Krishna
I like this book.I think it serves the intended English audience for the time for which it was written. But reading it as a person with a completely different background, and in a very different time,it still resonates. It does not fall victim to the ‘Englishman’s view’ of India that many authors of the seventies fell prey to.
First the attitude. Even though it was written in the seventies, the author spent a lot of time in colonial India as the daughter and wife(?) of the British rulers. The book portrays their dilemma in being in charge in a very different land, and talks about the two types of people who came over to do the Queen’s work : some who are contemptuous of the country bumpkin natives and some who genuinely are interested in knowing what makes the subcontinent tick. She writes with sympathy about both sides and what’s more, with a clear understanding of the psyche of both sides, which makes the book very readable.
Let us move on to the story.
Isobel is a strong willed woman who sets out to India alone to be with her brother, who is in the Indian army. She raises eyebrows by unconventional behaviour and marries a rich explorer Hilary and goes with him and his friend Akbar Khan on expeditions. She gives birth to Ashton (Ash-Baba) and dies. He grows up and when he is still a toddler, a cholera epidemic orphans him as both his father Hilary and “Uncle Akbar” die in the epidemic. Hilary did not even inform anyone that he has a son or even that his wife Isobel is dead.
When Sita tries to get Ash Baba to Delhi so that he could be taken care of by his own kind, she runs smack into the Sepoy mutiny riots and violence in Delhi. The descriptions of near miss are good. Finally she reaches the foothills of the Himalayas and finds a place where she can bring Ash (renamed Ashok) as her ‘true’ son.
When he saves the elder prince Lalji from an assassination attempt, he becomes the prince’s servant and lives in the palace, getting involved in palace intrigues and befriends a Pathan who treats him as his own son.
Finally, the Rajah makes up with Lalji and the power of the Janoo Rani, the scheming nautch girl wanes with her beauty but she befriends Lalji and plots to kill Ashok. The princess Kairi a small waif of a girl overhears it and warns Ashok and both Hira Lal, an old servant and the Pathan help them escape. They settle down far from the kingdom but is unaware that the Rani is plotting to find them at all costs and kill them to silence them.
When Sita dies, she tells him the truth and he manages to reach the regiment near Afghan border and gets transported back to England to get a proper education and become a pucca sahib. He has a really hard time of it.
When he comes back to India a proper Sahib, he meets Belinda on the boat and gets engaged to her. On the first sight of Zarin, he deserts her and her mother and is spurned briefly by Belinda. He learns his lesson. Meanwhile, Belinda’s mom, Mrs Harlow, has second thoughts about the suitability of Ashton for her daughter when she sees him hobnobbing with the ‘natives’ on an equal footing.
When he learns that Belinda is not the sweet little thing but is capable of viciousness, especially when she learns that George is a fraud and is a half-blackie (one grandparent Indian) she exposes him to his eternal shame, he is devastated. And kills himself.
Ashley is upset that when one Pathan steals guns and disappears all others including his friends are discharged and asked to bring it back if they want to be part of army again. He goes in pursuit of them and returns 20 days later where he is injured and reports that three lives were lost due to the stupidity of the decision. The army considers a court martial for insubordination.
They send him away to escort two princesses. Imagine Ashton’s surprise when he finds out that the elder one was her childhood friend. She cries and runs away when he reveals who he really is to her in private.
When he finds that Jhoti, the Ferangi Rani’s son is being friendly with the fiendishly cunning and evil Biju Ram, Ash suspects that the latter is up to no good and Nandu, now the Maharaja, may want to dispose him off as he fears that Jhoti will be the focal point for a palace coup.
When he is wounded saving Jhoti who was about to fall off a horse in a ravine and die, he becomes the hero of the whole group but he still pines for his Anjuli. She comes and realizes who he is (after he gives her the other half of the broker locket) and mourns for her loss.
He realizes that he is in love with Julie (Anjuli) but realizes that there is no way he can get her. He escapes an assassination attempt with his own stolen rifle by an unknown assailant.
When he ignores Julie and everyone and is immersed in his own misery (because he realizes that he loves Anjuli and cannot have her without threatening her life and his life) he realizes the someone tried to poison Jhoti and that shakes him up awake. To share the secrets with Anjuli, he agreed to go on a ride, goes away with her and gets trapped in a storm and reaches a cave just in time. There they make love and he realizes that Julie loves him too, but she cannot go away with him because Sushila depends on her totally.
