A Gujarat Here, a Gujarat There

by Krishna Sobti

  Tej Singh asked Junior Ma ji Sahib to begin.

  ‘Tell the bitak of Karunavati first.’

  ‘Bavasi, first we must pray to Karunavati:

  Saral taral karunavati shobha kahi na jaye

  Simple, beautiful Karunavati, your brilliance cannot be expressed

  Sabke sang mahamayi jo mange so paay.’

  Mahamayi is with everyone, whatever you request you will receive.

  ‘Ma ji Sahib, recite it again, please,’ Tej Singh entreated. ‘That way I’ll remember it.’

  After His Highness had repeated the lines himself, Senior Ma ji Sahib opened her eyes.

  Senior Ma ji Sahib asked Junior Ma ji Sahib, ‘Do you know anything else besides bitak, or no? Tell a story about the brave Rajputs.’

  The Governess, seated on the divan by the window, was knitting a sweater for Tej Singh. Her hands looped stitch after stitch, but her ears and eyes were fixed on the mothers and the son. She looked over at the Maharaja. He was wrapped around Senior Ma ji Sahib, demonstrating his beautifully intense love for her. Mother and son engaged in affectionate banter.

  Junior Ma ji Sahib was enduring the suffering of being junior and acting as their audience. The senior was senior, the junior was junior. The Gujarati Junior Ma ji Sahib was the one who had given birth to the royal heir, Tej Singh, but all the pride and authority of being mother of the Maharaja was jealously guarded by the Senior Ma ji Sahib from Bikaner. The Queen Mother of Sirohi ruled from Kesar Vilas Palace, but Senior Ma ji Sahib, being the official mother of the young Maharaja, wielded her authority as well. She did whatever she pleased—and their husband mostly kept quiet.

  ‘Now tell me the story of Krishna Kanhaiya,’ His Highness entreated Senior Ma ji Sahib.

  The Bikaneri Senior Ma ji Sahib waved a hand flashing with bangles and rings. ‘Listen, Bavasi, to the first episode of the story of Queen Radha: Radha Rani went with a pot on her head to get water by the banks of the Jamuna. Radha Rani was veiled in a sky-blue chunari. The golden border fell across her forehead. The border was studded with rubies, pearls and topazes.’

  His Highness interrupted:

  ‘Ma ji Sahib, why are you telling the part about her veil before anything else? Tell about the lehenga first!’

  When she heard this, the Governess became wary, and Senior Ma ji Sahib and Junior Ma ji Sahib were overwhelmed with affection for their royal Maharaja. Senior Ma ji said:

  ‘Radha Rani’s skirt was spring yellow. It was decorated with golden stars.’

  Tej Singh looked up, his diamond earrings sparkling.

  ‘Ma ji Sahib, but then what was Radha Rani’s choli like? What colour was it?’

  ‘Well, Radha Rani’s choli was deep pink! Two pearls were stitched to it.’

  ‘Ma ji! Why only two!’

  Junior Ma ji Sahib turned and looked towards the Governess, as if to say, See what charming things come out of His Highness’s mouth!

  The Governess Bai could not understand why she enjoyed this merriment, as it didn’t suit her need to promote discipline. She placed her knitting in the basket and cast a sharp glance at Tej Singh. When he saw this, Tej Singh jumped up smartly and sat down on the sofa. Bai was secretly pleased. Her instruction had had some impact!

  Tej Singh was asking Senior Ma Sahib: ‘Ma ji Sahib, describe Radha Rani’s ornaments.’

  ‘Bavasi, Radha Rani wore inlaid bangles, and above that swung the silken loops of her armlets. Pendants hung from her ears, and around her neck, a necklace of diamonds and emeralds.’

  ‘Ma ji Sahib, what was braided into Radha Rani’s hair?’

  Senior Ma ji Sahib said: ‘Tiny bells were woven into her plaits with ribbons, and on her feet jingled golden anklets.’

  Tej Singh spoke as though he were a born Maharaja of Abu: ‘Ma ji Sahib, Radha Rani alone will be my queen!’

  ‘Ghani khamma, Bavasi.’

  Tej Singh crossed his two smallest fingers together as though these were the Maharani Sahiba’s two elegant legs, and resting them on his palm, he said: ‘Jingle-jingle-jingle, she’ll come, the queenly ankle bells will jingle-jingle-jingle, ding-ding-ding.’

