Queen swaps railway station for palace

Press, 1 June 1985, Page 10

Queen swaps railway station for palace

NZPA-AP New Delhi The sun has finally set over the railway station empire of a former Muslim Sueen. After 10 years of legal royal squatting, she has moved to her •• new palace — an old, decrepit, bat-infested monument. ; Begum Wilayet Mahal, who says that she descended from a former royal family, left the New Delhi Railway Station on Tuesday after the authorities gave her an eviction notice. She was told to get out by yesterday. The Begum lived in selfexile at ■ the railway station’s VIP waiting lounge since 1975 to demand the return of a castle she asserts was wrongfully seized by the British and kept by the Indian Government in Lucknow, northern India. The 52-year-bld Befum (a

Muslim title for a woman), who lives with her son, Prince Ali Raza, daughter, Princess Sakina Mahal, and a dozen ferocious, pedigreed dogs, was offered five residences in and around the capital. She turned them down and decided to grace Malcha Mahal, a 600-year-old monument built by a Muslim emperor, Ferozshah Tuglaq. Plush, red carpets cover the stone floors of Malcha Mahal as the head of the former royal house of Oudh. Old battle shields adorn the ramshackle walls. ’ “Entrance strictly forbidden — the Raj. House of Oudh,” “Be cautious for hound dogs,” warn the notices erected in front of the ruin to keep visitors ouL “It is not a blessing that

government gave us this. There is not a drop of water here,” said Prince Ali Raza. He refused to let reporters see the Begum, saying “her highness is resting.” From the inside of the dark monument Princess Sakina screamed: “If our dogs die, their curses will fall on the head of the people who have done this.” There is no water or electricity at the Mahal and the royal family is forced to light oil lamps. r The Government earlier offered the family a modem, posh home in Lucknow, formerly known as Oudh, but the Begum rejected the offer, saying, “it isn’t good enough for my precious dogs. I would rather die in one small ruined palace or in this railway station than accent dishonour.”

“You know our character. We will make this (monument) into a royal palace, with our presence,” Prince Ali Raza said. “Although we have very little, we have preserved it well.” The monument’s entrance has several huge flower pots and the arch is decorated with old family heirlooms — wooden plates with Islamic sayings, old books, marble pieces. A 450-year-old iron pot stands majestically on a platform near the gate. Old photographs adorn broken tables as the servants scurry around, fetching the prince his walking-stick or whatever he commands. “We will die a lion’s death, not an insect’s,” he said, beating his stick on the floor. “We are not scared. You know our character.”