Spy Princess

by Shrabani Basu

  The four siblings would often go to concerts at the Music School and the large Paris concert halls. The students received free tickets to these concerts and were encouraged to attend them. After the performance they would go and talk to the musicians and Noor, Vilayat, Hidayat and Claire had the privilege of personally meeting the great violinist Joseph Zigetti and the members of the Lener Quartet, besides others who had a great influence on them. The four Inayat Khan youngsters enjoyed these outings, and would often return late at night from the concerts animatedly discussing the merits of the performance. The four were totally immersed in their music studies and Sufi background and had few friends outside the family circle. It is not surprising that they were rather insular and other-worldly.

  One of Noor’s early compositions during her École Normale days was ‘Song to the Butterfly’. Piano music for the piece was given by a Sufi disciple of Inayat Khan. She also composed ‘Prelude for Harp’ and ‘Elegy for Harp and Piano’ which were played at concerts in Fazal Manzil during the summer school to a very good reception.

  When she was in her twenties, Noor took to a more European style of dressing and started using light make-up. She presented an image of a beautiful young lady, elegantly dressed, well mannered and gentle. Vilayat wore a black robe while in Fazal Manzil but in Paris he changed into normal western clothes. Claire, the quiet sister, had always preferred western clothes. The influence of the uncles in Fazal Manzil was now diminishing. Only one of them, Mohammed Khan, still lived there. Maheboob Khan had married the daughter of a leading Dutch family, the van Goens. Musharraf Khan too married a Dutch lady. The Sufi branch grew strong in Holland. The uncles disapproved of Noor going alone to attend classes and returning home late from concerts. But Noor, though always respectful of her elders, was determined to carry on and do exactly what she wanted to do.

  Along with her music, Noor’s interest in creative writing continued. She always loved children and would invite the children of the neighbourhood to Fazal Manzil and tell them fantastic stories from the Indian epics the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and the Jataka. To the children she was an exotic creature – gentle and lovely – with magical stories to tell of adventures in faraway lands.

  She continued to write poetry and never forgot to write her family a poem on their birthdays. For Vilayat, when he turned twenty-one, she wrote:

  May every wish of yours come true

  And every day be clear and blue

  O! My brother dear, a man this day,

  May joy come all along your way

  On Amina Begum’s birthday, Noor would always try to bring a smile to her mother’s face. Her poem ‘The Birthday Man’ was typical of Noor’s childlike exuberance:

  I saw the little birthday man,

  Skipping ’long the way,

  I stopped awhile and listened,

  To hear what he would say.

  He put his little finger

  Upon his little head.

  He blew the dandelions, and

  Danced around and said:

  ‘Why, this is my best birthday,

  For on this very day,

  The storks brought down a girly

  Whose name is Ora Ray.

  ‘I must put on my sweetest

  And wear my golden crown.

  I’ll take my happy knapsack,

  And wear my grand new gown.

  ‘She has had cloudy hours

  And many cloudy years,

  And many hard adventures,

  And many many tears.

  ‘Life has been very naughty

  But I shall fight the wrong,

  And make her whole life happy,

  Just with my little song.’

  The bond between mother and daughter grew over the years. Amina Begum herself penned some poems for Noor in which she said: ‘Thro’ all the stress and storms of life, She moves in quiet dignity … She has a gift that few possess, the gift of love’s sublimity.’

  Once when Noor was in her early twenties, two of her father’s disciples, Baron and Baroness van Tuyll, invited her to spend some time with them at the Hague. Noor was reluctant to leave her mother alone but was eventually persuaded. The holiday (her first) was a fresh change for her. She toured the city’s art museums, read in the extensive library and even learnt to ride. The van Tuylls had their own stables and they found that Noor had no physical fear. She was not afraid of falling off her horse and simply carried on even if she did.

