Daughter of Empire by Pamela Hicks

Author:Pamela Hicks
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Biography
ISBN: 9780297864820
Publisher: George Weidenfeld & Nicholson
Published: 2012-10-01T07:00:00+00:00

11

After all the ceremonies and parties we next flew to Bombay. This was my chance to meet the student leaders who, following independence, had been released from prison. They had previously been involved in protests, agitating for the end of British rule in India. I sat in my sitting room in Government House, waiting for my guests, tea at the ready. I was impressed that their leader, Dinkar Sakrikar, whose name had been given to me by Miss Lankaster, had accepted my invitation, and I wondered whether, if I had been imprisoned for my beliefs, I should have been willing to go to a meeting at the official residence of the government that had imprisoned me. I had a long time to think, and worry, about this because twenty minutes after our appointed time, there was still no sign of my guests. I called the ADC Room only to discover, to my absolute horror, that the police sentries had detained the students. These police happened to be the very same men who had arrested the students before they were sent to prison, however, and both groups had whiled away the time reminiscing, until the ADCs rang through and approved their entry.

Although I was better acclimatised and much more knowledgeable about Indian politics than I had been when my father first brokered the idea of me interacting with the students, I was nevertheless nervous that I might be faced with a disgruntled, confrontational group of former dissidents, and now it was about to happen, I was even more concerned. But I need not have worried one bit for I was met with smiling faces and much laughter about what had happened, and we talked easily over tea. Early the next morning we set off to see the institutions where they studied – the G. S. Medical College, Bombay University, and the J. J. School of Art. They drove me in a car flying the new Indian flag and introduced me to many of their friends. We rushed around excitedly, and it was fascinating, but there was not really time to talk as I had to be back at Government House to fly off with my parents at noon. I arrived back dripping with bouquets, garlands and presents, overcome by my welcome and their friendliness.

Back in Delhi, it wasn’t long before news came in that the now divided Punjab was in total crisis. My mother set off at once with Rajkumari Amrit Kaur – Gandhiji’s personal secretary had now become the new Minister for Health – to survey the region for herself. They found horrific scenes and mass hysteria, ‘the place of the dead’, as Muriel Watson, her personal assistant, described it to Panditji and my father on their return. But of course it didn’t end there. In the coming weeks my mother flew from one region to another, witnessing the atrocities at first hand. There were times when the reports were so terrible that I feared for her safety and even her life.

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