"It was madness - to trace Mr Jacob!"

ldquoI didnrsquot know where to startrdquo recalls John Zubrzycki sipping on his kullad chai in the authorrsquos lounge at the DSC Jaipur Literature Festival last week when we ask of his leading man in The Mysteriousu00a0Mr Jacob and the painstaking research to piece together the truth about one of the most fascinating characters to have fallen off the British Raj map The only known sketch of Alexander Malcolm Jacob PICCourtesy Raja Bhasin ldquoI stumbled upon his story while working on my previous book The Last Nizam during my research about the sixth Nizam Mahboob Ali Khan and also came across the Imperial Diamond which is now called the Jacob Diamondrdquo In 1891 from his curio shop in Simlarsquos Mall he offered to see the worldrsquos largest brilliantcut diamond to the Nizam The deal didnrsquot meet the desired end with the Hyderabadi royal accusing Jacob of fraud even as the trial in the Calcutta High Court became one of the biggest most sensational cases to rock the Raj at the time Jacobsrsquo story traverses central Asia and India mdash from his birthplace in southeast Turkey to Simla Bombay Delhi and Calcutta ldquoIn 200506 during my research I read half a chapter by an Indian historian about this interesting character I was hooked Later in 2010 Jacobrsquos story was back in the reckoning when I read the Occult Review 1913 where accounts by a certain Frederick Heath revealed more about the man as he spent six months with Jacob in Bombay The building in Colaba facing Regal cinema is where Mr Jacobs lived while in Mumbai it houses Philips Antiques It was one of the two places where he stayed during the last chapter of his life in India Two things emerged about him Jacob was a master storyteller you can only imagine how it mustrsquove been to sift fact from fictionrdquo he smiles ldquoHe was immensely popular Visitors to Simla couldn39t leave without dropping by his curio shoprdquo Zubrzycki cites the AgraTaj Mahal analogy to give us an idea of his image in that era ldquoGradually as facts of his life emerged the truth became stranger than fiction My search took me from Londonrsquos British Library to Syria and Turkey and by 2011 India It was a wild goose chaserdquo recalls Zubrzycki Naturally one wanted to know if thoughts to abandon this project surfaced during his travels ldquoYes It was madness mdash to trace Mr Jacob and to find crucial links to his life The first record of his name dates back to 1872 in an entry in the Index of a file in the National Archives which refers to the lsquoDismissal of Jacob from the services of The Maharajah of Dholpurrsquo You cannot imagine how I was able to find that filerdquo he chuckles For his India chapter he is grateful to researcher Anita Jacob ldquono relation to Mr Jacobrdquo ldquoHer support was vital After all we were dealing with an extraordinary character who was a super spy a swindler a fraudster a businessman and at the other extreme a master magicianrdquo Without giving away much of this spectacular slice of forgotten history Zubrzycki tells us of how Jacob spent nearly two decades of his life to clear his name of the charges but it wasnrsquot to be Jacobrsquos Bombay connect added to his mystique mdash ldquoHe left Simla for Bombay in 1903 as it was the most cosmopolitan of all Indian cities and the trading nature helped him continue with his businessrdquo He lived in Waterloo Mansions now known as the Mercantile Insurance Company building that houses Philips Antiques and later at the demolished Watsons Annexe which was near the Taj Mahal Hotel In January 9 1921 he died and was buried at Sewri Cemetery though his tombstone has been destroyed Itrsquos obvious after reading his biography that Jacob died a sad man who was unable to redeem his past glory and place of honour in the history books of the Raj u00a0ldquoThe thrill of writing his biography cannot be explainedrdquo Zubrzycki signs off Wersquoll believe PS Mention of earlier names of Indian cities is to retain the biographyrsquos time frame and setting The Mysterious Mr Jacob John Zubrzycki R399 Random House India u00a0 Did you know gtThe Bombay Gazette estimated that over the course of Jacobrsquos life he had turned over at least pound50 million of gems jewellery and antiques gtHis worth at the time of his death was a paltry lsquoRupees 38200 after deducting debtsrsquo gtHe was the inspiration for the shadowy Lurgan Sahib in Rudyard Kiplingrsquos Kim who met Jacob in Simlau00a0