In a broken-down palace, in the midst of an urban forest within Delhi, a prince died, alone and unseen.
At least, he said he was a prince — the last of one of the royal families of Oudh, a kingdom that once existed in the state of Uttar Pradesh. But that kingdom was long gone: in 1856, the British annexed Oudh, proclaiming it to be corrupt and poorly governed.
The ruler at the time, Nawab Wajid Ali Shah, was portrayed as dissolute, lax in his enforcement of laws and so extravagant that he was spending his 2150-year-old kingdom into bankruptcy and chaos. After the annexation, the nawab was exiled to Calcutta and died there three decades later. The other members of his extensive family dispersed across the country as well — which was how Ali Raza, the prince who liked to call himself Cyrus, finally came to live in the ruined Malcha Mahal palace in Delhi.
No one knows exactly when the reclusive Raza, who was 58, met his end. His body was found on September 2 by a group of staff from a nearby earth station, which transmits signals to satellites put into orbit by India’s space agency. The earth station stands next to Malcha Mahal within the Ridge, a long belt of forested land.
The earth station employees often dropped in to check on Raza. "We had not heard from him for two or three days," one of them, Vijay Yadav, told The Hindustan Times. "So we went inside without his permission for the first time. He had died by then." Raza was found lying on the floor near his bed. No information about how he died was released. Three days later, the city authorities buried him in a public graveyard.
Raza’s mother and sister had also lived — and died — in Malcha Mahal. They had earned their right to live there out of a spectacular act of obstinacy.
After Indian independence in 1947, the Indian government allocated Raza's mother, the widowed Begum Wilayat Mahal, a palace in Srinagar. That palace burned down in 1971, so she came to Delhi with her children and her 12 dogs in search of a home.
She expected the government to return her family’s old Oudh palace, but it did’t happen. The government had seized several royal properties in Oudh and converted them into libraries, art galleries and even a pharmaceutical research laboratory. So she, her children and dogs moved into the first-class waiting room in Delhi’s railway station and stayed there — for seven years.
In 1981, an American journalist from People magazine described the family’s “home” in the station. Even without servants, the Begum lived in some style.
“The Begum has carpeted her tiny quarters with Persian rugs, erected a makeshift throne with velvet bolsters and hung family portraits around her,” the magazine reported. “Royal meals — cooked on braziers outdoors — are served on heirloom china. The tea sets are silver and the napkins hand-embroidered.”
In 1984, the then-Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, intervened. The next year, the family were housed in Malcha Mahal: a ruin consisting of five large chambers with no plumbing or electricity or even doors and windows, but still recognisably palatial. Somehow the prince rigged up a telephone connection and ran water in from the nearby earth station. But he still cooked over firewood.
“They did not encourage visitors and had set their dogs on a few people who dared to get close to their new home,” Sohail Hashmi, a historian of Delhi, told The National. “Cyrus's mother seemed to have some money, because she lived with those dogs and they must have cost a bomb to maintain.”
The Begum died in December 1993 — committing suicide, so the story goes, by crushing her diamonds and drinking them down. For a while, the prince kept her ashes in a crystal container on a table. His sister Sakina died earlier this year but the exact date remains uncertain.
As Raza stayed on in Malcha Mahal, he grew progressively lonelier. Few people visited him. Vikramjit Singh Rooprai, an activist who campaigns for the protection of Delhi’s heritage monuments, said that he had run into him twice during rambles in the Ridge.
“He was a very introverted person,” Mr Rooprai said. “He was very fluent in English and well-mannered. But he always sounded troubled and bothered. Perhaps he was very bothered by curious people trying to invade his privacy.”
Mr Rooprai had seen Malcha Mahal from the outside, he said. “But I decided not to enter the gate, respecting their privacy. It is an old, dilapidated structure, just like other constructions of [the 14th century emperor] Feroz Shah Tughlaq in the area.”
Raza’s death removes any possibility of solving the mystery that has dogged the family since 1947: were they really part of the royal house of Oudh at all?
The Begum always claimed she was the great-granddaughter of Wajid Ali Shah, the last nawab of Oudh. But Mr Hashmi says it is difficult to be certain.
“The British wanted to erase all traces of the royals who had resisted them, and they by and large succeeded,” he said. Most were executed or “forced into extreme penury, and that is one reason I have some difficulty in accepting the claims of this family.”
But he could be wrong, he admits. A branch of the family might have lain low and surfaced only after the British left India.
