Who am I? Late summer musings
Thursday, September 4th, 2008Okay, this is not what you’d expect.
Then again maybe you did. I haven’t posted much all summer and truth be told there’s some personal upheaval going on which I’m not ready to share - and may never.
In the meantime, I’ve come across a couple of pieces of information that cast a light on who I am - that is what my roots are and why I am the person I am.
We all come from somewhere. I was born in England, then moved to Japan at an early age, returning to England at eight years old before moving to Canada at 16..
The most powerful, driving factor of my cultural identity is that of being English and that’s not only because when we lived in Japan I clung to my genetic roots as a stranger - a gaijin - in Japan in the early 1960s.
It was impressed on me that I was English and that we were different than the Americans who were the dominant foreign entity in Japan. But more than that. my father is an Anglo Indian - Anglo Banglo as we call ourselves - and as such maintaining the thread of English culture is a sacred trust which was passed down through generations.
Dad was born in Lahore in 1929 when it was part of India. It became part of Pakistan in 1947 after Partion. Our family - my grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins and the extended family - were British colonial or for the most part Anglo Indian, that is British with mixed blood.
No one talked about the mixed blood part much when I was growing up. But it was pretty clear. Both my dad and me and most of my paternal family are pretty swarthy, more so in summer. My mum, on the other hand, was lily white. I mean Wonderbread white.
Returning to England I was confronted with what being different was about. It was a time of Paki jokes and Paki bashing. At school the bullies would turn on me and ask where I went for my holidays over the summer.
Being an innocent I would respond: “Spain, actually, the Costa del Sol” or Majorca or whatever. I’d get a double beating. One for being smart since they obviously had branded me a “wog” and two for being middle class enough to go abroad for holidays.
I knew nothing of colour really. I didn’t encouter my first black man until I was about nine years old at the local swimming pool and I remember being fascinated by his pink palms and soles and lips. Remember, I’d been in Japan and there weren’t a lot of blacks there.
But about the time I came of age I realized that we are judged by who we are thought to be. It’s a sad reality and I rail against it every chance I have.
In the ensuing years, however, I have also come to realize that prejudice cuts both ways. The Japanese were suspicious of us giajin; The Indians were resentful of the British and the Anglo Banglos. Some Black aren’t deemed Black enough - Obama Barrack, perhaps being the latest case in point.
Me? I never felt I was white. But I realized I am not brown, and I am clearly not black. It never really mattered to me but lately, I’ve also realized it matters to other people and that’s a sad statement on affirmitive action.
I’m neither white enough for the white, nor brown enough for the browns. I’ve not lived in India though its influence formed me during my developmental years as much as living in Japan did.
In that respect I’m a typical British nomad who has spent more time away from the Motherland than there but unable to break free. I am British in speech, deed and thought.
And in that sense I’m like so many other immigrants, migrants and disporia; at home yet far from home.
So to bring things full circle, more on Anglo Indians can be found here and if you really want to keep reading, here’s a speech my uncle fowarded to me for my interest and perhaps yours. Many of the examples cited here strike a chord as I think back on my paternal family and their experiences both in India (though they ended up in Karachi and were ultimately forced out by the muslim government which was intolerant of the previous Anglo Indian heirachy, unlike the Indian government which enshrine AI rights in their constitution) and on their return to England in the mid 1960s.
This was a speech written and presented by Beverly Pearson, at the Anglo-Indian Association of NSW anniversary dance in October of 2007 in
He was delighted by the standing ovation received but more satisfied to find the Anglo-Indian audience all agreed on one thing: ‘You made us proud to be Anglo-Indian’Good Evening Ladies & Gentleman. Welcome to this special evening. I’m attempting to condense over 300 years of Anglo-Indian history in to 10 minutes.The
Even though the British came in peacefully as merchants and traders they soon colonised the sub-continent of
In 1830 British Parliament described the Anglo-Indian as those who have been English educated, are entirely European in their habits and feelings, dress and language. They were more ‘Anglo’ than ‘Indian’. Their mother-tongue was English, they were Catholic or Anglican and their customs and traditions were English. While most of them married within their own circle, many continued to marry expatriate Englishmen. Very few married Indians. Without Anglo-Indian support British rule would have collapsed. RAILWAYS
We ran the railways, post and telegraph, police and customs, education, export and import, shipping, tea, coffee and tobacco plantations, the coal and gold fields. We became teachers, nurses, priests and doctors. If it had any value the British made sure we ran it. And when it came to secretarial duties no one could touch our Anglo-Indian girls - the best stenographers in the world and with beauty to match. Were we favoured? Yes, the English trusted us. After all we were blood related. We worked hard. We became indispensable. We lived comfortably and were protected by the British raj. Like the British we had servants to do all our domestic work.The average Anglo-Indian home could afford at least three full time servants - a cook, a bearer and the indispensable nanny (ayah). Part time servants included a gardener, cleaner and laundry man (dhobi). Of course we learned to speak Hindi to be able to argue, give orders, bargain, accuse and terminate employment and throw in a dozen Hindi expletives. Imagine our horror when we were later to migrate to
We had to learn to cook, clean, garden, do the laundry and take the garbage out and look after the kids.CHRISTMAS
The tradition of making your own Christmas cake was a sacred Anglo-Indian custom. Each family had a secret cake recipe, handed down from our grandparents. About a week before Christmas the local baker was contacted. He would turn up to your home with two very large terracotta bowls that looked more like satellite dishes.
One for the egg whites and one for mixing. Mum would dish out the ingredients. This was all mixed together under her watchful eye and distributed in to about dozen or so cake tins and labelled with your name on it. This labelling was all important. We did not want him to return that evening with someone else’s cake recipe. Heaven forbid. MUSIC/DANCE
Music, movies and socialising were high on the agenda. We loved a dance. Afternoon dance jam sessions were a magnet for the teenagers where we jived, jitterbugged, tangoed or just fox trotted. Many a lasting liaison was forged on the dance floor and today many of us are celebrating 40-year plus marriages. Our mums sat around gossiping and seldom took their eyes off their darling daughters.
I know I speak from experience. I met my wife at one such event and now 44 years later I still fancy her.
The Anglo-Indian railway and cantonment towns that sprung up around the major cities cultivated a unique social and industrial blend with a heartbeat. Their dances were legendary. At the drop of a hat the city cousins would jump on a train and travel for anything up to six hours to get to that up-country dance.
Many of our lives revolved around the biggest and best railway system in the world. And the trains ran on time! Today the Indian Railways transports over 5 billion passengers each year employing more than 1.6 million personnel. Between 1853 and 1947 we built and managed 42 rail systems. This was a legacy we can be proud of.CONTRIBUTIONS
During World War 1 about 8000 Anglo-Indians fought in Mesopotamia,
The Anglo-Indians took
English education played a major role amongst the Anglo-Indians. Anglo-Indian schools numbered close to 300 and were prized. They stretched from
The Anglo-Indian has always faced an identity dilemma because of our mixed origins. Europeans said they were Indians with some European blood; Indians said they were Europeans with some Indian blood. The world of Anglo-India vanished on August 15th 1947, when
The Anglo-Indian identity is disappearing. We have found new lives and merged into the mainstream. Our generation, sitting here tonight, who were born in
We were the shakers and the stirrers. Please pick up your glasses and toast your State of