A Dak Bungalow is described in Rudyard Kipling’s fiction as a place where “nothing is too wild, grotesque, or horrible to happen.”
Traditionally, it was a posthouse or caravanserai of the old Indian postal service or dak and used as lodging by roving British officials and other travellers as a makeshift transit in rural areas. Dak bungalows of the colonial era evoke nostalgia, as they had a certain mystique about them. They were accessible to British officers of the East India Company in the 19th century and were staging points for mail runners of the Imperial Mail Service. There is something incredibly charming about forlorn dak bungalows. They inspire awe and fear. Staying at a Dak bungalow is a great way to experience life.
Most of these dak bungalows were in desolate places. Either perched atop a hillock or deep inside the jungles. In the mid-nineteenth century, the East India Company supervised vast swathes of territory and British administrative officials had to hop from province to province.
These rest houses provided succour to their fatigue and rejuvenated their sagging spirits. Their seclusion often lent a supernatural aura, and that is why you still have locals narrating anecdotal oriental romances and tragedies woven in their walls and courtyards- often a Company official’s love for a native and their secret rendezvous in the precincts of these bungalows.
Some of these edifices of yore have survived the vicissitudes of time and said to be haunted by the spectre of sahibs and their lurch. Often, they were built on promontories overlooking the adjacent countryside with terracotta-tiled roofs and the planter’s chairs in wide corridors affording an unrestricted view of the sprawling compound dotted with trees. Today, if you are to arrive unannounced at a quaint dak bungalow, chances are that the cook-cum-butler would have trundled off to the nearby village market to arrange for his weekly provisions.
However, in pre-independent India, the khansamah or valet-cum-cook was a ubiquitous character who would intrigue visitors in dak bungalows. The aged khansamah would entertain visitors with eerie stories in the lounge and dining room, with an antique clock chiming alongside a faded daguerreotype of the Englishman who built the structure.
In some of these bleak and remote bungalows, locals still narrate ghost tales about British officers and their revenants reappearing physically. That many British soldiers, women and children died in dak bungalows during the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 can explain the trove of ghost encounters.
Another aspect of these dak bungalows is the evolution of delectable Anglo-Indian cuisine which adorn menu cards at restaurants and are a staple in many kitchens.
Dak bungalow curry traces its roots to a rustic fowl delicacy cooked by caretakers at these rest houses. As the cook bent over bubbling pots and pans, the surroundings were filled with the rich aroma of gravies and soups. Inside the gates, beyond the pathways, lay another world – an acre of green tropical grasslands canopied by trees. The atmosphere was free of dust, no crowds, no cacophony; only the chirping of birds – mynahs and the sudden woody call of the koel smattering in the air.
Another interesting trivia you may come across is the visitor’s logbook sitting on the verandah in the silhouette of a fading sun as a woodpecker taps a tree yards away. Wildlife abounds in these forest rest houses and a stroll in the woods around may startle a sambhar or a cautious deer.
The location of a dak bungalow would usually be an inconspicuous dirt track just off a bend in the road. Not a soul in sight and a metal chain lock barring entry makes you wonder if anyone is around and suddenly you hear someone running up the road with keys dangling – the ubiquitous caretaker.
For British administrators who had to scour the Indian hinterland, staying in camps and tents was unappealing, especially during monsoons. Hence the dak bungalow was their preferred spartan accommodation in the tropical climate. Though most of these are now in a state of disrepair and some have been demolished, those remaining withstanding the ravages of time are an ode to a bygone era.
The ones at hill stations bear testimony to this. Some of these dak bungalows, far from the madding crowd, have also been refurbished into boutique properties, their owners letting them out to vacationers. While the old-world charm has been retained to freeze the structure in a time warp, in many cases, modern amenities have been added.