Jam Sahib Digvijaysinhji: The Indian Prince Who Saved 1,000 Orphans

​In the heat of World War II, when the world turned its back on Polish refugees fleeing the horrors of the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, one Indian Prince opened his doors—and his heart.

​In this episode, we explore the extraordinary life of Maharaja Jam Sahib Digvijaysinhji Ranjitsinhji of Nawanagar.

 Discover how he bypassed British colonial red tape to establish a sanctuary in Balachadi, Gujarat, famously telling Polish children, "You are no longer orphans. You are now Nawanagaris."

Whether you're a history buff, a fan of untold WWII stories, or interested in Indian royalty, this is a tale of compassion that will restore your faith in the human race. 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:07

Honourable Metro. Hello, listener. Thank you for tuning in yet again for another exciting episode of your favourite podcast. We best see if our friend is there before we do anything further. So Hello, Neil.

SPEAKER_02 0:25

Hello. Hello, Stephen.

SPEAKER_04 0:27

Did you enjoy last week's episode with our friend Rafael?

SPEAKER_02 0:30

He was a very nice man.

SPEAKER_04 0:32

Very nice man. Very nice man. Very nice man. Very, very, very, very nice man.

SPEAKER_02 0:37

I don't need to break into a song about it, but it was alright, thank you, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 0:40

Yeah. Well, I thought for this episode we'd follow on from Rafael's story a little. Follow on a little. And of course, because his story was about his dad who came from Poland.

SPEAKER_01 0:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 0:56

And was digging ditches for the Nazis in Poland. Yeah. But not by his own accord. He was forced to dig ditches for the Nazis in Poland.

SPEAKER_01 1:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:07

And then he left Poland and he went to America as a Polish American.

SPEAKER_02 1:14

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_04 1:15

We're starting our story in India.

SPEAKER_02 1:17

I can see where the link is for that one.

SPEAKER_04 1:19

Yeah. Follows on quite nicely, do you not think?

SPEAKER_02 1:22

Um being honest, no.

SPEAKER_04 1:25

Okay, well, let's reach out to the listener.

SPEAKER_02 1:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:28

Let's loop back at the end. And we can see where we are. So are you ready, listener? Are you ready? Hello, Neil.

SPEAKER_02 1:38

Yes, thank you very much, Stevie Stevie, Stevie.

SPEAKER_04 1:41

Are you strapped in, strapped down, and all ready to go?

SPEAKER_02 1:44

Strapped in, strapped on, and whatever you need me to be.

SPEAKER_04 1:46

Right, here we go. Let's go back through space and time once more for another exciting episode of Honourable Mentions. Known as the father of Indian cricket and one of the greatest batsmen of his time, Runjit Sinji, was born on the tenth of September 1872.

SPEAKER_02 2:08

Runjit Sinji.

SPEAKER_04 2:09

Between 1907 and 1933, he became ruler or Maharaja of his native Indian princely state. Now, before we go any further in this podcast, I do need to issue up front straight away an apology for anyone of a Gurjurati background, Indian background, whatever you want to call it, because I'm going to mangle some pronunciations here big time. You're multilinguist. So it's easy for you to mock, Neil.

SPEAKER_01 2:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 2:41

But I'm not. So between 1907 and 1933, our friend Runjit Sinji became ruler of Sinji. Maharaja. Or Maharaja, I don't, Neil, for paying attention. You're welcome. From his native Indian princely state, Nuanugar.

SPEAKER_02 3:00

Oh, I like Nugat.

SPEAKER_04 3:01

Present day Jam Nagar.

SPEAKER_02 3:03

I like that. I like Nugar styles.

SPEAKER_04 3:05

He played cricket for Cambridge University, I can pronounce these. He played cricket for Cambridge University, Sussex, London County, and in 15 Test matches for England. Is London a county? Apparently there was a cricket team called London County. I didn't go back in time and pick the team, Neil. I didn't name the team.

SPEAKER_02 3:32

Fifteen test matches. Uh 2,350.

SPEAKER_04 3:36

989.

SPEAKER_02 3:38

Oh, far off then. Far off, it's a good guess. I've scored two thousand.

SPEAKER_04 3:42

How would you explain, please, for uh non-cricket playing listeners? I don't know, let's say in the United States of America and such places in Canada, we have listeners and places like that. So these nations, please explain a test match and the game of your cricket.

SPEAKER_02 4:01

Um it's people throwing a ball at and you hit it, and a test match goes over five days. There you go. And if you hit a ball with a bit of wood and you try and hit it over some rope.

SPEAKER_04 4:13

Well, that's a very simple explanation.

SPEAKER_02 4:16

There you go. See, I know a ball back cricket. If it rolls out over the rope, it's a four, but if you hit it out and it doesn't bounce before it goes over the rope, that becomes a six.

SPEAKER_04 4:26

Six runs are accredited to the batsman. It's a game where you go out to be in and you're in until you got an out, and then when you're out, you go back in and someone else comes out and they're in until they're out.

SPEAKER_02 4:42

Yeah. And the batsman's holding the bowlers willy.

SPEAKER_04 4:45

Which is a famous quote from your cricket. Yes. So we've got here Runjit Sinji.

SPEAKER_02 4:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 4:52

Born on the tenth of September 1872. It was a bit of a cricket sensation.

SPEAKER_02 4:57

It's quite a big sport in India, isn't it?

SPEAKER_04 5:00

Well, isn't it? It's massive in India.

unknown 5:03

Massive.

