In a general sense, the book was fascinating, because it deconstructed the picture of that era for me, and I realized that the picture was actually a puzzle neatly fused together – only I didn’t know it all these years!!! By that I mean, that like many Indians, I was not aware of the various Christian denominations that had a missionary presence in India. For me, they were all ‘Christians. I didn’t know that so many of the women missionaries were from America. I was not aware of the inter-denominational nuances. Much less of the role that gender dynamics played in the decisions made by the young women. I was very interested to read about the backgrounds of these young women, and what motivated them – spelled out in the context of what was happening in America at that time, and in India.
On a more personal level, I have known many of the types of people that Singh writes about – in some cases - their descendants. Many of my mother’s friends were ‘foreigners’ - from the wives of British Embassy types, to the wives of American Missionaries. I shadowed my mother on her many community and social service activities, and I had always wondered about the subtle differences between her ‘foreign’ friends – Singh’s book explains the differences. I am fascinated to read about the hierarchy within the ‘foreigners’ – down to the nitty gritty of the reasons for differences between the wives of missionaries – versus the single women missionaries.
I relish the many details Singh has included, and completely buy her argument about life within the missionary compounds, versus the single missionaries who lived within the community/school. And all the micro details about how and why the single women were so successful in their endeavors, and able to go for decades without furloughs – versus their married, homesick, counterparts.
My mother went to Alexandra school in Amritsar, and knew many of the Christian psalms in Punjabi. Reading Singh’s book makes me want to run back there to delve further into history, and learn more about it.
ISBN-13: 978-0815328247
ISBN-10: 0815328249
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