Moin Mir's latest book talks about a prince who fought for his daughters' rights

Besides the personal journey of his ancestor the book by Moin Mir also traces the systematic plundering of Surat by the East India Company PicsSayyed Sameer AbediMoin Mir was celebrating his 15th birthday when he received a rather unusual gift for someone his age My grandfather gave me a book titled Nawab of Surat Treaty Bill in the House of Commons 1856 At the time I didnt think much of that antique book he recalls But subsequently as life went on and Mirs interest in history grew he began picking through that old relic of a book And as I browsed through it I realised that this was a fascinating story of an incredible man who voyaged to England first in 1844 and then in 1853 to challenge the East India Company on their corrupt practices in IndiaEven as Mir narrates this story the affection and regard he holds for the hero of this tale cant go unnoticed That the protagonist in question Meer Jafar Ali Khan is someone he shares blood ties with Mir is Meer Jafar Ali Khans fifth generation descendant and member of the royal family of Kamadhia and Surat could partially explain his obsession with this narrative theres also another reason Never had a Hindustani prince challenged the Company on their home soil and in their Parliament says Mir But who remembers this event in history Almost nobody insists Mir who shuttles between Mumbai and London where he works in the design and communications industryMirs new historical nonfiction titled Surat Fall of a Port Rise of a Prince Roli Books revisits this momentous but otherwise forgotten chapter in Indias colonial history At the heart of this story is Meer Jafar Ali Khan the Last Custodian of the House of Surat and the ruling Darbar Shree of Kamandiyah State in Kathiawar Gujarat in the mid1800s who fought a brave and epic battle on foreign soil for his two daughters Ladli and Rahimun whose rights to a pension had been denied by the East India Company thus putting them at risk of destitutionThe book traces the systematic plundering of Surat one of Hindustans greatest cities its subsequent brutal annexation and treaty violations of 1800 by the Company At 26 he Meer Jafar Ali Khan was facing his greatest challenge one that would define the purpose of his existence His frail wife and young offspring had been stripped of their means of sustenance The rights of the family stood violated Hounded by terrible thoughts of what might befall his girls and the estates he passed innumerable sleepless nights sometimes pacing down palace corridors on other occasions mounting his horse and galloping down the banks of the Tapti Mir writes in the book A new Agent to the Governor had taken overhellipHis first move would be the seizure and illegal sequestration of the private estates with the objective to publicly auction them and fill Company coffers This would immediately lead to the confinement of Jafar and his family in miniscule quarters He would soon have to fight for the honour of his wife and infant children it reads furtherIts this fight that took Meer Jafar Ali Khan to England twice and an ultimate victory in 1856 barely a year before the countrys first struggle for Independence was crushed brutally Its also possibly why this story got buried within the British archives The English were good at confining anyone who opposed them to the archives They were either reduced to a footnote in a book or not given their rightful due in terms of the arguments they were portraying At the end of the day they were writing their own history says MirThis also made Mirs task of putting together a historically accurate work quite arduous He spent over six years researching and writing this book While the original material for the nonfiction came from the minutes of a Parliamentary debate recorded in the 1856 book an important family heirloom that he had been gifted he spent hours reading up on the annexation and fall of Surat at the British Library at Kings Cross and Asiatic Society Library in Mumbai A vast number of correspondence that happened between Meer Jafar Ali Khan and the British establishment is available at the library in Kings Cross says MirAnother very interesting aspect of his life which has almost poetically been captured by Mir is his love affair with Mary Jane an English theatre actor he met during his fouryear stay in London between 185356 to rally support within the English press and government for his cause For this account Mir relied on family archives Jafar found Mary Janes life fascinating Here was a woman who had been orphaned at an early age and instead of capitulating under the weight of emotional and financial hardships she had gone out into the world pursued her interest in acting and although she hadnt made quite a success of her career Jafar found her spirit for life appealing Mir writes in the book Mary Jane eventually returned with him to Surat and was the last person he saw before he died in his mid 40s Speaking of this romance Mir says The beauty of the story is that while Meer Jafar Ali Khan takes on the empire in Victorian England he loses his heart to an Englishwoman And so while he is righteous in one cause he falls in love despite being married to someone else Basti his second wife He is a hero but also vulnerable I found that to be incredibly interesting it only throws more light on his multidimensional personalityAt a personal level Mir says writing this book has been a most moving experience I am a father of two girls myself and after I read the documentation you really feel how the English East India Company was even if that meant trampling over the birth rights of little girls When you read the correspondence you empathise with the fathers fight for justice for his little girls I think its why this story was important for me to tell ends MirCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news current affairs from Mumbai local news crime news and breaking headlines hereDownload the new midday Android and iOS apps to get updates on all the 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