Author: Nilima Lambah
Publisher: Roli Books
Year: 2008
Language: English
Pages: 232
ISBN/UPC (if available): 9788174366757
Description
Nilima Lambah, wife of an Indian Foreign Service Officer gets candid and presents a cavalcade of interesting episodes, anecdotes and fascinating experiences culled from a life she lived in a host of countries for thirty years. From leading a life under the miscroscope of intelligence agencies in Pakistan to hosting a dinner just a few hours after an earthquake shook their home in San Francisco, he accounts are not only witty but also present a picture of the culture and society of the various places she visited.
This book offers a glimpse into different aspects of a diplomat's life from the point of view of his wife, its glitter and glamour: its protocol and surprises and coming to terms with foreign soil and diverse cultures.
Written simply these recollections of Nilima Lambah have something for people of all ages and from all walks of life. An amalgam of wit and humor, this is both informative and entertaining.
AN EXTRACT:
‘We arrived in Islamabad in the summer of 1978. For us, the prospect of a Pakistan posting was exciting, as our families had hailed from this part of undivided India. Thus, we were naturally curious to see our place of origin. My family was from Lahore. On our first visit to Lahore, we found that the family’s erstwhile home on Edgerton Road was now a government office for the Rehabilitation of Enemy Property! An entire wing of the house, we were told, had been demolished to make way for a new road. The rooms had been subdivided into cubicles, and visualizing it now as a home was difficult. The marble staircase was the only visible evidence of a glorious era gone by. The building itself was dirty and poorly maintained, but traces of it once having been a beautiful mansion remained.’
‘The routine process of leaving the country-packing and farewell parties-had begun, but with a difference. This was supposed to be our last move, as Sati was due to retire at the age of sixty. On the one hand, there was excitement at returning home after almost fifteen years, and knowing there was also farewell to a life we had enjoyed to the hilt’.
Contents
INTRODUCTION
Bangladesh - Dhaka
Italy- Rome
Pakistan - Islamabad
Hungary - Budapest
USA - San Francisco
Pakistan - Islamabad
Germany - Bonn
Russia - Moscow