SPEAKER_04 5:03

I think as well. I think cricket is the second biggest sport in the world.

SPEAKER_01 5:10

Sorry, Americans. Surely. I know you're football or soccer. No. Really?

SPEAKER_04 5:16

Soccer is the biggest sport in the world and I think it's cricket and then tennis. And I think you'll find rugby is not even in the top ten.

SPEAKER_02 5:23

Well it damn well needs to be.

SPEAKER_04 5:25

The nephew of Runjit Sinji.

SPEAKER_02 5:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 5:29

Dig Vijay Sinji. Runjits Sinji Jadeja. So again slowly. The nephew His nephew is called Dig Vijay Sinji. Runjit.

SPEAKER_02 5:41

Dig Vijay Sinji.

SPEAKER_04 5:43

Then his middle name or whatever, Runjit Sinji. Yeah. And his surname Jadeja. Dig Vijay Sinji Runjit Sinji Jadeja.

SPEAKER_02 5:53

Cool. What not still his forms in?

SPEAKER_04 5:57

He was born on the 18th of September 1895.

SPEAKER_02 6:02

1895.

SPEAKER_04 6:04

In the village of Sadodar, present day Gujarat, when India was still under the British Raj.

SPEAKER_01 6:12

Hmm. Whose Raj?

SPEAKER_04 6:14

No, you're thinking of Reg.

SPEAKER_02 6:16

Oh, right, that's probably how they pronounced it, was it?

SPEAKER_04 6:18

Brother of Ronnie.

SPEAKER_02 6:19

Yeah, there's a Rej looked out for the place. Ah, fair enough.

SPEAKER_04 6:22

Yeah. No, Dick VJ Sinji attended Rajkumar College in Rajcott. Raj is here. As well as Malvern College in England and University College, London.

SPEAKER_02 6:36

Malvern College. I was saying that's in England.

SPEAKER_04 6:40

In nineteen nineteen, he was commissioned as second lieutenant in the British Indian Army and enjoyed a military career for over a decade. Militar attached to the 125th Napier Rifles in 1920. That was it. Yeah, when I say attached to the 125th Napier Rifles, they didn't actually attach him to the rifles.

SPEAKER_02 7:05

Oh, okay. Sounds like that's all it was. Could look like it's a like a transformer sort of shooty thing. That's quite cool.

SPEAKER_04 7:14

He glued himself and they said you can't do that, but he stuck to his guns. He served with the Egyptian Expeditionary Force, later receiving a promotion to Lieutenant in 1921, eventually retiring as a captain in nineteen thirty-one. Captain Shah. So that's just gone half past seven. Two minutes later in nineteen thirty-three, Runjitsinji died of heart failure on the second of April after a short illness.

SPEAKER_02 7:52

Runjits Sinji, that's the cricketer, isn't it?

SPEAKER_04 7:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:55

That's his uncle.

SPEAKER_04 7:56

He left an estate in England worth 185,958 of your English pounds.

SPEAKER_02 8:05

That's very precise.

SPEAKER_04 8:07

Which is worth today.

SPEAKER_02 8:09

Erm three and a half million.

SPEAKER_04 8:14

Oh, you naive young pup. Thirteen point six million. Not to mention his princely states back in old India. Following the death of his uncle, Digvi J. Sinji became Maharaja Jam Sahib. Or Sahib.

SPEAKER_01 8:31

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 8:32

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. As a consequence, he would continue to receive honorary promotions of the Indian Army until 1947, ending with the rank of Lieutenant General.

SPEAKER_01 8:43

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 8:46

That's what happens, isn't it, if you're royalty or whatever they keep throwing medals on you.

SPEAKER_02 8:50

Yeah, they do, yeah. To bust out your chest.

SPEAKER_04 8:59

Okay. Jam Sahib was of a robust and stout build with black hair and a mustache.

SPEAKER_02 9:05

He needed to do all those medals on his chest. He probably did. Did he have a robust moustache? A little Tom Sedicky and look at Magnum P.I.

SPEAKER_04 9:13

He had what you call a modern moustache, not one of your curly waxed jobs. It was like an everyday mustache you'd see these days and wouldn't blink twice.

SPEAKER_02 9:21

Big old, thick old fella though, eh?

SPEAKER_04 9:23

It was a big old thick old fella. But it was, yeah, just your ordinary mustache. People said he had a very kind and approachable face.

SPEAKER_02 9:33

I have that. People say that about me.

SPEAKER_04 9:35

No, they say slappable. I think I'm you're mishearing them now.

SPEAKER_02 9:40

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 9:40

Probably because of the number of slaps you get. He often yeah, I think so. He often wore a military uniform or a traditional Judpi suit of a long length jacket over a closed upright collar, which was often fastened with jewelled buttons.

SPEAKER_02 9:59

Nice.

SPEAKER_04 10:00

Sometimes made of gold, sometimes made of enamel, or small precious stones that matched his other accessories.

SPEAKER_02 10:10

Oh, it's got a match.

SPEAKER_04 10:12

And by accessories, Neil. I don't mean a Largas dog tag necklace that says dad on it. I'm talking like he was well iced up in that in it.

SPEAKER_02 10:22

What what about his handbag?

SPEAKER_04 10:24

Well, let's have a look at what sort of accessories he was carrying, shall we?

SPEAKER_02 10:28

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 10:31

It was some of your proper tomfoolery this guy had on. He wasn't mucking, you weren't messing about. Like the Nua Nougar Ruby necklace he commissioned from Cartier.

