Dr S N Pandita
Destiny is the strongest magnet! When ‘fate’ ordains everything falls into place. Perhaps, nothing fits as more appropriate a 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 the contents 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 too hides 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 The eye-witness accounts described in the book based on the till-now unpublished political memoirs of Ram Chandra Kak and the private diary jottings of his English wife Margaret Mary Allcock née Kak have finally put the long-standing false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, contemporary political 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 and fabricated accounts of contemporary 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 un- questionable 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.
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.
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 in history than remain buried under the dust of monuments he excavated. However, the authors do not tell us much on these probabilities even 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. The book’s academic, intellectual and scholarly journey is assured to be a rewarding one.
(The author of this review is Phd (DPhil) bodleian Reader, Oxford)
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