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Anglos in the cityscape

A fortnight that was as much remembrance of things past as a re-creation of their image is what the Anglo-Indians of Chennai, led by Beatrix de Souza and Harry Maclure, treated the city to — and succeeded in both, as well as in making many give a second thought to the community.

Beginning with the inauguration of a photo exhibition by the prize-winning Anglo-Indian author Irwin Allen Sealy, that took you back to when the railway towns — like Liloolah, just north of Howrah, Khurda Road, Dhond and Guntakal — were mainly theirs, the message came across loud and clear. They have been called Eurasians, East Indians, Native Borns at one time, but today they are a community taking pride in what they are now called, Anglo-Indian. It is a term that has a precise, legal definition. And that is that they descend through the male line from an European. The definition might misleadingly imply an English male starting an Indian lineage, but in fact they can be Madeiros and Van Geyzel, Smith, Jones, O'Malley or Macdonald, La Fontaine or Schmidt, Costello or Micetich, Europeans all, not English alone. The maternal line is from all parts of India, contributing to an even greater mixed heritage of a community that from its birth in the 1500s developed a distinct and proud identity of its own. But one that today has moved from being ambivalent to being staunchly Indian.

It was an identity that came out strongly through the brilliant readings by Sealy from his books, starting with Trotternama, which made him internationally-known, to Red, his latest with its overtones of autobiography. Almost stealing the limelight from Sealy was the play "... And Sunshine Follows the Rain". Harry Maclure's adaptation of Tennessee Williams' "The Glass Menagerie" was a script that brought alive the traditional Anglo-Indian home and Rajiv Krishnan's direction ensured that the house throbbed with life, but what was most striking was the way the entire cast not only looked Anglo-Indian but were Anglo-Indians for the duration — yet not one of the actors was Anglo-Indian! The greatest compliment to them was non-Anglo-Indians in the audience saying over and over again, "Myeee, just like the Anglo-Indian families we knew!"

36 Chowringhee Lane and Bow Barracks Forever then contributed insightful yet entertaining film cameos. A fortnight of Anglo-Indian cuisine at the Connemara was not what it was like in the days when it specialised in such fare, but it manfully tried to revive memories of the food in its jazzed up, post-Millennium form. And, finally, `All that Jazz' with veteran Anglo-Indian band leader and instrumentalist Frank Dubier, together with contributions from Anglo-Indian soloists from Kolkata, Bangalore and Melbourne, brought not only the house down at the Music Academy but the curtain down as well on a fortnight that was a resounding success.

S. MUTHIAH

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