The above titled article appeared in the newspaper Deccan Chronicle on the 14th of March 2009, in the Editorial section. Surprised that there still exist some people who think the world of her, i continued its perusal. To my amazement and shock, the author of the above article was one of us Indians, Kishwar Desai, wife of the famous Lord Meghnand Desai. You can find the article here :
http://deccanchronicle.com/neutral/dumbstruck-queen%E2%80%99s-beauty%2C-grace-and-charm-908
Although airing one's opinions in a free and democratic country has no legal repercussions, i found the article slightly favoring the Queen and her legacy, which i must say turned my stomach a little. I did not feel it is right for an Indian to be taken back to the Queen's era, where so many crimes against humanity were committed. I thought it greatly insulted the heroes of our Freedom struggle.
Here's my reply to the author :
" Dear Ms. Desai,
this is regarding your article appearing in the newspaper Deccan Chronicle, dt.14th mar 2009,
titled "Dumbstruck by Queen's beauty, grace and charm".
Let me fire the first salvo by saying that it was pathetic the way you have shown a school-girl like enthusiasm in summing up your meeting with the 'Queen'.
You may have found 'beauty, grace and charm' in the 'Queen' but seem to have happily forgotten the ruthless 400 years of lawless rule by her predecessors! There certainly is nothing 'beautiful' and 'graceful' about that Ms. Desai.
And you were right, 'for some it may not be pleasant thought to look back upon', but for you, i am afraid, it was all so glorious!! I find it hard to put words on paper after this confession. Although, a majority of the Britons themselves are quite against the Buckingham Palace's 'royal' excesses, some of us Indians seem to happily cut off their right arm just to shake the 'Queen's' hand. Now this thought is not at all 'charming', Ms. Desai.
Now on to the moment of your life, when all of you waited 'nervously' to get a glimpse of the Queen. And what of the moment, when your 'convent' school training came to your rescue and enabled you to 'curtsey' !! WOW!! That must have been THE moment of your life, was it not Ms. Desai?? You must have been over the moon, to kneel (only a little, mind you!) in front
of the great Queen. Whilst you were thus curtsey-ing Ms. Desai, i said to myself : " there goes another one ", who hasn't quite come out of the 400 year old practice of Master and Slave. Come on Ms. Desai, you seem much to be much more intelligent than Cherie Blair. If she could see it, how could you not ??
That era is long gone Ms. Desai, when curtsey-ing was cumpolsary. We Indians do not bow to anybody, much less show such unabashed subservience to a 'monarch'. You seemed quite jolly sprinkling the words, 'monarch', 'empire', 'devotees' 'rituals' .....all across the article. Now that tells so much about your love for the Queen and her 'Empire'(??) Ms. Desai, does it not?
A professional like you, who has such a long standing in the Indian media should have shown some restraint while talking about the people who had made slaves out of us. You could have addressed the sensitivities of the Indians a little more. "
I never thought that a journalist, specially a famous one, reads feedback. But the lady really surprised me by replying back. I really consider this as a privilege and honor. Thank you Ms. Desai for even bothering to read my counter-views. You are a ture sport! Here's the email reply i received from her.
" from Kishwar Desai
reply-to kishwardesai@yahoo.com
to Rajesh Pandharpurkar
date Sun, Mar 15, 2009 at 3:31 PM
subject Re: Regarding your article: Dumbstruck by Queens......
mailed-by yahoo.com
signed-by yahoo.com
3:31 PM (23 hours ago)
dear mr pandharpurkar,
thank you for your observations and it is always a pleasure to get a feedback--whether negative or positive.
do keep reading!
with all good wishes
kishwar "
Thank you all for reading!
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