Since time immemorial, Indians have believed in and practised the culture of love. However, most of these love stories had a catastrophic end. Love has no boundaries; it is what the ancient saints, scholars, and lords have always believed. As a society that fervently supports the monogamous tie of marriage, there have been several cases when couples have battled for one other and overcame all obstacles to live happily ever after.

People frequently say, "real love does not exist..." However, they are unlikely to have heard the timeless love stories that Indians have experienced, listened to, and looked up to as they grew up. They have reminded us that genuine love is everlasting; it never dies but becomes a beautiful royal love story in India.

Long back in the 1790s, Hyderabad smelled a waft of new air that, later on, changed the way people perceived love. A handsome, young gentleman from Madras, James Achilles Kirkpatrick, had a love story to narrate that would be etched in the golden history of Hyderabad. He entered the streets with a smile on his face. After all, his brother was a resident of the royal city of Hyderabad, and the number of stories that he had heard about the town was more than enough for him to settle in Hyderabad as a resident.

The Indian culture and traditions enthralled James. Even though he could be described as a "cocky young imperialist intending to conquer India," James was mesmerized by the Mughal culture and soon taught it in his lifestyle. Enamoured with the elaborate Indo-Persian culture at the Nizam of Hyderabad's court, Kirkpatrick substituted his fashionable European attire for traditional Persian attire.

While inside the house, James wore Mughal style attire, chewed betel nut, smoked hookah, conducted nautch parties, and maintained a small harem in his zenanakhana. He was a colonel in the Presidency armies outside the home with his prim and proper European attire. Born in India and educated in the United Kingdom, Kirkpatrick spoke Tamil as his first tongue, composed poems in Urdu, and included Persian and Hindustani in his "pragmatic arsenal." With his fluency in Hindustani and Persian languages, he mingled with the social elites of Hyderabad, captivating them with his down-to-earth nature.

However, Kirkpatrick's changes weren't appreciated by other Britishers. There were frequent complaints about him trying to adopt the lifestyle of the Indians. James's adoption of Indian culture can be termed modern multiculturalism or 'chutnification,' as said by Salman Rushdie. While these minor complaints against him did not matter much and had little to no effect on his career, other charges against him were more serious.

Little did the desi gentleman know that soon someone would enter his life and bewitch him. On the other side of Hyderabad, a girl named Khair-un-Nissa lived, a graceful, delicate, and shy girl with porcelain skin, an oval face, and dark brown eyes. Being the granddaughter of Nawab Mahmood Ali Khan, the prime minister of Hyderabad, she had to follow strict purdah rule and was under constant security. However, one fine day during the betrothal ceremony of her elder sister, she saw Kirkpatrick from behind the purdah and instantly fell in love with him.

She went to James, despite the security, to declare her everlasting love for him.

James said in a letter to his elder brother William. She often told me that her feelings had been irreversibly fastened on me for a long time, that her destiny was intertwined with mine."

Khair belonged to an aristocratic ruling family. She was a Sayyida, a descendent of the prophet, but she was also a Persian by descent. If James had to be with her, he would first have to convert himself into a Shia Muslim. He converted his religion and married Khair in a Nikah ceremony. He was promoted to the rank of Hyderabadi nobility, and the pair became known as Sahib Begum and Sahib Allum (The Little Lord of the World and the Lady of High Lineage).

The couple later had two children: a son called Mir Ghulam Ali Sahib Allum and a daughter named Noor-un-Nissa Sahib Begum. They had a lovely marriage until 1801 when a great scandal erupted in Calcutta. Though his marriage with Khair was a private affair, this news soon spread across various British groups in Hyderabad. Other British officials in Hyderabad began questioning his loyalty by seeing his dressing style and lifestyle that matched that of an Indian.

Initially, James denied his marriage to Khair-un-Nissa, but later on, this matter was thoroughly investigated, and he finally accepted his marital relationship. Both of his kids were taken away from the family as retribution for his religious conversion and raised as Christians. James was suspended from his position, and tearful Khair tried hard to meet the ends. Even though she was able to win a £10,000 settlement for five-year-old William and three-year-old Kitty, they were shortly stripped away by British rulers.

James too was suffering from a terminal illness and passed away as soon as the kids were taken away by the officers. He was just forty-one when he died.

Without her children or her husband, Khair-un-Nissa sought shelter from Kirkpatrick's aide Henry Russell, who took over as Resident in Hyderabad. After a few years, Russell became weary of the widow and married a younger half-Portuguese princess he met in Madras. The Hyderabad nobility had disapproved of Khair-un-supposed Nissa's relationship and had exiled him to the seaside village of Masulipatam. In 1813, she perished heartbroken at the age of 27.