Love affairs always make interesting stories. And if it involves celebrities, more the merrier. This tell-tale saga involves the then prime minister designate of India and the stunningly beautiful wife of the viceroy of India Lady Edwina Mountbatten of Burma. Everybody knew about it and all accepted it. As if it was the done thing. Well known authoress Catherine Clement has penned down this historical liaison as a novel. She used a lot of discretion and didn't let it be a salacious book . In fact it is highly platonic with no juicy details weaved it. At places it even reads like a history of the turbulent times when was about to get freedom and the country was on the verge of getting partitioned.
This 441-page Penguin publication delves more on the role played by Nehru and Edwina along with the Viceroy and the last Governor General Earl Mountbatten in the transfer of power and the consequent creation of Pakistan resulting into a holocaust which can be compared with the Jewish holocaust in Germany and the rest of Europe. Both were communal.
The husband knew the intimacy between his wife and his friend and comrade-inarm Jawahar. But he had no control on the roaring affair. In fact the facts betray a silent connivance. British representative of of His Majesty knew that this relationship was making his job easier. Why only him, all the major players including the Indian lady players like Sarojini Naidu, Raj Kumari Amrit Kaur and even Nehru's daughter Indira were in the know of the scandalous trysts between the high profile actors of the drama being enacted on the national stage in full view of the all and sundry.
Clement had a choice to pep up her novel with juicy details but she confined to roses and small snippets that were exchanged. She brought the two lovers close enough but didn't let her imagination cross the limits. She says in her preface that much is based on historical documents but many scenes have been created by imagination.
There is only one parallel that comes to mind like this The pre-historical roving bonding between Julius Caeser and Cleopatra. That was an earth shaking event between Rome and Greece. It shook both the empires and even forced William Shakespeare to write an immortal play. Nehru-Edwina affair didn't end in a tragedy in fact it was a sweet-bitter ending as it was destined to end sooner than later along with Mountbatten's departure from India. Edwina had a knack of catching men off guards and Nehru had a soft corner for beautiful women. His secretary betrayed the trust acquired by him through his proximity in the PM's house and wrote unprintable details of the goings on in the powerhouse called pm's residence. Khushwant Singh lambasted him for his disgraceful act.
But Clement kept the novel a mushy affair titillating the imagination of the reader.
No comments:
Post a Comment