The red badge of courage. Review on Spy Princess - Shrabani Basu

She was a beautiful young lady.

This is the real story of noor Inayat khan, the princess who became a spy!

Shrabani Basu is the London correspondent of Anandabazar patrika.Here she has presented before you a compelling biography of an Indian Muslim girl ,a story of unusual courage.

Noor was the great great great grand daughter of Tipu sultan. Born in Russia,her family moved on to England and later on to France.Trained in music and child psychology she became a writer of children's stories .After the outbreak of second world war she escaped to England where she joined the Airforce as a radio operator.She found the work dull and boring and was looking forward to more exciting avenues.It was her fluent French which attracted the attention of the SOE(Special Operations Executive) who drafted her as secret agent for transmitting messages from the occupied France.She was breifed about the danger of getting caught,torture,rape ,death.

She was given the codename 'Madeline' and was sent to Paris.Soon after the arrival of the group the Germans started hunting for them.Many were arrested. It was obvious that the Germans were determined to eliminate the group.Still Noor rejected the offer to be rescued and continued her mission.At the critical momnt before the D-day landing at Normandy, she remained the last radio operator on the continent ensuringthe last link betweenthe Allied HQ and the French underground.The life and death of millions and the fate of generations after the war was to depend on the courage of a hero(in) who willingly accepted the risk of extreme torture and a painful death at the hands of the most cruel barbarians in the history of mankind,the nazis.

Noor was betrayed by the sister of one of her contacts in Paris for just a thousand Francs.She was arrested by the gestapo.She tried to escape through the window but was caught.She was taken to a prison in Germany.Here again she made another attempt to escape ,but was caught soon.Now classified as a dangerous prisoner she was put in chains,hands and feet tied together. making her movement ,difficult.Inspite of the torture the Germans could not get any information from her.They did not even get her real name!!!!!

Ten months of untold misery in solitary confinement came to end on11'th sept 1944.She was taken to Dachaualong with three other female agents.

It was early morning in september.

The three women were asked to kneel down .

The French honoured her with the 'Croix de Guerre'.

The British awarded her the George cross.

There have been other books on the life of noor,published before.But what makes Shrabani's work different is the extensive research she has done.The recent declassification of SOE files provided valuable information .

I think Noor had a cosmopolitan oulook. Born in Russia,to an American mother and Indian father,educated in France,it was natural .But at the core she was an indian.She wanted to bridge the gap between indians and the British.Circumstances had put her at a place and time where she had to fight the nazis along with the British. Had she been in India she would have fought the British and would have been our national hero!

She lived upto the ideal of

"Muhurtam jwalitam shreyo

(Rather than emtting smoke forever, it is honourable to flareup for a moment!)

The biography has been published in India by Roli books international recently and is awailable at all bookstalls.Go for this book.You will get to know the mind and spirit of an unusually courageous young lady whom you will never forget!