Once a Prince of Sarila: Of Palaces and Tiger Hunts, Of Nehrus and Mountbattens.
Autor: Graeme Smith, "A Short History of Secularism."
ISBN: 1845117077 | 2008 edition | PDF | 304 Pages | 5.64 MB
ISBN: 1845117077 | 2008 edition | PDF | 304 Pages | 5.64 MB
Princely India in the 1930s and 40s enjoyed a golden age which already seems immeasurably distant from the thriving, modern nation of today. These were halcyon days of bejewelled and eccentric Maharajas; life in marble palaces mirrored in lakes or in mighty stone fortresses on craggy hills; tiger hunts on elephant back and elephant hunts on horseback; and lavish house parties ringing with the sound of polo and music and laughter. As heir apparent to the central Indian kingdom of Sarila, Narendra Singh Sarila was born into the very heart of this society and his life offers a unique vista on a vanished world. The author enjoyed a wonderfully privileged childhood in what remained a traditional, feudal state even as the call for democratic change was being heard elsewhere on the subcontinent. This warm and unsentimental personal history beautifully evokes life at the end of the British Raj in vivid and colorful detail. But it also reveals how, despite their position, Singh and his family embraced the changes occasioned by Independence and adapted rapidly to its new demands.