Bimla Bissell has been an indispensable and well-connected social secretary to the four American ambassadors to India, an unofficial ambassador of sorts in his own right, and an astute local guide to the culture and complexity of a vast country. However, he died on January 9th at his home in Delhi. . She was 92 years old.
His daughter, Monsoon Bissell, said the cause was complications from diabetes.
Mr. Bissell's first ambassador boss was John Kenneth Galbraith, an erudite liberal economist who forged deep ties with Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. He was followed by Chester Bowles, an advertising man turned civil rights advocate.
Both were appointees of John F. Kennedy, and among many complex diplomatic events, Ms. Bissell's job was to organize Jacqueline Kennedy's nine-day visit to India in 1962, an event that made headlines around the world. The local media reported on it breathlessly. “Mrs. Kennedy Receives Festive Welcome on Arrival in India,” read a front-page headline in the New York Times as the first lady arrived accompanied by her sister, Lee Radziwill.
Mr. Bissell also quietly informed Mr. Kennedy that a gift he had brought to his Indian hosts – a leather picture frame stamped with the words “100% American Beef” – was inappropriate.
When Richard Celeste was hired as Bowles' personal secretary and embassy protocol officer in 1963, he was perplexed by the latter's job description. So Mr. Bissell took him by the hand.
“She took charge of my education with ease and grace,” Celeste said. Celeste later became head of the Peace Corps, governor of Ohio, and special envoy to India for President Bill Clinton. She also scooped him up for dinner every night until his wife arrived with their newborn.
By all accounts, Ms. Bissell was a one-woman social network, a skilled salonist who seemed to know everyone important in every field.
Friends and colleagues said she was thoughtful and diplomatic. She was curious, playful, and sociable. She read 14 newspapers every morning. She was politically astute, and in her later years was able to predict local elections down to the number of votes cast. She had empathy and friendship, and a supernatural ability to cultivate and maintain those friendships.
Her admirers include heads of state, diplomats, policy makers, NGO leaders, journalists, filmmakers, writers, craftsmen, artists, and students, all of whom live in her vast stucco house. gathered for sumptuous lunches and dinners. Located in a leafy development in south Delhi, it is packed with crafts, textiles, art and antiques.
She and her husband, John Bissell, were educators in Derry. He was a lanky, Connecticut-born Yale graduate who traveled to India in 1958 on a Ford Foundation grant, fell in love with India and his future wife, and never left. He founded a company to export Indian crafts and later a school to educate artisans.
Marie Brenner, one of the many journalists Mr. Bissell brought into his circle, said their home was a kind of North Star. Some called it Grand Central East because of its open-door policy. “It was always filled with great people,” Brenner said. “The energy of the movement was this very high-level political and intellectual debate.”
Celeste said: “John was a dreamer and Bim was a doer. She was very knowledgeable and had very strong intuition.”
At one point, Celeste realized that Bissell was juggling two jobs. In the mid-1950s, she founded the Playhouse, Delhi's first progressive kindergarten. This became the starting point for generations of Indian and foreign children.
“Over time, I came to understand the role Playhouse School plays in attracting hard-working and ambitious Indian families,” Celeste said. “Bim has a dynamic relationship system as a social secretary that has given her a Rolodex of her own.”
Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet, a family friend, described Mr. Bissell as “India's extraordinary citizen diplomat.” (He was born in India, and his father, Douglas Bennett, was also an aide to Ambassador Bowles.)
He added in an email: “She was a guiding light to the generations of newcomers she welcomed to Derry, especially the young people she loved and enchanted with her remarkable life story.” Ta.
Bimla Nanda, known as Bim, was born on October 12, 1932 in Quetta, now part of Pakistan. She was the eldest of three daughters of Sita (Sibal) Nanda and Puran Nath Nanda, a veterinary surgeon who became independent India's first pastoral commissioner. He was also a table tennis champion who invented a unique way to hold the paddle known as the “nanda grip,” Bissell said.
Bhim grew up in Lahore in the Punjab region until his family moved to Delhi shortly after Partition in 1947. She majored in English from Miranda House College for Women, University of Delhi.
Her first marriage, an arranged marriage to a government aide from a suitable family, was short and unhappy. Though divorce was unthinkable at the time, Bhim left India with her husband and attended the University of Michigan, earning a master's degree in education in 1958. When he returned home, he was ostracized and banned from participating in the local gymkhana and social circles. The club was a remnant of the Indian colonial era.
“She broke all conventions,” her daughter said. She did it because this was the life she needed to live. ”
When Bhim Nanda arrived with a Ford Foundation grant, he was working for a government agency promoting traditional crafts. He was instantly infatuated with her. She thought he was obsessed with his country. In any case, they quickly became friends while Mr. Bissell wooed her with enthusiasm and strict discipline. For the next five years, she said, he sent her notes and red roses every day.
At one point, Bissell's mother intervened. “I want to know how you feel about my son,'' she said to Bim. “He's in love with you.”
“He loves India,'' Bhim replied.
“I know my son, and it's time to either fish or cut bait,” Bissell said.
They were married in 1963 at Mr. Bowles' home.
With help and connections from his wife, Mr. Bissell founded Fabindia, a company that sells furniture, clothing, jewelry and other products made by Indian artisans using traditional techniques. At first, he operated out of his rented apartment. Over the decades, the company has grown into a household name in India, with a thriving export business and hundreds of retail outlets across the country.
After Mr. Bowles' appointment ended in 1969, Mr. Bissell served his successors, Ambassador Kenneth B. Keating and Ambassador Daniel Patrick Moynihan, until his term ended in 1975.
She then joined the World Bank as India's diplomatic attaché, essentially serving as the bank's cultural ambassador and helping the bank's expatriates find housing and schools for their children and shop with their wives. , telephone line settings. She collaborated with numerous non-governmental organizations and founded Udyogini, one of the non-governmental organizations with the mission of empowering women entrepreneurs in India.
In addition to her daughter, Bissell is survived by her son William, who runs Fabindia, two grandchildren and her sister Meena Singh. Mr. Bissell passed away in 1998.
After leaving the World Bank in 1996, Ms. Bissell worked as a consultant for many organizations and remained at the center of the cross-cultural social whirlwind. She sold her school, the Playhouse, in 2005. Until her death, her home remained a home for illustrious politicians, artists, and literary figures who trusted her political acumen and were encouraged by her friendship.
Eric Garcetti, a former Los Angeles mayor and retired U.S. ambassador to India, was also fond of Bissell, as were his predecessors.
“You are Indian,” he told her. “And India is you.”