SPEAKER_02 10:42

I do like nougar. It's nice. I like the nutty one. Once you get from the fair with the big blocks.

SPEAKER_04 10:46

Yeah, that's this is a completely different thing. But you keep on thinking about that now. What I talk to the listener.

SPEAKER_02 10:52

I often think about nougar. Do you? Hmm. Doing it now. Carry on.

SPEAKER_04 10:56

Yeah, you carry on doing that, and I'll talk to the listener. He commissioned this ruby necklace from Cartier, which featured 116 Burmese rubies, totaling over 170 carrots, which he then coupled with the Eye of the Tiger.

SPEAKER_02 11:20

What do they call it carrots? So why is it called carrots?

SPEAKER_04 11:32

Um they call them carrots because a carrot is orangey colour and sand colour as gold more or less, isn't it, I suppose.

SPEAKER_02 11:40

Is that what it is?

SPEAKER_04 11:41

I don't know, Neil.

SPEAKER_02 11:43

Well perhaps you should research that, please. Perhaps if a listener is out there that knows why it's called a carrot and the meaning of the word carrot, they could send a messages to us. To honourable mentionspod at gmail.com. I'd be glad to listen to that.

SPEAKER_04 11:57

Yeah? Yeah. Would you like some nougar stories alongside?

SPEAKER_02 12:01

Are you quite happy what their favourite nougar is, whether it's the pink one or the white and blue I like the white ones, but there's different coloured nougar. But yeah, it'd be nice to know but what the carrot is and what it what the uh relevance of it is. That'd be wonderful. Thank you very much indeed. There's my request to carry on boom.

SPEAKER_04 12:16

Why do we call it nougar when we were kids that used to call nugget?

SPEAKER_02 12:19

It is nugget, but it's possible nougar, isn't it? It's like scone and scone, isn't it, whatever you want to say it.

SPEAKER_04 12:24

Anyway, returning to his ruby necklace he commissioned from Gartier, which featured 116 Burmese rubies.

SPEAKER_01 12:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 12:32

He couple with the Eye of the Tiger turban ornament, a rare sixty-one point five carat whiskey coloured diamond. He was rising up straight to the top, wasn't he?

SPEAKER_02 12:46

Well he's just but if it's whiskey coloured, there's different coloured whiskey, isn't it?

SPEAKER_04 12:50

So He took his time, took his chances. What's the difference? No, he's not gonna stop. Sure. Sorry. He was nainted in nineteen thirty-five, probably for his services to Bling.

SPEAKER_01 13:01

Yeah, probably.

SPEAKER_04 13:02

And joined the Chamber of Princes, leading it as a president from nineteen thirty-seven to nineteen forty-three, Neil.

SPEAKER_02 13:09

Wow. So a tour of the princes.

SPEAKER_04 13:12

The Chamber of Princes wasn't a Harry Potter book. I've written that down here because I to I thought that's what it was, but I researched it. But a political body established in nineteen twenty.

SPEAKER_02 13:26

A political body?

SPEAKER_04 13:27

Yes, by King George V.

SPEAKER_02 13:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 13:31

As a forum for rulers of India's princely states to discuss their interests with the colonial government.

SPEAKER_02 13:38

Discuss their interests.

SPEAKER_04 13:40

Well, what interests they could possibly have, because we were all in the place, and we were very fair, and I didn't think we were better than anybody else at all, did we? Um So I'd imagine they had equal opportunities to put forward their views and cases on a number of things that we listened to solemnly and then ignored.

SPEAKER_02 13:58

Do you think they'll be talking about a new flavour of Muller Light and things like that?

SPEAKER_04 14:02

I reckon they were just kept talking while we were robbing them of all their princely things and putting it into the British Museum.

SPEAKER_02 14:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 14:10

Don't look over there, look over here, look, I've got new gar.

SPEAKER_02 14:13

They probably chucked one of the new rhubarb crumble Muller lights onto the table and they're all like, oh, what's this? And then they went out and robbed the place when they were eating it.

SPEAKER_04 14:21

Took all the princely things back to the British Museum.

SPEAKER_02 14:25

Hmm.

SPEAKER_04 14:25

Well, they still remain to this very day. If anyone wants to go, it's free to get in as well. Upholding the cricketing tradition of his uncle, Jam Sahib also served as president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India in 1937 to 1938, and was a member of several prominent sporting clubs. He even played a single first class match during the 1933-34 season when he captained Western India against the MCC during its tour of India and Ceylon.

SPEAKER_02 15:00

Midsex County Cricket Club.

SPEAKER_04 15:02

Marleybone County Cricket Club. You sure? MCC.

SPEAKER_02 15:08

Is it?

SPEAKER_04 15:08

Yes, there's a lot to unpack here in this little paragraph, so we'll do that, shall we?

SPEAKER_02 15:12

Yes, please.

SPEAKER_04 15:13

The first class match in your cricket is for people who are a very very good standard. Not for stamps, no. It's people of a very good standard. So first class is the highest you can go with that being an international.

SPEAKER_01 15:29

Right.

SPEAKER_04 15:30

So it's like an NFL football at college level. The first class will be then going on to play pro for the Seattle Seahawks and the Miami Dolphins and the New England Patriots and others that I can't think of. The Marleybone Cricket Club, MCC, is the club that you have to join. And I don't think you can just join. I think you have to be invited to join, I believe. That's based at Lords.

SPEAKER_02 15:57

Well, they hail people.

