Airwave voice, not honeytrap

Indian royals who have survived to this day tend to follow set patterns of existence, with few deviations. Royals either make compromises with the ruling junta, joining political parties to become law makers, or, if unable to adapt to democratic India, live in the twilight zone of remembered glory amidst the squalor of poverty.

Very few exceptions to this rule exist, which is why the story of Noor Inayat Khan, the great-great-great grand-daughter of the Lion of Mysore, Tipu Sultan, makes such a fantastic read. In journalism, there are two kinds of stories: one that is reconstructed by spin doctors, and the other where the unadorned story is a "winner" in itself.

Noor Inayat Khan, the daughter of an Indian Sufi mystic Inayat Khan and an American Ora Ray Baker, was born in Moscow, raised in France""and spied for Britain during World War II. She died in a Nazi concentration camp at Dachau, and was awarded the George Cross, a rare honour for courage.

It is a fascinating story, and it goes to author Shrabani Basu's credit that she has resisted the temptation to add any spin to a winner of a story. In earlier avatars of her story, there were many factual errors""that she was recruited during a tiger hunt in India, or that her father knew the Russian savant Rasputin. Basu steers clear of all the exotica and offers the story for what it is: the life of a self-effacing young girl who displayed uncommon courage of conviction in the face of tyranny. Noor Inayat Khan, according to her own brother Vilayat Khan, was no tigress. In fact, in an evocative statement, he says, "Tipu Sultan was a tiger, Abba (Inayat Khan) was a lion, I am a gorgoyle, and Noor, well Noor is a deer."

Through extensive interviews and meticulous research, Basu is able to construct the personality of Noor Inayat Khan as a soft-spoken girl who refuses to indulge in any "two faced spying" (cultivating relationships with people to get information) and becomes the first female radio operator in occupied France.

Noor Inayat Khan was no Mata Hari, and her instinctive reaction to the war was as much a result of her royal blood as her Sufi upbringing. Her inability to lie led to many situations where she almost did not make it. Spymasters were sceptical, at first, of her ability to deliver.

Her lineage and dreamy countenance may have made her unsuitable for her dangerous mission but for the fact that there was an acute shortage of radio operators in war time France, the only connection between Britain and the French Resistance.

The second half of the book reads no less than a spy novel. Noor Inayat Khan's cover is blown very soon and her circuit exposed. She is arrested by the Gestapo and tortured mercilessly. Her courage under torture and refusal to divulge any information compromising her colleagues are truly daunting.

The book is well-researched, though the second half is better than the first. Basu somehow does not seem at ease on her subject's peculiar upbringing. Either that, or she is constrained perhaps by her dedication to fact. It is a winning story, but a slightly dry book. Worth the read if you are a WWII buff, as I am.

SPY PRINCESS
THE LIFE OF NOOR INAYAT KHAN

Shrabani Basu
Roli Books
Price: Rs 395; Pages: 234