Life at Mokameh Ghat - Jim Corbett
Edward James Corbett (1875-1955) was born in Naini Tal, India. Hunter and wildlife enthusiast, this Irishman considered India his real home. Though now chiefly remembered for the highly readable accounts of his experiences as a hunter, he took a keen interest in people among whom I also, particularly those who are admittedly poor, lived and whom I love', to use the words of the Dedication to his third book, My India (1952). His other books include Man-eaters of Kumaon, The Temple Tiger and More Man-eaters of Kumaon, The Man-eating Leopard of Rudraprayag, etc. The first of these has been translated into European and Indian languages, Afrikaans and Japanese. Corbett died in Nyeri, Kenya, where he had moved in 1947. During his lifetime, Corbett was honored in many ways by the Government of India, both before and after Independence.
In 1957, after his death, the Hailey National Park in Kumaon was renamed Corbett National Park. In 1968, a new breed of tigers was named after him. In 1976, the Government of India issued a 25-paise postage stamp to commemorate his birth in 1875. The following extract from My India brings out the qualities of Corbett as a man and helps to explain why he was so much loved and respected by the common and poor people with whom he came into contact. My men and I did not spend all our time at Mokameh Ghat working and sleeping.
Work at the start had been very strenuous for all of us, and continued to be so, but as time passed and hands hardened and back-muscles developed, we settled down in our collars. and as we were pulling in the same direction with a common object -better conditions for those dependent on us-work moved smoothly and allowed of short periods for recreation. The reputation we had earned for ourselves by clearing the heavy accumulation of goods at Mokameh Ghat, and thereafter keeping the traffic moving was something that all of us had contributed towards, and all of us took pride in having earned this reputation and were determined to retain it.
When therefore an individual absented himself to attend to private affairs, his work was cheerfully performed by his companions. One of my first undertakings, when I had a little time to myself and a few rupees in my pocket, was to start a school for the sons of my workmen, and for the sons of the lower-paid railway staff. The idea originated with Ram Sarans, who was a keen educationist, possibly because of the few opportunities he himself had for education. Between us we rented a hut, installed a master, and the school - known ever afterwards as Ram Saran's School - started with a membership of twenty boys. Caste prejudices were the first snag we ran up against, but our master soon circumnavigated it by removing the sides of the hut.
For whereas high- and low-caste boys could not sit together in the same hut, there was no objection to their sitting in the same shed. From the very beginning the school was a great success, interest. When suitable thanks entirely to Ram Saran's unflagging buildings had been erected, an additional seven masters employed, and the students increased to two hundred, the Government relieved us of our financial responsibilities. They raised the school to the status of a Middle School and rewarded Ram Saran, to the delight of all his friends, by conferring on him the title of Rai Sahib.
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