  ‘Then what will you do, Bavasi?’

  Tej Singh said in a grown-up fashion: ‘Nothing. She’ll just make all that noise, and I’ll lie there silently with my eyes closed wondering what on earth my queen is doing!’

  Senior Ma ji Sahib, Junior Ma ji Sahib and Governess Bai, all three laughed together. It seemed as though a lovely, bewitching breeze had wafted over Tej Singh and come and nestled among them.

  Governess Bai stood up.

  And now the curtain will fall on this scene!

  ‘Tej Singh, story time is over. Now we will have to go to the classroom. Please take your leave of the Ma ji Sahibs. Two stories again, next time!’

  An enchanting melancholy overshadowed Tej Singh’s childish face. He touched Senior Ma ji Sahib’s orhni and said, ‘Next time we’ll hear the story of Putna. Junior Ma ji Sahib, you can tell the bitak of Sudamapur.’

  ‘Wonderful, wonderful, Bavasi.’

  When Ma’am and Tej Singh entered the hallway holding hands, His Highness’s ADC Sahib was walking towards them, having inspected the classroom. The ADC Sahib always looked over the classroom for His Highness’s protection and saw to everything each day, and thus, at this moment, he was descending the stairs and coming towards them.

  Governess Bai and Tej Singh stood outside the classroom. Before Ma’am could say anything, Tej Singh said softly: ‘Ma’am, someone could be hidden inside.’

  ‘No, dear, Jay Singh Sahib just checked. Yes, I will go in first because you must ask me for permission to enter first.’

  Tej Singh stared stubbornly at Ma’am. ‘But Senior Ma ji Sahib said . . .’

  Ma’am held up her finger sternly. ‘Enough. You stand here. As soon as I go in, you will ask what you were taught to ask.’

  As soon as Bai had gone inside, Tej Singh asked: ‘Ma’am, please may I come in?’

  Finally.

  ‘Tej Singh, please come in,’ she replied affectionately.

  Tej Singh inside the classroom. Ma’am thought, According to the Hindu calendar of the palace, this moment is good. It took six whole days for this moment to arrive.

  Step one towards discipline.

  ‘Tej Singh,’ said Ma’am, ‘there’s something else you have to say.’

  ‘Good morning, Ma’am.’

  ‘Good morning. Please sit down. How was your morning today?’

  ‘But Ma’am, you were there too.’

  ‘I was. But now we are sitting in class, no? You should answer whatever the teacher asks.’

  ‘Ma’am, this morning, after breakfast, we went on a drive. We saluted in front of the jail. After we returned, I sat with my Ma ji Sahibs. They told me stories. After that . . . after that, I went with Ma’am into the classroom . . .’

  ‘You liked asking for permission to enter, didn’t you!’ asked Ma’am.

  ‘Yes, Ma’am.’

  ‘Would you like to colour first or play with blocks?’

  ‘Colour, Ma’am!’

  ‘Take your colouring book and crayons down from the shelf.’

  Tej Singh began to flip through the pages of his colouring book. Then his hand stopped on the outline of a tiger. He took out three crayons: yellow, brown and green.

  He neatly filled in the simple lines with colours, then slid the book towards Ma’am and said, ‘Ma’am, look, how did I do!’

  ‘Tej Singh, why are the tiger’s eyes closed?’

  ‘Ma’am, the tiger ate an entire goat the night before. On top of that, he drank lots of water from the pond. So he’s taking a nap after eating.’

  ‘Excellent! You coloured in the tiger well. If you’d like to draw something else from your imagination, then take down the plain drawing pad.’

  Tej Singh placed the pad on the table.

  ‘Ma’am, shall I draw Kesar Vilas Palace?’

  ‘Yes, do!’

  Tej S
ingh started with the stairs at the bottom of the page. Next he drew the terrace. Then the entryway. The fortress guard stands next to the entryway, turban on his head; a long nose and large moustaches.

  ‘Very nice.’

  Ma’am wrote, ‘good’ in red pencil and signed her name beneath that.

  Tej Singh was pleased and excited!

  ‘Ma’am, now what shall we do?’

  ‘Whatever you like. We can play with blocks, or with the word-making beads, or play the word game.’

  ‘Ma’am, let’s do that. Who will win?’

  ‘We’ll see.’

  Lewis entered with a tray with two glasses of juice, placed it on the table near the sofa and turned towards the door.

