The Empress
Page 10
RANI:
And you can’t do that from the outside?
DADABHAI:
I have my supporters but not the power to change anything. This British Empire is growing. The Queen is acquiring more and more lands, like a greedy whale, she is swallowing entire countries. Nations are being enslaved. Through taxes, through restrictions on trade, through the looting of our precious minerals.
RANI:
So much for English fair play.
DADABHAI:
One last thing I need to check my child. You can write?
RANI:
Tolerably.
DADABHAI thrusts a note pad at RANI.
DADABHAI:
Write down what I say. As fast and as legibly as you can. I invite Rani…surname?
RANI:
Das.
DADABHAI:
I invite Rani Das and her child to stay with my family, here in our home for one month to see how she progresses as an assistant. If after that month neither of the parties are happy with the arrangement the contract will be terminated.
RANI writes fast.
DADABHAI takes the piece of paper from RANI and looks at it.
DADABHAI:
Slightly spidery writing, but it will improve. You had better not disappoint me Rani. It would do my reputation no good to have to dismiss a widow and her child after a month.
RANI:
I won’t disappoint you Dada. Thank you!
RANI stands up, excited. She flings her arms suddenly around DADABHAI’s neck and then rushes out. DADABHAI looks perplexed but pleased.
DADABHAI:
Don’t forget to come back my child!
SCENE 6
LASCAR SALLY is sweeping her front yard. A turban-headed Indian man approaches. LASCAR SALLY looks up.
SALLY:
I’m sorry to say, we’re packed to the rafters tonight.
SINGH:
Jai Singh at your service madam. I am looking for Lascar Sally.
SALLY smiles at SINGH.
SALLY:
You’re looking at her. I dare say I could squeeze you in.
SINGH:
I am not in need of accommodation, thank you. I have come to deliver some letters.
SINGH produces a parcel.
From Hari Sharma.
SALLY takes the letters and looks surprised.
SALLY:
So many?
SINGH:
And this letter is for you.
SALLY takes one more letter.
SALLY:
Thank you.
SALLY opens the letter addressed to her. She reads out loud.
SALLY:
‘Dear Sally,’ Hang on! ‘if you come across Rani Das, please pass my letters on to her. I don’t know where she is but I pray you know her. I trust you are in good health my friend. One day soon, I will return and we will laugh together again. With warmest regards – Hari.’ Come on!
SINGH:
Jai Singh.
SALLY looks at the bundle of letters. We see her taking the letters, walking and handing them over to FIROZA. FIROZA walks across to RANI and hands the letters to her. She hugs RANI as she does so.
RANI sits and starts to read the letters.
SCENE 7
London, 1892.
We are in a drawing room, Indian in décor. Dawn is rising and FIROZA is dozing in a chair. RANI is still reading HARI’s letters as she hears cheers of a crowd. She quickly puts the letters away as a group of Indian and English men and women follow her in. They are in high spirits as they carry DADABHAI NAOROJI in. RANI looks startled at first but is pleased.
DADABHAI:
(Laughing.) For goodness’ sake, put me down!
I’m going to fall, you are all too intoxicated… Rani, do tell them to put me down.
WILLIAM:
The new Member of Parliament for the constituency of Finsbury!
GANDHI:
The British electorate have finally kicked Salisbury in the guts and elected a ‘black man’.
The men all carefully place DADABHAI on the ground. RANI helps him to a chair.
DADABHAI:
What time is it?
RANI:
It is five in the morning Dada.
DADABHAI:
I am quite overcome with the emotion of the night.
WILLIAM:
So you should be. Your constituents were jubilant at your victory tonight.
GANDHI:
You could hear the cheering at St Paul’s at one side and Chelsea Hospital on the other.
DADABHAI:
I only just won – very slim margin. A majority of five over the Tory candidate. There is much work to be done.
WILLIAM:
Our Dadabhai is the first Indian man to represent his country in Parliament. The very first! The tide is turning.
RANI picks up a small bundle of papers.
RANI:
Telegrams have been arriving through the night
She hands them over to DADABHAI who looks through them.
DADABHAI:
‘Congratulations from Keir Hardie. See you in the Commons.’ Excellent, he won the seat for Westham South… ‘Finally we have you. John Bright…’ ‘The journey has just begun my friend. My congratulations Dada. Ramsay MacDonald’. ‘Rejoice beyond measure that you have been elected Liberal MP for Central Finsbury. Florence Nightingale.’
WILLIAM:
This is the advantage of supporting women’s suffrage Dada. You have more lady supporters than any MP I know.
