Yet in Victoria and However, in the relationship between Abdul Karim and Queen Victoria , it presents a different version of The play enacts a learning process during which Queen Victoria's treatment of Abdul becomes increasingly respectful and Lawson, Alastair. Leach, Ben. Alexander and Anand, Queen Victoria's Maharajah, p. Queen Victoria to the Marquess of Dalhousie, 2 october , in A.
Your Rating:. Your Comment:. Read Online Download. Add a review Your Rating: Your Comment:. Queen Victoria to the Marquess of Dalhousie, 2 october , in A.
London: Duckworth; Basu, S. As for Queen Victoria , Abdul Karim is the perfect illustration of submission and subjection in a time of dissent. Personal needs are also taken into consideration. Even a queen needs a companion and confidant that distracts her from a We can be almost sure that one of the Indians was Victoria's controversial servant turned munshi,20 Abdul Karim, because as the latter's biographer Shrabani Basu writes, 'The Queen went to Cimiez alone that year [], but [.
In these pages, she sought to transform for the reader Victoria R. How her obsession upset the royal household has been known for sometime. Now this book tells the true story of why no one seemed able to deal with the out of control queen's munshi until she died.
Gradually, Karim rises above his pay-grade and status as a servant to be the Queen's Munshi by charming and impressing her with his deep knowledge about India, its history, religions and cultures that the Queen found to be extremely enlightening. Not only that, Karim learns to win the trust of the queen, who considered him as a close confidant amongst the English servants as well as her own family who are constantly spying upon her. Even though their friendship irked everyone in the royal household yet the Queen was hell-bound on making Munshi a permanent member of her family by inviting his wife as well as other members of Karim's family to live in the palatial complex where the Queen's previous royal servant stayed, with whom too she formed a close bond of love and friendship.
Eventually, through ups and downs and through many challenges and battles, their friendship survived and grew more strong with each passing day, until the day the Queen breathed for the last time. Immediately, the Munshi along with his family was thrown out of England and also burned all the letters and photographs that were exchanged between the two, in order to erase any proof of their friendship from the face of the world.
But history and truth can't be erased, as Shrabani Basu pens this memoir with honesty and enough justice about the forgotten man who was Queen Victoria's best friend in her later years. The author' writing style is extremely articulate and often elegant enough to peak the readers' interest all through out. The plot is not only laced with well-researched facts, but also with emotions that will strike the readers while reading about Karim's enlightening journey.
The narrative in the book is light and free-flowing. The pacing is bit slow, since the author has penned the memoir with lots of depth that will let the readers form a clear perspective about the characters portrayed in this memoir, besides the Munshi. The real life characters from the past are heavily well-researched and well developed, especially the Queen and her Munshi, who are bound to come alive right before the eyes of the readers, while they are reading the book.
Also the background details of the Osborne House where the Queen resided is intricately and vividly painted through the memoir and the readers will be able to precept the background along with the scenes very easily. Since its a historical memoir based on facts and dates, the author has managed to lace this memoir with light humor now and then, to keep things thoroughly interesting and subtly funny.
The friendship that quickly developed between the Queen and her Munshi is very much well arrested by the author. Also the family life of Karim in India too is well described in the book, thereby letting the readers take a peak in to this knowledgeable man's background. Basu did a great work to keep the memory of this man safe which was forgotten by the British as well as the Indians after the death of the Queen, thereby giving a full and proper justice to this humble, well informed and handsome's life.
In a nutshell, this is a must read enlightening and poignant book that must be read by every Indians, to learn how an Indian, who were then despised by the British, won the heart of the ultimate emperor of India by narrating her the rich tales of Indian history and culture.
Verdict: A truly and deeply moving memoir of the blissful friendship between Queen Victoria and her Munshi, Abdul Karim. Courtesy: Thanks to the publishers from Bloomsbury India for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book. View all 11 comments. Mar 16, Chrissie rated it liked it Shelves: leaders , great-britain , india , france , read , italy , bio , audible-uk , germany , history. The British royal family tried to erase Abdul Karim, Queen Victoria's devoted Hindustani instructor and adviser in Indian affairs from history, and yet they failed to succeed!
This is quite a story! Read about him here. Yet the book needs better editing. Portions are tedious. The text is repetitive. Quotes are excessive.
For example, the long sentences of U The British royal family tried to erase Abdul Karim, Queen Victoria's devoted Hindustani instructor and adviser in Indian affairs from history, and yet they failed to succeed!
For example, the long sentences of Urdu need not have been included. The audiobook version performed by Elizabeth Jusicki is clear. The pace at which it is read is however exceedingly slow.
This is the first time I have found it necessary to adjust the speed to 1. View all 10 comments. It is Not. This is a solid historical work that has been well researched. It reads like good history, but if you are looking for a dive into the heart and soul of the characters, you might just want to wait for the movie. It's not like this isn't a well studied area. And it delights me to no end to know that there are still dark archival crannies with little stories hidden in them that are dying to be told.
This one, no doubt, needed to wait until the world was sufficiently altered enough that it was possible to research and publish a history about someone who wasn't a white male. You might think that this can't possibly still 'be a thing'. But I can tell you first hand, that it's only in the last decade or so that women, regular people, and minorities were found to be worthy fodder for grad students.
