A tribute to a radiant, compassionate and selfless Queen, but most importantly, a sincere friend
A tribute to a radiant, compassionate and selfless Queen, but most importantly, a sincere friend
In the plethora ofu00a0 tributes paid to the late Rajmata Gayatri Devi of Jaipur, disproportionate mention has been made of her famed beauty,u00a0 her grace and charm, her fairytale lifestyle, her charmed circle of friends which included the Queen of England, the Kennedys and the like, but barely enough of her noble qualities of head and heart.
As one who had the privilege of knowing her for over three decades until her death last week, I would like to pay tribute to her radiant and unaffected simplicity, her self-effacing disposition born out of her loving and compassionate nature, refined sensibilities, passionate devotion to noble causes, love for sport and, most importantly for me, her capacity for sincere friendship.
I first met Rajmata Ayesha to her close friends at a dinner in Calcutta during the tour of Clive Lloyd's all-conquering West Indies cricket team in 1975, after her release from prison where she had been lodged, along with the Rajmata of Gwalior, allegedly for illegal possession of foreign currency during the Emergency.
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Royal Splendour: Jaipur's Maharani Rajmata Gayatri Devi with MiD DAY Chairman Khalid A-H Ansari. |
Given her love for polo (her husband Sawai Man Singh was an international player of repute and, in fact, died while refereeing a polo match in England), equestrianism and cricket and my passion for sport, as expressed through my magazine SPORTSWEEK, my labour of love which I started on a wing and prayer in 1968, we struck up a close friendship.
Love for sport was the bedrock of our friendship. The affable Rajmata Saheba was a frequent visitor to our home in Bombay, and I was privileged to be her guest at her modest kothi 'Lilypool' on many occasions when she invited me during cricket matches, as guest of honour at the Prithvi Singh Foundation Cup tournament in Jaipur and sports day at the Gayatri Devi Girls School, with which she was closely associated until her death.
During my stays at her modest abode behind the ramparts of the magnificent Rambagh Palace (now a hotel run by the Taj group), I was struck by her respect for her staff and their many children and friends (she referred to them affectionately as 'nippers'), who she indulged to a fault, spoiling them rotten and letting them play cricket in her garden, among other things.
Even as late as last summer, despite failing health, she led her first delegation of 30 students of her school
to Putney High School, London on a student exchange programme.
Mission in lifeGayatri Devi made it her mission in life to help raise the status of women. A visionary, she took her late husband's query, as to whether the then prevalent purdah system could be eradicated, as a personal challenge and worked for the upliftment of women and education of girls through the GD Girls school, which was her magnificent obsession.
Over the years, hundreds of girls have passed out of the portals of the GS Devi School (it was started by Sir Mirza Ismail, Dewan of Jaipur with a handful of pupils and now has 3000 students of who 400 are boarders) to the pride and delight of its charismatic founder.
It is not generally known that Rajmata Jaipur, an avid equestrienne, swimmer, horse rider and shooter in her day (she once told me she had shot 27 tigers before she gave it up because 'I feel sorry for the animals'), revived and promoted the dying art of blue pottery in India.
(Fatehsinh Gaekwad, erstwhile maharaja of Baroda, used to say that he had given upu00a0 shooting tigers with a gun in preference to 'shooting' them with a camera).
Gayatri Devi, the London-born daughter of Prince Jitendra Narayan of Cooch-Behar and Princess Indira Raje of Baroda, (the only daughter of Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III) was aptly described by C. Gopalachari, the first Indian Governor-General of India, as 'a combination of Sita, Lakshmi and the Rani of Jhansi'.
I shall never forget Rajmata Saheba's graciousness in promptly accepting my invitation to be chief guest at the release of my book 'Cricket At Fever Pitch' by Sunil Gavaskar and Sachin Tendulkar at the Cricket Club of India in May 2006, despite her frailty.
Unfortunately, doctor's orders came in the way of her attending but I shall never forget her telephone calls and numerous notes of apology, as well as message of good wishes, on the occasion.
Coincidentally, the Rajmata passed away a day after the death of actress Leela Naidu. Both had been named by Vogue magazine amongst the 10 most beautiful women in the world.
Both were women of substance, their beauty being more than skin deep. Leela led a reclusive life after the passing away of her famous writer-husband Dom Moraes, who was a frequent contributor to MiD DAY.
Rajmata Gayatri Devi was cast in a very special mould by the Maker. As the expression goes: He doesn't make them that way any longer. May her soul rest in peace.