  While she was at the Hague, she was told to give some piano lessons to her younger cousin Mahmood, son of her uncle Maheboob Khan. Mahmood (then 9 years old) remembered Noor as a ‘very pretty, delicate young lady’.29 Noor started teaching him the piano with a difficult Mozart piece. Since Mahmood was quite overwhelmed by the piece, she helped him along telling him stories about rabbits and hares and fairies and making sketches for him. He began to love her visits, which to him meant entering an imaginary world. He remembered with amusement that the next summer Claire, or Mamuli as they called her, came visiting and was supposed to give him lessons. But Claire was silent and withdrawn and suddenly there were no dancing rabbits for him. To the young Mahmood, Noor was a fairy-tale character, delicate and charming, with a determination and strength of character that he could sense even then.

  Back home from the Hague, Noor had to take charge of Fazal Manzil again, a task that was never easy. Madame Egeling gave Noor 3,000 francs a month on which she had to run the household. It was not a large sum, as Madame Egeling, though very wealthy, was not one to indulge in luxuries. Every job – from making the beds to calling the plumber – was Noor’s responsibility. Claire began to help her with the washing and darning, following her about devotedly. Noor was apparently quite dreadful at sewing and Claire happily took on these tasks.

  Adding to the pressures of domestic life at Fazal Manzil was Noor’s troubled relationship with her fiancé and she was often quite weepy at this stage.30 At one time Vilayat felt she was heading for a breakdown, but she pulled through. After years of mourning, her mother, however, was finally beginning to take some interest in worldly things. Her health improved and she even started going for little walks dressed in European clothes. It was a huge relief to the children.

  Thinking an outing would be good for her, Vilayat encouraged the family in the summer of 1933 to go to the south of France where the weather was warmer. ‘We explored the Massif Central, the Alps and the Côte d’Azur from Monte Carlo to Marseilles – Royan – Rochefort, Deauville, Trouville, le Havre, Dieppe. All these travels in a sports car,’ wrote Noor.31

  With Vilayat she travelled further to Spain. In 1934 they went to Barcelona and visited Pablo Casals in San Salvador. Noor was always closest to Vilayat and the two of them loved doing things together. The next year they went to Italy and toured Padua, Venice and Milan, attended operas and concerts, and Noor sent ecstatic letters home.

  In one of her letters she wrote about the operas she had seen – Aida, Rigoletto, Trovatore and Puccini’s La Bohème. She wrote how in the middle of a performance of Rigoletto, someone recognised the Duce (Mussolini) and cried out ‘Il Duce!’ This led to pandemonium in the auditorium and on stage, with the actors swooning with emotion and the musicians almost dropping their instruments. Absolute silence fell, then a profound sigh of joy rose from the crowd and the opera was resumed. Noor and her brother were witnessing the early years of Fascism, but at this time Noor was clearly not politically conscious. The Duce, to her, was just a popular leader.

  In the summer of 1937, when Noor was going through a particularly difficult period with her fiancé, Vilayat took her to Switzerland in the hope that a holiday would take her mind off her problems. In Switzerland, as with all parts of Europe, there were Sufi families they could stay with. They travelled to Geneva and Zurich, toured the Swiss lakes and mountains, went climbing and skiing and thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Vilayat was pleased to see Noor having such an enjoyable holiday, and later recalled that it was probably the happiest time they
had ever spent together.32 Brother and sister rented bicycles to explore the countryside. They would pause, lie on a mountainside, watch the clouds go by and talk about the future. Vilayat told Noor that he hoped she would finally break off her engagement and put the past behind her. He felt the relationship was draining her. Noor had come close to a breakdown – she was often tearful and could not cope with any stress or criticism. Vilayat tried to get his sister to take life a little easier, and warned her not to carry the burdens of the world on her shoulders. He felt this was sapping her of her vitality and creativity.

  In Switzerland, Noor went rowing on the lake in Geneva. It brought back memories of her father. She understood how the peace and quiet of the lake must have inspired him to start a Sufi centre there. She met many of her father’s disciples and thought of his work and teachings a great deal. She even sang some of his songs to the children of other mureeds and was delighted to see how much it calmed them and put them to sleep. In the tranquil lakes and mountains of Switzerland she felt close to her father. She remembered how he would put her on his knees and say: ‘When Abba’s love is there, what fear is there?’33 She felt these words were like a consolation to her from him. Many years later, when she was incarcerated in a German cell, her father’s words would console her again.

