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260 T HEMES IN INDIAN H ISTORY – P ART III In the months of May and June, the British had no answer to the actions of the rebels. Individual Britons tried to save their own lives and the lives of their families. British rule, as one British officer noted, “collapsed like a house made of cards’’. Source 1 Ordinary life in extraordinary times What happened in the cities during the months of the revolt? How did people live through those months of tumult? How was normal life affected? Reports from different cities tell us about the breakdown in routine activities. Read these reports from the Delhi Urdu Akhbar, 14 June 1857: The same thing is true for vegetables and saag (spinach). People have been found to complain that even kaddu (pumpkin) and baingan (brinjal) cannot be found in the bazaars. Potatoes and arvi (yam) when available are of stale and rotten variety, stored from before by farsighted kunjras (vegetable growers). From the gardens inside the city some produce does reach a few places but the poor and the middle class can only lick their lips and watch them (as they are earmarked for the select). ... There is something else that needs attention which is Read the two reports causing a lot of damage to the people which is that the and the descriptions of water-carriers have stopped filling water. Poor Shurfas (gentility) are seen carrying water in pails on their shoulders what was happening in Delhi provided in the and only then the necessary household tasks such as chapter. Remember that cooking, etc. can take place. The halalkhors (righteous) have newspaper reports often become haramkhors (corrupt), many mohallas have not express the prejudices of been able to earn for several days and if this situation continues then decay, death and disease will combine the reporter. How did together to spoil the city’s air and an epidemic will spread Delhi Urdu Akhbar view all over the city and even to areas adjacent and around. the actions of the people? 1.2 Lines of communication The reason for the similarity in the pattern of the revolt in different places lay partly in its planning and coordination. It is clear that there was communication between the sepoy lines of various cantonments. After the 7th Awadh Irregular Cavalry had refused to accept the new cartridges in early May, they wrote to the 48th Native Infantry that “they had acted for the faith and awaited the 48th’s orders”. Sepoys or their emissaries moved from one station to another. People were thus planning and talking about the rebellion. Reprint 2026-27