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The Other Side of Diplomacy
About the Book
HISTORIC, ENTERTAINING AND INTRIGUING EPISODES FROM THE LIVES OF DIPLOMATIC SPOUSES, THIS IS A BOOK FOR ANYONE INTERESTED IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE AS WELL AS ANYONE WHO LIKES GOOD STORIES.
Beyond the glamour of the Indian Foreign Service and the glitz of foreign postings lies an unseen world, that of the spouses of diplomats. These women and a few men traverse continents and cultures every few years, raising families in unfamiliar lands, and always upholding the unwritten but unbreakable code—no diplomatic gaffes!
In this anthology curated by Jayshree Misra Tripathi, the spouses and, in a few cases, other family members, have their say. They recount historic, entertaining and always intriguing episodes from their lives. The stories are as much an exploration of the diverse cultures around the world—from Sikkim to Ethiopia, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Tajikistan, Baghdad, China, Switzerland—as they are behind-the-scenes accounts of family life and how world-altering moments are often experienced, even created.
The Other Side of Diplomacy is a book not only for those aspiring to a career in the diplomatic service, but for anyone interested in world cultures and slice-of-life family stories (and from within a High Commission or Embassy at that).
About the Editor
Jayshree Misra Tripathi is a poet and retired diplomatic spouse. She draws on wells of experience, including six and a half decades spent in different pockets of the world, from Cuttack, Odisha to England to Sri Lanka to Madagascar and beyond. The human experience in all its difficulty and moments of grace, and the voices of women often silenced or overlooked take centre stage in her work. Her poems and short stories have been reviewed in the Sahitya Akademi journal Indian Literature and featured in national and international anthologies.
CONTRIBUTORS
Ajay Shankar ● Anita Sapra ● Anuradha Muthukumar ● Ashok Pandey ● Asiya Hamid Rao ● Hema Devare ● Kusum Budhwar ● Kusum Tayal ● Margreta Kumar ● Preeti Singh ● Reshmi Ray Dasgupta ● Sharmila Kantha ● Shreedevi Nair Pal ● Shrimi Sinha ● Smita Purushottam
HISTORIC, ENTERTAINING AND INTRIGUING EPISODES FROM THE LIVES OF DIPLOMATIC SPOUSES, THIS IS A BOOK FOR ANYONE INTERESTED IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE AS WELL AS ANYONE WHO LIKES GOOD STORIES.
Beyond the glamour of the Indian Foreign Service and the glitz of foreign postings lies an unseen world, that of the spouses of diplomats. These women and a few men traverse continents and cultures every few years, raising families in unfamiliar lands, and always upholding the unwritten but unbreakable code—no diplomatic gaffes!
In this anthology curated by Jayshree Misra Tripathi, the spouses and, in a few cases, other family members, have their say. They recount historic, entertaining and always intriguing episodes from their lives. The stories are as much an exploration of the diverse cultures around the world—from Sikkim to Ethiopia, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Tajikistan, Baghdad, China, Switzerland—as they are behind-the-scenes accounts of family life and how world-altering moments are often experienced, even created.
The Other Side of Diplomacy is a book not only for those aspiring to a career in the diplomatic service, but for anyone interested in world cultures and slice-of-life family stories (and from within a High Commission or Embassy at that).
About the Editor
Jayshree Misra Tripathi is a poet and retired diplomatic spouse. She draws on wells of experience, including six and a half decades spent in different pockets of the world, from Cuttack, Odisha to England to Sri Lanka to Madagascar and beyond. The human experience in all its difficulty and moments of grace, and the voices of women often silenced or overlooked take centre stage in her work. Her poems and short stories have been reviewed in the Sahitya Akademi journal Indian Literature and featured in national and international anthologies.
CONTRIBUTORS
Ajay Shankar ● Anita Sapra ● Anuradha Muthukumar ● Ashok Pandey ● Asiya Hamid Rao ● Hema Devare ● Kusum Budhwar ● Kusum Tayal ● Margreta Kumar ● Preeti Singh ● Reshmi Ray Dasgupta ● Sharmila Kantha ● Shreedevi Nair Pal ● Shrimi Sinha ● Smita Purushottam
196 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 27, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 9, 2025
This was a quick and interesting read. The book is a series of memoir essays from various Indian diplomatic spouses. You get a good sense of the unique foreign service lifestyle, but also a fairly comprehensive history of the IFS....along with changing gender norms in diplomacy and society more broadly. Most of the essays focus on early generations of diplomatic spouses. The book does a great service by memorializing their experiences and unsung contributions - not only the decades of unpaid labor they put into hosting events and managing the household, but also their substantive contributions to famous geopolitical events. But I found the final chapters on "tandem" male spouses who maintained government careers alongside their wives to be the most interesting. Tellingly, both freely admit they were never expected to fulfill household duties or host social events. The chapter about the challenges of growing up as a third-culture diplomatic child was also fascinating. I would have appreciated more contemporary stories, especially as two-career families become the global norm. But this collection is a great start.
April 1, 2025
This was a nice break from my usual serious books on India's diplomacy and foreign policy. The collection of essays from diplomatic spouses highlight the oft-ignored side of Indian missions abroad. I am glad the author was able to get a potpourri of views from not just the wives of ambassadors but also sometimes, inter-service husbands and daughters.
It did open my eyes as to how diplomacy was in the last few decades while also hinting at the changing customs and preferences today.
It did open my eyes as to how diplomacy was in the last few decades while also hinting at the changing customs and preferences today.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews