Memoirs of an eventful journey

90 years ago, Dr Karan Singh was born as Heir to the throne of princely State of Jammu and Kashmir. He would have ruled the State as monarch had the history of the sub-continent followed its chronology right. Nevertheless, he rules over the minds and hearts of vast spectrum of people world over as can be seen from the photographic retrospective of his eventful public life in Amar Mahal Museum.The display tells that His Excellency is an inseparable constituent of not only pre and post independence socio-political history of India but also of the contemporary world. It tells the story of the Prince, the inheritor of largest empire in British India, turning into formidable intellectual and world renowned statesman. The pictorial retrospective is a presentation of his life journey beginning from France. It covers his childhood, schooling, royal wedding, heading the State in various capacities and his role in national and international socio-political spheres which can hardly be projected in papers, periodicals and books due to space constraints.
The charming Yuvraj who started his glorious journey of life, all the way from France, as back as March 9, 1931, continues to traverse the globe non-stop illuminating the world intellectually and spiritually. When he was born, Mahatma Gandhi led independence movement was challenging the British slavery in India. Seeing independence in the offing, the Maharaja and Maharani groomed him for a democratic role in independent India. Partition led independence plunged J&K in great turmoil. That catapulted Yuvraj into active politics. Under the compelling circumstances HH Maharaja Hari Singh left the State for good, appointing Yuvraj as Regent on June 20, 1949. Barely 18, he handled subsequent transformation from monarchy to democracy remarkably well which was liked by Pt. Nehru. He himself terminated monarchy in J&K on September 15, 1952.But with that his role didn’t end. Constituent Assembly of J&K elected him Sadar-e-Riyasat. In 1967 Prime Minister Indira Gandhi called him to Delhi for more important political role in the Central Govt. He was the youngest and most handsome minister in her Cabinet.