understand this, the madwoman's son has become an engineer.
24:37–24:43What happened is past. If the village becomes educated, the MLA will not like it. Who will
24:43–24:49then run his errands? Did this country become free so that its people would never move
24:49–24:56forward? Everyone must do their own work carefully, with all their heart and strength.
24:56–24:59Does the MLA not know that?
24:59–25:02He will call you mad too, just watch.
25:02–25:08Auntie, people call my mother mad, tomorrow they will call me mad as well.
25:08–25:12Should fear of that stop me from doing my duty?
25:12–25:14Should I become dishonest?
25:14–25:19If a bridge collapses, it is not only brick and stone that break.
25:19–25:21People's trust breaks with it.
25:21–25:24No, child.
25:24–25:29now knows how stubborn you are. They know you will put your whole heart into your work.
25:34–25:39Come son. People have gathered on the veranda. Come outside for a while.
25:40–25:51Alright brother. Officer, tell us what you want today. The whole hamlet, village, and region
25:51–25:56are talking. All the great men were left staring open mouthed, because the first engineer from this
25:56–26:02village and region came from our own village. Once, the officers were all foreigners. That
26:02–26:07wretched MLA and his kind were petty Zamandars. The great Zamandars used to make men like him
26:07–26:13stand all night in a pond whenever it pleased them. And he refused to sign our officers'
26:13–26:17papers. We voted him into office thinking he would work for the welfare of the village
26:17–26:22and the region, but he has done nothing. His five years will soon be over, then we
26:22–26:28shall say. Not once has he spoken in the Patner Assembly for the welfare of this area.
26:28–26:34Do not say that, Darda. He did speak once in the Patner Assembly. Sir, Neil Guy are eating
26:34–26:40my crops. Kindly grant me a gun license so that I may shoot them, or at least frighten
26:40–26:41them away.
26:41–26:51Lala, that age has passed. Once, brute strength ruled, then family and lineage ruled. Now
26:51–26:55Now the time has come for those who work with their own hands.
26:55–27:00They held back education for so long, can they still hold it back now?
27:00–27:02You are right, Bao.
27:02–27:05Who can stop the wind once it has begun to blow?
27:05–27:09Violet, they have certainly tried to stop it.
27:09–27:12But our engineer Sahib is fiercely stubborn.
27:12–27:16If my brother were alive today, you would have seen his pride.
27:16–27:20He would have lifted the whole hamlet onto his shoulders and turned the day into a festival.
27:20–27:23we uncles shall make up for his father's absence.
27:23–27:28Meet, go to Baobach's shop and tell him to send four Adhaya measures of sugar to the door,
27:28–27:30quickly.
27:30–27:31Put it on my account.
27:31–27:34No, put it on my account.
27:34–27:37No, on mine.
27:37–27:42Oho, that's Baobach's job to belong to your Hamlet alone.
27:42–27:45Put it on my account, boy.
27:45–27:51I shall have one Adhaya entered in each of your four names.
27:51–27:55Even today, the new engineer Sahib will build a small bridge over the stream outside the
27:55–27:56village.
27:56–27:59It will be connected to the road.
27:59–28:03If everyone allows soil from the edges of their fields to be cut for the road, work
28:03–28:07that would take a year can be completed in a month.
28:07–28:11The officer says, first measure, then build, first secure the people's route, then award
28:11–28:12the contract.
28:12–28:15Hear ye, hear ye.
28:15–28:33Son, build the bridge, but preserve the bridge of your own body too.
28:33–28:37This household breathes because of you.
28:37–28:41Only the person who abandons truth is truly alone.
28:41–28:46As long as your eyes are behind me, I shall not falter.
28:46–28:48People trust you.
28:48–28:51But your children wait for you too.
28:51–29:06Do your work, but do not think you stand alone.
29:06–29:10The Chief Minister's office in Patna.