Classical White-Male university history wonks, have a strong preference for powerful, preferably war mongering, white-males. Apologies to enlightened Historians. The author gives us lots of delicious detail about the times, mood, and place. She describes things like the Queen's railroad coach and rooms exceedingly well. I felt myself dropped into place watching Victoria's entourage having parties and visiting Europe. I previously indicated that you weren't going to see inside the hearts of Victoria and Abdul like you will in a historical novel or the movie, but that's not entirely accurate.
What you get are insights into their thinking. Basu gives us telling snippets from their own writings. And where we might fail to see the significance, Basu lights the way.
Certainly, when you finish this book you will understand the care and attention that Queen and servant had for one another. The paintings, the notes, the conversations all present to us a wonderful tale that has not been told before.
I totally enjoyed this book and learned a lot about the interaction of the British royalty regarding the people of India and how Victoria ruled them. I understand this is to be a movie soon and I did find the writing and the experiences portrayed to be engrossing and interesting. We know so much about Queen Victoria and yet this very important facet of her life has been in a sense under reported. Victoria developed an engrossing relationship with Abdul while incensing her staff, her family and t I totally enjoyed this book and learned a lot about the interaction of the British royalty regarding the people of India and how Victoria ruled them.
Victoria developed an engrossing relationship with Abdul while incensing her staff, her family and those around her. Her care and concern for Abdul seemed limitless, while her family and her staffs' inability to accept him and those of his kind made for a disquieting read into racial equality and its worth in Victorian England. Both main characters were charismatic.
They infused each other with confidence and importance and developed an intense friendship which nothing was able to penetrate as hard as some tried to break it apart. It was sad to read of Abdul's demise in standing following Victoria's death and how his life of privilege while being nourished in the bosom of Victoria turned against him when she died. He, it seemed, truly loved and cherished her while she seemed to share the very same feelings towards him.
She, the Queen of England during its rise in colonialism found it within her to take into her heart this Indian young man and by doing so thus embraced the Indian people which she tenderly ruled.
Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group for the opportunity to read this novel for an unbiased review. View 1 comment. Sep 14, Leslie Goddard rated it liked it. I can easily see why someone who has never heard about the friendship between Victoria and Abdul would find this book so engaging. It WAS an unexpected and fascinating friendship -- the queen's loyalty to him despite her family and staff's extreme dislike for him was truly remarkable.
So I was surprised to find at the end that I didn't feel like I really knew this gu I can easily see why someone who has never heard about the friendship between Victoria and Abdul would find this book so engaging. So I was surprised to find at the end that I didn't feel like I really knew this guy.
His gushing humility in his writings which might be a cultural thing doesn't seem to mesh with the ambitious guy who adores receiving gifts and constantly asks for recognition, promotions and titles and so on. Can't hate the guy for being ambitious, but why exactly did nearly everyone in Victoria's household hate him so much? I just couldn't tell whether the hatred is best explained as jealousy and racism or whether he himself was genuinely provoking some of the anger -- being sweet and humble when he was with Victoria but imperious and pompous when she wasn't around.
Probably because of that, I never really understood their friendship as it's laid out in this book. Basu seems oddly unwilling to analyze it or unable, based on existing evidence, since Victoria's family demanded that all letters between Abdul and Victoria be destroyed after her death. Was Abdul a particularly gifted flatterer who charmed his way into the heart of a rich, lonely older woman to gain wealth and status for himself?
Or was it a genuine meeting of the minds? And if it was a genuine meeting of the minds, what exactly did she see in him, beyond the fact that Victoria loved the whole notion of India and he was a willing teacher?
Was her adamant refusal to see the merit in any criticism of Abdul a result of her admirable resistance to her family and staff's virulent racism? But I'm not wholly convinced. I tend to think the reality of their friendship was somewhere in between -- that Abdul did provide her with attention and flattery she really craved and that she was more open to friendship with an Indian than most upper-crust Brits of the time were, but that he WAS flattering and charming her for his own ambitious, avaricious ends.
That her household staff WAS rife with jealousy and racism, but also were right in seeing greediness as well as friendship in Victoria and Abdul's relationship. Maybe I'm biased. But there are multiple times in history when a very wealthy, lonely older woman has been befriended by a much younger, male charmer and flatterer with his own ends in mind. These friendships often fulfill a real need on both sides and they aren't always spurred by purely malicious intent.
They leave a bad taste in my mouth. I worry that casting the hatred that Abdul aroused among Victoria's household as simply the result of jealousy and racism over-simplifies a more complex, maybe more interesting, but less flattering, story about each of them.
View 2 comments. Jul 26, Adam rated it it was ok Shelves: india , subcontinent. In about , Queen Victoria acquired a number of paid Indian servants, mostly from Agra. They were employed to serve at her dining tables. She found them interesting and on the whole charming. One of them, Abdul Karim, soon became her favourite. She adopted him as her personal secretary. After a short while, he began teaching her to read, write, and speak Urdu. He became known as the Queen's 'munshi' secretary or scribe, particularly one with a mastery of many languages.
She took lessons dai In about , Queen Victoria acquired a number of paid Indian servants, mostly from Agra. She took lessons daily from him for the rest of her long life, and was a successful student. The Queen became very fond of her munshi. This fondness was reciprocated. Abdul Karim assumed the role of her male confidant, replacing the uneducated John Brown who had died a few years before his arrival at Court.
As time progressed, Victoria showered Abdul with gifts, property, and honours.
0コメント