Haripada dithered on democracy. We didn't know why he did so. We do know he was surrounded by men from northern and western India at all times, did they come to consult him?
These men lacked respect for Ukraine, it was intense, their sense of superiority was acute. Haripada might have realised that they neither respected the lease nor the White House in DC, the latter had allowed the lease family to settle in Ukraine.
Haripada might have considered their attitude as a contributing factor to the tumult of the 1940s.
Antara found the above situation credible, she had faced such situations in her life:
"Can you believe it, she didn't even have a purse?"
"You won't go looking like that to the English Honours Freshers' Welcome, as if you were a beggar".
"You can't go like that to the wedding, take our stuff and wear them, that's your life, 'udhaar ki zindagi'/a life lived by borrowing and debt, your underclothes were your own, right?"
Thus, stupendous wealth and garish clothes were the prerequisites to being acknowledged within society, else your political presence became negligible.
ii. The above situation made Anjali an interesting character. She could provide valued intelligence and high idealism to her younger daughter while the German defence firms and fleet service ships would provide access to privileged Houses to Antara's relatives, neighbours, classmates and the rest of the women of small-town Bengal.
What a quandary!! Anjali knew information had no value in Indian society unless you were wealthy, so she gave the information to Antara and the wealth to Bengali women. Did Anjali dislike her younger daughter?
Anjali appeared to avoid ostentation. And yet her life's work was speaking for itself, Bengal's small towns overflowed with bakeries and patisseries, while Antara could no longer go out on her own, she prowled late in the evening with her spouse, picking up vegetables rotting from the heat of the day for their meals.
Bengal, eat your cake, have it too, then force-stop Antara's medication and empty out every grocer and greengrocer's shelf where she lived.
iii. It was impossible for Antara to understand how Anjali actually felt about democratic governance in India. Was she one of those that felt that India's democracy shouldn't have been preceded by the Nuremberg Trials at the Palace of Justice, held from the mid-1940s?
That people in India had not been forewarned that instigating wars was an international crime, as was a genocide against a particular group, that it would call forth an International Military Tribunal?
The above was not Antara's opinion, Anjali was not around to argue her case, but Antara's persecution went unprotested in a wealthy country like India. She'd leave it at that, she didn't know what Allied commanders thought of India. The British were frequently posted in India, surely they disliked Poland and felt closer to India.
iv. A culture that considered the younger daughter of Ajit-Anjali as the rightful candidate to settle their scores over the Nuremberg Trials.
A culture where every Hindu and Muslim, king and emperor and nawab, took daily recourse to the most brutal tortures of their subjects.
A culture where Indian monarchs speared 'suspected' culprits, forget trying or hanging them.
A culture where till the 19th century, Kolkata's schools had the most horrifying corporal punishments, including kneeling under the tropical sun through the day with several bricks balanced on each palm of the hand.
They were affronted by the Nuremberg Trials? They needed to be forewarned? This culture was not speaking the truth either about democracy or the Nuremberg Trials.
June 14, 2025.
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