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Khoo Korian, a tangible heritage fades with time

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Slug: Heritage column

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Tribune News Service

Amritsar, November 16

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Khoo Korian, a neighbourhood near the historic Jallianwala Bagh memorial, is a reminder of the brutality that the Britishers unleashed on Indians in 1919.

Once home to Duggal community and called Duggalwan Wali Gali, it got its infamous name when General Dyer had issued ‘crawling order’, punishing the residents to crawl and flogged in the aftermath of Jallianwala Bagh massacre.

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The history of Khoo Korian (Crawling Street) is known to every resident in the neighbourhood. Those who have grown up hearing stories of horror and cruelty, demanded some kind of heritage status or memorial at the site.

Rapid urbanisation and development has made the street loose its original character. Mostly a residential area, old houses have made way for new structures. This tangible reminder of heritage has neither caught the attention of the Heritage Tourism Board nor the Tourism Department.

A few years ago, Navjot Singh Sidhu, had raised the demand to rename Khoo Korian to Freedom Street, but nothing substantial happened.

The ‘Khoo’ (well) was replaced with a ‘Shivala’ (Shiv Temple) in 1980s. Some residents, who were aware of their locality’s history, demanded that a memorial be erected to keep the black chapter alive.

Kewal, who runs a tailor shop in the street, said, “Not many tourists or outsiders know about the history of the neighbourhood. A few persons doing research on Jallianwala Bagh come and ask us about the history and the 1919 incident. I have been running my shop here for the past 40 years and used to hear lot of stories from my father and others who lived in the neighbourhood.”

Even heritage walk offered by the Tourism Department does not mention the historic site in its route map. Only tours undertaken here are offered by the city-based private guides. The residents have now installed a board explaining the history of the street.

***BOX

Tryst with history

On April 10, 1919, a European missionary woman, Marcella Sherwood, who ran the Mission Day School for Girls, was assaulted by a mob while she was cycling through this narrow passage. Following the incident, the British administration ordered every Indian passerby to crawl on the street, while they were tied and flogged near the well.

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