Hello, I'm Kirstie Young and this is a podcast from the Desert Island Discs Archive.

For rights reasons, we've had to shorten the music. The program was originally broadcast

in 1984 and the presenter was Roy Plumley.

Our castaway this week comes from India. It's Rajmata Gayathra Devi of Jaipur.

Rajmata could you endure loneliness? We've dumped you unfeelingly on this Desert Island.

Not for very long. I hope somebody rescues me quite soon, but I'm quite used to learn

to dispend a couple of weeks, I suppose. It might be more than that, but we'll get you as

quickly as we can. Thank you. How much does music mean in your life? Music means quite a lot to me,

all different types of music. I play gramophone record in the radio quite often when I'm by myself.

Do you play an instrument? No, I don't, unfortunately. Well, you just have eight records to take,

were you? Did you find it very difficult to choose? I found it extremely difficult amongst all

the music I like just to pick out eight records. What's the first one you'll chosen?

The first record I chosen is Moon River. Song by Andy Williams. And why do you choose it?

I chose it because it reminds me of a time when I used to hear it quite a lot and I let my imagination

fly away with me and I could imagine traveling around the world absolutely free and without a

care and it would be rather good on a desert island because I could get myself away from there and my

imagination.

Andy Williams singing Moon River. Rajmata, you are the daughter of the Maharaja of Kuch Bihar.

Where is Kuch Bihar? Kuch Bihar is in the north east of India, the northeast of Bengal

and Birinya Asaman at the foothills of the Himalayas. More or less do north of Calcutta? North

east of Calcutta. And it's one of the princely states. One of the erstwhile princely states. How many

of them were there? There were about 556. 500 as many as that? Yes, but you were born in London.

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