Mr Rooprai pointed out that Oudh still has a “titular prince” — a man who can validate his ancestry back to Wajid Ali Shah. “For the legitimate Oudh family, these guys were impostors,” he said.
Even if Raza was of the Nawab’s lineage, he cannot be called the last prince, Mr Rooprai said. “Hundreds of men with the same blood lineage must be alive today, given the fact that nawabs of Oudh had a colourful past.”
But the family had no doubts about its past. “We are rulers,” Raza declared grandly to People magazine. Whether anyone else believed it or not, Raza did. And it appears he died with that conviction still firm and unshaken.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Drishyam 2
Directed by: Jeethu Joseph
Starring: Mohanlal, Meena, Ansiba, Murali Gopy
Rating: 4 stars
Key figures in the life of the fort
Sheikh Dhiyab bin Isa (ruled 1761-1793) Built Qasr Al Hosn as a watchtower to guard over the only freshwater well on Abu Dhabi island.
Sheikh Shakhbut bin Dhiyab (ruled 1793-1816) Expanded the tower into a small fort and transferred his ruling place of residence from Liwa Oasis to the fort on the island.
Sheikh Tahnoon bin Shakhbut (ruled 1818-1833) Expanded Qasr Al Hosn further as Abu Dhabi grew from a small village of palm huts to a town of more than 5,000 inhabitants.
Sheikh Khalifa bin Shakhbut (ruled 1833-1845) Repaired and fortified the fort.
Sheikh Saeed bin Tahnoon (ruled 1845-1855) Turned Qasr Al Hosn into a strong two-storied structure.
Sheikh Zayed bin Khalifa (ruled 1855-1909) Expanded Qasr Al Hosn further to reflect the emirate's increasing prominence.
Sheikh Shakhbut bin Sultan (ruled 1928-1966) Renovated and enlarged Qasr Al Hosn, adding a decorative arch and two new villas.
Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan (ruled 1966-2004) Moved the royal residence to Al Manhal palace and kept his diwan at Qasr Al Hosn.
Sources: Jayanti Maitra, www.adach.ae
Brief scores:
Pakistan (1st innings) 181: Babar 71; Olivier 6-37
South Africa (1st innings) 223: Bavuma 53; Amir 4-62
Pakistan (2nd innings) 190: Masood 65, Imam 57; Olivier 5-59
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
RESULTS
ATP China Open
G Dimitrov (BUL x3) bt R Bautista Agut (ESP x5)
7-6, 4-6, 6-2
R Nadal (ESP x1) bt J Isner (USA x6)
6-4, 7-6
WTA China Open
S Halep (ROU x2) bt D Kasatkina (RUS)
6-2, 6-1
J Ostapenko (LAT x9) bt S Cirstea (ROU)
6-4, 6-4
ATP Japan Open
D Schwartzman (ARG x8) bt S Johnson (USA)
6-0, 7-5
D Goffin (BEL x4) bt R Gasquet (FRA)
7-5, 6-2
M Cilic (CRO x1) bt R Harrison (USA)
6-2, 6-0
ABU%20DHABI'S%20KEY%20TOURISM%20GOALS%3A%20BY%20THE%20NUMBERS
%3Cp%3EBy%202030%2C%20Abu%20Dhabi%20aims%20to%20achieve%3A%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3E%E2%80%A2%2039.3%20million%20visitors%2C%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20nearly%2064%25%20up%20from%202023%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3E%E2%80%A2%20Dh90%20billion%20contribution%20to%20GDP%2C%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20about%2084%25%20more%20than%20Dh49%20billion%20in%202023%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3E%E2%80%A2%20178%2C000%20new%20jobs%2C%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20bringing%20the%20total%20to%20about%20366%2C000%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3E%E2%80%A2%2052%2C000%20hotel%20rooms%2C%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20up%2053%25%20from%2034%2C000%20in%202023%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3E%E2%80%A2%207.2%20million%20international%20visitors%2C%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20almost%2090%25%20higher%20compared%20to%202023's%203.8%20million%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3E%E2%80%A2%203.9%20international%20overnight%20hotel%20stays%2C%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2022%25%20more%20from%203.2%20nights%20in%202023%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Teams
Punjabi Legends Owners: Inzamam-ul-Haq and Intizar-ul-Haq; Key player: Misbah-ul-Haq
Pakhtoons Owners: Habib Khan and Tajuddin Khan; Key player: Shahid Afridi
Maratha Arabians Owners: Sohail Khan, Ali Tumbi, Parvez Khan; Key player: Virender Sehwag
Bangla Tigers Owners: Shirajuddin Alam, Yasin Choudhary, Neelesh Bhatnager, Anis and Rizwan Sajan; Key player: TBC
Colombo Lions Owners: Sri Lanka Cricket; Key player: TBC
Kerala Kings Owners: Hussain Adam Ali and Shafi Ul Mulk; Key player: Eoin Morgan
Venue Sharjah Cricket Stadium
Format 10 overs per side, matches last for 90 minutes
Timeline October 25: Around 120 players to be entered into a draft, to be held in Dubai; December 21: Matches start; December 24: Finals
MATCH INFO
South Africa 66 (Tries: De Allende, Nkosi, Reinach (3), Gelant, Steyn, Brits, Willemse; Cons: Jantjies 8)
Canada 7 (Tries: Heaton; Cons: Nelson)
Soldier F
“I was in complete disgust at the fact that only one person was to be charged for Bloody Sunday.