  Ma’am reminded him:

  ‘Tej Singh, most children are not given juice in class, but you are getting it, so you should thank Lewis.’

  Tej Singh said warmly, ‘Thank you, Mr Lewis!’

  Lewis bowed and salaamed. As soon as Lewis went outside, the sound of anklets could be heard jingling somewhere nearby.

  Tej Singh’s eyes shone.

  ‘Ma’am, Ma ji Sahib is standing near the window. Now let’s go!’

  ‘Tej Singh, Ma ji Sahib would not want you to leave class early.’

  Tej Singh looked sad, but the sadness disappeared into the naughty curve of his lips. In order to reawaken the excitement that had disappeared in her now-glum pupil, Ma’am said:

  ‘You had chosen the word game. Shall we start? I will say night-day, then you say morning-evening. Tej Singh, the first turn is yours.’

  Moon-stars

  Earth-sky

  Winter-summer

  Sunlight-shade

  Rain-cloud

  Cloud-lightning

  Hillock-mound

  Gold-silver

  Mother-father

  Pen-ink

  Sadhu-sant

  Winter-spring

  Motor-car

  Horse-train

  Sister-brother

  Jungle-mangal

  Horseback riding—

  ‘Ma’am, the Maharaja of Alwar gave me such nice horses for my horseback riding.’

  ‘Next Sunday we’ll go riding. This Sunday, the Maharaja of Alwar is staying at his palace.’

  ‘Ma’am, he always says to tell him something new. Last time, he chose an episode of the Ramayana!’

  ‘We will also choose something from there. You can memorize it, can’t you!’

  ‘Yes, Ma’am.’

  Ma’am went and got the Ramayana from the cabinet and began to look for a simple couplet or quatrain.

  Her eye rested on this verse from the Bal Kand:

  Quatrain:

  bhaye prakaṭ kṛpālā dīn dayālā kausalyā hitkārī

  harṣit mahtārī muni manhārī adbhut rūp vicārī

  locan abhirāmatanu ghanaśyāmā nij āyudh bhuj cārī

  bhūṣaṇ vanmālā nayan bisālā sobhā sindhu kharārī

  Lord Rama, most merciful and compassionate towards the poor and helpless, benefactor of Kaushalya, appeared

  When she saw the magnificent form of Rama, he who stole the heart of sages, she was very glad,

  He had beautiful eyes, a dark black body and held weapons in his four hands,

  The killer of Khara wore a forest garland, had large eyes, and was an ocean of beauty

  The princely families of Abu and Alwar were closely related. The Maharaja of Alwar affectionately called Tej Singh of Abu ‘Sarkar’. It made him feel all grown-up. When Tej Singh had been adopted, the Maharaja of Alwar had been a partisan of the plan and had always showered him with affection.

  30

  After lunch, when Tej Singh lay down to rest on the large divan, he kept repeating the lines of ‘Lord Rama, most merciful and compassionate’.

  ‘Ma’am, now I remember, I won’t forget.’

  ‘Now you relax and lie quietly. I have to take care of some work—I have to write in my diary.’

  ‘But Ma’am, don’t you write that at night?’

  ‘Tej Singh, tonight I’ll be short of time.’

  ‘Why is that, Ma’am? Please tell me. You will read me the story of Cinderella, won’t you?’

  ‘Yes, Tej Singh,’ Ma’am laughed. ‘But I am hiding something from you.’

  ‘But why, Ma’am?’

  ‘Because I want to give Tej Singh a surprise. That’s why you won’t ask me anything more about it. I will only tell you after I’ve written this.’

  Ma’am wrote in her blue diary and her red diary, closed them up, and capping her pen, she clipped it to her kameez. This was what Tej Singh had been waiting for.

  ‘Ma’am, what is it you write in your diary?’

  He’s a bit too intelligent, she thought to herself.

  ‘Tej Singh, whatever we do, from morning until I go to sleep, I write all of it down in the diary.’

  ‘You have two diaries, don’t you?’

  ‘Yes, one for you, one for me.’

  In Tej Singh’s diary she had written:

  A good day and a good beginning.

  Tej Singh has made encouraging progress in comparison to last week. After a slight hiccup, the entrance into the classroom is crisp. He doesn’t show any hesitation in asking for permission as he did before.

  Even with ordinary delay tactics, ready as any child to take down the colouring book and crayons from the cabinet!

  Thanks Lewis for his juice when reminded.

