Bota Singh and Garja Singh - Toll Road Defiance

Dadi: "Beta, what would you do if someone said your community no longer existed - that everyone like you had been eliminated?"

Guddu: "I would want to prove them wrong!"

Dadi: "That's exactly what two brave Sikhs did, beta. This is the story of Bota Singh and Garja Singh, who defied an entire empire with nothing but wooden sticks and unbreakable courage."

Guddu: "Just two people against an empire?"

Dadi: "Let me set the scene. In the early 1700s, the Mughal governor Zakaria Khan was brutally persecuting Sikhs. Anyone who killed a Sikh received a cash reward. Sikhs had to abandon their homes and hide in forests, hills, and bushes."

Guddu: "That sounds terrifying!"

Dadi: "It was, beta. The persecution was so severe that for four months, no Sikh had been seen in Punjab. The governor proudly announced: "The Sikhs have been finished. They no longer exist!""

Guddu: "But they were just hiding, right?"

Dadi: "Yes. Bota Singh and Garja Singh were traveling at night from Tarn Taran to Amritsar to visit the Golden Temple. They traveled by darkness and hid in bushes during the day."

Guddu: "Like secret agents!"

Dadi: "One day, while hiding behind some bushes near the Grand Trunk Road, they overheard two Muslim travelers talking. One said, "I think I saw two Sikhs hidden in those bushes!" The other laughed and replied, "Impossible! The Sikhs are brave people. They don't hide. Zakaria Khan has finished them all.""

Guddu: "Oh! That must have stung."

Dadi: "It burned like fire in their hearts, beta. Hearing that people believed Sikhs were cowards who had been completely destroyed - they couldn't bear it. They looked at each other and made a decision."

Guddu: "What did they decide?"

Dadi: "They came out of hiding and took a position right on the Grand Trunk Road - the main highway of the empire! With wooden sticks in their hands, they began collecting toll from travelers!"

Guddu: "Toll? Like a tax?"

Dadi: "Yes! One anna for a cart, one paisa for a donkey. They declared: "This road belongs to the Sikhs now!" It was their way of announcing to the world: "We are still here! We are not afraid!""

Guddu: "That's so bold! Didn't anyone report them?"

Dadi: "For days, travelers just paid and moved on. Word spread that Zakaria Khan's propaganda was false - Sikhs were very much alive and fearlessly collecting taxes on the main highway!"

Guddu: "Did the governor find out?"

Dadi: "Bota Singh made SURE he found out! He sent an open message, a poem that mocked the governor: "Tell poor Khan that Baba Bota Singh is ruling the state with his heavy stick. He charges one nickel for a cart and a penny for a donkey.""

Guddu: "He actually taunted the governor?"

Dadi: "He did more than that! Zakaria Khan had a sister who was married into Bota Singh's village. Bota Singh called her "Bhabi" - sister-in-law - in his message, implying they were family. He wrote: "Tell Bhabi Khaano, Bota Singh says this!""

Guddu: "The governor must have been furious!"

Dadi: "Absolutely enraged! He immediately dispatched 200 armed horsemen under a general named Jalaluddin to capture these two Sikhs alive."

Guddu: "Two against 200? What happened?"

Dadi: "Bota Singh and Garja Singh heard the horses coming and saw the dust rising. Instead of running, Bota Singh shouted: "If you are really brave, come for one-on-one combat! Let's test who the real warriors are!""

Guddu: "They wanted to fight?"

Dadi: "General Jalaluddin offered them a deal: "Surrender peacefully. Come to Lahore. The governor will pardon you.""

Guddu: "Did they accept?"

Dadi: "Never, beta. They refused completely. Death was preferable to surrender. The two Sikhs stood back to back, raised their wooden sticks, and shouted their battle cry: "Bole So Nihal, Sat Sri Akal!""

Guddu: "With just wooden sticks against swords?"

Dadi: "With just sticks, beta. But their sticks were powered by courage and honor. They killed twenty soldiers before the general ordered the remaining 180 to attack together. Even then, fighting back to back, they took down ten more soldiers before finally falling."

Guddu: "They died?"

Dadi: "They became martyrs, beta. On July 27, 1739, they achieved what they wanted - not to survive, but to prove that Sikhs still existed, that they were not afraid, and that they would never surrender their honor."

Guddu: "Did their sacrifice matter?"

Dadi: "Immensely! News of their courage spread across Punjab. The story of two Sikhs who defied an empire with wooden sticks became legendary. They proved that the spirit of the Khalsa could not be extinguished, no matter how brutal the persecution."

Guddu: "Is there anything in their memory today?"

Dadi: "Yes! A Gurdwara stands near Sarai Nurdin, about 6 kilometers from Tarn Taran, where they made their stand. People still visit to honor these two heroes."

Guddu: "What does this story teach us, Dadi?"

Dadi: "Beta, it teaches that sometimes standing up matters more than survival. Bota Singh and Garja Singh knew they couldn't defeat an army. But they could prove that their people still had courage. They could inspire others. They could show the world that tyranny cannot destroy the human spirit."

Guddu: "They turned hiding into a declaration!"

Dadi: "Exactly! They could have stayed hidden and stayed alive. Instead, they chose to stand on that road with wooden sticks and announce to the world: "We are here. We are not afraid. We will never disappear." Sometimes the bravest thing is simply to refuse to be erased."

Guddu: "I'll remember Bota Singh and Garja Singh, Dadi."

Dadi: "Remember them, beta. And remember that courage isn't about winning - it's about standing up for what's right, even when the odds are impossible."