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STORY QUEEN Author Jaishree Misra ‘Rani’ is her attempt at a new genre

An attempt to learn Microsoft Word trickled into Jaishree Misra’s debut novel, ‘Ancient Promises.’ Seven years on, three novels part of the past, Jaishree is very good at it. Now, her words weave a web around one of our singularly inspiring historical figures – Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi. Jaishree’s fourth novel ‘Rani,’ hailed as her most ambitious work so far, is more a fictionalised biography of the Rani.

Her characterisation of the queen – from the 13-year-old Manikarnika, whose wit, skill and acumen outshone that of her playmates Tantya and Nana, to the sensible, duteous ruler of Jhansi and wife to warm but weak-spirited Gangadhar – is sympathetic and engaging. Expectedly, there are hardly any wrinkles in Rani Lakshmibai’s character. But the author makes her human, sewing in an unrequited, impossible love story into the tale. Fiction fills in the gaps in history, characters are fleshed from available documents, legends and history.

“I wanted to try my hand at a historical novel,” says Jaishree pleasantly on a gloomy winter afternoon. “Rani Lakshmibai was an obvious choice,” admits the author for whom the queen of Jhansi was till then couplets in history texts.

As the grainy picture of the warrior queen, on a bounding horse, her sword raised to battle, became clearer in Jaishree’s head, she knew the Rani would throw in new challenges. “Sometimes I have wondered if I should have gone in for a lesser known figure. Everyone knows about Lakshmibai and they feel she belongs to them,” says Jaishree. “Further, she is a figure placed on a pedestal and that was a challenge,” she adds.

Piecing together the tale of the Rani involved extensive research. Flipping through the archives in India and Britain, Jaishree recovered nuggets that helped her give the queen an identity beyond the battlefield. “There are just bits and pieces on her,” says Jaishree. Contrary to popular imagination of an enraged Lakshmibai who “marched out and fought” the British, the author realised there was a significant time gap between the annexation of Jhansi and the queen’s foray into combat. “When we unveil the facts we get to see the little shades,” says the writer. Myths about the queen the author grew up with also makes the characterisation complete.

However, letters and accounts of many British officers held the key for re-creating the queen’s personality, especially the appearance. “John Lang, a lawyer, has written a detailed account of his meeting with the queen. It actually takes us into his shoes and makes for an amusing, at times patronising account. It gives a rare physical description of the queen. He says she had a fine figure, and the sari was wound tightly around her,” says Jaishree. Other documents revealed her “charming, forceful countenance.” But the obvious admiration of an English officer for the queen adds to the element of drama in the novel. Major Ellis was supportive of Lakshmibai and his letter in praise of the queen enraged his superiors. “I decided to take a more romantic view. The admiration for the queen could have tended to love. It is purely my imagination,” she says with candour.

Jaishree’s portrayal of Lakshmibai is sensitive. “The book has taken me longer. I struggled with it more and am possessive about it. I am a little bit in love with the subject. I really like her. She is not highly idealistic but a woman with modern sensibilities,” she says.

P. ANIMA

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