29:10–29:15So many years have passed since independence, yet not one bridge has been built across the
29:15–29:21gonga at Patna. After enormous effort, funds have finally been arranged. I have called
29:21–29:26you because the responsibility for the tender will naturally rest with the chief engineer.
29:26–29:36Publish the advertisement in the newspapers, but you understand. There will be competition
29:36–29:41on paper, but inwardly the way must remain open for the person we choose. Many students
29:41–29:48graduated from engineering college with you. By now they have gained useful experience.
29:48–29:53capable engineers from among them, people who know their work properly.
29:53–29:56Yes, that will be necessary.
29:56–30:04Otherwise, how shall we keep these contractors under control?
30:04–30:07This gonga bridge will accelerate development.
30:07–30:11People who have been sitting idle will begin to travel.
30:11–30:16Movement will open their minds.
30:16–30:20The people won freedom only through great hardship.
30:20–30:24Yet preserving that freedom will demand greater sacrifice than winning it did.
30:24–30:28This river, this bridge, everything demands sacrifice.
30:28–30:29This is the gonga.
30:29–30:34Do you think a bridge can rise across it without sacrifice?
30:34–30:36It wants blood.
30:36–30:37Can you give it?
30:37–30:44We shall give blood, as much as is needed.
30:44–30:46That is what I wish to hear.
30:46–30:48That is what I wish to see.
30:48–30:57The more we sacrifice for future generations, the happier those generations will be.
30:57–30:59It is settled.
30:59–31:03The contractor is ready to pay the commission.
31:03–31:08And the people are ready to make the sacrifice.
31:08–31:11I am preparing the list of engineers.
31:11–31:17We need people who can actually work, or these contractors will loot everything.
31:17–31:21The contractor has bought this contract by agreeing to the commission.
31:21–31:43We must keep a tight rein on him, or the people's sacrifice will go entirely to waste.
31:43–31:48I am not satisfied with the progress of the work or with the methods being used.
31:48–31:52There are no proper safety arrangements and no attention is being paid to the quality
31:52–31:55of the materials.
31:55–31:57Everything is substandard.
31:57–32:02Had safety measures been in place, so many laborers would not have fallen into the river,
32:02–32:06into excavations, or onto machinery and died.
32:06–32:09Many of the injured could have been saved.
32:09–32:12There is not even a first aid station.
32:12–32:15Yesterday Ramdhani's hand was caught in a machine.
32:15–32:20Instead of dressing the wound, they tied a sack around it and sent him away.
32:20–32:24His little boy sat outside crying, father, come home.
32:24–32:2730 laborers died last month.
32:27–32:31300 have died in one year.
32:31–32:35Compassionate relief has been recommended for only 10 families.
32:35–32:38What happened to the files I forwarded for the others?
32:38–32:41Look, you studied with me.
32:41–32:46You are an able engineer, but why can you not confine yourself to engineering?
32:46–32:51Why raise unnecessary questions about compassionate appointments and relief grants?
32:51–32:54You sent forward a huge file.
32:54–32:58What happened next, and why, why should that concern you?
32:58–33:00What do you mean?
33:00–33:04Does engineering mean that a laborer's life has no value?
33:04–33:07A worker dies, what happens to the family?
33:07–33:09How will they eat?
33:09–33:13How will the children receive a mother and father's love?
33:13–33:18Yesterday a husband and wife, both laborers, fell beneath a bridge pier and died.
33:18–33:22Is the government not responsible for their children?
33:22–33:27The money would come from the government treasury, what loss would that cause you?
33:27–33:31If the true number of deaths comes out, allegations will be made against the chief minister and
33:31–33:33me.
33:33–33:35There will be uproar.
33:35–33:41The laborers come from many places, but if this news breaks, the entire country will erupt.
33:41–33:43We shall be disgraced before the world.
33:43–33:47Criminal cases for homicide will follow.
33:47–33:50Neither I nor the chief minister will survive politically.
33:50–33:52And all because of you.
33:52–33:56Is this why I brought you onto this enormous project?
