Discovering Digboi’s 3 Must-Dos by Mandvi – Part 4

Vestiges of War

After breakfast and another round of leisurely tea in the deep wooden veranda, which I loathe to leave, we head to the war cemetery just outside town at the edge of the forest.

Adjoining it on a mound is a pagoda styled temple. Many graves have been shifted to this place from nearby towns and in the 1950’s the entire graveyard was relocated from its original hillock location.

The cemetery is a small sombre affair laid out in perfect symmetry. A square stone arch at the entrance is the only construction. A giant cross stand at the other end and in between, neatly laid down, are rows of gravestones.

They tell short stories of soldiers from across continents and religions. Even unknown ones acknowledged in death. Plants grow beside each stone.

The Burma campaign during World War II had seen the Allied Forces fighting against the Japanese and sometimes nature, to prevail.

The Stilwell Road constructed during World War II to aid the Chinese starts from Ledo near Digboi and it is said to have cost a man a mile to construct.

At Digboi, bountiful nature on the surface and from deep within is on show. But it is also where it is starkly obvious that when nature gives it extracts its pound of flesh too, from man and beast alike.