Welcome
Updated OCTOBER 2011
NEW ITEMS, PLEASE READ ON…………….
More Voices on the Verandah
Call for Submissions
From the laughter and song of an animated gathering of friends, lounging on the verandah in the balmy evening air of early winter, to the clink of glasses, the pop of champagne corks and the shouts of celebration on a snowy New Year’s morning, the voices of Anglo-Indians are many, their experiences diverse. Many have stayed in India, while others have adopted new countries and cultures. Each has a story to tell—some are factual, while others are true in the way that only fiction can be. And, for all this diversity of personality, context and experience, the shared background of Anglo-India, and its cultural underpinnings, unite them all.
We are seeking stories, poems and creative non-fiction about the Anglo-Indian experience.
CTR Inc Publishing invites your submissions of fiction and creative non-fiction, of prose and poetry. Entries may be set against a backdrop of Anglo-Indian society—as it once was, as it stands today or as it may develop in the years to come—and must feature Anglo-Indian subjects, though not necessarily exclusively. We hope to capture the unique ambience of Anglo-Indian society in all its diversity, providing readers with insight into the culture and story of the Anglo-Indians, via the many different forms of creative narrative.
Submissions that are selected will be compiled and published in an anthology tentatively entitled More Voices on the Verandah, slated for publication by mid-to-late 2012. An honorarium of $35 will be paid for each piece selected.
Submission Guidelines:
- Submissions must be limited to 3000 words or fewer. Please note that submissions exceeding this length will not be considered.
- The short stories, essays, anecdotes, memoirs or poems may be humorous or serious. We are looking for unique and fresh perspectives on Anglo-Indian society and people. Without limiting the possibilities of content, articles may feature a turning point in life arising out of choice or fate, the immigrant experience, some special (or typical) aspect of festive celebrations, as well as narratives that feature, as a backdrop, the traditions of hospitality, aptitudes, inclinations, and world views of Anglo-Indian culture, in all its variations.
- With due respect, a submission should not consist entirely of a eulogy to a loved one. However, biographical/episodic sketches of an unforgettable Anglo-Indian character (funny, sad, fierce, strong-willed, or influential) that are woven into the content of a broader article are acceptable.
- At our sole discretion, we will not consider material that is obscene or slanderous.
- Articles may be written in the first person or third person. The writing style should be meticulously polished but easy to read, and entertaining enough to provoke and sustain interest.
- All articles must carry the full name, postal address, e-mail and fax/phone number of the author. All submissions should be in Times New Roman, 12-point font (please, no fancy fonts or headings). If sent as an e-mail attachment, this should be in Microsoft Word. In order to ensure the authenticity of the attachment (as a way to distinguish from virus-embedded attachments that are often circulated), the subject heading must contain the words: “More Voices on the Verandah.” E-mailed articles should be sent to blairrw@att.net
- Entry is not restricted to Anglo-Indians. Anyone may participate in More Voices on the Verandah, provided that the content depicts facets of the Anglo-Indian experience, and features Anglo-Indian characters or aspects of the culture.
- There is a limit of two articles per writer.
- All submissions must contain original material that has not been previously published or accepted for publication prior to June 30st 2011.
- Every submission, whether via e-mail or by postal communication, must be accompanied by a cover letter incorporating the following statement (please cut and paste):
The author agrees to grant CTR Inc Publishing first publication rights for this article, on the agreement that, following publication of More Voices on the Verandah, all publishing rights will revert to the author. The author also agrees that the editors of Voices on the Verandah II will have the right to edit material in order to ensure textual cohesiveness and uniformity of syntax, style, grammar, spelling, and punctuation.
- As a courtesy, authors will receive a copy of the edited material for their review. While the editors, in their sole discretion, may accommodate minor textual amendments as suggested by an individual author, this is a one-time prerogative, and no further changes will be entertained.
- This invitation will be valid from June 1st 2010 to June 30th 2011. Submissions received after June 30th 2011 will not be considered.
