THE KING AND I

Luxury realtor SUSH CLAYS takes us to a royal wedding in the Noor Mahal Palace, home to the nawab of Rampur. Nawab Kazim Ali Khan tells the tale of the dynasty, its magnificent Raza Library, and years of progressive thinking that expanded the region and its many enterprises.

- SUSH CLAYS

HIS OBSIDIAN EYES halt you till you reach the twinkle in their midst. You look again, and those deep dimples flanking his wide smile reach right into your heart. And then he speaks: he tells you tales of conquering heroes and lands won and lost; princesses from far lands who made India’s sons and daughters; gemstones and swords that filled coffers; a land, united and forged as one by the many layers of the legacy of the past. Nawab Kazim Ali Khan, much loved among his friends as Navaid bhai, is one of the most precious custodians of India’s history and some of its invaluable treasures.

I met him first as Nawab Sahib, in his full reglia, when he leaned down with his statuesque Pathan grandiosity and said gently, “Call me Kazim.” I was facetiously outraged. “I love calling you ‘Nawab Sahib’,” I spluttered laughing. That didn’t last long. The bonhomie that the nawab exudes makes it hard to retain deference and address him by his title. This was also the first of many conversations on the history of the Rampur dynasty, rewinding its track through accession and succession, the British Raj and India’s Independence, right back to the Marathas and the Mughals.