Jussawalla’s concise prose brings alive the decline of the British Raj, the work of Mahatma Gandhi, the bloody and traumatic partitioning of the sub-continent, and life during the turbulent eras of Jawaharlal Nehru and Indria Gandhi as India struggled to come into its own as a sovereign nation and define its political identity. Yet against that backdrop of drama and toil is also the story of a sensitive but tenacious Parsee-Zoroastrian woman who, true to her own convictions, left her homeland for the dream of a life of intellectual freedom in the United States.
This very readable tale follows Jussawalla from early childhood, through her schooling, her rise within academia in India, and her battles for freedom … freedom from the shackles of a dying imperialism, traditional culture, and later the religious, economic, academic, and personal restrictions of an increasingly Marxist state. The widowed scholar found a bicentennial travel promotion by a now-defunct U.S. airline was her ticket to a new life even if she could only, by government decree, depart the old one with six U.S. dollars.
Immigrating to the United States brought home to Jussawalla the realization that freedom is not free, there is a cost. With little financial resources, but with the encouragement of her student daughter and other family members already residing in North America, she set about building the life she was denied in India. On her way to becoming an internationally-renown economics and telecommunications scholar in her adopted land, Jussawalla jealously guarded her global perspective. She continues to regard the hard-won expressions of freedom she found in the U.S. as not just localized political ideals but universal.
The diminutive scholar’s journey to freedom rewards the reader with not only a story of one person’s perseverance against great odds but also the realization that others can search out and live their dreams. Jussawalla says it best: “My quest for academic freedom and the many difficulties I endured in that process gave me strength and courage, and I am hoping that my story will serve to inspire others who come after me.”
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Dr. Meheroo Jusawalla is a senior fellow emerita at the East-West Center in Honolulu. She can be reached at (808) 944-7329 or via email at jussawam@EastWestCenter.org
The EAST-WEST CENTER is an education and research organization established by the U.S. Congress in 1960 to strengthen relations and understanding among the peoples and nations of Asia, the Pacific, and the United States. The Center contributes to a peaceful, prosperous and just Asia Pacific community by serving as a vigorous hub for cooperative research, education and dialogue on critical issues of common concern to the Asia Pacific region and the United States. Funding for the Center comes from the U.S. government, with additional support provided by private agencies, individuals, foundations, corporations, and the governments of the region.