Every submission will be acknowledged. However, those that do not conform to length restrictions, or omit the above statement, or fail to comply with the above guidelines will be rejected without further consideration.
Thank you for participating. As in the case of Voices on the Verandah, The Way We Were, The Way We Are and Women of Anglo: Tales and Memoirs(targeted for publication in August 2010), we look forward to publishing an outstanding anthology on Anglo-Indian culture.
Blair Williams, CTR Inc Publishing, June 2010
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FARE WELL RAJ: Witness to End Of Empire
£1 from this book supports The Royal British Legion
ISBN 9780955569876 RRP £11.95
Available from all good bookshops
Published by Tommies Guides, www.tommiesguides.co.uk. 0845 475 1945
‘With tales of horrific journeys undertaken in Post-Partition India – makes you question how humans could possibly inflict such barbarity on to their fellow humans. The climax of going through the border from India to Pakistan seems straight out of a Hollywood film – except with more casualties. A fascinating insight into some dark days in the immediate aftermath of decolonisation.’….. Stephen Luscombe – britishempire.co.uk
The retired British settlers were split two ways – “Let’s get the hell out of here before we are all slaughtered in our beds”, many armed themselves with pistols and shotguns; the other half remained complacent; “Sit tight – we’ve seen all this before, it will blow over in a few weeks and life will go on just the same”.
The Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs who were caught on the wrong side, were quite definite in what they had to do. They had to move to the other side as quickly as possible. ‘A true master piece depicting the events of 1947, the stories we have just heard from our parents and grandparents.’ …….Dr.Daniyal Nagi
‘A unique experience. Very few non-Indian/Pakistanis will have witnessed the East- West movement of humanity at such close quarters, a terrible experience, almost stranger than fiction.’ ……Henry Nelson – British In India Museum
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A SUMMER READ FROM PARTHIAN BOOKS
Mrs D’Silva’s Detective Instincts and the Shaitan of Calcutta
GLEN PETERS
12th June 2009
Paperback Original • £8.99
ISBN 978 1906998 011
An exciting debut novel of murder and picnics, romance and railways, and revolution in the heart of 1960s Anglo-India
Joan D’Silva is a widowed school teacher, mother of ten-year-old Errol and the finest fish molu cook in 1960s Calcutta. She enjoys bustling coffee houses of Chowringhee Road, dances at the Grand Hotel and the vibrancy of a new burgeoning India. But when Errol stumbles upon the dead body of one of Joan’s former students at a picnic on the banks of the Hooghly river, she is determined to find out why she died. Joan’s detective instincts lead her into the dangerous underground world of corruption, violence, and revolution to unravel the secret of the deadly Shaitan threatening the people of Calcutta.
Set in the Anglo-Indian community of Calcutta, Glen Peters captures the culture and traditions of a society struggling to find its place in a newly independent India. Growing civil unrest and the rise of the communist Naxalite threat to India’s fledgling democracy forms a poignant backdrop that resonates with the current violent protests enacted by the Naxalites during India’s 2009 elections.
Glen Peters was born in Allahabad to family from Lucknow in India. He spent his childhood living in a railway colony near Calcutta before emigrating to London with his family in the 1960s. He attended university and worked as an engineer before joining an international accounting firm. He is founder of Project Rhosygilwen, a Pembrokeshire-based rural arts regeneration venture.
For further information and to talk to Glen Peters please contact Bethan Jones at MGA
Tel: 020 7836 4774 • Email: parthian@mga-pr.com
Website: shaitan.org.uk/
BOOK REVIEW: Mrs. D´Silva´s Detective Instincts & The Shaitan Of Calcutta A super enjoyable read. Filled with nostalgia for those Anglo-Indian’s who loved to travel on trains, manually drawn rickshaws, and over-burdened trams. Reminiscent of “old Calcutta”. The author, Glen Peters is an Anglo-Indian, born in Allahabad and immigrated to the United Kingdom in the 1960’s. He spent his childhood in a Railway colony close to Calcutta. His recollections of the places, sights, sounds and smells bring the City to life in the telling of this story.
