Book review: 'Joan in India'

Joan in India
Author: Suzanne Falkiner
Publisher: Yoda Press
Pages: 316
Price: Rs495

On September 14, 1939, the 57-year-old Nawab of Palanpur, Zubdat-ul-mulk Dewan Manakhan Taley Muhammed Khan Bahadur, married 24-year-old Australian Joan Falkiner. They had met for the first time in 1937 at Freiburg, Germany, when Joan was 19. In spite of familial disapproval, the Nawab sent a written marriage proposal with a solitaire diamond engagement ring to Joan. Soon after, she left her family for Bombay, to become Her Highness, the Begum of Palanpur, Madame Palanpur, Jahan Ara, Jha, Joan.

According to her niece and biographer, Suzanne Falkiner, “Joan was Taley’s personal prize, and he enjoyed showing her off”. Joan In India is replete with anecdotes, detailing the history of Palanpur, genealogy of the Falkiners and how they came to be prosperous sheep-rearers in Australia and of the courtship, marriage and its subsequent disintegration between Taley and Joan. But it is also a detailed account of Joan’s niece, Suzanne Falkiner’s journey through India, patching together a history of Joan’s
extraordinary life that finally ended in Europe.

Palanpur was a tiny princely state of about 761 square miles, near the borders of present-day Gujarat and Rajasthan. It is claimed that an ancestor of the erstwhile royal family is reputed to have wed the foster-sister of Akbar and received Palanpur and its surrounding areas as dowry. Taley was one of the four Indian rulers appointed as honorary aides-de-camp to King George VI at his Coronation.

A high point for Suzanne Falkiner in the narrative is one of the last documents the Viceroy of India Lord Mountbatten signed in 1947, according Joan “official” recognition as the wife of Taley.

Joan In India is a pleasant understanding of the life of an Indian principality in British India, albeit a small one, and the post-Independence transformation of the lives of the erstwhile princes. Yet, it is not a pacy read. The author seems confused about whether it is a record of her explorations through family archives and conversations with elderly relatives, or a biography of Joan. The only apparent reason for having written this book is that of a “dreamy-eyed schoolgirl’s imagination leading the way through the land of the rajahs and pearls” about a relative who made the ultimate romantic move: sneaking away in the middle of the night to board a ship to India to marry a prince.

There is a refreshing honesty about her writing and recording of facts. For instance, when Susanne includes the part about her visit to Joan’s sister, who tells her that their relatives were talking about how Suzanne was getting many of her facts wrong.

Joan In India may not be an engaging account of a princess but it is worth treasuring the book for the delicious cover design by Oroon Das.

Jaya Bhattacharji Rose is a publishing consultant and critic