studied Hindi for two years. In the summer of 1938 she sat her exams at the university and got her licence (degree) in child psychology.
With university behind her, Noor had to decide what to do next. The decision was not as straightforward for her as it might have been for the typical student. The Inayat Khan family had not been brought up in the expectation that they would take up traditional jobs. So despite her qualifications, Noor did not apply for a teaching post or try to become a professional musician. She was still engaged to Goldberg, despite Vilayat’s attempts to get her to break off her relationship with him. Noor had a stubborn streak, in that she would only do what she wanted to do, and she still hoped that her family would come round to accepting her fiancé.
To visitors who flooded through the gates of Fazal Manzil for the summer school, Noor gave the impression of being a shy, reclusive girl. She never spoke at the meetings which were often chaired by Vilayat and sometimes went for walks by herself in the evenings. Often she could be heard playing the harp by herself.
The family friend Baroness van Tuyll, who had invited her for her first holiday, now made her a proposal. Baroness van Tuyll was an illustrator of children’s books and worked under the professional name of Henriette Willebeek le Mair. She suggested to Noor that she work on an English translation of the Jataka Tales, a collection of about 500 stories and fables about the previous incarnations of the Buddha, which had always fascinated Noor as a child. Noor got to work immediately and chose twenty stories from the book.
She began waking up at six in the morning and writing continuously till around nine. Producing the book gave her a new purpose in life and she immersed herself in the stories of bravery, loyalty and sacrifice that she was translating. Afterwards she would come downstairs and tackle the mundane household tasks with renewed energy. Once she had submitted the manuscript she went for a holiday to the van Tuylls again and spent the winter with them. She studied the Koran and the Bible. She also continued her Hindi lessons and wanted to learn the Devanagari script saying it would help her in learning Sanskrit. The baroness taught her to play the veena, the instrument that Inayat Khan had played, and Noor spent a few happy months practising it. 34
Noor was becoming established as a writer. In 1938 she wrote for the children’s page of the Sunday Figaro and soon became one of their regular contributors. Her stories – usually about magical creatures and nature – were greatly appreciated by the paper. Noor had an endearing style that immediately drew in young readers.
‘Amongst the nymphs who lived on a high mountain slope was a little one who talked and talked and jabbered and chattered, even more than the crickets in the grass, and more than the sparrows in the trees. Her name was Echo,’ wrote Noor in her short story ‘Echo’. In another short story called ‘Perce-neige’ (Snowdrop) her protagonist was the daughter of ‘Great Sun’, a pretty little thing with ‘sun-ray hair and sky blue eyes’ who came down to earth to explore the big world. In both the stories, the bubbly characters spread joy all around, but were later called upon to make a sacrifice – a theme that seemed to run through many of Noor’s works.
Noor wrote prolifically, filling page after page with stories. She would always write in both English and French and often sketch as she went along. She wrote alone in her room, late into the night, and it seems that the fantasy world of her stories took her away from the troubles of Fazal Manzil and her unhappy engagement.
Noor’s stories and poems started taking on a happier tone, perhaps reflecting her pleasure in her newfound success as a writer. On the home front things began to improve as Amina Begum emerged from her phase of depression and the family began to settle down into a more regular
With university behind her, Noor had to decide what to do next. The decision was not as straightforward for her as it might have been for the typical student. The Inayat Khan family had not been brought up in the expectation that they would take up traditional jobs. So despite her qualifications, Noor did not apply for a teaching post or try to become a professional musician. She was still engaged to Goldberg, despite Vilayat’s attempts to get her to break off her relationship with him. Noor had a stubborn streak, in that she would only do what she wanted to do, and she still hoped that her family would come round to accepting her fiancé.
To visitors who flooded through the gates of Fazal Manzil for the summer school, Noor gave the impression of being a shy, reclusive girl. She never spoke at the meetings which were often chaired by Vilayat and sometimes went for walks by herself in the evenings. Often she could be heard playing the harp by herself.
The family friend Baroness van Tuyll, who had invited her for her first holiday, now made her a proposal. Baroness van Tuyll was an illustrator of children’s books and worked under the professional name of Henriette Willebeek le Mair. She suggested to Noor that she work on an English translation of the Jataka Tales, a collection of about 500 stories and fables about the previous incarnations of the Buddha, which had always fascinated Noor as a child. Noor got to work immediately and chose twenty stories from the book.
She began waking up at six in the morning and writing continuously till around nine. Producing the book gave her a new purpose in life and she immersed herself in the stories of bravery, loyalty and sacrifice that she was translating. Afterwards she would come downstairs and tackle the mundane household tasks with renewed energy. Once she had submitted the manuscript she went for a holiday to the van Tuylls again and spent the winter with them. She studied the Koran and the Bible. She also continued her Hindi lessons and wanted to learn the Devanagari script saying it would help her in learning Sanskrit. The baroness taught her to play the veena, the instrument that Inayat Khan had played, and Noor spent a few happy months practising it. 34
Noor was becoming established as a writer. In 1938 she wrote for the children’s page of the Sunday Figaro and soon became one of their regular contributors. Her stories – usually about magical creatures and nature – were greatly appreciated by the paper. Noor had an endearing style that immediately drew in young readers.
‘Amongst the nymphs who lived on a high mountain slope was a little one who talked and talked and jabbered and chattered, even more than the crickets in the grass, and more than the sparrows in the trees. Her name was Echo,’ wrote Noor in her short story ‘Echo’. In another short story called ‘Perce-neige’ (Snowdrop) her protagonist was the daughter of ‘Great Sun’, a pretty little thing with ‘sun-ray hair and sky blue eyes’ who came down to earth to explore the big world. In both the stories, the bubbly characters spread joy all around, but were later called upon to make a sacrifice – a theme that seemed to run through many of Noor’s works.
Noor wrote prolifically, filling page after page with stories. She would always write in both English and French and often sketch as she went along. She wrote alone in her room, late into the night, and it seems that the fantasy world of her stories took her away from the troubles of Fazal Manzil and her unhappy engagement.
Noor’s stories and poems started taking on a happier tone, perhaps reflecting her pleasure in her newfound success as a writer. On the home front things began to improve as Amina Begum emerged from her phase of depression and the family began to settle down into a more regular
Similar Books
