‘Case closed’: Bareilly gets back its jhumka and flaunts it high

“Today, Bareilly found its “jhumka”. Now, we can finally announce that the case of lost jhumka has been solved with a closure report,” said an ecstatic Rajesh Pandey, the Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Bareilly Range, who even took to Facebook to announce the city’s new attraction.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Pandey said that in the past too, there was a proposal for the same by Bareilly Development Authority, but it got stuck in red tape.

At a meeting related to the Smart City project, the DIG had raised a proposal to install a huge replica of a jhumka.

“Recently, the proposal was again made at the meeting and accepted by the local politicians, including BJP MP from Bareilly, Santosh Gangwar… It was decided that the jhumka should be installed at the entry point on the highway so that it strikes the passersby that they are in Bareilly. At night, the place is illuminated and the light is focused on the “Jhumka”… We requested the Vice-Chancellor of Bareilly Medical College to provide financial help. He has several educational institutions, and he agreed to help,” he added.

“Jhumka Gira Re is one of the most popular songs in the history of Indian cinema. Once I was looking at our Gazetteer along with the police commissioner, we found that there were two districts in the united province during the British rule — Bareilly and Rae Bareli. And Britishers, as well as common public, used to get confused between the two. To avoid confusion, people started calling Bareilly as “Baans Bareilly” for its rich production of bamboo. However, after the song became famous, Baans Bareilly suddenly came to be known as Jhumka wala Bareilly,” Pandey added.

According to him, the installed “jhumka” was crafted in Moradabad in just three months. Earlier, a previous model of was rejected “as it did not look like an actual jhumka”.

On Saturday, as the famous “jhumka” was unveiled, students of local schools sang on the song that was composed by Madan Mohan and sung by Asha Bhosle in “Mera Saya”.

And as people gathered to take selfies in front of the piece of art, melody and nostalgia, on everyone’s lips the only song that hummed — Jhumka Gira Re, Hum Dono Ki Takraar Mein; Jhumka Gira Re Bareilly Ke Bazaar Mein”.