Wednesday's abortive - the best offer didn't match the reserve price - auction at Sotheby's Upper Grosvenor Gallery in London gives the Indian Air Force (IAF) an unexpected opportunity to redeem the past, save a national treasure and honour an Indian hero.
Silver-haired and soignee, Anjali Lobo in Pune strongly feels that Sotheby's Lot 583, which the catalogue described as "the unique Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) and India General Service pair to Squadron Leader Karun Krishna 'Jumbo' Majumdar, who became known as the Father of the Indian Air Force" belongs to India. The IAF's "father" was also Anjali's father. She was just four in 1945 when the Hawker Hurricane he was flying in an aerobatic sortie in Lyallpur crashed. "Majumdar died as he wanted to live, carefree, daring and at the controls doing what he wanted to, flying to his heart's content," wrote an admirer.
Anjali was in the circuit house with her mother and brother, Shailen (Bambi), then a little boy of two. Little boys, like little girls in that song from Gigi, "get bigger every day" and Bambi is now a 71-year-old grandfather in England. Apart from his father's medals, Lot 583, which he put on sale, included log books, identity tags, miniatures, brooches, epaulettes, diary and extensive photocopies and recorded documentation of a dazzling career. Everyone expected Majumdar to rise to the highest level in the IAF. Asked why he was selling this treasure trove, Bambi told my former colleague, Shyam Bhatia, he wanted to avoid future "conflict" among his children and grandchildren. The money may have been an added attraction. The collection is valued at £20,000-£30,000.
Grandson of W C Bonnerjee, Majumdar was the only Indian to win the DFC not once but twice for bravery in Burma (now Myanmar) and Europe during World War II. He was also the only Indian to be awarded the Bar to his DFC, the citation for the Bar saying, "His skill and courage have always been outstanding... Before the advance northwards in France, he completed exceptionally valuable photographic reconnaissances of the Seine bridges, in the face of heavy ground defences." The London Gazette of November 10, 1942 noted: "Early this year this officer commanded the squadron during its activities in Burma. He led two unescorted attacks on enemy airfields in Thailand and attacks in support of the army in Tennasserim; he also completed valuable reconnaissances during the retirement from Rangoon to the Prome positions".
If Jumbo Majumdar was India's hero in World War II, 19-year-old Laddie (Indra Lal Roy) was the hero of World War I. Great-uncle of NDTV's Prannoy Roy, Laddie joined the Royal Flying Corps in 1917 and achieved 10 "kills" before the Germans shot him down. He was the only Indian to receive a posthumous DFC. Col J K Dutt tells me that acknowledging Laddie's bravery, the famous German fighter pilot, Baron Manfred von Richtofen, had a wreath dropped on the spot where he fell. German troops collected and buried his remains near Arras in France where the grave carries an inscription in Bengali reading Maha birer samadhi; sambhram karo, sparsha koro na. (A valiant warrior's grave; respect it, do not touch it).
Laddie and Jumbo, both Bengalis, belonged to the mosaic of my childhood. But neither needs any personal link to be revered. They are national heroes. I don't know about Laddie's medals but a postage stamp and a road in Kolkata honour his memory. Majumdar deserves no less.
National treasures must be handled with sensitivity and respect. I could understand I K Gujral's refusal to badger the British for the Koh-i-noor. But symbols of personal achievement are different and I am still baffled by the fate of Rabindranath Tagore's Nobel medal whose disappearance (with that of 47 other pieces of memorabilia) in 2004 prompted a CBI investigation five days later. It was closed after three years, reopened 12 months later and closed again in 2010. I can't be alone in sensing something fishy about this mysterious sequence.
Everything is straightforward with Majumdar's relics. Even £30,000 - under Rs 30 lakh - is a fraction of the Rs 1.5 crore Vijay Mallya paid for Tipu Sultan's sword. The sale's cancellation is India's opportunity and the IAF should make Bambi a fair offer. He can't be done out of his heritage. But his sister (whose husband Noel Lobo continued the Services tradition and retired as a Navy commander) also has a moral right to their father's legacy. The country's is the strongest claim of all. Majumdar's entire collection deserves to be displayed at Delhi's IAF Museum.
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