He suddenly realizes that Biju Ram was a spy who pretends to befriend Jhoti but in fact is actively trying to kill him so that no blame (from the British overlords) will attach to Nandu does Ash decide to bait him into action. He meets Biju Ram and inadvertantly kills him (after Biju tried to kill him twice) with Biju’s own knife which he did not know was poisoned.
When they reach Bhaitor, the Rana is intransigent in demanding three times the agreed upon price and on top of it, have them surrounded and defenseless. The British administration refuses to help. The Rana is ugly and evil and all of the skills Ash brings to negotiation does not work. Juli, in spite of his begging, refuses to reconsider her decision to wed the Rana, for Sushila’s sake.
In the meanwhile, news reaches them that Nandu died in a genuine accident and that Jhoti, who is a freiend of Ash, is now the rightful ruler of Gulkote. However, after the marriage is over, Ash comes back to Rawalpindi, refusing to stay in Gulkote because of his bad memories there and because Juli is no longer there.
He meets Zarin and Koda Dad again and catches up and is shocked to find out how old Koda Dad has become. He spends some time with his old pal Wally and also sends him away. He feels very alone. When he defies a visiting English dignitary openly, he is packed off to Gujarat and there gets a new friend (Sarji) and also a lovely horse. He gets news that Rana has not consummated with Juli but gave Shushila two abortions and a third child, a girl. When Rana is ill, Ash learns that there are plans to burn both brides in a pyre should he die, and goes completely berserk with rage.
He goes incognito into Bhaitor through a secret path that takes him right inside. When he finds how futile it is, he sends his friend Sarji back and decides to kill Julie before she can enter the fire and also get killed in the process. He is just saved in time when he learns that Julie has been rescued due to two reasons : Susheela asked that Julie be spared the Suttee (as the author spells it) and next by friends of Ash from a plot to blind her and keep her as a servant in the palace forever (by the minister of Rana). She pleads with Ash to do the same kindness he planned for Julie to Sushila, despite the danger they will all be in. They do and escape.
But their escape is noted too quickly and they are pursued and also cut off from ahead by communication using mirrors. They escape by providence but have to sacrifice Sarji and others, sadly. Ash also loses Dogebaz during his flight.
He marries Julie in a quiet ceremony but tells Wally and also a captain in the army the truth. They send him incognito to Afghanistan to get intelligence about the Amir, who is squeezed between the two great powers, Tsar’s Russia and the Queen’s Great Britain who both want to take over his country in the name of ‘protecting him and his people’. Ash sends intelligence about the reality but is ignored by the British who are itching for battle.
Even when Russian threat is over and the Amir on the run and dying, the British do not want to back off from their incipient invasion of Afghan territory. Ash is frustrated that all his advice is in vain.
When Ash is recalled, he is sent to the frontier immediately and now an impatient Julie decides to go with the servant and join him.
Meanwhile the British are pigheaded enough to start a war and Wally and Wigham join in. They face a massive Afghan force at high ground and tries to win by trickery. Having won, they force the emir to accept a royal commission. Ash warns that it is foolhardy and in the process seems to alienate both Wally and Zarin. He gives up and wants to retire from the army to lead a quiet life with Julie. He is asked to wait until the British get there. He worries that Wally who gets a promotion and goes there very enthusiastically, will get killed by the populace who hate any British presence there, emir or no emir.
The story sags a lot when the British are tented in Afghan soil but there is still a clash of ideas where Ash, as usual is hitting his head against the obstreperous British bull headedness, they refusing to heed him. The story nevertheless stalls for a while.
The castle is besieged by raving maniacs and “badmarshers” (author’s attempt at spelling badmash). Who are these raving maniacs? Afghan soldiers who had not been paid and understandably upset that the British were taking over Afghanistan (as ‘guests’ of the Amir) and wanted to be rid of them. But barring this difference of opinion that is bound to be there, the battle that raged is told with verve and passion. The story ends movingly.
A brilliant narration, wide canvas, well written and enjoyable.
7/ 10
– – Krishna