Memsahibs: British Women in Colonial India

A book, steeped in personalized history, Ipshita Nath's *Memsahibs*, transported me to an India of another time and place, a couple of hundred years ago. It was,indeed, the fabled land of riches and opportunities or so it had seemed to the British colonisers who lost no time in setting up trade in India and slowly infiltrating into the political innards of the country.When the British men came, it was only natural that the women would follow too. Shiploads of them landed in India though the voyages were perilous and fraught with danger. Maritime comfort was not so advanced in those days. The tired voyagers then had to proceed to the location of their husbands' postings through rugged terrains, using unfamiliar modes of transport like bullock carts and palanquins and whatnots to be jolted through dust-blown rough routes and naturalize in a land that was not their own.Though many of us carry impressions of the luxurious lives the memsahibs would have led with armies of servants, spacious bungalows and plush lifestyles, the opposite was also true of the not-so-fortunate ones, whose husbands were posted to remote stations. They had to make tough adjustments to less salubrious environment and inhospital conditions in the midst of the indigenous people they couldn't understand.Death and contagious diseases like smallpox and cholera were ever-present spectres that the memsahibs had to deal with. If these dreaded maladies were not enough, they had to compromise with risky pregnancies and birthing assisted by local midwives of dubious competence and hygiene. Though the memsahibs didn't lack in terms of ayahs or even English governesses, they felt distanced and inadequate where their children were concerned.Ipshita Nath has touched on every facet of memsahibs' lives in India, the trials and tribulations that they had to endure. But what truly wrenched my heart was the horror of Sepoy Mutiny and the havoc it caused in their lives. I had always looked at this historical event from the perspective of an Indian but the terror and brutality unleashed on the British, specially the wives and children, can never be condoned.The book is a balanced presentation of the lives of memsahibs, quirky at times, funny, wry but more than anything touching in the hardships they had to endure as women anywhere else. It is one of the most awesome non-fiction I have ever read. Or can it be called fiction? It defies categorisation.

Really Exotic, Esoteric & Exhilarating, Interesting...I Thought that Theirs' A Romantic Cake Walk, Had Path Strewn with Flowers and Lived the Easy Life with Bed of Roses... But "Roses have thorns, and silver fountains mud..." And They Did have Their Own Burdens....

“You gave too much rein to your imagination. Imagination is a good servant, and a bad master. The simplest explanation is always the most likely”.The title of the book is capable of giving rise to many suppositions on the part of readers as it would connote an intertwinement of elegance with a rather reserved temperament.

'Memsahibs...' was a thoroughly immersive read. So well-researched, extensive and absolutely at home with its subject matter, quite unlike the book's subjects themselves— British women who were forced to travel far from their homelands struggling to adjust to a foreign land after following their husbands to India.To these Memsahibs, nothing in the country they were duty-bound to settle in was remotely familiar— be it climate, food, culture, or language. These, when viewed under a colonial lens that deemed anything non-native as savage and inferior, made it harder for them to adapt to their new physical and cultural environment. Then, of course, there were a multitude of diseases to be wary of, dangerous wild animals and nefarious thugs along the road! No wonder the women began pining for home, all alone in an alien land, unable to share their woes with their perennially busy husbands.Yet, Ipshita Nath makes it a point to illustrate that these British women were anything but a harmonious chorus. Quotes, memoirs, and a variety of cited instances tell us how uniquely (and resoundingly) they responded to similar situations. Some, despite every difficulty and difference, were drawn towards India while many others refused to succumb to the challenges of their new surroundings, instead choosing to fortify themselves accordingly. And so the Memsahibs held their ground, packing bottles of quinine for malaria, embarking on hunts—at times singlehandedly tracking down and shooting leopards and hogs— and travelling in large groups to protect themselves from being robbed. The book, overall, was an illuminating experience, exposing distinctive attitudes and voices that are often not sought out or expected to carry anything noteworthy to offer. Navigating the highs and lows of life in India alongside the women of 'Memsahibs...' was tricky yet stirring for me, perhaps no less exciting than an elephant ride with all the trimmings!

Taken for a friend as a gift so haven't read.

Well researched ,well documented ,it’s a time travel vehicle which makes you literally see , hear and feel the joys and sorrows of the British women during the Raj times.