A Sinner in Sind

I knew little about this book when I bought it, and possibly wouldn't have, had I known it was a missionary account, as it isn't really in my genre of interest.

It did however surprise me, with some good things going for it. The author is a New Zealander, who spent much of his youth near where I grew up - the first few chapters were a brief summary of his early life, and very astutely recorded. After a selection of fairly typical jobs, Haskell put himself forward as a Christian missionary candidate, and was sent to Karachi, Pakistan (although in India at the time). He was sent as a teacher, was then appointed vice principal, before being made temporary principal, and finally principal, a position held for over 20 years.

Published in 1957, Haskell's writing is very good. He organises his stories well, and writes with a logical structure. While there was obvious content related to the missionary role, evangelism and the like, these were relatively easily skipped over if not of interest, and the real interest in the book is his accurate and observant descriptions of Karachi life and society. Towards the of his 23 years in Karachi, commencing in 1931, Haskell saw and describes many changes - the largest being Indian Independence and the Partition of India. Two fairly serious events, Partition of course leading to violence.

Other far lighter observations were also present - Indian bureaucracy, illogical Government rulings, funding and corruption, language confusion, the behavior of students and servants are all common features in memoirs on India, and well explained here with a prodigous number of anecdotes and examples.

Overall, this was a book I enjoyed much more than anticipated, and really I only read it due to clearing out some shelves to find some books to sell (running out of shelf space is a constant issue for me), and flicking through it, a few passages caught my eye.

3.5 stars, rounded up.