Kaun hai Pamella Bordes?

Nobody remembers the most famous Jatni in her native village where a sports event in memory of her father was recently held

Nobody remembers the most famous Jatni in her native village where a sports event in memory of her father was recently held

Remember Pamella Bordes aka Pamella Chaudhry Singh? To rejig your memory, Bordes is a former Miss India and a photographer, known across the globe for her scandalous affairs with the rich and powerful of the United Kingdom and outside that made her fodder for the paparazzi.


Pamella Bordes

But alas, in this nondescript orthodox village, 100 kilometers away from Delhi in Haryana, nobody remembers her. Village Majra in district Jhajjar recently hosted a sporting event in memory of Pamella's father and Mahavir Chakra winner Major Mahendrasingh Kadyan. The younger generation here does not know Bordes, and the older generation does not want to remember her for obvious reasons.

However, Bordes' father Kadyan is a respected figure among the villagers and also in the state for his stint in the 1962 Indo-China war. It was in his memory that the local sports club 'Yuva Shakti Club' organised this tournament, which was inaugurated by Shakuntala Chaudhry, mother of Pamella Bordes, who is a former state civil services officer in Haryana.

Interestingly, the sports competition had Deependra Hooda, MP and son of Haryana chief minister Bhupinder

Who is Pamella?

Pamella Chaudry Singh (born 1961), known during her marriage as Pamella Bordes is an Indian-born photographer and former Miss India who briefly hit the headlines in the United Kingdom in 1988 and 1989 as the mistress and escort of several notable individuals, including arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi. She had been known in society columns as a social companion of Andrew Neil, then editor of Sunday Times; Donald Trelford, then editor of The Observer and of junior minister Colin Moynihan; it was then discovered she had a House of Commons security pass arranged by MPs David Shaw and Henry Bellingham. The Evening Standard and Daily Mail published alleged that she was associated with a Libyan security official named Ahmed Gadaff Al Daim, raising issues similar to the 1960s Profumo affair, or more broadly the World War I spy Mata Hari.

Singh Hooda, as a spectator. Around 50 to 60 villages participated in the event. In all, the sports meet drew 10,000 spectators.

However, neither did Pamella's name figure anywhere in the competition nor did the competition see a single female participant in the overtly caste conscious and Jat dominated patriarchal village.

When this MiD DAY reporter approached Shakuntala Chaudhry, she initially refused to speak. Later, she asked: "Who is Pamella? "I have come here to promote sports and talk about my husband."

"Pamella is a brave girl. I am in touch with her brother, but I am not in touch with her. It is the western media that maligned her, but she fought them bravely," said Jorawar Singh, a retired Army officer and uncle of Bordes, who stays near her family house.

"We host a lot of functions with Army men and sportsmen and we decided to organise a competition in the memory of Kadyan, who is a war hero," said Narendra Kadyan, sarpanch of Majra village. "Nobody will speak about Pamella in this village. My advice to you is not to speak to anybody about her as well," he said. The competition ended on Sunday.