Bim Bissell, who died last Thursday, was an institution in Delhi. It seemed as if the whole town knew this warm and exuberant person who, despite poor health towards the end, was all over the place. She would not miss a book event of a friend, a dance performance or a painting exhibition of a struggling artist. She held musical soirees at her elegant home where she also laid the best table in town. At Christmas there would turkey as well as desi street food.Behind the exuberance and joy for life, however, there lurked a serious mind. She was a philanthropist who preferred to do charity work quietly, without fuss and publicity. She was a connoisseur of art and an expert on crafts and handlooms. She took pride in dressing elegantly. She loved matching everything, from her accessories to her chappals. Her full name was Bimla but everyone called her Bim. She was one of the founders of Fabindia, a company that now has more than three hundred lifestyle shops in India and abroad. I met her soon after I arrived in the city in 1986 to take up a UN posting. At that time, she was employed with the World Bank and we had offices in the same building in Lodi Estate. Hers was on one floor above mine. Meeting her was a lucky break for me. She took me under her wings, introduced me to everyone worth knowing in the city, became my mentor as well as a friend for life. Bim died at the age 93 and is survived by her two children, William and Monsoon. Her husband, John Bissell passed away in 1998. On September 24, 1963, New York Times announced their wedding accompanied by a picture of young Bim in a splendid saree. The ceremony took place in the New Delhi home of Chester Bowles, the US Ambassador to India.It was a marriage made in heaven. Three years earlier, John had launched Fabindia, a company that had modest beginnings as exporter Indian home furnishings. John was from Hartford in United States and his love for India began as a child, hearing stories from his father of his time here during the Second World War. After college John worked for Macy’s, the department store in New York, when he was offered a two-year grant by Ford Foundation to teach Indian craftspersons how to make goods for export. Once he arrived, he made India his home.
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