THE PRIVATE I SERIES:The princess diaries

There is a fascination we ordinarymortals have for families like the Kennedys, who seem to have it all –fabulous wealth, good looks, dazzling careers – but are cursed with atalent for tragedy. In India, the Scindias – like the Gandhis– come closest to the model. A polo-loving Maharajah nicknamedGeorge who dies at 44; his widow who throws herself selflessly into nationbuilding; a mother and son who fall out over politics and stand against eachother in national elections; princesses tossed around like sparrows in a stormduring the Emergency; mountains of files gathering dust enumerating the endlessinternecine litigation; an ailing mother who pines for a glimpse of her son; herwill that further divides a family; a dashing Maharajah, an ex-cabinet ministerwho dies tragically in a plane crash; a heinous royal massacre in Nepal; cousinsin Parliament who barely speak to each other. Will the tragic soapopera of one of India''s wealthiest families never stop? "I don''tthink there''s a single one of us who''s had an easy life," Yashodhara RajeScindia, the attractive MLA from Shivpuri in Madhya Pradesh, is telling me inher modest but tasteful home in Delhi."But I have not disappeared,or run away or been cowed down. I''ve met life head on. You are dealt certaincards and you jolly well learn to work with them." But what afabulous pack it appeared to be when she was born: an entire palace transportedto London for her birth, ADCs, gynaecologists, nurses, dogs... "‘George''scircus'' is how it used to be described in England," she laughs, recounting daysof unimaginable wealth and privilege: gourmet nursery food, a garage filled withmore than 30 limousines, a mother who sang mera lal dupatta malmal ka, playinghide-and-seek with her sister in magnificent palaces and a governess calledBetty Barbara Beatrice Castellino.A fairy tale childhood. How did itall go so wrong?"The Scindia wealth is like a bottle with a hole ora ship with a permanent leak in the ocean," says Yashodhara, referring to thevarious cases that she is looking after, cases filed by the government againstthe Scindias, confounded by cases the warring sections of the family have filedagainst each other. "We trust each other, we have no choice," shesays of her two sisters and herself, pitted on one side against the family ofher late brother. "Neither of my sisters has the time, so I''m looking after myfamily affairs." But we are getting ahead of the story. Somebackground first.Yashodhara Raje, the youngestchild of Jiwaji Rao and Vijaya Raje Scindia, lived an unusual life for aprincess, sent away to boarding school in Southern India, she and her sisterVasundhara, presently the chief minister of Rajasthan, grew up to be thoroughlymodern girls, mercifully unspoilt by their wealth and lineage. Thisperhaps had something to do with their mother being radically different from theother glamorous Maharanis of her age. Vijaya Raje plunged herselfinto the heart and soul of right wing politics after her husband''s death,earning for herself the sobriquet of saint."Amma never sat down toenjoy our company or that of her friends; she was so convinced that her partywould make a difference in this country. She always had her foot onthe accelerator; if we wanted to meet her during our holidays, we would have togo on tour with her. I remember it used to be hot, sweaty and dusty and the carswould break down in the heat. We would be sleeping in the car while she gave herspeeches," Yasho says. From this scene, cut to the races in Mumbaiwhere, turning her back on royal protocol, she fell in love with a bright youngdoctor from a Mumbai family. Puppy love was in bloom, but it madeher brother, the young Maharajah Madhav Rao Scindia, see red when he chancedupon the young couple enjoying an innocent cup of tea at the Willingdon Club."Dada was furious, after all he had taken on the role of our father,and Scindia girls maintained a strict code. He put me on the first plane toGwalior." Things would have followed the usual course, with Yashothrowing herself into show jumping and riding in an attempt to put all behindher, when fate intervened: Mrs Gandhi declared an Emergency. TheRajmata, along with other Opposition stalwarts, was thrown into jail, Madhav RaoScindia fled abroad with his family, and hordes of officials swooped down on thepalaces in a mammoth witch hunt."The Emergency was a big watershedevent," says Yasho. "Since I was the only unmarried daughter, I hadto face the brunt of the hostile investigations. There would be swarms of menaround the palace. All our accounts were frozen. Ram Batra and Nusli Wadia stoodby me like a rock, even lending me money to pay staff salaries. I have blockedmany of the more traumatic memories because they are too painful to recount,"she says of that time when she was all of 21.But the Emergency hadone silver lining, or so it seemed at the time: "My mother felt that since I hadfaced so much trauma on her account, I should be allowed to marry the man of mychoice." And so, a new chapter begins in the life of the youngprincess. This time as the wife of a doctor who migrates to New Orleans, USA."My husband earned an intern''s salary," she says. "I used to cook,clean, wash the dishes, and every week spend two hours at the local laundromatdoing the linen. I remember when my family would visit, we would rush downtownand rent a TV for them." That life passes in a blur,three children come, wealth comes, along with a career in philanthropicfundraising. But the bubble soon bursts. And in ''94, Yasho returns to India,leaving her family behind in America. "I came back to start life allover again and to look after my mother," she says, "I wanted to see her alive,living well in the way she should be living with her family aroundher.In many ways, after the rift with my brother, my mother saw meas the man in the family." Played across the backdrop of politics, the Scindiafamily war across party lines has a nation riveted.National leadersand events pop in and out of the background like running footage. Then, in 2001after seeing her dear friend and protégé Atal Behari Vajpayee madeprime minister, the Rajmata''s health begins to fade. Relations withher son are still at a low. "She used to wait like a child for my brother''svisits, and when he came, her face would illuminate, and she would look at me,as if to say, ‘you will never know what love I have for this man''."And yet, it remains a house divided, and upon her mother''s death, anunseemly war breaks out on the contents of a will alluding to wealth so fabulousthat Solomon''s riches seem scant.Motherless, Yasho and her sisterVasu have joined mainstream politics, and are also on the verge of arriving at asettlement with their brother, when tragedy strikes again: he dies in a planecrash. Today, out of Vijaya Raje''s children, there remain only Yashoand her two elder sisters, all involved in some way or the other in politics.What is it about the Scindias, I ask Yasho, that so draws them like moths to aflame, to politics? That lures them to hot dusty hinterlands to mix with the hoipolloi? What is that fix for which they have paid such a high price?After all should royalty worry its pretty head about anything other than partiesand polo? Sitting across from me at her home, I notice the only timeYashodhara''s eyes light up is when she is talking about her plans for herconstituency. "I have built a sports stadium for the area''s youth, Iwant to start a polytechnic, impart computer education, build roads, electrifyvillages," says the lady whose relentless campaigning against illegal mining inher state has become the basis for a PIL filed in the Supreme Court."If you visit the villages ofIndia, you will weep at the poverty," she says feelingly. "I may not be mademinister or get a Padma Shri, or even get voted back for the work I do, but Ihave the satisfaction of knowing I have made a few lives better," she says.Princesses are not known to say such things. But then, the Scindiasare a breed apart.