Stanley W.
Format: Kindle Edition
June 19, 2020
5 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Margaret has shared a well-balanced tale of the various complex forces which shaped the lives of mid-20th-century missionaries to India, as well as their childrens' unusual and sometimes-turbulent upbringing. Speaking as a qualified observer, having myself been a "mishkid" whose parents served in both China and India, where I shortly followed the author to boarding school along with two of her siblings, the joys and horrors of boarding school at a very young age are painfully and accurately portrayed in all their naked reality. Factually reported, with the absolute minimum of self-pity or judgement, is the price the children paid in both health and stability for their parents' religious devotion - never completely at home in either passport or assigned country, sent away for schooling in the care of some very dubious adults whilst their parents "served God" and their mission's native subjects. Make no mistake, this is not a cheery Thomas Cook travelogue, while it does yield a sometimes-delightful and sentimental child's-eye view of two peoples and two countries which compose all mishkids' persons. The reflections of a foreign-born "Third Culture Kid", as others have termed us Global Nomads, is increasingly relevant as an insight into the children of not only missionaries, but business and diplomatic families, as well. In an increasingly-"globalised" world, a worthy primer on the hidden costs and benefits thereof. To Margaret, in the words of our English, Telugu, and Hindi vernaculars, "Shabash! or శబాష్ or शाबाश.
