Difference between revisions of "1875"
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I was five when I first heard of Sayaji Gaekwad, the wonderful boy of twelve who was being made King in Baroda. I would look at Dhoomil kaka and think- "no older than him, and a king". It did not seem so improbable to me, because wasn't Dhoomil kaka much taller, much more knowledgable than I? But the adults all found it fantastic. They would tell stories of the grand coronation, the riches, the magicians,the performers and the British. Always the British, especially when they talked of Baroda. | I was five when I first heard of Sayaji Gaekwad, the wonderful boy of twelve who was being made King in Baroda. I would look at Dhoomil kaka and think- "no older than him, and a king". It did not seem so improbable to me, because wasn't Dhoomil kaka much taller, much more knowledgable than I? But the adults all found it fantastic. They would tell stories of the grand coronation, the riches, the magicians,the performers and the British. Always the British, especially when they talked of Baroda. | ||
| + | |||
| + | Neelkanth repeats: Magicians.. | ||
That is because the British had deposed Malhar Rao, who was from our region, packed him off from the throne peremptorily. And got instead Gopalrao. That was Sayaji's name, when they brought him in. | That is because the British had deposed Malhar Rao, who was from our region, packed him off from the throne peremptorily. And got instead Gopalrao. That was Sayaji's name, when they brought him in. | ||
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Babaraya:But you were Dhundi then | Babaraya:But you were Dhundi then | ||
| − | Dada: Indeed I was. | + | Dada: Indeed I was. You are almost his age, Babaraya |
| + | |||
| + | Babaraya seems a bit lost, wondering what he should make of this significant information. | ||
| − | + | Mahadev: He is much younger than me. | |
| − | + | Sarasvati: | |
| + | Yes, Maha, everyone is much younger than you. | ||
Dada: | Dada: | ||
Revision as of 12:34, 3 July 2009
Prince of Wales visits India. Telephone.
I was five when I first heard of Sayaji Gaekwad, the wonderful boy of twelve who was being made King in Baroda. I would look at Dhoomil kaka and think- "no older than him, and a king". It did not seem so improbable to me, because wasn't Dhoomil kaka much taller, much more knowledgable than I? But the adults all found it fantastic. They would tell stories of the grand coronation, the riches, the magicians,the performers and the British. Always the British, especially when they talked of Baroda.
Neelkanth repeats: Magicians..
That is because the British had deposed Malhar Rao, who was from our region, packed him off from the throne peremptorily. And got instead Gopalrao. That was Sayaji's name, when they brought him in.
I would think( smiles) not very different from my Govind, was it?
Babaraya:But you were Dhundi then
Dada: Indeed I was. You are almost his age, Babaraya
Babaraya seems a bit lost, wondering what he should make of this significant information.
Mahadev: He is much younger than me.
Sarasvati: Yes, Maha, everyone is much younger than you.
Dada:
Sayaji was a successor of the first Gaekwad of Baroda, but from a left handed marriage.. where the bridegroom, agreeing or choosing to marry a woman of lower social status, catches her right hand with his left one in the marriage ceremony, to keep a certain class difference alive. She and her children will not have any succession rights.
They will say about him that he holds firm to this unexpected right hand offered to him, leaps proudly onto the royal horse, is more of a king than any of his predecessors could ever be.
But for now, there is a young boy of twelve going through a bewildering array of very bright ceremonies to announce his ascension.. The ceremonies will lead him into a palace and over the next few years, through a school within that palace where he is the sole student. Advisers of different hues, trainers in different disciplines will stretch the walls of his mind, transforming it, transforming him, till he feels the walls will not hold.
And then those large stretches of time, when he senses he has been left alone, to be bowed and saluted to, while they do the ruling.
The days of the Doctrine of Lapse are over, but not in spirit. A young child is being groomed by various forces- a British authority wanting a friendly, subservient ruler, and within the palace, those who think differently, who resent the authoritarian deposal of Malhar rao, or then, those who tread a liminal middle path. Being a ruler is a balancing act in these times, Sayaji must learn to be a nimble acrobat.
Sayaji will have to wait till 1881 when he is given full ruling powers, till then he is under a Council or Regency. Till then he has time, to feel the walls of his new home, to feel the distance from his previous home, to look carefully at the many marvellous objects that have travelled from different corners of the world. To touch its lattices, caress the caryatids, and play games upon its cool smooth floors, and marvel when he realises that kings can get such palaces made on order..
Tanjore Madhava Rao, mentor to Ravi Varma, moves to Baroda. He has had many differences with the current ruler and is suspected of being friendly with the critics of the ruler. However, he will return to Travancore again, in time to sort of difficulties in Ravi Varma's life.
Saraswati:
After a rowdy day of battling his friends in the mud, Dhundi lies on the cot in the verandah at night and stares at a sky that is larger than anything else he can see. In the quiet, he waits for sounds that he could hear once. Sounds from another world. ( she holds on to her stomach as she talks)
He listens for those sounds, his open eyes staring at the sky seem to anticipate them. His eyes still have the presence of that other world in them, the other sky that he has come from. His eyes are like pieces of night sky, a restless moon shifts beneath their stillness.
