Spy Princess by Shrabani Basu Read Free Book Online Page A

to her feminine side. 22
    Noor’s inherited love for music took her to the École Normale de Musique de Paris in April 1931 where her teachers included the famous Nadia Boulanger. For six years Noor studied the harp, piano, solfeggio, harmonic analysis and harmony. At the same time she took private harp lessons from Henriette Rénie for two years and even played in a matinée performance at the Salle Erard during her second year, which was very well received.
    All four of Inayat’s children played at least one or two instruments. Noor played the harp and piano, Vilayat the cello and piano, Hidayat the violin and piano and Claire the piano. Vilayat learnt under Stravinsky and Maurice Eisenberg, and Claire and Noor under Boulanger. Hidayat would become a composer basing his work on Indian ragas written for western orchestras. His moving composition for Noor after her death, ‘La Monotonia’, has been played in Paris, Munich, Amsterdam and other European cities bringing tears to the eyes of concert-goers. He also did the orchestration for one of Noor’s poems, ‘Song For the Madzub’.
    Not content with just studying music, Noor registered at the Sorbonne, University of Paris, in 1932 to study child psychology. She was always interested in children and thought the course would help her to understand them better.
    Her family and home life was in many ways conservative and traditional. After the death of Inayat Khan (who had always been very liberal), the uncles were in charge of the house. They concentrated more on Vilayat and Hidayat, the men in the family. It was widely thought that Noor and Claire would marry rich Indian men and live the life of high-society Indians. Both girls were encouraged to develop their musical abilities rather than their intellectual or academic ones. The emphasis was on preparing them for their future place in society and it was not even considered that they would have to go out and fend for themselves in the world. Praise and encouragement went to the boys and the girls were not taken seriously. 23
    The male-dominated Indian atmosphere of the house probably prompted an overwhelming determination in Noor to do more than her share for a cause she believed in. 24 By her twenties she was already forging a stronger identity for herself within her circle of friends and activities in Paris, going to university and studying music.
    It was while studying at the École Normale de Musique that Noor fell in love again. This relationship was to last for six years. His name was Goldberg 25 and he was a fellow music student, and although the family did not approve they became engaged. Goldberg was a Turkish Jew who lived with his mother in Paris. The family came from a working-class background and his mother worked in a laundry. Goldberg struggled to pay his fees at the exclusive École Normale de Musique. 26 The family felt Noor’s attachment to him stemmed initially from sympathy because of his deprived background. But the relationship lasted for years, despite the disapproval of the family and the Sufi fraternity. Between the Inayat Khans and the Goldbergs was a class divide. The Khans were of royal descent, even though they did not live an extravagant life. They were surrounded by western Sufi disciples, who were inevitably theosophists from the wealthy, leisured class. Goldberg was a rank outsider in this circle. Noor’s mother, Amina Begum, objected to her relationship with him, as did her brothers and uncles.
    Goldberg visited Fazal Manzil regularly and was even initiated into the Sufi fold and given the name of Huzoor Nawaz. It was then that the larger Sufi fraternity learnt about his relationship with Noor and expressed their disapproval. To them Pirzadi Noor could not marry beneath her class.
    The brothers had other reasons for objecting to the relationship. According to Vilayat, Noor’s fiancé was too overbearing and that distressed Noor. 27 Goldberg would threaten to commit suicide if she left