“Somebody later said to me, 'you just watch - they'll drop the charge against him'. And sure enough, the charges against Soldier F would go on to be dropped.
“It's pretty hard to think that 50 years on, the State is still covering up for what happened on Bloody Sunday.”
Jimmy Duddy, nephew of John Johnson
The%20specs%3A%202024%20Mercedes%20E200
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2.0-litre%20four-cyl%20turbo%20%2B%20mild%20hybrid%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E204hp%20at%205%2C800rpm%20%2B23hp%20hybrid%20boost%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E320Nm%20at%201%2C800rpm%20%2B205Nm%20hybrid%20boost%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E9-speed%20auto%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFuel%20consumption%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E7.3L%2F100km%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ENovember%2FDecember%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFrom%20Dh205%2C000%20(estimate)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
The specs
Engine: 0.8-litre four cylinder
Power: 70bhp
Torque: 66Nm
Transmission: four-speed manual
Price: $1,075 new in 1967, now valued at $40,000
On sale: Models from 1966 to 1970
Day 3, Abu Dhabi Test: At a glance
Moment of the day Just three balls remained in an exhausting day for Sri Lanka’s bowlers when they were afforded some belated cheer. Nuwan Pradeep, unrewarded in 15 overs to that point, let slip a seemingly innocuous delivery down the legside. Babar Azam feathered it behind, and Niroshan Dickwella dived to make a fine catch.
Stat of the day - 2.56 Shan Masood and Sami Aslam are the 16th opening partnership Pakistan have had in Tests in the past five years. That turnover at the top of the order – a new pair every 2.56 Test matches on average – is by far the fastest rate among the leading Test sides. Masood and Aslam put on 114 in their first alliance in Abu Dhabi.
The verdict Even by the normal standards of Test cricket in the UAE, this has been slow going. Pakistan’s run-rate of 2.38 per over is the lowest they have managed in a Test match in this country. With just 14 wickets having fallen in three days so far, it is difficult to see 26 dropping to bring about a result over the next two.
Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
THE SPECS
Engine: 4.4-litre V8
Transmission: Automatic
Power: 530bhp
Torque: 750Nm
Price: Dh535,000
On sale: Now
The biog
DOB: 25/12/92
Marital status: Single
Education: Post-graduate diploma in UAE Diplomacy and External Affairs at the Emirates Diplomatic Academy in Abu Dhabi
Hobbies: I love fencing, I used to fence at the MK Fencing Academy but I want to start again. I also love reading and writing
Lifelong goal: My dream is to be a state minister
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW
Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman
Director: Jesse Armstrong
Rating: 3.5/5
Dengue%20fever%20symptoms
%3Cul%3E%0A%3Cli%3EHigh%20fever%3C%2Fli%3E%0A%3Cli%3EIntense%20pain%20behind%20your%20eyes%3C%2Fli%3E%0A%3Cli%3ESevere%20headache%3C%2Fli%3E%0A%3Cli%3EMuscle%20and%20joint%20pains%3C%2Fli%3E%0A%3Cli%3ENausea%3C%2Fli%3E%0A%3Cli%3EVomiting%3C%2Fli%3E%0A%3Cli%3ESwollen%20glands%3C%2Fli%3E%0A%3Cli%3ERash%3C%2Fli%3E%0A%3C%2Ful%3E%0A%3Cp%3EIf%20symptoms%20occur%2C%20they%20usually%20last%20for%20two-seven%20days%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
