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Love, Exile, Redemption – Book Review || By Dr. S.N. Pandita || LIVE IMAGE |
Destiny is the strongest magnet! When ‘ fate’
ordains everything falls into place. Perhaps, nothing fits as more appropriatea
refrain to describe the making of an extraordinary new book: “Love, Exile,
Redemption -The Saga of Kashmir’s Last Pandit Prime Minister (Ram Chandra Kak)
and His English Wife (Margaret Mary Allcock née Kak)” by Siddharth Kak
their grandson and daughter Lila Kak Bhan published by Rupa Publications, New
Delhi, pp 314, Edition 2023.
The book catalogued as “Non-fiction”, however,
over-simplifies its genre while in actuality thecontents of the book make it a
unique literary pudding comprising political memoir, diary jottings, personal
reminiscences, interview recordings, history, anthropology, biography,
sociology too and that is not to discount poetic descriptions of compelling
scenery of several places like Kashmir, Kasauli and their salubrious climate,
fauna and flora.
Perhaps also, the romantic title toohides the real
import of this book which is the unknown and unheard pre-1947 contemporary
history of Kashmir. The eye-witness accounts described in the book based on the
till-now unpublished political memoirs of Ram Chandra Kak and the private diary
jottings of his English wife Margaret Mary Allcock née Kak have finally put the
long-standing false narratives of the partition history of Kashmir to
rest. With this book, now out, contemporarypolitical history of Kashmir
stands on its head as the‘truth’ is out like the rising sun and the falsehood
dimming like the waning moon!
The sensitive historical details reproduced
verbatim from the political memoirs of the former Prime Minister detailed in
the book nail all the vested and orchestrated political blackmailing, vendetta and
sinister character assassination of the illustrious son of the soil named Ram
Chandra Kak.The extensive and graphic accounts trash all popular andfabricated
accounts ofcontemporary political history of Kashmir recalled in several books
which now are confirmed to be slanted and hence, questionable.
This book, therefore, erases all such dubiously
opiniated accounts written in pencil.
The present book based on authentic and unquestionable
records that were written in ink at the very time when history was being created
has many coincidental firsts.Hence, it is first time that we now have the
authentic and documented version of history of Kashmir pertaining to the period
of this controversial Prime Minister of Jammu & Kashmir.
The book based on never before known or used
private archival sources dusted more than eight decades after they
were written by the main protagonists and records of notes penned more than
half a century ago by the authors and reminiscences recalled now, in a way,
makes the work authored by four people; father, mother, daughter and the
grandson. Their records and reminiscences written independently and at
different times corroborate facts and respective narrations in such a flawless
manner that the entire book appears to be one single narrative of impeccable
truth written by a single hand.Each independent section authored separately
compliments the other parts like an adaptation of a ball and socket assembly in
a mechanical device; smooth and noiseless!It is in this single quality that the
book stands the historical scrutiny as never before. This singular fact about
the book though may baffle the reader in ordinary sense but soon he or she will
discover the filtered truth recalled is unquestionable history of Kashmir that
has evaded us for more than seventy-five years.
While the political memoirs of the former Prime Minister
are direct and business like to read but those of his English wife by way of
her diary jottings are an exceptional piece of lyrical prose, both
personal and political in nature while describing the couple’s idyllic life in
Kashmir with pomp and gaiety before arrest and separation and later their lives
in exile at Bombay, England and their reunion in Kasauli before finally
returning to home in Kashmir victorious and vindicated.
To this, the two authors, actually a nephew and aunt,
who, however, are more like a brother and sister due to their small age
difference, have additionally recalled their reminiscences, one as the grandson
and the other as daughter of the historical couple and their world sometimes
whole and sometimes fragmented with equal verve of sophistication in their
language that no part of the book gives any impression that the reader is
reading four and not one account of the same great story.
The book also embraces a broad story of the Kak
clan, one of the most illustrious families of modern Kashmir with focus on its
most important two members who united by love, empathy and understanding after
having overcome the hiatus of language, culture and geographical divide were
sundered, though temporarily, by the quirk of fate to become controversial
figures of Kashmir’s recent political history.
Of the idyllic descriptions of this Kak family
about their world, environment, habitat, social and public reputation both when
basking in glory and later living in exile a life of ignominy, but not for a
moment without an undying belief in self-dignity and impeccable virtues of
honest and aesthetic outlook to life, that have imprinted the lives of their
children and grandchildren, stand as examples of lives well lived and
purposeful.