33:56–34:01Would Mother Ganga not demand even 2,000 lives for a project of this scale?
34:01–34:07When the project is completed, I shall receive great honor, and you will share in it.
34:07–34:09That is the share I fear.
34:09–34:15Along with the share of the honor, I shall receive a share in these sacrifices, or murders.
34:15–34:18I want no part of it.
34:18–34:22What you are trying to do will halt development.
34:22–34:24What development?
34:24–34:25At what price?
34:25–34:28And how long will this development last?
34:28–34:33If laborer's blood is mixed with the sand beneath the foundations, the bridge may stand,
34:33–34:37but society will collapse from within.
34:37–34:42Development has taken place this way everywhere in the world.
34:42–34:46Which is why repairs to this bridge began even before its inauguration.
34:46–34:51That is how strong this development is.
34:51–34:54Development has taken place this way everywhere in the world.
34:54–34:58And that is why people have begun saying that British bridges still stand, while bridges
34:58–35:04built in independent India crack before they are even complete.
35:04–35:08Development has taken place this way everywhere in the world.
35:08–35:13Then people will begin saying that British rule was better.
35:13–35:15Let them say it.
35:15–35:19People will say the engineers swallowed all the money.
35:19–35:21Let them.
35:21–35:25An engineer does not keep it all in his pocket, he spends it here.
35:25–35:30The Rain Falls in India, not in England.
35:30–35:35Along with engineering, you have studied economics as well, Dada by Nehruji's poverty and un-British
35:35–35:39rule in India, the drain of wealth theory.
35:39–35:43Dada by could never have imagined that he was formulating that theory for the engineers
35:43–35:46of independent India.
35:46–35:49So everyone is wrong except you.
35:49–35:50No.
35:50–35:54It seems to me that everyone is right except me.
35:54–35:59Then why are we turning small matters into a great spectacle?
35:59–36:02What you call small is not small.
36:02–36:04You hold power.
36:04–36:07Even the chief minister is in your grip.
36:07–36:08Transfer me.
36:08–36:14But I possess copies of the files, the laborer's names, the dates of the accidents, the accounts
36:14–36:18of inferior materials, everything is recorded.
36:18–36:22If I remain silent, these papers will speak.
36:22–36:24I cannot transfer you.
36:24–36:26The people stand with you.
36:26–36:28The laborers stand with you.
36:28–36:30An election is approaching.
36:30–36:34The chief minister has ordered me not to transfer you.
36:34–36:40And if your papers become public, the chairs of power will shake before the bridge does.
36:40–36:42Then what?
36:42–36:45I cannot accept any of your demands.
36:45–36:49I remember that we studied together, but once a man sits in the chair, his mind sees
36:49–36:54the file first and his friends face afterwards.
36:54–36:56Then what?
36:56–36:58Then we shall see.
36:58–37:01You will not understand anyway.
37:01–37:07My friend, I am telling you for the last time, change your path, or the path itself will
37:07–37:26crush you.
37:26–37:28He is disrupting the work.
37:28–37:31He is an enemy of progress.
37:31–37:34What can one say about such people?
37:34–37:36Transfer him.
37:36–37:38The election is still some time away.
37:38–37:41The public will forget.
37:41–37:45The public may forget, but the opposition will dig up the matter.
37:45–37:48I feel like having him shot.
37:48–37:50Do not make that mistake.
37:50–37:54You will turn him into Bagotsing.
37:54–37:56How can he become Bagotsing?
37:56–37:59This is no longer British rule.
37:59–38:01He is an enemy of progress.
38:01–38:04We shall label him a terrorist.
38:04–38:08Anyone who stands in the path of development must be given a different name, a name that
38:08–38:11frightens people the moment they hear it.
38:11–38:14We cannot label him a terrorist.
38:14–38:17He is a government employee, an engineer.
38:17–38:22He is not some ordinary member of the public whom we can brand at will.
38:22–38:25Trap him in a corruption case.
38:25–38:28Have his house raided.
38:28–38:30He does not take illegal money.
