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BOOKS
Royal
Romp
Laughter
and boredom in Rajputana
By
Mitali
Saran
REALLY,
YOUR HIGHNESS!
By JYOTI JAFFA
ROLI BOOKS
Rs. 250
Pages: 432 |
 |
Rajputana,
in the era of viceroys and residents, is the playground for Jyoti Jaffa's
romp through the vicissitudes of royal life, a cross between The Mouse
That Roared and the world of P.G. Wodehouse. Between croquet and boar
hunts, polo matches and Cartier diamond chokers, flying elephants and
visits with the Prince of Wales, Jaffa brings to life a parallel universe
in which no whim is too fanciful to indulge, and no behaviour too bizarre
to accommodate.
When Maharaja
Jai Singh of Chattargadh and his brother Maharaja Natwar "Nutty"
Singh of Pisshengunj negotiate, they do so in style, founded largely on
compulsive one-upmanship and flamboyant pranks. Their squabble, set some
years before Independence, focuses around a canal designed to water the
parched desert land of Mewar: Jai Singh wants to dig on Nutty's land,
but the latter won't allow it until his prize-winning St Bernard has been
not just crossed with, but formally wedded, to Jai Singh's dog.
Meanwhile,
Kitten, the hot-headed Chattargadh princess, has fallen head over heels
for her distant relative Tiger Fateypur. Displaying all the obstinacy
and resourcefulness of her tribe, she tricks him into focusing his playboy
attentions upon her with mixed results.
Watching
all this is the sardonic resident, Gerald Redverse, and Jai Singh's military
secretary, Colonel Claude-Poole. The eccentric cast of characters moves
deftly from Mewar to London and Europe and back, with the paraphernalia
of an enormous circus, with all its attendant never-ceasing intrigues.
On the premise
that royals are mad, but interestingly so, Jaffa chronicles their antics
for 400 pages. Royal-watchers and fetishists will therefore fall upon
this novel with cries of joy-it's the rest of us who risk boredom.
The high
jinx ranges from light-hearted to dangerous, and Jaffa throws in an enormous
amount of avid description and breezy humour, thanks to her insider's
acquaintance with this quirky world. But somewhere along the way, even
curious readers may tire of the endless archness of the ladies, the drollery
of their highnesses, and the sheer material lushness of their world. There
is such a thing after all as hearing "Really, your highness"
one too many times.
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