Everyone laughs. DADABHAI continues to smile and peruse the telegrams.
DADABHAI:
Please, sit close to me Rani, MK, get Rani some cordial. You see? One month here and already I am completely dependent on this little girl.
WILLIAM:
How did you manage without her before Dada?
GANDHI gets busy pouring some drinks. RANI sits down.
DADABHAI:
My friends, we are victorious!
The newspapers are delivered and everyone falls on them.
DADABHAI:
I want to hear it all. Do not spare me from the criticism.
GANDHI:
Sir Lepel Griffin, one-time Chief Secretary in the Punjab speaks out against you.
DADABHAI:
As expected. Go on.
GANDHI:
‘Naoroji is an alien in race, in custom, in religion; destitute of local sympathy or local knowledge, no more unsuitable representative could be imagined or suggested. As to the people of India, Mr Naoroji no more represents them, than a Polish Jew settled in Whitechapel represents the people of England. He is a Parsi, a member of a small foreign colony, probably Semitic in origin. The Parsis are the Jews of India; intelligent, industrious and wealthy… But they are quite as much aliens to the people of India as the English rulers can possibly be.’
Silence falls in the room.
DADABHAI:
At least he concedes we are intelligent and industrious.
WILLIAM:
If you are a ‘Jew’ of India, what does he suppose Benjamin Disraeli was?
RANI:
A Parsi.
Everyone falls about laughing.
RANI:
I have a nice one here.
DADABHAI:
Read it out, nice and loud so we can all…
RANI:
Dada…
DADABHAI:
We are all friends here.
RANI looks around the room, afraid.
WILLIAM:
Go on Rani.
RANI:
(She reads fluently.)
‘In India there are 250 millions of people and it is a monstrous doctrine that until now they have not as much as one representative in the House of Commons. The right policy is to strengthen Parliament by admission of men who know something of the pressing wants of people who were advanced in civilisation when Europe was plunged in darkness. Men like Naoroji should be in Parliament because it
is desirable that a reliable, well-informed and strong man should speak for the reformers of India with authority. He is after all a trusted representative of the great Indian National Congress.’
DADABHAI:
Thank you Rani.
DADABHAI and RANI share a smile.
GANDHI:
Now that you are elected Dadabhai, will you use your position to fight against the British rule in India?
DADABHAI:
My first duty is to my constituency. I intend to support the Liberal party’s programme in Parliament – Irish Home Rule, municipal reform, Women’s Franchise…
GANDHI looks disappointed.
DADABHAI:
But I will be using my position to raise the level of debate in the Commons about the neglect of our mother country. You will all need to help me. It is time to prove Salisbury and his Party that Indians are not inferior, that we have intellect and a democratic sentiment. I believe that English justice and fair play will be triumphant.
Everyone cheers.
SONG: A PROMISE MADE
A promise made,
All the nights and days.
A moments grace,
Home is in your embrace,
Shagorer on tore bidoy Nilo
(Ocean of hearts, cast away)*
SCENE 8
Osborne House, 1897.
During this scene, HARI is digging in a diamond mine.
LADY SARAH approaches VICTORIA who is writing at her desk in the gardens.
LADY SARAH:
The Prince of Wales asked me to speak with you. It is this trip ma’am. To Nice.
VICTORIA:
Yes. We are looking forward to it.
LADY SARAH:
The Prince of Wales asked me to inform you that the gentlemen of the royal household have refused to go if your Munshi is attending.
VICTORIA:
I beg your pardon?
LADY SARAH:
Simply this. If he goes they won’t.
VICTORIA:
That is intolerable.
LADY SARAH:
His Royal Highness asked me to remind you that the Munshi is a servant, a teacher, but he is not the equal of us and yet you treat him as if he were one of those deposed Indian Princes.
VICTORIA:
This is your doing Lady Sarah?
LADY SARAH:
No ma’am. I am simply conveying the views of your son.
VICTORIA is furious.
VICTORIA:
Abdul will attend with us. He will travel as part of the royal household.
LADY SARAH:
They are refusing to come.
* Lyrics by Dom Coyote
VICTORIA stands and sweeps all her writing things off her desk in a fury.
VICTORIA:
Then they are racially prejudiced and jealous of my affection for my Munshi!
LADY SARAH is rather taken aback.
VICTORIA:
Nobody, whether family, government or household is ever going to tell me whom I can employ or even have as a friend and confidante. To me, it is a person’s character that is important, not their position in the social hierarchy. I refuse to place my trust exclusively in aristocrats and courtiers. I will defend those in whom I place my trust to the last breath in my body.