SPEAKER_04 16:00

No, you're thinking of Lourdes in France. I'm talking about Lord's The Cricket Ground, which is in in London, not far from Abbey Road, which is where the Beatles recorded and had their famous walking along the Zebra Crossing photograph.

SPEAKER_02 16:18

With no shoes on. Well poor McCartney didn't. Conspiracy.

SPEAKER_04 16:22

Ceylon is the former name of Sri Lanka.

SPEAKER_01 16:26

Alright.

SPEAKER_04 16:27

So there go, we've unpacked that's the paragraph for you and the listener. So a friend here only played one match Jam Sahib.

SPEAKER_01 16:41

He played two innings and his score was three.

SPEAKER_04 16:48

Ooh, that's not bad.

SPEAKER_02 16:50

Across two innings or across two innings, three.

SPEAKER_04 16:54

No, double it.

SPEAKER_02 16:56

Oh hang on there. Across four innings. No, across two innings. Give me fingers at six.

SPEAKER_04 17:03

Oh, well done, Neil. That was a good guess.

SPEAKER_02 17:05

Thank you.

SPEAKER_04 17:06

He scored a duck, which again, for our non-cricket appreciating listeners, means he didn't score any runs at all.

SPEAKER_01 17:14

Alright.

SPEAKER_04 17:15

And then in the second innings he got six.

SPEAKER_02 17:18

Well, hit a six or just got six runs.

SPEAKER_04 17:20

We don't know. I don't know. I don't know. We just don't know, Neil. I wouldn't push that if I were you.

SPEAKER_02 17:24

No, probably won't.

SPEAKER_04 17:26

Just leave that where it is.

SPEAKER_02 17:30

Oh, here we go. How many days? Just let it lie. Or that one. Check that out booty.

SPEAKER_04 17:35

You need to let it lie now, Neil, please.

SPEAKER_02 17:37

So look.

SPEAKER_04 17:38

Rumour has it that to this very day you can hear the ghost of his uncle slapping his forehead.

SPEAKER_02 17:44

Slapping his forehead?

SPEAKER_04 17:46

Yes, in despair.

SPEAKER_02 17:48

Is that euphemism?

SPEAKER_04 17:49

No, not at all. What would it be a euphemism for, please, Neil? During the Second World War During the War. During the war, the Maharaja Jam Sahib served in the Imperial War Cabinet and the National Defence Council along with a Pacific War Council. So he's a busy boy.

SPEAKER_02 18:09

Pacific War Council. So they're on about just about the ocean.

SPEAKER_04 18:13

Imagine he was like potholes and parking fines and that sort of stuff. While he was off doing all that, an actual war was going on that displaced entire populations. Are you aware of this?

SPEAKER_01 18:24

No.

SPEAKER_04 18:25

Now, this is where I cleverly loop back to last week's episode with our friend Rafael.

SPEAKER_02 18:37

You did, yes.

SPEAKER_04 18:38

But when Nazi Germany invaded Poland, do you see?

SPEAKER_01 18:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 18:43

In September 1939, the Soviet Union struck from the east just days later under the Molotov Ripentrop Pact.

SPEAKER_02 18:55

Oh not even getting me around that one.

SPEAKER_04 18:58

It's a non-aggression treaty that featured a ten year non-aggression clause between Germany and and the USSR. And a secret agreement to divide Eastern Europe, including Poland, the Baltics and Finland, into Germany and Soviet spheres of influence.

SPEAKER_01 19:15

I didn't know that.

SPEAKER_04 19:17

What do you mean you didn't know that?

SPEAKER_02 19:19

Well, um what I mean by I didn't know that means um I didn't know that.

SPEAKER_04 19:25

And would you like to elaborate more?

SPEAKER_02 19:27

I which me didn't as a negated negative um unable to or didn't know that.

SPEAKER_01 19:36

What?

SPEAKER_04 19:38

Well you just said you p you didn't know about the Molotov Ribbentrop Pact. Oh Your Lost. Your loss. It was named after this fella.

SPEAKER_02 19:54

Oh, okay. There you go then.

SPEAKER_04 19:56

It was the agreement that effectively paved the way for World War II by giving Hitler freedom to invade Poland without Soviet interference. So he thought, oh I can sweep in there, do me job, no one's gonna stop me because the Soviets aren't interested in stopping me, because we've got a piece of paper here that says they won't. Between nineteen thirty nine and nineteen forty one, the Soviets swept into eastern Poland and deported hundreds of thousands of civilians, including women and children, to Siberia, Kazakhstan and Central Asia. And along the way, many of them perished from hunger, hard labour, and sub zero temperatures.

SPEAKER_02 20:41

They swept them out. Oh I see.

SPEAKER_04 20:44

It was a joke. Just wait a moment, listen there while I put my ribs back, 'cause I fear they have burst. Meanwhile, the Germans began a brutal occupation of the rest of the country, destroying Polish culture and throwing in a spot of ethnic cleansing and genocide, leading to immense Polish casualties and eventually the systematic murder of three million Polish Jews. That's bad there. That's bad, innit? Then in 1941 the world was shocked. Why? Well, Neil, because the two most genial members of the Gettelong gang fell out.

SPEAKER_02 21:26

And Hitler turned on Stalin. Get along gang. Oh right, okay, you mean Staling and Hitler?

SPEAKER_04 21:33

Stalin and Hitler, yes. Making the Soviet Union a sudden ally of the West.

SPEAKER_02 21:38

Oh, nice.

