Love hate relationship with British monarchy

 Hi friends,

                   As I write this, we are touring Kashmir and Ladakh for 2 weeks and which will come to an end in a couple of days. Of course,  I will be writing about this major trip later.

               As we are touring,  we were updated on the news of prominent figures around the world like erstwhile president of USSR Mikhail Gorbachev,  Queen Elizabeth 2, Carnatic vocalist T V Shankaranarayanan who was the nephew of Shri Madhurai Mani Iyer. But as they say, if it rains in Britain, people open their umbrellas all over the world. T V Shankaranarayan's demise made me sad as I had attended his concert recently. 

                    Queen's death did not affect me much as she had led a long life and one anyone cannot even dream of. Of course,  the news surprised me a bit as I thought she would cross 100 like her queens mother.That their monarchy had colonised many countries in the past and looted the wealth to expand their own empire is still not easy to digest for the current generations. The current generation of Britishers still argue that they have improved the infrastructure of the colonised nations like India and made it one instead of countless princely states fighting against each other. The queen was definitely the part of that empire who refused to apologise for the crimes they committed or return the stolen wealth to the respective nations which includes Kohinoor  diamond. Of course,  it can be argued that  English is the most widely spoken language  around the world and more Indians are fluent with English which helps them to settle in UK, USA, Canada etc in search of career opportunities and a better life which the home country is still not able to provide. 

                   British royal family is still very popular with  British people and for some around the world. They are like never ending soap opera and the reason paparazzi is always behind them to feed the gossip to the public and also deepen their pockets. The death of princess Diana,  the rift between prince William and Harry,  Harry leaving royal family, the affairs and divorces among Prince Charles,  Prince Andrew ,  Princess Anne are all enough to keep the public interest alive in them. The  birth of every royal child is eagerly anticipated and celebrated even today. It is to be seen how long their relevance will last and that depends on the public, who should realise that lot of money is spent as taxes to run the royal family. I also keep reading about the royal family as a pastime. 

               But one cannot escape the fact that Britishers are still racist and arrogant and it was displayed by Prince Philip,  Queen Elizabeth,  Queen mother etc... Iam not sure of the current generation, but I believe they are little more approachable. But person of Indian origin like Rishi Sunak taking over the reins of Prime ministership!!! Impossible to stomach, right? And as queen Elizabeth is concerned,  who else will be fortunate enough to lead a monarchy for 70 years beating Queen Victoria!!

Thanks 

Deepa.