Click to play videoNew Delhi/Jhansi: It's business as usual on the streets of Old Delhi. But the walls of the Red Fort have been witness to far more dramatic events. For over 100 years the British had been crafty rulers, using their motto Divide et impera - dividing the people and conquering one Indian kingdom after another. But in 1857, all that changed.
The Red Fort was a destination for over 60,000 sepoys who marched into Delhi from as far as Gwalior, Meerut and Ambala. Hindus and Muslims united to overthrow the British East India Company 150 years ago.
Epitomising that fine moment of unity was the Last Mughal Emperor of Hindustan, Bahadur Shah Zafar.
“Zafar was a sufi, he celebrated Holi and danced during Hindu festivals. He shunned extremism during the siege,” says author of The Last Mughal William Dalrymple.
And if Delhi was the heart of the Revolt, Jhansi was one of its greatest battlefields. The rugged walls of Jhansi fort tell yet another tale of unity, the camaraderie between Rani Laxmi Bai and her cannon expert Ghulam Ghaus Khan.
Jhansi's historic Orchha Gate is perhaps the one the biggest examples of architectural secularism with a Mosque on it s left and a temple on its right.
According to a popular legend, when the British finally managed to breach this gate, Rani Laxmi Bai ordered Ghulam Ghaus Khan to fire cannon shots to stop them.
But Ghulam told Rani that either the Mosque or the Temple would come under fire. Rani Laxmi Bai , herself a devout Hindu, gave clear orders: protect the mosque at all costs. Exemplifying the spirit in which the War was fought.
No one quite knows what Ghulam Ghaus Khan decided. As fate would have it, his Majestic Cannon Kadak Bijli failed to fire and the cannon ball burst inside, killing Ghulam Ghaus Khan on the spot.
Khan lies buried in the shade of a peepal tree in the heart of Jhansi Fort, surrounded by the grave of a fellow traveller, woman cannon legend, Motibai.
“Its was not unusual for Hindus and Muslims to fight in the same army in 1857, but the way in which their graves lay next to each other. This is a unique way of memorilisation,” says historian Nayanjot Lahiri.
And it's perhaps with such memories that we should build our future rather than harp on all the inter-religious bloodshed in the years that followed.
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