New York Times editor Jyothi Thottam wrote a history of six Catholic nuns from Kentucky who traveled to India in 1947 to set up a hospital there, just as India was breaking free of English rule. She talked about how the geopolitical changes ushered in opportunity.
“One of the things I hope people will take away from the book is that in periods like that, when there is so much that is uncertain, it’s also a time when because so much is up in the air, for certain people, it can become an opportunity. It’s a chance to say, no one really knows what’s going on, everything is up for grabs, why not try to do something different? Why not leave my home, take this opportunity and remake my life? That impulse, as much as the war and the politics and violence and upheaval, that also drives the story and a lot of what happened here,” Thottam said.
Hear the whole conversation about Thottam's book Sisters of Mokama on the Gulf Coast Life Book Club Wednesday (June 1) at 1 and 9 PM on WGCU.