38:30–38:35The raid will find nothing in his house but a wooden cut.
38:35–38:37He must have some weakness.
38:37–38:39Find it.
38:39–38:41He is stubborn.
38:41–38:44That is his only weakness.
38:44–38:46Then have him killed.
38:46–38:51If a man has no weakness, what use is there in letting him live?
38:51–38:53Do not make that mistake.
38:53–38:58You will turn him into Mahatma Gandhi, into Jesus Christ.
38:58–39:00Find a weakness.
39:00–39:02You studied with him from the beginning.
39:02–39:06If you do not want him killed, find a weakness in him.
39:06–39:10If you can neither find one nor kill him, what are we to do?
39:10–39:13Make him commit suicide.
39:13–39:16He is not the kind of man who commits suicide.
39:16–39:17He is stubborn.
39:17–39:22His stubbornness is not a defect, it is his strength.
39:22–39:25That is what makes him dangerous.
39:25–39:29Then have him killed and announced that he committed suicide.
39:29–39:32Some people will not believe it.
39:32–39:35Everyone will say he was murdered.
39:35–39:37Then what?
39:37–39:39He will have to die.
39:39–39:41He will be killed.
39:41–39:45He studied with me, but friendship with the chair has become greater than friendship
39:45–39:47with a friend.
39:47–39:52If it must look neither like murder nor suicide, we shall have to wait until he dies of old
39:52–39:54age.
39:54–39:57It will look neither like murder nor suicide.
39:57–39:59It will look like an accident.
39:59–40:01An accident.
40:01–40:06In this free country, members of the public will be branded terrorists and killed, people
40:06–40:09like him will die in accidents.
40:09–40:12Then put him beneath a road roller.
40:12–40:16But the entire event must look exactly like an accident.
40:16–40:21If people realize he was killed, we shall make a hero of him for nothing.
40:21–40:23His death will grieve me deeply.
40:23–40:25He studied with me.
40:25–40:53He was a brilliant engineer.
40:53–40:56You said the papers would speak.
40:56–40:59Where are those papers now?
40:59–41:01These children's eyes will speak.
41:01–41:04This earth will speak.
41:04–41:08The trembling of this bridge will speak.
41:08–41:10He has left us.
41:10–41:12Oh God.
41:12–41:17A madwoman's mad son.
41:17–41:19My brother's son is gone.
41:19–41:23While his wrestler uncle still lives, my nephew lies crushed before me.
41:23–41:27Brother, what answer shall I give you?
41:27–41:29They say it was an accident.
41:29–41:31Can a man be crushed like this in an accident?
41:31–41:35A road roller does not simply wander out of control.
41:35–41:40Have you ever heard of someone being flattened by a road roller in an accident?
41:40–41:43Whose name shall we invoke with pride now?
41:43–41:46Whom shall we point to when we tell people to struggle?
41:46–41:48Who will labor honestly?
41:48–41:51Who will obey the law?
41:51–41:55But if we do not speak the truth, what would the officer say, pilot uncle?
41:55–41:57If we do not struggle, what would he say?
41:57–42:03If we neither work honestly nor obey the law, how can we ever take pride in him?
42:03–42:05What monsters they have become!
42:05–42:09The elder brother is alive, and the younger has left us.
42:09–42:14Mad boy, he used to go to Chanagrove to test his strength.
42:14–42:16Listen, this is the earth.
42:16–42:19No power from outside comes here.
42:19–42:23Good and evil are both in the hands of the people who live here.
42:23–42:27If evil is stronger, must we become evil too?
42:27–42:30The Earth and Sky stand unmoved.
42:30–42:36Even after witnessing this injustice, no earthquake has come, no storm has risen.
42:36–42:46The world will go on as before.
42:46–42:48I went looking for a job.
42:48–42:52I was exhausted from pulling a handcott.
42:52–42:58They lured me away with lies to Badohe.
42:58–43:02Whenever work stopped, they beat us with iron rods.
