A Page from a Prison Diary

2^nd October 2023

In the next few days, the judgement will be delivered and the police have ample proof against me and my co-conspirators. The lawyer representing us tried hard to convince us to stay quiet and deny all allegations but we refused to take his advice. We knew the consequences before we set out on the mission and we did achieve it! So why not reveal the truth to all…speak nothing but the truth. Do not know if in the next prison I will get any pen and paper to write my story so, in the remaining days here, let me put the pen to the paper and tell everyone that we are not thieves and common criminals… we love our nation and are willing to go to the gallows to face the consequences of what we did for which we have no regrets.

It all began last year when the four of us had gone to UK to celebrate the golden jubilee of our friendship…we had been together for more than a lifetime and would soon be reaching the magical age of sixty when we would be categorised as senior citizens. This holiday was just us… no wives, no kids…just us alone. One night, sitting in a pub in Edinburgh, we had had a drink too many and were enjoying the local food like haggis-neeps-tatties, fish-n-chips, black pudding, white pudding and so much more. Before I go on with the story, I must tell you a little about haggis but mind it, this food is not for the weak hearted. Haggis is a Scottish delicacy made of sheep’s heart, lung and liver, minced with onion, oatmeal, salt and spices and cooked encased in the animal’s stomach. The Scots are fun guys and Robert Burns has even written a poem in praise of Haggis. We had been to a party just yesterday where the host raised a toast to haggis.

Salim, who was otherwise the quiet one, spoke…Guys, we will soon be retiring from work and who knows how long each of us will survive. One question has been bothering me now that all this while we have lived our lives for our families and friends. When we die, apart from a handful of people, will anyone remember us? We have done precious little in these sixty years other than being selfish about our own needs and ambitions. Should we not do something beyond this… something for which many more will love and remember us?

The others dropped their knives and forks and looked at Salim with amazement…Jeetu started laughing and said… You are completely sloshed and talking bullshit.

No Jeetu, I am dead serious and I have been thinking of options that I could do alone or we could do together.

I now spoke in serious tone…Chal karte hain… let’s do the most difficult of all the possible options you have thought of.

Tony, wiped his mouth with the napkin and nodded his head in agreement…Tell us what we can do for which not just our family will remember us but maybe our whole school… no the whole country and even beyond. Will be nice to see our photos everywhere even without having an Insta account. As Shubhankar said, let us do something really big…bada matlab ekdum bada.

Ok, now that you are with me, I will show you my dairy and possibly the best and the biggest work we can do together but not a word about this should be shared with anybody. You all need to swear by your parents and children that you will not a speak a word about this with anyone, whether we do it or not.

We did not put our hands over a burning candle as they would have done it a hundred years ago but we all made an eye contact with each other and said a ‘Yes’, the sound of which echoed deep inside our souls.

Salim pulled out a small diary which had tags of different shades. He then went on to open it on the page with the red tag and a star painted on it.  He opened the diary completely and flattened it and put it on the table before him for all to read.

Jaws dropped…there was complete silence… we quickly paid for the food and drinks and started walking back to our hotel. It was raining outside and we did not have our umbrellas but no one complained. We just kept walking in brisk pace ignoring the strip bar we had planned to go that night after the dinner. We reached the hotel and went straight to our rooms and within ten minutes the three of us landed at Salim’s door…banging it loudly. He quickly opened the door and we pushed him to the bed and then boxed him a couple of times but never to hurt. He kept laughing while this friendly torture was going on.

Couldn’t you have thought of something simpler? We would have happily contributed money to start a foundation for children’s education or constructed toilets in the villages. Can we not change the plan?

No. Let us do this and each one of us will be immortalised.

Bhai, what inspired you to even think of this dangerous path?

By now all had settled down on the chairs and opened a new bottle of Glenmorangie. Salim sat on the bed and started speaking… Remember when we went to the Edinburgh Castle last evening for the party and we went to see the Scottish Crown Jewels there. Over there with the jewels lay a piece of stone with a metal piece in between holding two blocks. That was the Stone of Destiny, also called the Stone of Scone.