  The Swiss trip certainly helped cheer Noor up. Back home in Paris, she felt energised once again and now decided to take on another venture. She felt she was forgetting her Hindi and decided to relearn it. Vilayat and Noor began taking lessons at the Berlitz school and Noor also joined the École des Langues Orientales of the University of Paris, where she studied Hindi for two years. In the summer of 1938 she sat her exams at the university and got her licence (degree) in child psychology.

  With university behind her, Noor had to decide what to do next. The decision was not as straightforward for her as it might have been for the typical student. The Inayat Khan family had not been brought up in the expectation that they would take up traditional jobs. So despite her qualifications, Noor did not apply for a teaching post or try to become a professional musician. She was still engaged to Goldberg, despite Vilayat’s attempts to get her to break off her relationship with him. Noor had a stubborn streak, in that she would only do what she wanted to do, and she still hoped that her family would come round to accepting her fiancé.

  To visitors who flooded through the gates of Fazal Manzil for the summer school, Noor gave the impression of being a shy, reclusive girl. She never spoke at the meetings which were often chaired by Vilayat and sometimes went for walks by herself in the evenings. Often she could be heard playing the harp by herself.

  The family friend Baroness van Tuyll, who had invited her for her first holiday, now made her a proposal. Baroness van Tuyll was an illustrator of children’s books and worked under the professional name of Henriette Willebeek le Mair. She suggested to Noor that she work on an English translation of the Jataka Tales, a collection of about 500 stories and fables about the previous incarnations of the Buddha, which had always fascinated Noor as a child. Noor got to work immediately and chose twenty stories from the book.

  She began waking up at six in the morning and writing continuously till around nine. Producing the book gave her a new purpose in life and she immersed herself in the stories of bravery, loyalty and sacrifice that she was translating. Afterwards she would come downstairs and tackle the mundane household tasks with renewed energy. Once she had submitted the manuscript she went for a holiday to the van Tuylls again and spent the winter with them. She studied the Koran and the Bible. She also continued her Hindi lessons and wanted to learn the Devanagari script saying it would help her in learning Sanskrit. The baroness taught her to play the veena, the instrument that Inayat Khan had played, and Noor spent a few happy months practising it.34

  Noor was becoming established as a writer. In 1938 she wrote for the children’s page of the Sunday Figaro and soon became one of their regular contributors. Her stories – usually about magical creatures and nature – were greatly appreciated by the paper. Noor had an endearing style that immediately drew in young readers.

  ‘Amongst the nymphs who lived on a high mountain slope was a little one who talked and talked and jabbered and chattered, even more than the crickets in the grass, and more than the sparrows in the trees. Her name was Echo,’ wrote Noor in her short story ‘Echo’. In another short story called ‘Perce-neige’ (Snowdrop) her protagonist was the daughter of ‘Great Sun’, a pretty little thing with ‘sun-ray hair and sky blue eyes’ who came down to earth to explore the big world. In both the stories, the bubbly characters spread joy all around, but were later called upon to make a sacrifice – a theme that seemed to run through many of Noor’s works.

  Noor wrote prolifically, filling page after page with stories. She would always write in both English and French and often sketch as she went along. She wrote alone in her room, late into the night, and it seems that the fantasy world of her stories took her away from the troubles of Fazal Manzil and her unhappy engagement.

  Noor’s stories and poems started taking on a happier tone, perhaps reflecting her pleasure in her newfound success as a writer. On the home front things began to improve as Amina Begum emerged from her phase of depression and the family began to settle down into a more regular routine.

  In 1938, the poem Noor wrote for her mother’s birthday reflected her own sunny mood at the time. The poems also show her own childlike innocence, even though she was twenty-four by this stage.

  A little fairy told me why the flowers wake in May

  She said: ‘It’s for the birthday of a little Ora Ray

  The sun, they say, is jealous of her lovely golden hair

  The flowers look their sweetest just to try and be as fair.’