43:02–43:04One meal a day.
43:04–43:13If sleep came to our eyes, a slap, a free country, free schools, free colleges.
43:13–43:15What happened?
43:15–43:16Is he dead?
43:16–43:22The man who told us, a human life is greater than a file, is he dead?
43:22–43:25They killed him.
43:25–43:27Killed him or let him die.
43:27–43:29His life is gone either way.
43:29–43:32Why did they kill him?
43:32–43:34The Gonda Bridge.
43:34–43:38The Gonda Bridge took him as a sacrifice.
43:38–43:41The drummer kept calling, labor is wanted.
43:41–43:42Labor is wanted.
43:42–43:47I used to think I should have become a laborer on the Gonda Bridge instead of going all
43:47–43:49the way to Badohi.
43:49–43:51But now.
43:51–43:54It is good that you went to Badohi.
43:54–43:56Many laborers were sacrificed here.
43:56–43:58You two might have died.
43:58–44:04This engineer opposed those deaths, and he too was crushed.
44:04–44:07And the man who freed us from Badohi?
44:07–44:10He too may have been crushed.
44:10–44:13He too may have been crushed.
44:13–44:14Let me go.
44:14–44:17Let me go back to Badohi.
44:17–44:21If he has not been crushed, I shall save him.
44:21–44:23Let me first see the bridge.
44:23–44:25Let me see Patna.
44:25–44:27Then let me go.
44:27–44:29Let me return to Badohi.
44:29–45:03If he has not been crushed, I shall save him.
45:03–45:05Years later.
45:05–45:07A book launch.
45:07–45:09I am delighted.
45:09–45:14I am delighted that, after 32 years of government service, only the chief engineer could have
45:14–45:17written this book, Gonga Bridge.
45:17–45:21The cover is excellent, the paper is excellent, the printing is excellent.
45:21–45:24Every line is impartial.
45:24–45:27Any historian may trust it with eyes closed.
45:27–45:31It is written, and who can strike out the written word?
45:31–45:35The original spirit of the Gonga Bridge was to connect person with person, and the chief
45:35–45:37engineer fulfilled that spirit.
45:37–45:41The voices raised in protest were merely the dust of development, the blood that felt
45:41–45:44was merely the colour of sacrifice.
45:44–45:48I am no longer chief minister, and he too has retired.
45:48–45:52the Gonga Bridge still stands, though there is now less water in the Gonga.
45:52–45:56Yes, the bridge shakes and has become dilapidated.
45:56–46:00But today's technology did not exist then.
46:00–46:05The new Chief Minister has already announced another Gonga Bridge beside this one.
46:05–46:08After all, what in this world is immortal?
46:08–46:12I know the author of Gonga Bridge very well, personally.
46:12–46:16He served as Chief Engineer while I was Chief Minister.
46:16–46:19He was renowned for his honesty.
46:19–46:21This bridge was built under his direction.
46:21–46:24It is alright, quite alright.
46:24–46:29It is true that the bridge may collapse in a few days and a new one will stand beside
46:29–46:30it.
46:30–46:35But this book, Gonga Bridge, will make the fallen bridge immortal in history.
46:35–46:40The chief engineer has mentioned me too, and perhaps praised me a little too generously.
46:40–46:43But I am a servant of the people.
46:43–46:48Whatever I did in their service was merely my duty and required no record.
46:48–46:54Once again, I congratulate the chief engineer on his industrious life and honest character.
46:54–46:56The chief minister was my mentor.
46:56–47:00I revere him from the depths of my heart.
47:00–47:04Certain and simly incidents involving a few individuals have been omitted from this book,
47:04–47:07lest history become a medium for spreading hatred.
47:07–47:12The task of history is not to reopen wounds but to bandage them, even if pass remains
47:12–47:19underneath. Nature change, the river channel dried. These and other technical factors affected the
47:19–47:25bridge. Until the new bridge is built, the old one will remain in service. And this book will
47:25–47:32make the old bridge immortal. It includes photographs from the foundations to the final span in both
47:32–47:40black and white and color. Honesty is indispensable. The chief minister is embarrassing me with undeserved
47:40–47:45praise. Had there been no honesty, this breach would not have lasted even this long.
