by Pragya Suman
There are so many presumptions and misconceptions that have been weaved around the triangle of Lord Mountbatten, his wife Edwina, and Indian Prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Flames always leaped up time and again out of the ash. This week, it again happened, a first-tier tribunal ( information rights ) in the United Kingdom has turned down the plea of British author Andrew Lownie to release the personal letters exchanged between Nehru and Edwina. These letters are in the possession of Southampton university. Though Lownie has succeeded in getting 35000 pages released which was needed for his book. But 150 passages related to direct references to the British Royal Family have been redacted. British author Lownie informed that withheld portions contain critical comments of Edwina about Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Edwina used to call Jinnah a psychopath.
Sweet and sour layers are encapsulated in the mothballs, which sometimes helps in breeding rumors, instead of killing them. In the preface of Midnight Freedom Dominique Lapierre has written about his meeting with Nehru’s Sister Vijayalaxmi Pandit. She said Nehru was sexually impotent in his late forties. How can a sister say such a stark nude truth in an Indian country? Lapierre confirmed after this revealment by a sister that the relationship between Nehru and Edwina was pure Plutonic, not sexual.
But this could be one face, letters that have revealed another story. Nehru was a person of poetic nature, according to Jinnah, who should be growing flowers instead of being a politician!
After the demise of his wife Kamala Nehru in 1936, Nehru developed a love relationship with Padmaja Naidu, which continued for about ten years. It began to shatter after the arrival of Edwina Mountbatten in India in 1946. Nehru was an Inveterate letter writer, his epistolary literary talent is amazing. Apart from his family members, Gandhi, and Edwina he used to write his chief minister’s letters fortnightly. Renowned author and historian Paul Jhonson has mocked Nehru in his book Modern Times “ how can a prime minister of a poor country waste his time in dictating so many letters to his chief ministers.”
It could be a personal opinion but it couldn’t be denied that Nehru never wrote poetry, but his prose is more poetic than a poem. He was an avid reader and writer, who didn’t like to read fiction, but poetry and nonfiction allured him much. It seems his pen has effaced the line between prose and poetry. His fragments are like prose poems. Words seem whirling in trance in a flowery garden undertow of wheeling poetry.
His letters have again lived the ghost of love!
In Light vein
“ It is a mistake that there is no bath that will cure people’s manners. But drowning would help.”
~Mark Twain
About the Author:
Dr. Pragya Suman is a specialist doctor from Bihar, India. She is a doctor by profession and a writer by passion. Her poetries, reviews, and fiction have been published in many magazines and anthologies. She has achieved certificates of excellence from many literary forums and Gujrat Sahitya Academy. She won the Gideon poetry award in summer of 2020. Her debut book Lost Mother was published in 2020. Her second book Photonic Postcard, a collection of Prose Poems, is published in 2021. Photonic postcard is a collection of Prose Poems. Recently she won the Poet of the Year award, 2021, for her book Photonic Postcard by Ukiyoto Publishing, Canada. Dr. Pragya Suman is the founding editor of Arc Magazine.