A Promise in Passing: My Journey to Sleemanabad
Sleemanabad: A Visit Long Overdue I had been wanting to visit Sleemanabad for years. Each time I passed the station on my numerous train journeys to and from Jabalpur, I felt a tug of curiosity. Once, while travelling from Bhopal with my Rita Mausi, she again brought up the place’s history — something all of us who grew up in Jabalpur are somewhat familiar with. That day, she mentioned that there used to be a beautiful church in Sleemanabad. I was intrigued. “Let’s go there someday,” I told her. She smiled and agreed. But we never made that trip. She passed away soon after. And every time I crossed that place afterward, I remembered the unfinished promise and the mysterious church. Over time, I searched online, asked around, but no one seemed to have heard of a church in Sleemanabad. William Sleeman’s story was well-documented — the man who led the campaign to eliminate the Thuggee cult — but the church remained elusive. Then, after my mother’s birthday on May 19th, I casual...