By Dr. Shamir Singh Virk
Retd. Professor Khalsa College, Amritsar
Diana, Princess of Whales, was a mother, a lover, and tireless charity and humanitarian personality of twentieth century. Simone Simmons, a healer and the closest friend and confidante of Diana, to whom she shared almost everything – “That she was thinking in the way the women do and many men don’t.” She always said to, “Simone, if anything happens to me, write a book and tell it, like it is.”
“Ever since her 1996 divorce from Charles, she was transformed from protected royal princess to free-floating global celebrity and in late nineties thirty six-year old, unmarried Pakistani Cardiologist, Hasnat Khan came to her life. Diana loved him who was worthy of her affections, and who heart-fully reciprocated her feelings. She once confessed to Lady Bowker, “I found my peace with him, and, he has given me all the things I need. ”
Hasnat, too, loved her as well, “What was best about Diana – her compassionate nature, and her innate urge, to embrace her humanitarian causes.” But, in return, he did not want anything and proudly refused her materialistic offers. In a way, Hasnat was more giver than Diana to him and he took on this relationship of love and friendship in a most fulfilling way.
Diana’s, parting with Charles and her unfruitful- desire to impress and coin Hasnat Khan gave her a new purpose and role in life. She was now transformed and committed to carry on the work of charity and humanitarian causes. All the time, Diana was passionately looking for a cause, that would produce a transformative result. The British Red Cross was in the net work of global organizations campaigning for a total ban on the production and the use of land-mines.
Transformed and decisive but self-possessed and most exhilaratingly focused Diana, stepped into the humanitarian mission against the ban of anti- personnel land- mines. On Monday, January 13, 1997. She was with Mike Whitlam and Bill Deeds of The Daily Telegraph. After an eleven-hour commercial flight to Luanda, the capital of Angola, where a population of twelve million was suffering the life- peril devastating effects of fifteen million un-cleared land-mines, spread out during war time and the clearance had hardly begun.
Throbbing heat of Luanda was to its climax and country was reeling from a twenty-year civil war. In the filthy and dusty streets of Luanda men, women and children were lying without their bear-living-amenties. Many of them had lost their limbs and only few of the causalities had been given wheelchairs or crutches. Helpless and needy the innocent citizens were waiting, all the time, someone to take care of them. Whenever, anyone goes out to fetch water or eatable, suffers land-mine life-peril.
Diana, was galvanized from what was before her. She with her party men, had to walk in single file behind an anti-mine engineer, to reach a small God- forsaken hospital, having no electricity and not enough beds.
Sixteen-year-old Rosaline, who had gone out to fetch water lost her leg and the baby in her womb. Also, there was “ Seven-Year old Helena, lying on her back with her blown out intestines. “ A saline strip was keeping her alive. Flies buzzed about her. “ Dianna was thrilled and shaken when she approached her. “ The first thing she did was something instinctive. She made the child decent and covered her up. It was the thing a mother would do. She was concerned for the child’s dignity, “ was the remarks of Arthur Edwards, who was covering the expedition for The Sun.
“The rightness of her gesture was something he never forgot, nor was the way she talked softly to the child and stroked her hand, “ were the innate feelings of Edwards. Diana, amidst the causalities, was moving forward and side by side showering her electrifying passions of love and oneness with them. After Diana moved on, Christina Lamb, The Sunday Times foreign correspondent, who stayed for some time with Helena, as if waiting her last moments of life, but with her dazed and un-blinked vision looking at Diana, who was walking at a distance. Little Helena asked Lamb in the lowest- sighed tone who was that? The feelings of dying Helena were so touching that it was quite hard, trying to explain- Princess Diana to anyone, who did not know her. To Helena, Lamb sighed in equally low and heart-felt tone : ‘ She’s a Princess from England, from far away.’
In return, Helena said to Lamb, “ Is, she an angel?” But soon after, when Diana was waving back to her, little Helena sighed her last. “ The last thing she saw, “ reflected Lamb was this, “ A beautiful lady that she thought was an angel. “
Shamir Singh Virk is a Surrey-based writer.