Joan D´Silva is a young widow, she has a 10 year-old son Errol, and is the main provider for her small family. Joan lives in Calcutta, and teaches at Don Bosco´s Catholic school. The story begins with an enjoyable picnic at the shrine of Our Lady by the Hooghly near Bandle. Many of us will happily recall our Anglo-Indian picnics – rowdy, social, the singalongs, and of course the delicious food. This is the background for the horrific find made by Errol. It is the body of a young woman lying by the river bank.
The victim is identified as Agnes Lal a former pupil at Don Bosco´s. She was married to Xavier Lal, a much older very unpleasant individual. The marriage had been arranged by the Nuns at Don Bosco’s, who were ignorant to the fact that Lal was homosexual. Agnes’s 2 devoted and concerned friends Philomena Thomas and Anil Sen ask Joan to help find out what happened to their friend. In the interim however, Thomas James, GKW´s factory manager is murdered during a riot and the police arrest Anil Sen and extract a signed confession from him to the crime. Joan and Philip, her close friend get involved in the investigation, while Dutta, (the culprit behind the name “shaitan”,) encourages his followers to create havoc in Calcutta. Dutta is the self-proclaimed leader of the Workers´ Revolutionary Movement.
Glen Peters spins an artful tale. Enjoyment on every page, as you read about the social gatherings, the many delectable foods, the servants interchanging pleasantries with their employers. Close your eyes and your are “there”. Do not be fooled, however, because below the surface the “real Calcutta” breaks through. Overpowering with murder, thievery, prostitution, police brutality and the unending, horrendous poverty all assail the senses. The great divide of the Indian class system becomes too great for the reader to comprehend at times.
Memorable individuals portraying their intelligence, and weaknesses. I loved the “believableness” in the characters. And, if you have forgotten your Anglo-Indian words, there is a glossary at the back.
There are some terrific recipes on the front and back covers of the book. I must admit I tried the mouth-watering Lucknow Biryani. Mrs. D’Silva is certainly a memorable character and I personally hope that Glen Peters will continue with her in books to come. This is an India I recall from my childhood and it was wonderful to return there.
Lynette (Lynne) Rebeiro
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FAREWELL RAJ: Witness To End Of Empire
AUTHOR: Tony Hearne
The retired British settlers were split two ways – “Let’s get the hell out of here before we are all slaughtered in our beds”, many armed themselves with pistols and shotguns; the other half remained complacent; “Sit tight – we’ve seen all this before, it will blow over in a few weeks and life will go on just the same”. The Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs who were caught on the wrong side, were quite definite in what they had to do. They had to move to the other side as quickly as possible.
Synopsis
Tony Hearne, just a young man at the time, bore witness to political intrigue, acts of great courage and determination and sickening atrocities. These images and this story have lived with him all his life.
This tale charts a vivid adventure, which no man would have willingly sought, but which brings to life a passionate period in history which has changed the political contours of India and Pakistan and the lives of the people.
The words will resonate with many an old soldier and maybe provide an insight to a younger generation who perhaps cannot imagine living in such fearful and tumultuous times.
Price: £11.95 ISBN: 9780955569869
Publisher: Tommies Guides£1.00 from the cover price of every book will be donated to The Royal British Legion
For more information or to order online visit www.tommiesguides.co.uk br/>
BOOK REVIEW: Mrs. D´Silva´s Detective Insticts & The Shaitan Of Calcutta
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BOOK REVIEW
Paper Boats In The Monsoon: Life In The Lost World Of Anglo-India
Lynette Rebeiro
February 2009
Paper Boats In The Monsoon is a trip down memory lane which is what Owen Thorpe (the Author) intended it to be. A richly detailed story that will surely captivate not only his Anglo-Indian readers but many audiences.
