Page 28 - Demo

successful career as a stock market analyst, was the nephew of the top lawyer Vepa Ramesam, but had yet to carve out a name for himself. He was from an old Vizag family steeped in the legal tradition, with long connections to the Pusapati family.The crowds swelling the gallery were all agog %u2013 an untested young lawyer and his royal client going up against the full weight of the Court of Wards and their stellar legal luminary.Still, there was method in this madness. As Justice Subba Rao would later write, %u201cI must observe that one of the curious features of this case has been that the petitioner has argued his case in person intending to demonstrate, I believe, that the imputation that he is mentally unsound, is wholly unfounded%u201d.However, it was a high-stakes gamble where he would have to argue forcefully, and also stick to the legal niceties. At stake was not just his kingdom, but the future of his children whom he loved more dearly than life itself. The Maharaja opened his innings. He asserted that %u201che is an affectionate father, mentally quite sound but that the action which the Court of Wards proposes to take is such as is likely to render a normal man insane%u201d.The Maharaja methodically tore into the Court of Ward's argument:First, he pointed out that he was educated at Mayo College, in Ajmer, known as the %u2018Eton of the East%u2019 and passed after obtaining a diploma. He showed the court that he was a licensed air pilot, and regularly flew from a small airstrip he 18