I am drawn to books that share some or other aspect with the story that I am engaged in telling. The common aspect can be to do with education, particularly women’s education; or, it can be to do with the East-West encounter; or, it can be to do with social, political or scientific thinking during the nineteenth century.
One such book is Fortunate Sons: The 120 Chinese Boys Who Came to America, Went to School, and Revolutionized an Ancient Civilization. Another is Daughters of the Samurai: A Journey from East to West and Back.
Both books are group biographies and the protagonists in both groups share many characteristics. Chief among them, that they came at about the same time (1871/1872), were preteens (or younger) when they arrived in America, that their journeys had been sponsored by their respective governments and that they stayed in the United States for close to a decade before returning home.
The most fascinating aspect of both stories is that the rulers in both China and Japan had, at about the same time, come to the realization (reluctantly and somewhat fleetingly, as later events would prove) that their countries needed to catch up to the advanced West in the realms of technology/innovation and social/cultural/political institutions. And, they had realized that the best way to achieve this was by using children — adaptable and resilient — to first learn through immersion and osmosis and to then graft the knowledge thus acquired onto their traditional societies/economies.
Ironically, in the case of the girls from Japan, the mission was not about women’s progress or empowerment at all. Rather, it was to return to help nurture a new generation of enlightened men to lead Japan.
Although the success of these ambitious projects was somewhat modest, I found the stories quite poignant for a couple of reasons. One, they are about children, sent alone to live in a strange land. Two, they are about the adults they grew into — not completely at home either in their home countries or in their adopted land. Finally, both stories describe the emotionally rich relationships that formed between these young foreigners and their American host families.
~~~
Anandi arrived in America just as these boys and girls were returning home. Being a citizen of a colonized land, she was not supported by her country’s government. At eighteen, she was somewhat older than the boys and girls from the Far East. However, she was a demographic of one, and had to deal with the loneliness and baggage that that entails. Her peculiar circumstances forced her to adhere to Indian attire and a vegetarian diet, which added to her burdens.
The one aspect she shared with the Chinese boys and Japanese girls was the emotional bonds that were forged between her and the many Americans who crossed her path. These ranged from Theodocia Carpenter (her “aunt”), to Hans Mattson (the American consul in Calcutta), to Prof. Bodley (Dean of her college) and Rev. Ames (the minister of a Unitarian church).
After returning to India, Anandi did not live long enough to experience the trauma of re-entry. However, she may have achieved in death, a level of acceptance and reverence that was unavailable to the Fortunate Sons and Daughters of the Samurai .
She had faced staunch opposition before she left India; but, upon her return and death soon after, major newspapers in British India celebrated her educational achievement, her dedication and her courage.