India in the 1940’s to India in the 1970’s records Thorpe’s generation and the quirky experiences of his upbringing. His journey spans many cities, from Madras and Bangalore in the South to the intoxicating life of Calcutta in the North to the historical City of Delhi.
In this first book he has chosen to discover a portion of Anglo-India which several A-I writers are exploring at the present time.
His “residents of India, who existed in a sort of bubble living life on our own terms” depicts a thorny but important chapter in India’s history, namely Partition. Paper Boats…. covers economic possibilities, the class struggle and the competing loyalties, some things that most of us did not dwell on whilst living in India.
Thorpe’s book entertains with stories about his childhood, playing games such as gilly dandoo, and 7 Tiles, the pleasures and expertise in spinning tops and flying kites. Raiding your neighbour’s gardens for mangoes, chickoos, whatever was available and free.
There are vivid descriptions of his teenage years in Calcutta participating in the pop scene and working for a newspaper which was constantly under attack by mobs which disagreed with its views. His story of wrestling with the tangled bureaucracy in trying to emigrate from India will be familiar to thousands of Anglo-Indians who encountered it too.
This is a world where servants are expected to cater to your every desire. Life is enjoyable, familiar, carefree and palatable. An ordinary story told in a breezy, whimsical style which is utterly enduring.
I finished the book delighted, with a lot more knowledge of the Community and Life In The Lost World of Anglo-India.
Owen Thorpe’s website is: www.owenthorpe.co.uk. Please visit his website for a discounted price on his book.
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BRIDGET WHITE HAS 3 NEW COOKBOOKS OUT – JUST IN TIME FOR THE CHRISTMAS SEASON. EACH BOOK IS FEATURED BELOW ALONG WITH THE CONTENTS PAGE. PLEASE DOUBLE-CLICK ON EACH ICON ´here´ AND VIEW THE BOOKS. PLEASE GIVE THE PROGRAM A FEW SECONDS TO BRING UP THE CONTENTS. YOU MAY CONTACT BRIDGET WHITE AT THE FOLLOWING E-MAIL ADDRESS: bridgetkumar@yahoo.com
FLAVOURS OF THE PAST — ANGLO-INDIAN DELICACIES — THE ANGLO-INDIAN FESTIVE HAMPER
here
here
here
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HOT OFF THE PRESS……………
In celebration of CTR 10th anniversary Scattered Seeds: The Diaspora of the Anglo-Indians will be sold for £12.50 with a donation of £2.50 from each book sold at CTR events in Australia and the UK going to CTR… pre-orders and be made via orders@scatteredseeds.co.uk quoting CTR.
Thats 50% less then the RRP on on the SCATTERED SEEDS website… the perfect Christmas present for the Anglo-Indian in your life!!!
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The Way We Are – An Anglo-Indian Mosaic
Here we are again. The Way We Are (TWWA) edited by Lionel Lumb and Deborah Van Veldhuizen is the fifth in our CTR Books series on the culture and way of life of Anglo-Indians. TWWA judges selected 43 entries whose authors were distributed as follows: USA – 14; Canada – 11; Australia – 7; UK – 6; New Zealand – 3; India – 1; and Hong Kong – 1. Isn’t that amazing? And the common element is the Anglo-Indian today.
As our editor Lionel Lumb says, “Put to rest are all the old calumnies of a shiftless people, drifters dependent on the goodwill of a colonial power and uncertain about their place in the world. Indeed, these pages reveal the world is ours, as we bring the strengths of our multicultural heritage to light the way for the increasingly diverse societies in which we’ve settled”.
The gross proceeds of all sales go to CTR Inc – the charity helping less fortunate Anglo-Indians in India.
Enjoy!