Coronation Chair and Scone beneath: Courtesy Britannica

The Stone of Scone, the ancient Stone upon which Scottish monarchs had been crowned, was taken from Scone near Perth, Scotland, by King Edward 1 of England in 1296 during the Scottish Wars of Independence as a spoil of war, kept in Westminster Abbey in London and fitted into King Edward's Chair. Subsequently the English and then the British monarchs had been crowned sitting upon the chair and the Stone. At the time, the Stone was viewed as a symbol of Scottish nationhood; by moving the Stone to London, Edward I was declaring himself as the King of the Scots too.

Edinburgh Castle

In 1950, Ian Hamilton, a student at the University of Glasgow, along with his friends Gavin Vernon, Stuart and Kay Matheson planned to steal the Stone of Scone from Westminster Abbey in London and return it to Scotland.  In December 1950, on Christmas eve, after one failed attempt a day ago, the friends entered the Abbey and gained entrance into the Poet’s Corner. From there they went to the Chapel containing the tomb of Edward 1 and King Edward's Chair. While removing the Stone from under the Chair, it crashed to the floor and broke into two pieces. The three men, using Hamilton's coat, dragged the larger piece down the high altar steps, then Hamilton took the smaller piece to one of the cars waiting outside. The stone was so heavy, and fearing the alarms that had been raised, Hamilton and his friends hid the large piece of stone in a field and made their way back to Scotland.

On discovering that the Stone was missing, the authorities closed the border between Scotland and England for the first time in four hundred years. A fortnight later, Hamilton and some friends recovered the two pieces and brought them to Glasgow. In April 1951, the police came to know that the Stone was there at the High Altar at Arbroath Abbey. The Stone was returned to Westminster Abbey in February 1952. In 1996, the British Government returned the Scone to Edinburgh to be kept there except when coronations happened in London.

I jumped up and said aloud….Matlab ki them four and now us four….all for one and one for all! This inspiration of yours is fine but what about the part you want us to perform…..how is that linked?

Salim’s eyes sparkled as he spoke softly…Remember in London, we had gone to the Tower of London. There we stood in a serpentine queue to see the Crown Jewels. While everything there was good, the thing that caught all our attention was the shining diamond on the crown last worn by the Queen Mother…the Kohinoor or the Mountain of Light. How many times we kept going up and down wanting to admire the diamond that truly belongs to our country but lies so far away? The English subjugated the Scots and took away their Scone and same was with India and the Kohinoor. It belongs to us Indians.

Picture courtesy National Geographic

There are various controversies regarding the origin but most widely accepted one says that it came originally from the Kollur mine of the Krishna River and was presented to the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in 1656. It was part of the Peacock Throne before being looted by Nadir Shah of Iran when he ransacked Delhi in 1739. After his death it fell into the hands of his general, Ahmed Shah, founder of the Durrani dynasty of Afghans. His descendant, Shah Shuja, then a fugitive in India, was forced to surrender the stone to Maharaja Ranjit Singh. On the annexation of the Punjab in 1849, the Kohinoor was acquired by the British and was placed among the crown jewels of Queen Victoria. The diamond originally weighed 191 carats, but it was re-cut to 106 carats to enhance its fire and brilliance in 1852 by the royal jeweller.

Guys, do you understand how the two stories are similar and yet one has found its way back to its rightful home while the other stays imprisoned here in this land of the colonists.

Tower of London

Dost, your thought is most noble but do you remember how many security people were there guarding the Kohinoor? Plus, the electronic surveillance and other security measures kept for its protection and safety are something that will make us look like complete idiots and it would be nothing short of attempting hara-kiri. London Tower Castle of 2023 is very different from Westminster Abbey of 1950. The two hundred odd residents of the castle are all military men and women, trained to protect everything inside.

The Beefeater: Guardians of the Tower

I take your point Shubhankar. If security has improved and is now much more vigilant, technology and rightful application of mind can be of help to us as well. If we put our hearts and souls into this venture, there is no way we will not succeed. We will have to make some plans, get more help including finance and manpower but no one should know of the real motive.

We were convinced with the Pied Piper’s music and agreed to follow him. For the next three days, we sat in the same room and did not leave the place even for a minute for we were planning the biggest and the most daring heist in history. Later we went back home and started work on our respective areas. Six months later the tabloids and the news channels were on fire…

The Metropolitan Police of London have confirmed that the Kohinoor diamond is missing from the Queen’s crown. As per sources they have solid leads and the culprits will be caught soon.

SS