By Noopur Tiwari - NDTV.com, New Delhi Television Ltd. - New Delhi,India
Friday, September 8, 2006
Active during the Second World War, Noor carried on as the last link between Paris and London even when other agents were captured.
Now for the first time the Indian government has paid tribute to this amazing woman.
Noor, spy princess, was the daughter of Hazrat Inayat Khan who introduced Sufism to the West family descendants of Tipu Sultan.
She started working for the women's auxiliary British force as a radio operator and then later joined the Special Operations Forces.
Recently, at a small monument in her house near Paris, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee paid tribute to this remarkable woman.
Known as Nora Baker to some and Madeline to others, Noor specialised in dropping agents behind enemy lines. She died at the age of 29 executed by the gestapo.
"Her story of heroism, bravery and sacrifice will always inspire the younger generation," said Mukherjee.
At Fazal Manzil [which means "house of blessings"; the Khan's house in Suresnes, near Paris], Noor spent most of her childhood and it was in this room that Noor and her brother Vilayat decided they could no longer stay away from the fight against fascism.
Shrabani Basu in her book Spy Princess: The life of Noor Inayat Khan has put together the story of the incredible woman who worked for the resistance as the last link between Paris and London.
"I started researching her life and it coincided with her files being released by the British government. All her secret files, I put them together the family side and the friends and tried to bring out the story of this incredible woman," said Shrabani Basu, Author.
A harp that stands silently in her house today was her favourite and Noor's friends and family said she had a vivid imagination.
"She was Indian I mean the family grew up here. Her father was a Sufi preacher they used to love dressing in Indian clothes. She wrote in Urdu, spoke Hindi. It was a large joint family they all lived here together and it was a typical Indian family. She played the Veena, she identified with the Indian freedom movement so that's a strong link," said Basu.
Noor was also a writer of children's books and one of her cover names came from one of her own stories.
Many called her a dreamer but she went on to win some of the highest gallantry awards of the battlefield, the British George Cross and the French Croix de Guerre but in India she still remains an unsung heroine.
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