Blair Williams, Publisher, July 2008
CTR Inc., NJ, USA. blairrw@att.net
Pricing: $ 18.00 in USA, Canada and Australia; L10.00 in UK. Note postage for two, outside the USA, is the same as for one. Order from our website http://www.blairrw.org/ctr/index.php
Following Anglo-Indians. Vanishing remnants of a bygone era; Haunting India; Voices on the Verandah, and The Way We Were
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Press release – Blind Spot
Crime Mystery on a Twist of Fate
J. Chlöe Braun and Lynette Rebeiro have teamed up to write a crime mystery featuring police detective Hugh Walters, formerly of Calcutta, now retired in the Himalayan town of Darjeeling. Readers will be engrossed from almost the first page and it will be hard to put the book down. The multi-dimensional characters will hold you spellbound, drawing you deeply into their entangled lives of secrets and deceit, keeping you reading well into the night!
Walters and his team are working on two cases: one involving the theft of some rare emeralds, the other an apparent homicide whose victim is an elderly loyal retainer left in charge of guarding the emeralds. Surprisingly, there are clues that seem to link the two cases, if only Walters and the police can put them all together. That’s because the culprits have been meticulous in covering their tracks so that all incriminating evidence points to the wrong target.
We meet devious villains, sophisticated thieves and spoiled socialites as the main players of the story and then there is Kal Greenwood a young teacher from Indiana. Kal is a professor and visiting scholar teaching in Darjeeling. His wife Roshan is a socialite who brings with her a vast fortune and “dowry” which includes a beautiful emerald necklace, once the property of an Indian Maharani. Every thief and fence in town wants that necklace. Some would stop at nothing, even murder. Despite a tamperproof security system, the necklace is stolen – the butler, the only eye witness is shot and left for dead. There are no clues and the police chief is left baffled, perplexed, and about to lose his credibility. To add to his frustration a spate of similar jewel thefts in the town leave him perplexed.
Step by step, clue-by-clue, the shocks and twists of the case leave everyone baffled and a tidy answer seems impossible. The solution, however lies in what is not visible – the blind spot. By shrewd extortion of information from their shady contacts and informers, they masterfully expose the protected secrets. The challenge is to find the real culprit who is revealed at last. The most unlikely person, from the shadows of the past, which may mean big trouble for Kal and his carefully constructed life.
Expatriates from India will find Blind Spot point out places and things familiar to many – an enjoyable and interesting story. Here’s hoping Braun and Rebeiro will make join forces again in a future book. Blind Spot was released in October 2006 and is available online from Amazon at this link. http://xrl.us/BlindSpot You may have to cut and paste it into your browser – it will take you straight to the book. For more information on how to obtain an autographed copy of the book, and to read an excerpt, please visit www.jchloebraun.com Contact the authors at LynneChloe@yahoo.com
Proceeds from the sale of this book will go to benefit the Calcutta Tiljallah Relief.
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The Way We Were– Anglo-Indian Chronicles
Edited by Margaret Deefholts and Glenn Deefholts
“…And, departing, leave behind us Footprints on the sands of time”
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
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, “The publication, depicting our Anglo-Indian way of life, will cover a broad contemporary canvas. We would like to capture not only who we were but how we were in all walks of life—the way we lived, worked, rejoiced, loved, laughed, and cried.” 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.”1. 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 Era2, Haunting India3, and Voices on the Verandah4, 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
Website: http://www.blairrw.org/ctr/index.php. Email: blairrw@att.net
Blair Williams, the patron and publisher of this effort, is a Chartered Engineer from London who immigrated to the USA from India in 1976. He has spent the last 24 years as an executive in manufacturing companies and is now an Industry Professor at Brooklyn Polytechnic. He has a technical publication, Manufacturing for Survival (Pearson 1997). On a visit to India in 1998 he was appalled to see the condition of the seniors of his Community, evoking the all too distressing realization that, “there, but for the grace of God, go I.” On his return he set up CTR Inc., a 501c(3), not for profit charity, expressly to help indigent Anglo-Indians in India. Today the charity provides monthly pensions to over 230 seniors in three major cities in India and is helping to educate over 100 children.
