Bobby Singh Bansal chose to explore a path less explored when he started working on the manuscript that became The Lion’s Firanghis: The Europeans at the Court of Lahore. The following are excerpts from an exclusive interview with Roopinder Singh:

You were born in Britain and studied there. Where did your parents migrate from?

Bobby Singh Bansal

My father originates from Punjab and my mother is from Assam.Tell us a bit about your academic background.

I studied in England, first business management, later marketing and business development. I am not a historian.

Were you interested in the academic study of history? You are a businessman, what made you take up this topic?

Of course, but I was always travelling all over the world with my business and never got the chance to professionally study Indian history at university. It’s just a chance visit to Lahore in 1989 that triggered off this passion of mine for exploring and researching further on Maharajah Ranjit Singh and his reign. The more I visited Pakistan, the more I got addicted to this topic.

Where all did your research take you, and how long did it take?

General Paolo Crescenzo Avitabile, Governor of Wazirabad and Peshawar, was one of the Maharaja's most ferocious administrators

The research was quite intensive, if not exhausting. It started in London, then took me to Paris, Marseille, St Tropez, Monaco, Madrid, Barcelona, Segovia, Vienna, Rome, Bratislava, Napoli, Bologna, Berlin, Zurich, Edinburgh, Bucharest, Brasov, Lahore, Delhi, Multan, Peshawar, Algiers, Wazirabad, Texas (US) and the Khyber Pass. It took me nearly four years of research to compile material for the book. Would I do it all again? Absolutely!

I understand that you had a tough time doing your research in Pakistan.

What was your best experience, and the most hairy one?

I didn’t have a tough time in Pakistan but, on the contrary, had a lifetime experience on being told that I was probably the first Sikh since 1947 to visit the Jamrud and Shab Qadar Forts of the NWFP region that were built by General Hari Singh Nalwa. Both commanders of the forts have become close friends. I’m now whisked around in helicopters whenever I’m in Pakistan. The most hairy experience was probably encountering a Taliban at the Khyber Pass.

Who among the firangis is your favourite, and why?

There are many, I guess, but for me it’s either General Avitabile or General Allard. The first was so ferocious in implementing the laws and policies of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, especially in Peshawar and that too during the anarchy which was unleashed in Lahore in 1843, he never took sides with any factions and simply did his duty to the Lahore Durbar.

General Jean Francois Allard

General Allard in my views probably was the Maharaja’s most loyal, if not No. 1 Firangi. I could give you endless examples, but one is that he never kept a harem and returned to Lahore after two years of leave to France, as he said he would, much to the relief of the Maharaja. The letters he wrote back home praising the Maharaja’s rule over his subjects, plus the fact that Ranjit Singh would usually consult General Allard on many important and delicate matters of the state, much to the dismay of his native courtiers. This was indeed a unique relationship, and if you read the letter you will understand why for me General Allard is a favourite.

You met various families. Which was most connected to its ancestors and thus, its heritage?

Probably, the descendant of General Allard, when I entered the lounge of his mansion in St. Tropez, it was like going back in time to Lahore. There displayed were huge oil paintings, medals and Sikh artefacts from that period displayed on the walls. He takes much pride that his ancestor served Ranjit Singh, when he poured me a cognac; he raised his glass towards to the portrait of Ranjit Singh and proudly said, “Cheers, Ranjit Singh. You are my hero”, and drank it in one go! That says it all, I guess. He still possesses countless artefacts, although in a private collection and a private archives relating to that period, I’ve never seen anything like it with any other families.

At what stage did you decide that you wanted to share it with others in the form of a book?

When a colleague of mine asked me in 2006, what I was going to do with all this research, I had no answer for him and he told me simply to write a book and share it with everybody

What’s the audience you had in mind when you were writing the book?

Students to historians, but mainly everyone, not just to the Punjabi community.

Did you have any difficulties in finding a publisher?

Not at all.

Are you planning any other book?

I could have easily written a book on each European that served Ranjit Singh. Yes, I am planning several projects, some based in Pakistan and one on Bollywood.

Please click here to read an excerpt from the book The Lion’s Firanghis: The Europeans at the Court of Lahore.

Singapore—the city state has impressed me every time that I visited it—three times in the last few years. I am impressed with the cleanliness, orderliness, strong discipline and work ethic of this Asian tiger that transformed itself since World War II.

My first memory of Singapore dates back to accounts heard from my mother, Inderjit Kaur Sandhu, who had visited the city reroute to New Zealand to take part in the Association of Commonwealth Universities’ Conference of Executive Heads. The year, if memory serves me, was 1975, and she was one of the three women Vice-Chancellors in the world at that time. When she came back, she regaled us with accounts of her visit and what she saw.

A more tangible memento of Singapore was an Ebel watch that she bought from there, which served me well as I wore it in college. The battered Ebel is still with me.

During an earlier visit to Singapore, guided by the friendly Augustar Salleh, I visited various gurdwaras and interacted with the Sikh community there, just as my father, Giani Gurdit Singh, had done more than once. I had also seen how Dr Bachan Singh’s initiative resulted in a large number of Sikhs were teaching Punjabi to children in Singapore schools and my friend and artist R M Singh’s contribution in illustrating Punjabi text books so well.

On November 6, 2007, I met a local Sikh granthi at the unveiling of sculpture by Brother Joseph McNally, founder of LASALLE College of the Arts and the official opening of McNally Street by Singapore Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr George Yeo. “I was a host of Giani ji for a few days,” he told me, and proceeded to reminisce about the father I had lost recently.

I, escorted by the charmingly efficient Ms Sherina Chan of the Singapore Tourism Board, had visited the National University of Singapore, earlier that very day, where my mother had been felicitated in the 1970s. At that time, she had been interviewed by The Strait Times.� Ah! The serendipity of life! Deepika Shetty, Correspondent, Life! The Straits Times, recently interviewed me about Chandigarh. Her write-up, Indian beauty with French looks, was published on Tuesday in the paper that has an estimated readership of 1.23 million. Please click here to read the write-up and see the photographs which were published.

My link to Singapore is still going strong….

The legendary photographer Ragu Rai spent over two hours explaining his photographs and talking about his life and works when I visited Delhi last month. I had gone 250 kilometres just to meet him and see his work; he had the National Gallery of Modern Art opened up just for me!

This is the first time that a National Gallery of Modern Art has marked the retrospective of a photographer. The title of the exhibition is A Journey of a Moment in Time: Raghu Rai and there are 185 photographs that have been exhibited to show the 40 years of this journey.

What a wonderful time I had—the depth of the man and his warmth, as well as Punjabi hospitality that did not allow my brother Ravinder and me to return without having a sumptuous lunch at the India International Centre, in New Delhi. Please click here to read my article and see some of Rai’s photographs.