‘You must excuse my mistress,’ Lakshmi said as they reached the end of the Corridor of Mirrors. She led the way into a large hall, and up a staircase at the back of that hall. ‘Her bark is worse than her bite. At least, now it is. She doesn’t mean to be rude. She can’t help it. She has lost so much… so much.’
‘Is she really royalty? I mean, there’s no such thing in India any more, is there?’
‘Well, we humour her. But she is related to royalty, or ex-royalty. You may have heard of Gayatri Devi, the Jaipur Princess? My mistress is second cousin thrice removed to her. She attended her wedding to Maharaja Jai – as a little girl of course, but if you ask her she can remember everything: Prince Jai raising her up, Princess Gayatri feeding her with gulab jamun. It was the best day in her life! And she grew up in such pomp. She remembers those days with great nostalgia. And so do I.’
‘What was it like, back then?’
‘What it was like? Oh, it was magnificent! Nobody alive today can imagine the glory of those days! I was just a young girl then, but I remember so well standing exactly here and looking down when Maharaj Sanjay came to visit! Sitting there on his royal cushions. We could see him so well from here! We couldn’t hear a thing, of course, but why should we? We were only women; for us it was the excitement of seeing, of watching from our lofty hideaway while the men conducted their business. My mistress was not much older than me, she was a young bride, just married and so full of hope for the future. Who would ever imagine that her husband would die so young, leaving her a pregnant widow! And after that we did not realise – nobody ever told us – we could not guess—’ She stopped suddenly, as if reluctant to leave that magic world and talk of things that should never have happened.
‘What happened?’ Janiki whispered, so as not to break the spell.
‘Betrayal,’ said Lakshmi, her voice raised and trembling with emotion. ‘Betrayed by the British Raj, those statesmen we had always been loyal to. Sold out! We had no choice! All the royals had to merge; we were given no alternative! We had to destroy ourselves in order to survive – but how? All titles taken; no more land, no more subjects. What could the Regent Maharani do? She was only a woman, and when all over Royal India even the most powerful of kings, even the most ancient of royal families were destroying themselves and merging, what could she do? Nothing. It is all destiny. It is God’s will and we have to accept it.’
‘And what happened when—’ Janiki began, then stopped, for a deafening peal had rung out like the phantom voice of a wrathful electronic god. Lakshmi placed a stalling hand on Janiki’s arm.
‘I have to go,’ she said. ‘She is summoning me.’
She raised a whistle, hanging on a gold chain around her neck, to her lips, and blew a shrill blast. Almost immediately, a young girl in a blue chiffon sari appeared out of nowhere.
‘Sita, would you please take this young lady to the office and switch on the computer and connect it. She wants to use Internet.’
‘Very well, madam.’ Sita gestured to Janiki. ‘Come with me, ma’am.’