The Way We Were will be available in August 2006 and will be sold for L10.00 (sterling), $15.00 USD, $18.00 CAD or $20.00 AUD. Please reserve your copy. The book will be formally launched at the Tiljallah dance in Toronto on Sept 23rd 2006. US sales will include a $9.00 tax receipt
1The Anglo-Indian Community’s fight for Cultural Identity, R Dean Wright (International Journal of Anglo-Indian Studies, 2002)
2Anglo-Indians Vanishing remnants of a bygone era, Blair Williams (CTR Inc Publishing, 2002)
3Haunting India, Margaret Deefholts (CTR Inc Publishing, 2003)
4Voices on the Verandah, edited Margaret Deefholts and Sylvia W Staub (CTR Publishing 2004)
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Snipped from the Project Gutenberg EBook of ´Concerning Animals and Other Matters´by E.H. Aitken, (AKA Edward Hamilton)
** Edward Hamilton Aitken was well known to the present generation of Anglo-Indians, by his pen-name of Eha, as an accurate and amusing writer on natural history subjects. He was the author of – The Tribes on my Frontier, An Indian Naturalist´s Foreign Policy, and The Naturalist on the Prowl.
He wrote a most informing and characteristic article for The Times of India (July 19, 1899), which threw a flood of light on the subject of the habits and characteristics of the Indian rat as found in town and country. He was the first to show that Mus rattus, the old English black rat, which is the common house rat of India outside the large seaports, has become, through centuries of contact with the Indian people, a domestic animal like the cat in Britain.
Mr. Aitken was born at Satara in the Bombay Presidency on August 16, 1851. His father was the Rev. James Aitken, missionary of the Free Church of Scotland. His mother was a sister of the Rev. Daniel Edward, missionary to the Jews at Breslau for some fifty years. He was educated by his father in India, and one can well realise the sort of education he got from such parents from the many allusions to the Bible and its old Testament characters that one constantly finds used with such effect in his books. His farther education was obtained at Bombay and Poona. He passed M.A. and B.A. of Bombay University first on the list, and won the Homejee Cursetjee prize with a poem in 1880. From 1870 to 1876 he was Latin Reader in the Deccan College at Poona, which accounts for the extensive acquaintance with the Latin classics so charmingly manifest in his writings. That he was well grounded in Greek is also certain, for the writer, while living in a chummery with him in Bombay in 1902, saw him constantly reading the Greek Testament in the mornings without the aid of a dictionary. He entered the Customs and Salt Department of the Government of Bombay in April 1876, and served in Kharaghoda (the Dustypore of the Tribes), Uran, North Kanara and Goa Frontier, Ratnagiri, and Bombay itself. In May, 1903, he was appointed Chief Collector of Customs and Salt Revenue at Karachi, and in November, 1905, was made Superintendent in charge of the District Gazetteer of Sind. He retired from the service in August 1906.
He married in 1883 the daughter of the Rev. J. Chalmers Blake, and left a family of two sons and three daughters. In 1902 he was deputed, on special duty, to investigate the prevalence of malaria at the Customs stations along the frontier of Goa, and to devise means for removing the Salt Peons at these posts, from the neighbourhood of the anopheles mosquito, by that time recognised as the cause of the deadly malaria, which made service on that frontier dreaded by all. It was during this expedition that he discovered a new species of anopheline mosquito, which after identification by Major James, I.M.S., was named after him Anopheles aitkeni. During his long service there are to be found in the Annual Reports of the Customs Department frequent mention of Mr. Aitken´s good work, but it is doubtful whether the Government ever fully realised what an able literary man they had in their service, wasting his talent in the Salt Department. On two occasions only did congenial work come to him in the course of his public duty-namely, when he was sent to study, from the naturalist´s point of view, the malarial conditions prevailing on the frontier of Goa; and when during the last two years of his service he was put in literary charge of The Sind Gazetteer. In this book one can see the light and graceful literary touch of Eha frequently cropping up amidst the dry bones of public health and commercial statistics, and the book is enlivened by innumerable witty and philosophic touches appearing in the most unlikely places, such as he alone could enliven a dull subject with. Would that all Government gazetteers were similarly adorned! But there are not many “Ehas” in Government employ in India.
