An Artistic Life

Like her father, Noor was a talented musician. She studied music at a leading institute in Paris, where she played harp and piano and wrote music. Later, she learned the veena – an Indian stringed instrument similar to a lute. She also enjoyed drawing and painting, especially plants.

In 1932, Noor began university at the Sorbonne, where she studied child psychology. She began writing stories and poems for young people – some were published in a major Paris newspapers, and some were broadcast on the radio. In 1939, Noor published her English translation of the Jataka Tales, a collection of traditional Indian stories which often focused on themes of sacrifice, duty and devotion to others. These were qualities which Noor herself would dramatically display after the Second World War broke out that very year.