When Gulbadan Begum was in her sixties her nephew asked her to write ‘all that she knew’. So she did. And wrote everything she remembered from her childhood, youth and adulthood into a book - unfinished but original, honest, heartfelt. And path breaking because not too many of her sisters, mothers or aunts knew how to read and write, leave alone have a posthumously published book to their name. But knowing her, she would’ve dismissed this small achievement….in light of the magnificence of her illustrious family. Even though she was writing about what she had lived through, she barely featured in her own writing! Because….. her nephew was Akbar, known to be one of the greatest emperors of India! ….Her half-brother was Humayun, who set up Delhi! ….her father was Babur, who journeyed from Kyrgyzstan to set up an empire in Hindustan and make India his home. They were her emperors; but she was a woman writing about her father, brother and nephew. It’s because of her that we know Akbar to be a willful boy who never listened to anyone, and grew into a complex man prone to slip into trances. And that Humayun would’ve probably been happier as a scholar or avant-garde artist than a king. Or that Babur was a loving husband and father who, in a world where brothers killed each other for the throne, was capable of sacrificing his own life for his children’s. Her name was Gulbadan. A saying goes in ancient Kabul that ‘Rose is the colour of Sincerity’. There couldn’t have been a better name for Princess Rosebody. -Based on Rumer Godden’s book.

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