On completion of this work he retired to Edinburgh, where most of the sketches contained in this volume were written. He was very happy with his family in his home at Morningside, and was beginning to surround himself with pets and flowers, as was his wont all his life, and to get a good connection with the home newspapers and magazines, when, alas! death stepped in, and he died after a short illness on April 25, 1909. **
[from Preface by W. B. B. – MADRAS, January 1914.]
This e-book is available for free downloading at: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/10962/10962-h/10962-h.htm
—- Harshawardhan_Bosham Nimkhedkar Nagpur, India
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Price: Rs. 130.00 (India) US$4.00, C$7.00, A$7.00, Stg.4.00
*Inclusive of postage
Price: Rs. 130.00 (India) US$4.00, C$7.00, A$7.00, Stg.4.00
*Inclusive of postage
Price: Rs. 110.00 (India) US$4.00, C$7.00, A$7.00, Stg.4.00
*Inclusive of postage
For copies, contact
Bridget Kumar
#6A 1st A Main Rd. S. T. Bed Extension
Koramangala 4th Block
Bangalore 560034
Tel: +91 (80) 25504137, +91 (80) 41677287
Mobile: +91 9845571254
Email: bridgetkumar@yahoo.com / bid_kumar@hotmail.com
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Help yourself and read online great books all about India. The website is: http://www.vsdh.org/tutorials/index.htm
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Gutenberg Project — EBook of “Recollections of Calcutta for Over Half A Century, by Montague Massey, 1918
Can be viewed at Explorion Site: www.gutenberg.org/files/12617/12617-h/12617-h.htm
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´The Magic Mountains´ – Dane Kennedy, is one of a selection of digital-books on various aspects of life in South Asia, accessed through in the University of California Press website at:content.cdlib.org/escholarship/
´Magic Mountains´ is at::- http://content.cdlib.org/xtf/view?docId=ft396nb1sf&chunk.id=d0e7874&toc.id=&brand=ucpress
Contents include:-
1 The Hill Stations of British India; 2 Climate and the Colonial Condition; 3 Landscapes of Memory; 4 Nature´s Children; 5 Home in the Hills; 6 Nurseries of the Ruling Race; 7 The Pinnacles of Power; 8 The Intrusion of the Other; 9 Arrivals and Departures; 10 Conclusion
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The Anglo-Indian/Australian Story: My Experience
A collection of Anglo-Indian migration heritage stories Story collector – Zelma Phillips
This collection of Anglo-Indian stories includes eighteen contributions of ordinary people who have chosen Australia as their new country. They recall their lives in India during the 1930s, 40s, going through Word War II, Indian Independence and the decision to migrate to Australia in the 1960s, 70s and 80s. The mindset held at that time was that culturally and economically, Anglo-Indians would be better off in a western country with a familiar language and religion. The book includes many photographs and a map of India and Australia.
The main objective of collecting the Anglo-Indian stories is to keep a record of Anglo-Indians and their migration story to Australia. The majority of the community have emigrated from India to foreign lands such as the United Kingdom, United States of America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Amongst those who have migrated, most of their children have married outside the community, so I feel it is important that our unique Anglo-Indian heritage, which dates back to the 1600s, is not lost. This is the reason why I have collected, and am continuing to collect stories of Anglo-Indian Australians.
This book will interest those who want to know more about the Anglo-Indian community and their lives in their new country. It will also be of help to people working with migrants and people of different cultures. It will definitely be of interest to people of Anglo-Indian origin who want to learn more about their heritage.
