New Delhi, Dec. 24 -- My father's father, my Dada, was born in Sarangarh and lived out his life there. Sarangarh was one of the least consequential of over 550 'princely states' when the British left in 1947, and yet it was one of those that wanted to be independent.

To negotiate with Sardar Patel the terms of equal coexistence with India, a three-member delegation was sent by the King of Sarangarh to Delhi that year. My Dada was one of the three. He would narrate this story frequently, with amusement about the delegation's own delusions of grandeur.

The three of them waited in Delhi for 14 days. Forget the Sardar, even his secretary did not give them an audience. In those epochal days, these tiny states were simply sucked into India in...