The Nepaulese Polka?
When he sailed off to Europe in 1852, Jang Bahadur Rana became the first royalty from the subcontinent to visit Britain.
He had just seized power by massacring nearly the entire Nepali nobility at the Kot. He was suspicious of the intentions of British India and was curious to see if the Angrej were as powerful as they made themselves out to be.
He was taken on conducted tours of cannon factories and naval dockyards and got his hosts to organise military parades. He was suitably impressed with British military might. But it wasn?t all business, Jang also savoured the delights of Bohemian London and Paris. He attended operas, lived lavishly and flamboyantly and showed a surprising adaptability in dealing with the London paparazzi of the day.
Watching a ballet one evening, Queen Victoria noticed Jang swaying with the music. She was surprised and asked him if he understood the music. Jang replied through his Hindi interpreter: ?Bulbul ke gan hum nahi samajte, agar achha to lagta...? Queen Victoria told everyone later she was impressed with the soldier poet. In Paris, Jang was so moved by a ballerina that he immediately took off his diamond studded gold bangle and gifted it to her on the spot. The Paris newspapers the next day couldn?t get enough of it.
Many books have been written about Jang Bahadur?s Europe visit but one fact that hadn?t come to light till recently was that a member of the Johann Strauss family composed a ?Nepaulese Polka? in Jang Bahadur?s honour. The British media had gone wild about the visit of the prince of Nepal and Jang?s famous portrait and the score for the polka appeared as the cover story of the Illustrated London News. This would be the equivalent of Robbie Williams launching a hit single called ?Nepali Dream? on Mtv to mark the visit to London by a modern Nepali royalty.
The ?Nepaulese Polka? played by Michael Kuhn is a lively and happy tune that can be downloaded on mp3 for listening from the website of German musician Johannes Bornmann.
http://www.bilder-aus-nepal.de/Pages/Geschichtsseiten/Strauss-Polka.html