  By the middle of 1939, Noor was at last beginning to realise that her relationship with Goldberg was going nowhere. A wealthy Dutch Sufi aristocrat, Peter Yohannes Eekhout Jonheer, had been showing an interest in Noor for some time. But Noor had rejected his advances because of her relationship with Goldberg. Peter Yohannes then entered the diplomatic service and left for India where he was based in Calcutta. Persuaded by Vilayat, Noor now decided to give the relationship with Peter Yohannes a chance. But they had no money to pay the fare to India.

  Noor and Vilayat paid a visit to Mahmood’s grandmother, who was related to Peter Yohannes, and told her they would like to visit Calcutta. Madam van Goens was delighted at the prospect of them going to India and meeting her nephew, but did not realise that the brother and sister had actually come to suggest that she finance the trip as well. Vilayat and Noor were too shy to ask for money outright, so the matter was dropped, along with the chance of Noor accepting the proposal of Peter Yohannes, which may have changed the course of her life.35

  Noor’s career as a children’s writer was flourishing by now. Her beautifully illustrated story ‘Ce qu’on entend quelquefois dans les bois …’ (What One Hears Sometimes in the Woods) received pride of place on the children’s page of Le Figaro on 13 August 1939. Noor’s stories were also broadcast on the Children’s Hour of Radio Paris, and received good reviews.

  She wrote articles based on Indian and Greek legends, and articles about women singers like the Indian poet and singer Mira Bai and Emma Nevada and her daughter Mignon Nevada. Both the articles on Mira Bai and Emma Nevada were inspirational stories about devotion, love and sacrifice, themes close to Noor’s heart. She began adapting French and Nordic folklore and wrote stories about Emperor Akbar and Charlemagne, adding history, myth and legend to her repertoire.

  Just as Noor was establishing herself as a writer, the threat of war was hanging over Europe. On 15 March 1939 Germany invaded Czechoslovakia. By May, Germany and Italy had announced their formal alliance and German designs over Western Europe were becoming uncomfortably clear. Noor’s book Twenty Jataka Tales, with illustrations by Henriette Willebeek le Mair, was published in England by George G. Harrap in 1939. Noor’s reaction to the publication of h
er first book was unexpectedly understated.36 She was probably thinking about her father at the time. Ever since his death, no parties or joyful celebrations had been held at the family home.

  At the same time, Noor was enthused by her first publishing success. She came up with the idea of publishing a children’s newspaper, and worked on it with the famous journalist Alexis Danan of Paris Soir. She wanted to call it Bel Age (The Beautiful Age), and had collected some material for it including illustrations by her neighbour Madame Pinchon. Danan was fascinated by the dazzling engravings of trees and fairies and the accompanying text, which he described as a ‘genius of narration’. Noor’s story was an oriental legend for children with fairies and creatures of the forest.37

  But events in Europe were soon to overtake the budding writer. On 1 September 1939 Germany invaded Poland and on 3 September, Great Britain, France, New Zealand and Australia declared war on Germany (France did so rather reluctantly, being more or less dragged into it by Britain). The reaction at Fazal Manzil was one of complete panic. Noor was so involved with her writing and her brothers and sister so immersed in their studies and music school that they had not really been following the events in Europe. They never listened to the news on the radio and the political developments had passed them by. The thought of another war in Europe now filled them with gloom and anxiety.

  The first few months of the war saw little change in Paris, hence it was dubbed the ‘phoney war’ or the Sitzkrieg (the sitting war) as opposed to the Blitzkrieg (the lightning war). Alexis Danan told Noor it would be impossible to go ahead with the children’s newspaper at this time. It was unlikely that there would be any interest in such a thing in the middle of the war. He was also concerned that the project she had in mind was so beautiful that it would be very expensive to produce and hence quite unaffordable by youngsters. All plans for Bel Age were stalled. Noor’s radio and newspaper work also suffered because of the war as there was less space for children’s stories.