TRIBUTE
Adieu gracious queen
R.V. SMITH
|
Remembering chance encounters with the beautiful Gayatri Devi of Jaipur.
|
Soon after she became Maharani Gayatri Devi of Jaipur, Hollywood star Clark Gable described her as one of the most beautiful women he had ever met. This, from the man who romanced Vivien Leigh in “Gone with the Wind” is fulsome praise.
No less was Vogue’s selection of her among the “10 Most Beautiful Women of the World” (the list also included Leela Naidu). Isn’t it an irony that both died within days of each other?
Soon after Clark Gable’s comment, Gayatri Devi was mugged in Chicago outside a jewellery store and passers-by gathered to stare at an ‘Indian Princess’.
First meeting
I met the Maharani near Scindia House, Delhi, just before the death of Maharaja Man Singh during a polo match abroad. She was at C.P. Book Stall and, on recognising her, I timidly sought an interview.
The Maharani did not seem amused but, seeing my naiveté, she remarked, “This is neither the place nor the time for an interview. Come to Jaipur House tomorrow at 10.00 a.m. sharp”, and walked away, looking charming in a voile sari and dainty slippers.
Quite a contrast to the polo-playing Maharani who donned khaki trousers for the tiger shoot during Queen Elizabeth’s first visit to India.
At Jaipur House the next day, I found her sitting in the foyer, sipping a cup pf tea. She nodded when my arrival was announced and motioned me to a chair.
As I sat down awkwardly, she said, “Why do you want to interview me? Which paper will publish it and, even if it does, the article will be full of lies.” With a lump in the throat, I blurted, “Not so, Your Highness. Please have faith in a journalist who is still trying to make his mark.”
Graceful
Thereafter she answered many questions on her family, the status of the princely states after the abolition of privy purses and her tryst with the Swatantra Party.
There was no bitterness in her comments on the brusque manner in which the princes had been treated and acceptance of Sardar Patel’s plan to merge their State into the Indian Union.
The next time I met Gayatri Devi was after an interview with Col. Bhawani Singh, who succeeded his father. She was sitting in the palace then, browsing through a book when Julian Francis introduced me.
“No need for an introduction. I think I’ve met this young man before,” she said. Cousin Julian, a dashing athlete of Jaipur, and I were subjected to a volley of questions. The Rajmata was most concerned about Jaipur city with which she had fallen in love since coming there as a young bride from Cooch Behar.
The Rajmata was particularly concerned about the denudation of the hills around Jaipur that were responsible for the city’s picturesque look.
Concerns
“The stones from these hills are being used not only to build houses in Jaipur but elsewhere too, including Delhi What a pity,” she exclaimed.
The congestion on the broad roads planned by Sir Mirza Ismail and on which peacocks once danced were other issues that concerned her as did the drainage system.
“Do you know,” she said, “there were hardly any mosquitoes in Jaipur and people slept out in the open. Now because of tampering with the drainage, conditions have become unhygienic and Jaipur too has been invaded by mosquitoes.”
Just then her ADC announced an important meeting. The Rajmata rose and folded her hands in a namaste. The next moment she walked off in the direction of the conference room.
But the impression she left behind was that of a gracefully aging beauty to whom Browning’s lines “Grow old along with me/The best is yet to be” aptly applied.
Now that she’s gone, one feels as though a page of history has been turned over by the strong night breeze that blows over the hills from beyond the gorge of Galta.
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Magazine