LADY SARAH:
Ma’am.
VICTORIA:
Convey this back to Bertie. Unless the royal court starts to treat our loyal servant with more respect, we will refuse to attend a single event connected to our Diamond Jubilee. Do we make ourselves clear?
LADY SARAH:
Perfectly.
LADY SARAH remains standing.
VICTORIA:
You may leave. We have correspondence to write.
LADY SARAH:
Ma’am, I have one more message from your son.
VICTORIA:
Why doesn’t he tell me himself? What is wrong with Bertie?
LADY SARAH:
He fears that Your Majesty does not heed his advice, that you are too blinkered to see what others see. His Highness’s words ma’am, not mine. They will not allow you to make Mr Karim a Companion of the Order of the British Empire.
VICTORIA:
Who are they?
LADY SARAH:
Prince Edward, Lord Salisbury and his cabinet.
VICTORIA:
Tell them to just accept the decision and please stop quarrelling with me.
LADY SARAH:
Their reasoning is that if you show such favour to a Muslim, then the Hindus will feel betrayed.
VICTORIA:
This is just an excuse. They have all hated Abdul from the moment he stepped into my presence. They want to keep him in place. A lowly, illiterate Muslim clerk. They will not accept that he is their equal.
LADY SARAH:
They are most insistent that you retract the offer.
VICTORIA:
I refuse to. And right now I have rather pressing business on my mind. The Boers have created a frightful situation in Southern Africa. Hundreds of my troops may die on the battlefield and you are beginning to fray my nerves with your constant carping.
LADY SARAH stands her ground.
LADY SARAH:
I am simply sent as the messenger. His Highness has stated, that your attachment to the Munshi is so extreme that the royal household and indeed the Government are beginning to question your sanity.
VICTORIA:
My what?
LADY SARAH:
Lord Salisbury is in agreement that if you continue to try and make the Munshi a Companion of the British Empire, they will have no alternative but to declare you insane and therefore unfit for office.
VICTORIA is silent.
LADY SARAH:
In such a scenario, your son would be crowned King Edward…they only wish to protect your reputation ma’am.
VICTORIA stands with difficulty. LADY SARAH tries to help her, but VICTORIA shoos her away. She is upset as she paces and thinks.
VICTORIA:
My own son would declare me insane and deny me my rights as his mother and Sovereign of this land?
VICTORIA turns and regards LADY SARAH. She is angry, her voice emotional.
VICTORIA:
I will write to Bertie and Lord Salisbury myself. Abdul will remain as my Munshi but I will retract the offer of the Honour.
LADY SARAH:
And Nice?
VICTORIA:
He will attend as my royal servant and not as a member of the royal household.
LADY SARAH smiles triumphantly and curtseys deeply. VICTORIA looks away.
SCENE 9
RANI is sitting on a park bench on a sunny day. She is reading the bundle of letters from HARI. She reads eagerly. FIROZA is sitting by her side.
VICTORIA sits on her own ruminating on her situation.
FIROZA:
How many times have you read those letters?
RANI:
He writes well. The words get more and more accomplished. He is reading books.
FIROZA:
You must have inspired him.
RANI:
He talks of great hardships. In this one, he spends almost the entire voyage with a fever, in the next one, his friend is clapped in irons and dies from the wounds inflicted by the manacles. Terrible, terrible…
FIROZA:
A sailor’s life is not easy and the lascars are treated badly.
RANI:
In this one he talks of digging in the diamond mines of Africa. And in the next (She laughs.) he is walking in the sun! Listen!
‘My dearest Rani,
I write these words to you on land now. We are docked back in Calcutta and I have been eating sweet, hot jalebi in the sun and walking about the city. It is good to be home but my regret is that I am seeing it on my own without you and so the picture is not right.’
That is the last one dated a year ago.
FIROZA:
Sally hasn’t had any more since then
.
RANI:
I wonder what became of him?
FIROZA:
Rani, you’re not still hankering after this Hari are you? He’s a lascar, you’re an educated young woman now.
When am I going to see you settled down with a nice strong man?
RANI smiles and looks away.
FIROZA:
You could have any one you want. I see the way some of the men around Dadabhai look at you. William, Gandhi, and now this brilliant young lawyer, what’s his name?
RANI:
Muhammad Ali Jinnah?
FIROZA:
Exactly!
RANI:
Firoza!
FIROZA: