~Mata, Martyr, Maharani~

3 Glimpses- 3 contrivers of controversy

(1) The Mata
Margaretha Geetruida is a woman scarcely talked about. Grietje (as Margaretha was called) was born in 1876 and by the time she was in early adulthood, the strands of her life were enveloped by a diabolic intruder- war. At the tender age of 18, she moved to Hague and was thereafter married to a navy officer Rudolf McLeod. The couple then moved to Java where, following a tumultuous stint, Grietje began her autonomous journey to be an international concubine. In 1905, she began to win fame as an exotic dancer from Asia and by the time she retuned to Paris, she had become Mata Hari- Eye of the day. Promiscuous, flirtious and openly flaunting her body with a mystique that captivated both her audiences and public, Mata Hari was an overnight success. During the First World War, Mata Hari was viewed as a wanton and international seductress. As a widely travelled courtesan and oriental princess Mata Hari was intercepted as a traitor coded H-21 by the Gestapo, whom they thought was deployed by the French to distract the attention of their personnel. Termed first as an international concubine and later as a double agent, Mata Hari was executed at the age of 41, following a worldwide controversy.

(2) The Martyr
The ‘spy princess’ is a woman inconspicuously celebrated. Noor- un- Nisa Inayat Khan, or Noor was born to Indian Sufi Hazrat Inayat Khan (who was the grandson of Tipu Sultan, Maharajah of Mysore) and Begum Ora Meena Ray Baker in 1914. Although deeply influenced by the pacifist teachings of her father, Noor Inayat Khan willed to defeat Nazi tyranny. She did so by joining the French resistance in 1940 and trained in the Women’s Auxiliary Force as a wireless operator. Soon to be the first wartime woman to use wireless, Noor was deployed to Germany codenamed Nora Baker and there worked tremendously with famous underground French circuits such as ‘Prosper’. Her operations were executed under the code name Madeleine. During the interim of her stay at Germany, Madeleine also worked as a nurse and finally helped French political prisoners escape from the Gestapo. While at the war field, she dodged the Nazis till her eventual doom in 1944. Marked as a ‘Highly Dangerous Prisoner’ she was executed at Dachau concentration camp. Her timely escapes from German captivity were recorded in Nazi history as some of the most audacious. Noor was subjected to mass controversy for wartime espionage.

(3) The Maharani
Nobody would know of that slender and sleek, white Spanish maiden till the Maharajah of Kapurthala hadn’t chanced to drop into that bar one night. She was barely a bar dancer and her’s was a true rags to riches tale. Anita Delgado- the Spanish princess of Kapurthala- a seventeen year old, sitting atop a magnificently decorated elephant who made her entry into a small town in Northern India, while congregations flanked the streets, waiting to see their queen, whiter than the Himalayas. Anita Delgado was primarily seen as a figure of defiance and controversy because she had dared to marry an Indian Maharajah. While she flaunted her villas, tennis courts, jewels and Rolls Royce’s, the internal politics of the Harem encompassed her life too. Being some fifth wife of Jagatjit Singh was just an excuse for Anita, who stole parties and social gatherings and was subjected to every mans praise. Be it the voluptuous English officers, the Nawab of Hyderabad, or the Viceroy himself, ever body fell in love with the Spanish lass. But nobody ever thought that this exotic princess would end up entwining herself in one of the most forbidden incestuous controversies that have ever rattled the British Empire. She was desolate in the end and eventually returned to Spain, bereft of the love of her Maharajah or her kingdom. She breathed her last in the arms of her son Ajit. In July 1962, Anita Delgado Briones would at last rest in peace.