Spy Princess by Shrabani Basu Read Free Book Online

her life between her household chores, looking after the family and coursework. Madame Egeling started taking the service at Fazal Manzil every day and the uncles presided over the summer school. But the children could not help noticing that the apricot tree under which Inayat Khan used to sit had died. They believed this was an omen, but they kept their pain to themselves because they did not want to upset their mother. Fazal Manzil was still a busy and open house and Noor, now a teenager, found solace in her room. Here she buried herself in books and wrote several poems and stories. The death of her father had a profound influence on Noor and she entered a new phase in her life. On one hand was the despondency brought on by the death of her father. On the other hand she wanted to cheer up her mother and draw her out into the world again. One way in which she tried to do this was through her poems, which demonstrate a selflessness rare in a teenager. In 1929, two years after Inayat Khan’s death, the 15-year-old Noor wrote this poem for her mother:

    TO OUR AMMA

    Beloved! Ah! Beloved Amma,
    A treasure stored deep in our heart,
    ’Tis flowers of our gratitude,
    A treasure that n’er will depart.

    Behold! For their petals are carved
    With Allah’s own heavenly art,
    Their beauty on this longed for day,
    To you and Abba we impart

    Through life’s struggle and through life’s strife,
    May we treasure as our life’s gem
    The seed in our heart, you have sown,
    Ah! quote in the sacred Nirtan,
    And always remember this:
    The path of the heart is thorny,
    Which leads in the end to bliss.

    Noor would never forget to include her father, Abba, in her poems to her mother at this stage. In 1930, she wrote:

    Lo! His thought so deep
    In sparks are manifest,
    To console your heart,
    Throughout life’s painful test.

    Noor wrote the poems on behalf of all the four children, trying to cheer up her mother and letting her know that their father was always with them. Amina Begum would often feel that she had somehow been abandoned by Inayat Khan. She had given up a wealthy lifestyle and cut off all links with her family to come and live with him, but Inayat had left her and the children and returned to India.
    Amina Begum’s self-imposed isolation made life harder for the children. Though she took an interest in her children’s education, Amina could not be persuaded to leave the house. Noor and her brothers were particularly upset that their mother would not even attend prize-giving day at the school. In the end Maheboob Khan’s mother-in-law, Madame van Goens, who lived in Suresnes, felt sorry for the children and went with them to this important event. 20
    Noor, however, felt no bitterness towards her mother. She simply accepted the fact that she had to take care of the children and manage the house. In 1931, at the age of sixteen, she wrote:

    This poem Abba has written,
    To console your heart,
    His thoughts through his dear children,
    To you he doth impart.

    Each card was beautifully illustrated by her and has been carefully preserved by the family. Always the dreamy child, Noor wrote stories and poems about fairies and flowers and little creatures in the woods. An avid reader, she had access to the vast library of Inayat Khan and read books on subjects ranging from philosophy and religion to adventure and gallantry. Her favourite heroine was Joan of Arc and she loved stories of chivalry and sacrifice. 21
    At seventeen, Noor got her Baccalauréat certificate from the Lycée de Jeunes Filles. Throughout secondary school she had been rather lonely and had made few new friends.
    Music always had a special place in the Inayat Khan household. Noor had learnt the basic Indian ragas from her father. She had taken piano lessons and composed her own pieces while at school. Now she decided to learn the harp. It seems she was attracted to this instrument because she had seen medieval paintings of angels playing the harp and it appealed