  Interest in drawing: The lines are clean and he is filling in the colours evenly. On the striped yellow of the tiger, he covered over the eyes of the tiger with the brown crayon. His reason was interesting:

  ‘Ma’am, after eating up the goat and drinking water, the tiger is now sleeping deeply.’

  At once imaginative and accurate.

  He drew the entryway of Kesar Vilas and made the fortress guard so tall he touched the doorway! Massive. Clear lines and large moustaches. All the marks of a Rajput face. Tej Singh’s facility with memorization is praiseworthy.

  One hour in the morning spent with the two Ma ji Sahibs, reciting a bitak and the story of Radhakrishna. The amount of curiosity and interest both mothers inspire in the child is bothersome. In such contexts, what does Senior Ma ji Sahib wish to convey to the child? This is worth keeping an eye on. It will have to be corrected. Such behaviour with regard to the child must be dealt with firmly. It will take time.

  Ma’am wrote in her own diary:

  What is my state of mind when it comes to this child? There is meaningless interference at every stage in our daily activities. Sometimes they just want to laugh, sometimes they want to make the Maharaja laugh. Sometimes they wish to draw the Maharaja’s attention to themselves. There is absolutely no concern about what he is studying and what he is learning at all.

  The first dispute was on the topic of why he must meet with both mothers at a regular time for an hour once a day.

  One day, when Junior Ma ji Sahib was pleased with something, she said, ‘Governess Bai, we are very happy with you. Since you’ve come, we’ve been constantly inspired by Bavasi. The first governess didn’t let us meet with His Highness at all. When he went on his drives in the morning and evening, we saw him only from upstairs.’

  And I thought—princely progeny and a desi governess. Now they want all the behaviour and customs to be desi.

  Junior Ma ji Sahib seemed to have read my mind. She said, as though revealing a secret, ‘What can I say? Senior is Senior. Junior is Junior. I was the one that gave birth to the child, but all the rights go to Senior Ma ji Sahib! She also dealt firmly with the English Mem. She didn’t rest until she’d got rid of her. She lived to thwart her. Bai, see the luck of Senior Ma ji Sahib—no sooner did the English leave our country than she managed to get rid of the foreign governess!’

  I thought, What a difference between this world and that one—the one I left behind when I came here.

  When Bhopal Singh and Senior Ma ji Sahib had no issue, there was worry about f
inding an heir from the thikana. Discussions began about a second marriage. Senior Ma ji Sahib settled a match for her husband herself with a Gujarati Rajput thikana, and made the second wife of her husband a woman about to become a mother of a royal child and brought her there.

  In brief, all that happened was thanks to Senior Ma ji Sahib. Though the junior mother may have given the boon of giving birth to a royal son, the senior was the one who made the effort of finding her and bringing her there! Tej Singh was then adopted and became the Maharaja of Sirohi and ascended to the throne. A princely throne and that too after Independence.

  If there’s nothing to it, why is there so much fuss? The Queen Mother resides in Kesar Vilas. Senior Ma ji Sahib has become the Queen Mother Hen. You have quite a few challenges, Sobti Bai—it will be up to you to solve them one at a time. But do be careful not to get involved playing all these little games while living here. It will cost you dearly. Your eye and intellect will grow dim. Be true to yourself.

  ‘What has Ma’am written in her diary today?’

  ‘Today, Tej Singh asked Ma’am for permission before entering the class. He took his drawing pad and crayons off the shelf and placed them on the table. He drew nice pictures.’

  ‘Thank you, Ma’am. And what did you write in your own diary?’

  Ma’am laughed.

  ‘What I did right, and also what I did wrong.’

  ‘What did you do wrong? Please tell me.’

  ‘I should have thanked Lewis as well . . . and today you are getting a surprise.’

  ‘Is it chocolate?’

  ‘No, no. We are taking you to Nakki Lake.’

  ‘Are we going to the Residency?’

  ‘No, today is Kartik Purnima, and we are going for Nauka Vihar and after that darshan at the Raghunath temple.’

  Tej Singh was pleased. His eyes began to shine—‘Ma’am, can we take Ma ji Sahib along too?’

  ‘It doesn’t seem that Ma ji Sahib can go along with us.’

  ‘Why, Ma’am, why is that?’

  ‘Let’s ask Colonel Sahib.’

  As soon as Colonel Sahib came in, Tej Singh said, ‘We’ll also bring Ma ji Sahib along . . .’