SPEAKER_04 21:40

Hitler invaded the USSR in Operation Barbarossa, which was driven by Nazi ideology's quest for Lebensrealm. Are you on a bit? I told you this episode. Living space in the East. That's what they wanted. For German settlement and self-sufficiency. They also wanted U.S. Ukraine's vast agricultural land and Russia's oil fields.

SPEAKER_02 22:09

Well, not that I know of. They probably can't get through those fields full of oil.

SPEAKER_04 22:14

Yeah, what sort of oil it was. Baby oil.

SPEAKER_02 22:17

Yeah, that'll smell nice.

SPEAKER_04 22:19

Imagine that, having to fight and wrestle in that.

SPEAKER_01 22:22

Yeah. Oh, hang on.

SPEAKER_04 22:24

The Nazis viewed the local Slavic populations as inferior and fit for enslavement or extermination. Do you know what? The more I read, I'm starting to get the impression that the Nazis weren't very nice.

SPEAKER_02 22:37

I don't think they were. Not tolerant of a lot of things, were they?

SPEAKER_04 22:40

No. Hitler also saw communism as being led by Jewish Bolsheviks. Adds to all that that Germany's belief that the USSR was weakened and eliminating them would remove the major European superpower and isolate blighty. Isolate Britain.

SPEAKER_02 22:57

Blighty? No. We're going to isolate Blighty, young man. We've got to do more than that.

SPEAKER_04 23:03

Who do you think you are kidding, Mr. Hitler? When you say oh England's done.

SPEAKER_02 23:08

Yeah. Go and pick your bottle up in the elbow.

SPEAKER_04 23:11

Thereby securing Germany's dominance.

SPEAKER_01 23:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 23:17

All of which meant that breaking the Molotov Ribbon Trop Pact seemed like a jolly good idea.

SPEAKER_02 23:25

It wasn't though, was it?

SPEAKER_04 23:26

It wasn't. Hello, Deal.

SPEAKER_02 23:28

Hello.

SPEAKER_04 23:30

You're probably thinking, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, Stephen. Yes, yes, Stephen, yes. Is that what you're thinking?

SPEAKER_02 23:35

I've been thinking that since the first minute of this podcast, but you know.

SPEAKER_04 23:39

But what's all this got to do with our friend the Maharaja Jam Sahib? Exactly. 'Cause I started with India, I looped back round and reached out to Poland.

SPEAKER_01 23:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 23:51

And now we're going to sit down and discuss Maharaja Jam Sahib and where he fits into all this, you see.

SPEAKER_02 23:59

Yes, please. Because of the charm in the sandwich.

SPEAKER_04 24:10

I've only just put my ribs back in and now they have burst again, listener.

SPEAKER_02 24:14

There you go. You're welcome.

SPEAKER_04 24:15

As a consequence of the USSR suddenly jumping to defend itself against the Nazis, thousands of Polish deportees were released. Because as you remember, Neil, they were led off to the dreamlands of Kazakhstan and Siberia.

SPEAKER_01 24:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 24:32

Where they were left to basically work themselves to death or starve to death or freeze to death. Tempting choices.

SPEAKER_01 24:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 24:41

And by released, I mean the Russians said to them, There you go, you're free to leave now. Go on, shoo. As a multilinguist near. Get out.

SPEAKER_02 24:50

Get out. Ski. And that's the Russian for That's Russian for you're free to leave now.

SPEAKER_04 24:58

That's the actual Russian for it, isn't it?

SPEAKER_02 25:00

Yeah, it is, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 25:01

Thank you. I do find these educational, your little uh multilingual interludes.

SPEAKER_02 25:05

You're welcome.

SPEAKER_04 25:06

Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 25:07

Is this fair? Get out now, ski.

SPEAKER_04 25:10

Excellent.

SPEAKER_02 25:10

And that means the opponents this way, feel free to move on.

SPEAKER_04 25:14

Thank you. I don't know about you listener, but I do learn a lot. But most of the poles had nothing to return to because their families had been slaughtered and the homes have been burnt down, and it was all a bit of a two-lady. It was all a bit of a how's your father.

SPEAKER_01 25:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 25:28

Regardless thing, but on a desperate journey south through Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and into Persia or modern day Iran.

SPEAKER_02 25:37

Nice name, Persia.

SPEAKER_04 25:38

It's nice to sound name.

SPEAKER_02 25:41

Sounds softer.

SPEAKER_04 25:42

Those that made it that far joined the Polish army under Lieutenant General Vladislav Anders.

SPEAKER_01 25:50

Nice.

SPEAKER_04 25:51

And ended up fighting the Nazis alongside Stalin's Red Army. Red Army. So there you were, kicked out your house, seeing it burnt down, probably a few of your family members murdered in front of your eyes, dragged across half a continent by the Red Army. They then say, Ah, you can go now. We're fighting the Nazis.

SPEAKER_01 26:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 26:13

Make your own way through the big battles of the Soviets and the Nazis. And by the way, when you get there, can you do us a favour, pick up some guns and fight on our side?

SPEAKER_01 26:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 26:24

And that's what they did. But sadly, back in Siberia and Kazakhstan and the like, many children and orphans were left behind in limbo.

SPEAKER_02 26:33

What, trying to get under short poles?

SPEAKER_04 26:35

Why would they be trying to get under short poles?

SPEAKER_02 26:37

It was limbo.

SPEAKER_04 26:38

Ah, see. I don't know where limbo is. It must be over that way.

