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Imaginary Queen

This NYT story about a royal family of Oudh holed up a hunting lodge in the middle of Delhi is a bizarre and fascinating read. The plot twists and turns around better than any potboiler. Yet, the core of this amazing tale is aptly summarized in one line: 

An ordinary grievance, unaddressed, had metastasized to become an epic one.

The "ordinary grievance" in this case being a person's refusal to accept the conditions of their life created by the partition of India. There were many of those - being from a refugee family I am familiar with many stories. Whereas the vast majority of the victims came to terms with their new reality and did what they could to live the rest of their lives, some were just not able to cross this chasm between past and present. Their new lives and personas become loosely tethered to reality. As their peers overcame the trauma and moved on, these folks were left behind fighting their demons alone. This story about Wilayat is at the far end of the spectrum where a person took their delusions all the way.


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