The initial post-Independence years in India were fibrillating.
One of the most outstanding stories was how India recovered from colonisation. It was as if the decades of colonisation were incubating a revolution of our cultural and intellectual strength. While our political leaders were drawing power and ideas from our heritage, the human hand, as the crucial factor of production, began to emerge as a power.
There was of course Gandhi and the charkha, but alongside dozens of others working to promote handmade utilitarian products.
On a parallel track, textile mills were burgeoning.
The competition for market space between the hand and machine was growing. Into this space, John Bissell, Bim’s husband, thrust Fabindia – contemporary goods made with looms and other hand driven products – into the market successfully.
While Bim was already an almost iconic figure in Delhi circles, as social secretary to US Ambassadors like John Galbraith, partnering with John Bissell gave her the social strength she needed for spreading her wings across many territories. She was the “go to” person for any one seeking to understand India and “belong”. She enabled countless endeavours by a most diverse set of persons to engage with India.
For me, she was akin to a mother’s home. She and John smothered us with care and affection. They gave my husband and myself support in the early years of our marriage, and later nurtured me through the thorny bushes of setting up a centre giving visibility to women’s contribution to the Indian economy.
Hers was the kind of hand that you could hold to see you through your endeavours. She was a well of unbound generosity. She helped to found many organisations from the back, never seeking to project herself. Her home, her table, her connections were available to all of us, and never ending.
Bim was an institution.
While my family, husband, sons and I felt we were a part of her family, there were dozens of others who felt the same.
Indomitable Bim, we will truly miss you. You were a kind of magnet. I wish you peace and rest after a restless journey.
Devaki Jain is a noted economist. She is a recipient of the Padma Bhushan.