47:46–47:51The appendix records the names of 30 people who sacrificed their lives in its construction.
47:52–48:03This book is dedicated to their memory. And? Where is the record of the many people who were
48:03–48:14killed? Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Mother Gonga is now demanding the sacrifice of those
48:14–48:17who sacrificed human beings, that is why her waters are drying up.
48:19–48:22Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
48:24–48:32Hear ye, hear ye. Laborers are required on the Gonga Bridge. One carriageway has been closed
48:32–48:37while the other is repaired. The bridge made immortal in history needs yet another patch today.
48:39–48:43From the day this bridge was inaugurated, the hammering of repairs has never stopped.
48:43–48:49That sound is not the bridge being patched. It is the bones of history knocking together.
48:49–48:59Heey, heey, heey. Hail Mother Gonga.
48:59–49:02Annn.
49:02–49:09Someone comes to Badohe and frees the laborers. Someone is crushed before the Gonga bridge.
49:09–49:14Those are the true tyrants. They are the true tyrants, the real tyrants.
49:14–49:19And then people like that engineer come and give us hope. Otherwise change might have come long ago.
49:19–49:24ago, people themselves would have brought it. But if the one who gives hope is crushed,
49:24–49:30hope does not die. Its voice enters the drum, the hammer, and the cracks in the bridge.
49:30–49:36The real tyrants are exposed when people like that engineer come and give us hope.
49:36–49:44Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Plain text

विमर्द गोंगा ब्रिज लेबर दिस लेबर दिस ब्रिज बिल्ड विमर्द विमर्द विमर्द विमर्द विमर्द विमर्द विमर्द विमर्द विमर्द विमर्द विमर्द विमर्द विमर्द विमर्द विमर्द विमर्द विमर्द विमर्द विमर्द विमर्द विमर्� 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. Hear ye, hear ye. Laborers are required to repair this bridge over the gonga. Women and men, young and old, anyone may apply. Hear ye, hear ye. Look at that. Even while it was still being built, before it was ready, they had already begun repairing 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. Oh, 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 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, Sarkar. 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 dams. Smoke from enormous chimneys. chimneys. I love the smell of smoke. What wonderful days will come when great dams 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 I love all of it. Sir, 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 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. Independence Day. 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, Sivit as carefully as flour 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. Nothing 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. Here 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 sieving 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. do 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. As 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 arises? 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 won, 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 card and my body simply keep rolling and rolling? Have you seen my card? 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. But 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. 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 Zamandars. The great Zamandars 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 say. Not once has he spoken in the Patner Assembly for the welfare of this area. Do not say that, Darda. He did speak once in the Patner 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 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. we uncles shall make up for his father's absence. Meet, go to Baobach's shop and tell him to send four Adhaya measures of sugar to the door, quickly. Put it on my account. No, put it on my account. No, on mine. Oho, that's Baobach's job to belong to your Hamlet alone. Put it on my account, boy. I shall have one Adhaya entered in each of your four names. Even 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. 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. The 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 onto 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 the 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 by Nehruji's poverty and un-British rule in India, the drain of wealth theory. Dada by 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. 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. Anyone 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 handcott. 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 Badohi. 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 Badohi? He too may have been crushed. He too may have been crushed. Let me go. Let me go back to Badohi. 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 colour of sacrifice. I am no longer chief minister, and he too has retired. 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. But 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 pass 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. Mother 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. Hear ye, hear 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. From 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. Heey, heey, heey. Hail Mother Gonga. Annn. Someone comes to Badohe and frees the laborers. Someone is crushed before the Gonga bridge. Those are the true tyrants. They are the true tyrants, the real tyrants. And then people like that engineer come and give us hope. Otherwise change might have come long ago. 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.

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