Book Review: The Other Side of Diplomacy- Edited by Jayshree Misra Tripathi
1 min read
Shevlin Sebastian reviews The Other Side of Diplomacy (Westland, 2025), calling it the partner’s view where spouses of diplomats talk about their experiences in different countries across the world.
Delhi-based journalist Reshmi Ray Dasgupta wrote that when her mother Gayatri was posted to Berlin, she wanted to buy a cushion (kissen in German). But she inadvertently said, kussen (which means kissing). The shop assistant didn’t waste a moment. He immediately landed a peck on her cheek, leaving Gayatri completely embarrassed.
In Cape Town, Gayatri entered a shop with a group of people which included one white woman. The salesman said that he would only serve the white woman. The white woman was outraged and the group walked out of the shop. ‘It was Ma’s “Gandhi-ji at Pietermaritzburg” moment,’ wrote Reshmi. ‘She resolutely shunned everything South African until apartheid ended 34 years later.’