At another level this book is full of nuggets of
unknown and unrecorded history of Kashmir without shying to identify and name those
elite protagonists. Many revelations will startle the historians.A nugget,
in particular, that shines like the pole-star is the revelation that Mahatma
Gandhi,during his August 1947 visit to Kashmir, also called on the Prime
Minister Kak at his ‘Bagh Sundar residence’, in Karan Nagar, Srinagar, where he
was hosted by five-year Lila Kak Bhan, the daughter of the Prime Minister and
now the co- author of the book.
The only other instance in Indian history
comparable to such an honourable act of hosting a dignitary of an exceptional
political importance and standing is Indira Gandhi hosting Sir Stafford Cripps at
Anand Bhavan, Allhabad in 1942. However, Lila’s credit is greater than
Indira; the former was just five and daughter of a Prime Minister while the
latter was twenty-five and a daughter of the would-be Prime Minister!
The never-seen-before photographs as centre spread
envelope the book’s narrative with a misty nostalgia. The supplement of several
illustrations in the book sketched by Kashmira Tembulkar eminently compliment
the narration of the authors. And when and if, the descriptions fail, the
readers will be fortunate to have their attention irresistibly diverted to one
or other of this distinguished artist’s beautiful pictures. Equally eminent is
the solitary sketch illustration of ‘Damin-i- Kosar’, the dream abode of the
Kak’s at Dara on the outskirts of Srinagar in Kashmir by Anjum Siddique.
The boldness on the part of the Prime Minister and
his wife are laudable and trash many false narratives peddled in Kashmir
through spurious historical narrative, aimed only to malign an upright, honest
and eminent archaeologist who rose up in the hierarchy to become the Prime
Minister of a princely state whose territory was larger than Great Britain
itself and which the British considered as the most precious jewel in its
Crown!
The descriptions entailing love, personal lives,
trials and tribulations of the Prime Minister and his English wife are quite
absorbing which engage the reader’s thoughts with great poignancy and decent
empathy for their torn but unvanquished lives and of course their love
triumphing in the end.
Written in lucid and facile language of easy
understanding both the authors give a good account of their command on English
prosody, syntax and vocabulary.In a more holistic sense, ‘Love, Exile,
Redemption’ is an unparalleled addition to the extant literature on Kashmir.
Perhaps no otherworthier book on Kashmir has appeared since the time the entire
Kashmiri Pandit community has been in exile after their complete traumatic
ouster from their homeland in 1990.
Even as one of the authors of the book, grandson
Siddharth Kak, claims the book to be a personal “tribute” to this
outstanding couple,his grandparents, for their “unseen contributions”
and an opportunity to have recalled their personal “untold story” reflects
as some sort of private acknowledgement, the book actually is a seminal
contribution to Kashmir’s unknown history and hence a public document of great
value. Equally poignant and evocative are the reminiscences narrated by the
co-author, daughter Lila Kak Bhan about her parents.
While the self- written records of the ‘Kak couple’
supplemented by the worthy descriptions given by the authors help the reader to
sift the historical grain from the chaff, yet this highly absorbing book leaves
hanging a question.
Had Ram Chandra Kak, the eminent archaeologist who
was trained by famed archaeological icons like Sir Aurel Stein and Sir John
Marshall; whose work was endorsed by Sinologist like Alfred Foucher and an
Indologists like Francis Younghusband continued with his archaeological career
and not jumped on to the seat of ultimate political power via the ladder of
bureaucratic rise, then would the greatness of his life and achievements been
anyway less eminent and honourable.Hindsight says, as an archaeologist yes; as
the Prime Minister no! Perhaps, ‘destiny’ had marked Ram Chandra Kak for
politics than archaeology and ‘fate’ had charted his life for a place inhistory
than remain buried under the dust of monuments he excavated. However, the
authors do not tell us much on these probabilitieseven being the direct
descendants of this Archaeologist-Prime Minister.Now that the ink is dry, the
readers are the best judges for conclusions of all sorts which the contents of
the book offer.
Lastly,
no thanks are sufficient for the love of labour invested by the authors. The
publisher, Rupa, deserves all praise for bringing out this important
publication to the wider reach of public.While the book’s academic,
intellectual and scholarly journey is assured to be a rewarding one, so does one
also expect its commercial journey to be.
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Dr. S.N. Pandita |
