Shimla (The Hawk): The Belletristic the Literature Society of the Department of English, Shoolini University, held a riveting session with Ms. Sue Graham, a part-time actress and film-maker from the United Kingdom (UK) who has a keen interest in Indian history of the Raj period.
Sue Graham discovered, quite by accident, that her great-grandaunt was in the inner circle of the Patiala royal house at the end of the nineteenth century. Further investigations and research on the matter revealed that there was an intimate connection between her family and the then Maharaja of Patiala, Rajender Singh. Fired with determination to delve into the truth, over the last few years, Ms. Graham has been exploring archives and other available material on the history of that given period. Her efforts have culminated in a film based on her findings.
The session with the Shoolini’s English Department was an absorbing one. Prof Manju Jaidka, who has also written a novel based on the Scandal Point episode of Shimla’s history, compared notes with the invited speaker and discussed the impact that a historical discovery has on the researcher, the sense of nostalgia it evokes, and the identification with characters long dead. Prof Tejnath Dhar, Dr. Purnima Bali, Samrat Sharma, and Navreet Sahi also joined in the discussion along with other panelists.
Sue Graham, who was born in India, has a keen desire to return to the Himalayas and wants to experience the terrain in which her great-grandaunt lived in times gone by. She expressed her inclination to visit Shoolini and team up with the faculty there while furthering her explorations of the past. She may also shoot a film there to document her Indian experiences.