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Kolkata: For 45-year-old Sanjibita McDonald Tariang Sen, a conversation with the Queen of England was nothing short of a “dream come true”.
Sen, a regional consular development officer at the British Deputy High Commission in Kolkata, was one among the three persons across the world who were chosen to speak to Queen Elizabeth II at a virtual conference Friday.
The conference took place during a virtual unveiling of the Queen’s new portrait by artist Miriam Escofet, which was commissioned by Britain’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO).
After the unveiling, the Queen spoke to members of the FCO staff about their work during the pandemic.
“I was nervous before the call began. But she was so nice, humble and warm. That put me at ease. I felt that I was speaking to someone I have known for years,” Sen told ThePrint about her 20-minute-long conversation at the consulate office in South Kolkata.
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Repatriation of 18,000 British nationals from India
The virtual conference was hosted by Simon McDonald, permanent under-secretary of state for foreign and commonwealth affairs and head of the Diplomatic Service in UK.
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“Apart from our permanent under-secretary and a colleague from France, I was the only officer on the call with Her Majesty,” Sen said.
Sen, who is in charge of the UK’s Covid-19 response team in India, said the Queen wanted to know about the repatriation of British citizens from the country.
“I narrated how we had brought a young British woman, stranded in a remote village in Manipur, to Delhi. It was a challenge to bring her to Delhi via road during the lockdown. The woman had to travel around 3,000 km via road, with four night halts, to reach the capital city.
“The central and state government officials cooperated a lot. Initially, no driver was willing to drive this long, but senior police officers helped us a lot. I could not sleep for four nights because I kept tracking the car’s movement, taking care of hotels and everything else,” she said.
Sen also said around 18,000 British citizens have been repatriated from India since the lockdown was imposed in March.
“While I was describing the journey of the British woman, the Queen asked how I felt when I saw a smile on her face at the end of the journey. Seeing smiles on people’s faces, who were joining their families, is what we work for. The Queen asked very few questions, but she patiently listened to all of us,” she added.
Sen, who is also the recognition and well-being officer for Middle East, North Africa and South Asia at the British Deputy High Commission in Kolkata, had also worked as the key official for repatriation of British citizens during the Mumbai terror attack (2008), Nepal earthquake (2015) and the bombings in Sri Lanka (2019).
All were ‘excited about this special video call’
Sen comes from a family of multiple cultures and traditions. While her father is from Shillong and has Khasi ancestry, her mother is Scottish. She is married to a Bengali and lives in Kolkata.
Sen, who was informed about the video conference a week before, said she was elated and excited when she got to know about it. She oversaw all arrangements for the call.
“I will complete 19 years of service in the consulate in September. I had waited so eagerly for this day. Not only me, all our staff members and officials across departments were excited about this one special video call,” she added .
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