SPEAKER_02 26:42

Yeah, I can just see her trying to get underneath the pole. It was the pole. Yeah, where you see where you see these people bend back right backwards and they sort of scrooch themselves along on their feet and they go underneath the pole.

SPEAKER_04 26:50

Yeah, but who was this pole? Walter?

SPEAKER_02 26:52

No, it was limbo.

SPEAKER_04 26:53

Ladislav. Limbo pole.

SPEAKER_02 26:56

Yeah, do you know him?

SPEAKER_04 26:58

No.

SPEAKER_02 26:58

Yeah, it's quite famous in the Caribbean and stuff, they do it quite a lot over there.

SPEAKER_04 27:02

Do they? Hmm. Lots of Polish over there. Yeah. And they try and get underneath them. Yep. Interesting. There you go. So these children orphans were left behind in Limbo, this place called Limbo, too weak to march or without a family to guide them.

SPEAKER_02 27:17

Oh, that's a shame.

SPEAKER_04 27:19

It was in this moment of hellish despair that salvation came for these children from a most unexpected place.

SPEAKER_02 27:28

Ooh, go on then.

SPEAKER_04 27:29

Where do you think this unexpected place may have been?

SPEAKER_02 27:32

India.

SPEAKER_04 27:34

And how have you come to that conclusion?

SPEAKER_02 27:36

Because we're talking about well, we did start talking about India, then we went off another tangent and we're back on India.

SPEAKER_04 27:42

That's how it looked, shall we? You're sitting comfortably.

SPEAKER_01 27:46

Not yet. And now yep.

SPEAKER_04 27:48

Good. Then we'll begin. Hearing of the plight of weak and starved and innocent children abandoned to scratch a survival in harsh foreign lands, Maharaja Jam Sahib immediately flung open his doors and gave orders that these children should be gathered and bought to live in his palace. He believed India's princely states had duty not just to their own people but to the entire world.

SPEAKER_02 28:13

I agree with that.

SPEAKER_04 28:14

In nineteen forty-two he established the Balachadi camp near Jam Nagar, turning his own summer estate by the sea into a home for around one thousand Polish orphans and refugee children. Nice. At Balachadi, all the children were given clean clothing, proper meals, and medical care after years of starvation.

SPEAKER_02 28:40

That's nice.

SPEAKER_04 28:41

Polish teachers were smuggled from under Nazi occupation to help maintain language and cultural identity. I suppose you're multilinguist.

SPEAKER_02 28:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 28:54

You'd fit in quite well.

SPEAKER_02 28:55

Yeah, absolutely, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 28:56

Schools were established so the children could study in Polish, but they're also taught to interact with local Indian communities. But I'd imagine quite a few of the children would have probably been also Jewish. Did they have a synagogue as well? I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 29:28

Well they just get what they're given, don't they?

SPEAKER_04 29:30

Well, you're not going to complain, I suppose, are they?

SPEAKER_02 29:32

No, certainly. You've been rescued like that. Don't kick the horse that feeds you or whatever that saying is.

SPEAKER_04 29:38

Okay, we'll leave that there, because I'm not interested in going further down that particular rabbit hole. The Maharaja personally visited every child, satisfying himself that they felt cared for. Survivors later recalled his warmth describing him as a father figure who restored dignity.

SPEAKER_02 29:55

Like a hot water bottle.

SPEAKER_04 29:57

In fact, Neil. Hello, Neil. Hello. In fact, as soon as they were all fed, clean, safe, and settled, he stood in front of them and paraphrased one of the immortal movie lines.

SPEAKER_02 30:09

Oh, was it? My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius.

SPEAKER_04 30:13

Almost. He said, You are no longer orphans, you are Nawar Nagales. Take your stinking paws off me, you damn dirty ape.

SPEAKER_01 30:23

What film is that from? Is that from Elf?

SPEAKER_04 30:26

Oh that's a good guess. No, you probably wouldn't recognise it because I did rather a better job than Chelton Heston. But it was Planet of the Apes.

SPEAKER_01 30:36

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_04 30:37

When he was in that net and they were prodding him and he said, Take your stinking paws off me, you damn dirty ape. It's good that was it.

SPEAKER_02 30:46

It was very good, yeah. Very emotional.

SPEAKER_04 30:48

Very emotional, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_02 30:49

Mm.

SPEAKER_04 30:50

And then, of course, once his courtiers had cleared all the monkeys out, he tried again. And this time he said to the children, You are no longer orphans, you are now an agaris, and I am your father.

SPEAKER_02 31:05

That's the famous line from a film. I know. Well done.

SPEAKER_04 31:10

I can't do Darfeda, can you do Darfeda?

SPEAKER_01 31:12

I are your father.

SPEAKER_02 31:17

There you go.

SPEAKER_03 31:18

No, I am your father.

SPEAKER_02 31:22

You can't do Dharfa.

SPEAKER_04 31:23

Those rescued and brought to Balachadi later called themselves the Maharaja's children, and for many India became their second homeland.

SPEAKER_01 31:34

Nice.

SPEAKER_04 31:34

Some stayed in India for years after the war, some stayed for a while before emigrating to the UK, USA, Canada, or Australia. But every single child carried lifelong memories of kindness and the image of an Indian ruler who saw beyond race, religion, or nation.

SPEAKER_02 31:54

Lovely man.

