Always a Foreigner

Running up a Himalayan hillside pulling leeches off her legs, covering drug busts in a gritty US suburb to uncovering racism under the pure Alpine snow, Ashwini Devare’s fascinating memoir is about growing up as an Indian Foreign Service child in the 70s and 80s. From the Soviet Union’s Iron Curtain to Burma’s Bamboo Curtain, Ashwini Devare lived in six countries by the time she was fifteen. In each country, she had a front-row seat to tumultuous global events that redefined the twentieth century, from the death of Lal Bahadur Shastri to the integration of Sikkim into India, the assassination of Indira Gandhi to student-led democracy in South Korea. Ashwini Devare’s journey from diplomat’s daughter to broadcast journalist was marked by constant changes and upheaval. ‘Fitting in’ was the mantra for survival. This is a remarkable story of an Indian family that faces the challenges of love, loss and separation with resilience, optimism and courage. A family that would continually be flung from their comfort zones into alien, unfamiliar lands, always holding hands to soften the landings. In the background was the constant comfort of the Indian flag—providing reassurance as the family navigated their way in foreign lands.