"Reality Is Far From Sparkling": The Maharani Of Baroda On Being A Royal

"We led a very ordinary life," says Radhikaraje Gaekwad, the Maharani of Baroda.

Although she was born into the Wankaner royal family and married the Maharaja of Baroda, Radhikaraje Gaekwad eschews the notion that her life has been extraordinary. Her father, Maharajkumar Dr Ranjitsinhji of Wankaner, was the first one to give up his title and become an IAS officer. "In 1984, when the Bhopal gas tragedy struck, he was posted as a commissioner there," Radhikaraje Gaekwad tells Humans of Bombay. She was only six at the time of the tragedy, but the Maharani Of Baroda says she remembers her father doing his duty "fearlessly" and helping evacuate people.  "That night, I learnt my first lesson-'You can't expect things to fall into place without lifting a finger'- a lesson that Baba stressed upon throughout my growing up years," she says. A few years after that, the family moved to Delhi. Ms Gaekwad describes her life there as "very ordinary", remembering that she used to go to school in public DTC buses thanks to her mother, who believed in making her children independent. "We led a very ordinary life, so when I visited Wankaner during summer holidays, I'd be amused by the attention people gave me," the Maharani Of Baroda told Humans of Bombay in her interview.