SPEAKER_04 31:55

Lovely isn't he the loveliest of lovely men. Yeah. The story of Balachadi cemented a bond between Poland and India that remains strong to this very day. It does. A school in Warsaw is named after the Maharaja. Monuments honouring him and the children exist in Warsaw and in Jamnagar or Jamnagar. Yeah. In twenty eleven, so just about ten past eight, the Polish Parliament issued an official resolution of gratitude to the Maharaja and the people of India.

SPEAKER_02 32:33

Yeah. Every year. Could they do like what they do over here? 'Cause I mean it's it's a prestigious thing to be twinned with another town. Have they done that with it over there?

SPEAKER_04 32:43

Well, you've rather jumped in with both feet then, Neil, because every year Polish delegations visit Gujarat to honour his memory, often joined by the descendants of the children he saved from a certain and terrible death.

SPEAKER_02 32:57

Yeah. That's nothing to do with twinning the town, is it?

SPEAKER_04 33:02

No, but it is keeping that link there. It's a bit more than twinning the town.

SPEAKER_02 33:07

Well twinning the town's a massive thing, isn't it? I mean, you see all these twinned with pennyfrig or something in well, and you think, What the hell's that? That's something to be proud of, isn't it? And then when you go to these towns, they look nothing like the town you've come from. It's ridiculous.

SPEAKER_04 33:22

Have you finished on your town twinning rant?

SPEAKER_02 33:25

Well, I just answered the point of it. Does that look anything like each other?

SPEAKER_04 33:28

Balachadi existed until 1945 when it was closed and the children and guardians were transferred to Vali Vade in Kolhapur.

SPEAKER_02 33:40

He played for Celeste, didn't he? That's Jamie Vardy. Oh.

SPEAKER_04 33:45

Which was a major settlement of over five thousand Polish refugees.

SPEAKER_02 33:50

Oh.

SPEAKER_04 33:51

Mostly women and children who escaped Soviet labor camps during World War II. It functioned as a small Polish town with its own schools, church, and theatre as well.

SPEAKER_02 34:02

Oh no, that should have been good there then.

SPEAKER_04 34:03

In the middle of India. You wouldn't expect that, would you? There you are out in India, and then all of a sudden there's this Polish village full of Polish people. You think, have I got on the wrong bus? What's got going on here? But there it was. Today Balachadi is part of a three hundred acre school campus.

SPEAKER_01 34:22

Oh.

SPEAKER_04 34:24

As for Jam Sahib himself, on the fifteenth of August 1947, India became independent of British rule.

SPEAKER_02 34:33

Yes, it did, yes.

SPEAKER_04 34:34

On that day he signed the instrument of accession to the Dominion of India. No, uh a trombone.

SPEAKER_02 34:44

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 34:45

So he had to sign that, and then to to complete the the ceremony, he had to tap it on the bottom with a banjo.

SPEAKER_01 34:52

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 34:53

That was signed by all the rulers of princely states agreeing to transfer control over defence, external affairs, and communications, and allowed the creation of the new independent nation of India. Jam Sahib merged Nawanagar into the United States of Kati Urwa the following year, serving as its chief of state until the government of India abolished the post in nineteen fifty-six. Four minutes to eight. Didn't give you very long, did they?

SPEAKER_02 35:30

No, no, the post that must that wrong there, do they? This is a concrete one.

SPEAKER_04 35:34

No. And I do apologize again for any of our Indian or Gajarati listeners at me mangling these names. In nineteen fifty, he was the deputy leader of the Indian delegation to the UN and chaired both the UN Administration Tribunal and the UN negotiating committee on Korean rehabilitation following the Korean War. So that went well, didn't it?

SPEAKER_02 36:00

Yeah. Didn't he do a good job?

SPEAKER_04 36:02

No problems there after that.

SPEAKER_02 36:03

No, not at all.

SPEAKER_04 36:04

During the Nazi years of World War II, six million Poles died.

SPEAKER_02 36:10

That's a lot, isn't it?

SPEAKER_04 36:12

That's incomprehensible, really, isn't it?

SPEAKER_02 36:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 36:14

Three million of the victims were Jews. So half of all those six million Poles were Jewish. Of Poland's 3.3 million pre-war Jewish population, how many survived?

SPEAKER_02 36:29

300,000.

SPEAKER_04 36:30

It's a very good guess.

SPEAKER_02 36:31

Yeah, well you said three million died, so I just took that off to three point three.

SPEAKER_04 36:35

Mine's like a steel trap.

SPEAKER_02 36:37

Oh yeah. Told you.

SPEAKER_04 36:38

Fewer than three hundred and seventy-five thousand survived.

SPEAKER_02 36:42

There you go.

SPEAKER_04 36:42

Told ya. Imagine that though. Three point three million down to three hundred and seventy-five thousand in six years.

SPEAKER_02 36:50

You'd be able to get a bus, wouldn't you?

SPEAKER_04 36:53

But not I can't believe he just swept it all aside. No wonder they called old Jam Sahib the good Maharaja, isn't it? No.

SPEAKER_02 37:03

Lovely man.

SPEAKER_04 37:05

Jam Sahib died in Bombay on the third of February 1966 of natural causes. He was seventy years old.

SPEAKER_02 37:14

Nice.

SPEAKER_04 37:15

He was survived by his only son, Shu Tru Salyasinji.

SPEAKER_01 37:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 37:23

His only son, Shu Tru Salyasinji, who actually did become a first class cricketer for Saurashtra, the peninsula region in southwestern Gujarat. Shu True Salyasinji was a decent batsman who once clocked up the 164, not out.

