The Anglo-Indian Festival of New York

When a species becomes extinct, the world suffers an irreparable loss. The same holds true for a culture. Archeologists and anthropologists attempt to reconstruct the values, language, and lifestyle of a lost people through artifacts and documents, but nothing can capture the vitality of a society, as can those who have experienced it firsthand.

The presence of the British in India gave rise to a sub-culture that flourished for the better part of three centuries. The Anglo-Indians, a hybrid people of Indian and European descent, carved a unique niche for themselves in British India. While their language, religion, and educational background were European, they developed a style of life that borrowed from both their British and Indian progenitors but jelled into something that was essentially their own. After India gained Independence in 1947, the majority of the Anglo-Indian community emigrated to the UK, Australia, and Canada. Today their children and grandchildren no longer have any psychological or emotional ties with India. In addition, most of these early Anglo-Indian emigrants are now elderly, and there is little doubt that their cultural heritage will, within a generation or two, be extinguished forever.

In 2004 "The Way We Were" was launched, inviting articles from across the world that described Anglo-Indian culture. As we stated in the guidelines:

Over 80 submissions from both Anglo-Indians and non Anglo-Indians were received from India, Australia, USA, UK, Canada, New Zealand, and Germany. A panel of five judges selected 42 articles through a blind judging process, and these now constitute the content of "The Way We Were". The anthology has been edited by Margaret and Glenn Deefholts.

R. Dean Wright, Professor of Sociology (Iowa), who earned a doctorate for his thesis on Anglo-Indians, says, "I have looked back over the history of the Community and note several 'bumps' of cultural surge, times when the group took its destiny into its own hands and demanded it become something else. The something else was ultimately a movement to become more permanent, more lasting, to preserve its heritage for future generations . . . a cultural heritage that uniquely identifies that group as having a life that will last far beyond the life of any member . . . a heritage found in the arts." To this purpose, so well expressed by Dr Wright, "The Way We Were" has been compiled and published. It joins "Anglo-Indians: Vanishing Remnants of a Bygone Era", "Haunting India" and "Voices On The Verandah", a series of books about Anglo-Indians.

The publication of this book has another vitally important and synergistic function. The gross proceeds of all sales - publishing costs are borne privately - will go directly to CTR Inc., the charity helping less fortunate Anglo-Indians in India. The series thus serves a dual purpose: to preserve the culture of the Community and to provide much needed resources for its poorer members in India.

Blair Williams
Publisher, CTR Inc Publishing
PO Box 6345, Monroe Twp, NJ 08831, USA

"The Way We Were" is a wonderful record of the rich history, heritage and culture of Anglo-Indians. By raising funds to support the work of CTR Inc., the book not only remembers the past, but also makes a vital contribution to helping members of the Community in India today.

Alison Blunt
Professor, Queen Mary's University, London
Author: Domicile and Diaspora

Rosie Llewellyn-Jones
Indian historian and editor

Hazel Craig
Author: Under the Old School Topee

Jaysinh Birjepatil
Author: Chinnery's Hotel and Professor English
Vermont, USA

Jyotirmoy Datta
Senior Editor Arts
News India
New York, USA

Stanley Brush
Author: Farewell the Winterline
New Jersey, USA

I've been dipping into the copy of "The Way We Were" you so kindly sent me, and I must say it's a lovely compilation, which I can already see will give me much pleasure. Well done all concerned.

Among the many things I've enjoyed is David McMahon's account of that fraught cross-country car journey with such a perilous substitute for a fuel tank.

Your own recollections of Jamalpur, Blair, where I spent much of my early years, accords closely with mine, when I was the sole Anglo-Indian in my form at St Francis College in Lucknow. Boy, did I have to struggle to compete!

Altogether a valuable historical record of a vanished lifestyle, preserved for posterity on the very brink of its disappearance from humanity's collective experience.

I'm already looking forward to the sequel!

Peter Moss
Author: The trilogy, 'Bye-Bye Blackbird', 'Distant Archipelagos' and 'No Babylon', a prodigious number of other works, and his most recent publication, 'The Age of Elephants'.
Hong Kong

This is a title of a well-known Barbara Streisand song that fills the bill admirably as the title of a book written by Anglo-Indians about their past lives in India before most of them had emigrated to the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the States when Indian Independence and Partition forced them to think seriously about their future status in the land of their birth.

Each chapter points up a particular aspect of being an Anglo-Indian and I was struck by the cheerfulness and kindness displayed by a people who had every reason to bemoan their fate and to hate some of the British people in India who gave them such a bad time. They were party animals on the whole and loved to entertain friends and strangers alike, and it must have been so hurtful when they were rebuffed by some of the less sensitive British (and Indians).

I had some lovely Anglo-Indian friends during my time at Mount Hermon School Darjeeling in the early 1940's. There was a warmth and humour about them that will remain forever in my memory, and I loved the way a few of them would say, "Come on, my girl" to me just as their mothers would say to them. It was so heart-warming and so comforting to a little boarding school wallah. Today, in my advancing years, I realise, too, how well-educated most Anglo-Indians were and how nasty it must have been for them when they were looked down upon by less literate as well as posh and prejudiced Brits.

The book's chapters deal with so many aspects of Anglo-Indian life and should be compulsory reading for anyone who has lived in pre-Independent India. Many bells will be rung and there will be many revelations, as there were certainly there for me, one in particular being the wonderful matriarchical stance of mothers and grandmothers, who played such a part in the upbringing of the children.

One learns too about the meals produced in Anglo-Indian kitchens, and the disciplines practised by the older generation in bringing up the young, all of which were closed books to me during my time in India. Why, oh why, couldn't we have all mixed and learned from each other?

Thanks to "The Way We Were" we are learning at last.

'Chowkidar'
BACSA