SPEAKER_02 37:46

Nice. That's not that image.

SPEAKER_04 37:48

No, for our uh uh non-cricketing listener, that's that's a good here. That's good, that is very, very good. Let's do it in in a first class match as well. Good on you, mate. Still, Neil.

SPEAKER_01 38:00

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 38:01

I reckon Runjitsinji would have been more proud of his son than his grandson, even if his son was pretty useless at cricket.

SPEAKER_02 38:09

Yeah, definitely.

SPEAKER_04 38:10

Do you think so?

SPEAKER_02 38:11

Absolutely, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 38:13

Yeah, what a fella.

SPEAKER_02 38:15

What a nice man.

SPEAKER_04 38:16

The good Maharaja.

SPEAKER_02 38:17

Take in all those orphans, all those kids, and look after them and feed them and everything else like that.

SPEAKER_04 38:22

He's very, very well known in Poland, and he's very well known in his Indian region. So this may not come as a true Honourable mention for some people, because they would have heard of him because of what he did.

SPEAKER_02 38:35

But It's nice to highlight these things, isn't it?

SPEAKER_04 38:37

He gave them shelter and he gave them food and he gave them life.

SPEAKER_02 38:41

Yes, he did.

SPEAKER_04 38:43

And he gave them the chance to make something of their life.

SPEAKER_02 38:46

A thankless task.

SPEAKER_04 38:48

So there we go. Thank you, listener. We will be back again next week with Honourable Mentions.

SPEAKER_02 38:55

Episode of Honourable Mentions. Honestly, your timing, you need to get your mentions.

SPEAKER_04 39:01

You need to get your time in right, Neil, please. Before we do another mentions episode of Honorable Mentions.

SPEAKER_02 39:08

And if anybody wants to tell us about a carrot um not the vegetable time because we know what they are. Uh it's about the carrots for jewellery and their favourite nougat or nougar.

SPEAKER_04 39:19

Well, if anyone wants to do that, Neil, they can get us on Reddit, they can get us on TikTok, they can get us on Facebook, they can get us now on YouTube as well. And they can get us on the other ones I haven't mentioned. If anyone wants to know the answer to our question that we set a few episodes back about spotless deliberate error, the deliberate error was that Neil used the incorrect name for John F. Kennedy. What did you say, Neil, please?

SPEAKER_02 39:48

John Franklin Kennedy, I said.

SPEAKER_04 39:50

And just a couple of seconds later, I said John Fitzgerald Kennedy, which is the correct name. And that's what we were looking for you to spot. We had lots of people trying to, but no one actually got the right answer, so we made it too difficult, I think, don't you, Neil? But that's the that's the problem with us being towering intellectuals.

SPEAKER_02 40:07

I think if we go for the nough thing, we might hit a few more notes.

SPEAKER_04 40:11

We did have a lot of people entering, uh, but nobody got the right answer, I'm afraid.

SPEAKER_02 40:15

Or any recipes to do with nougar. Whoa, now we're talking.

SPEAKER_04 40:18

But I'd also like to say, just before we do leave you, listener, that after last week's episode with Rafael, if you have any family stories or anyone in your town, or who went to your school, or anything like that, who led a life that might be worthy of an Honorable Mention. Let us know. Get in touch, and you never know, you might find yourself featuring on an episode of Honorable Mention. Thank you very much, and we'll see you again soon. Au revoir. Bonjour.

SPEAKER_00 40:52

Quiet Piggy. The Donald is speaking now. You know, that was fake news. Still fake. India did not win the Second World War. Everybody knows that was America. God bless the United States. Terrific. Brave American patriots saved Europe's ass. And if it wasn't for us, all the Indy Iranians would be speaking German right now. So true. They should thank me every day. But they don't. Very sad. So sad. People say to me, very smart people, the best. They say, sir. Have you ever listened to honorable mentions? It's a podcast. I don't, but if I did, I'd be the best listener. No one would have seen a listener like me until all these honorable mentions people are in the UK. That's near Europe where India is. I love the UK. Big fans. King Charles. I love King Charles. These fingers now. Like sausages. Bigly sausages. You know, a very smart person in the UK that said to me, sir, you're the greatest negotiator I've ever seen. Why don't you ask people to like, share, subscribe, and leave a five-star review for honorable mentions? I think I'll do that. And if you don't do it, I'll put a 1,000% tariff on the cost of your air. See how you like that. You should be buying good, almost clean American air anyway. You know, I have great respect for honorable mentions. You can follow them on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, and TikTok, but not on Proof Social. They're not there. I might get JD Vans to email them at honorable mentionspod at gmail.com. Find out why. Seems strange to me. It's the biggliest of all of them. Honorable mentions is researched by Stephen Webb, but he's no good. A real loser. I'd be terrific at it. The best of all time. I have all the best words anyway. You ever heard of Uncover Brother productions? I'm asking the FBI C I A D A A T F K F C NASA and MMs to investigate them. Very bad people. Nasty people. Not Trump fans at all. I have to go now as it's time for my numbs. And Melania says that afterwards I can have a dance to Peppy and the Bandits if I eat it all up without making a scene. I hope it's McDonald's again. That's my favorite. Covet. Excuse me. I'll have Vance clean that up later. I'm told that Peppy and the Bandits wrote and performed a theme tune for honorable mentions. A lot of people don't realize, but I invented that. Give them a listen wherever you scream your music. So much better than bad bunny. Not a good person. Oh no. It's dribbling out the leg of my pants. Gotta go.