I am sure you will find it interesting reading. Warm regards
Zelma Phillips
Information about purchasing a copy of the book is given below. Profits from the sale of the book will be sent to selected charities in India and Australia. Please send your order to:
To: Zelma Phillips, 8 Cromwell Court, Keysborough, Victoria 3173, Australia
Telephone: +61 3 9711 5647 A.H. +61 3 9721 4340 B.H.
Email: zelma.w.phillips@gsk.com
“The Anglo-Indian/Australian Story: my experience. A collection of Anglo-Indian migration heritage stories.” ISBN 0-646-43413-6. Published November 2004
Price $20 (GST is not payable), plus postage and handling.
- within Australia, add $2.45
- to New Zealand, add $5.00
- to the U.K., add $10.00
- to the U.S.A. add $10.00
- to India, add $10.00
Total amount due: $_______
Deliver to: (Please allow two weeks for delivery)
PLEASE PROVIDE THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION
Name; Address; any other pertinent information
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Voices on the Verandah: An Anthology of Anglo-Indian Poetry and Prose
Edited by Margaret Deefholts and Sylvia W. Staub. Published by CTR Inc Publishing: Oct. 2004
CTR Inc Publishing is proud to announce that its third publication, entitled Voices on the Verandah, will be launched in Toronto, Canada on Saturday, November 6, 2004.
The vision behind Voices on the Verandah is to document, publicize, and celebrate the inherent talent of the Anglo-Indian Community in story and in verse. The contents were compiled from an international literary contest (open only to persons of Anglo-Indian ancestry) held in 2002-3 and finalized in 2004. Twenty-two narratives and twenty-nine poems were selected: twenty-four from India; nine from Australia; eight from the USA; five from the UK; three from Canada; and one each from New Zealand and Germany.
The book is aptly titled, as the tales and poems are, indeed, the voices of our Community and are authentic portrayals of Anglo-Indian thought, feelings, culture, and way of life. This is an important step towards perpetuating a body of literature that repudiates the distorted and derogatory images of the Community depicted in pulp fiction and movies. 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.”
Nothing can sum up the intent of CTR Inc Publishing as aptly as Dr. Wright’s observation. It is, indeed, time to take “destiny into our own hands” and mould it into a lasting “heritage for future generations.” To this end, Anglo-Indians: Vanishing Remnants of a Bygone Era, Haunting India, and now Voices on the Verandah are the first three publications in a series of books about Anglo-Indians and India to be released by CTR Inc Publishing over the next several years.
All three books have another vitally important and synergistic function: The 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. We can and will make a difference. Blair Williams Publisher, CTR Inc Publishing New Jersey, USA. August 2004
Copies are L10.00UK; $15.00US, $20CA, $20AUD and Rs 399 (Plus S&H) Initially copies may be obtained from CTR Inc Publishing, PO Box 6345, Monroe Twp, NJ 08831, USA
(Website: http://home.att.net/~blairrw/wsb/index.html ). Email: blairrw@att.net For Canada please contact Ms Yvonne Peters 416-537-6707
NEW ANGLO-INDIAN AUTHOR.. Patricia McGready-Buffardi will be releasing her Memoirs titled “HEARTS DIVIDED IN THE RAJ” in September 2004. Following is a note about the Author and about the book. Check out www.authorhouse.com and click on “Bookstore” then type Patricia´s name in. “Hearts Divided In The Raj” can be purchased through that website at an attractive price and can also be purchased through Barnes & Noble, Borders & Amazon.com.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Born in Nagpur, India, in 1941, Patricia McGready-Buffardi emigrated after two decades of growing up in that country, her life richly enhanced by two cultures—East and West—her family’s Anglo-Indian lifestyle a hodge-podge of British and Indian traditions. While working in London in the 1960s she decided, on a whim, to accept another job across the English Channel in Germany, meeting her husband-to-be, Lou Buffardi. She has lived in the United States since 1966. With a Bachelor’s Degree in English (Creative Writing), and working as a freelance columnist for the New Orleans Times Picayune (St. Tammany Edition), she finally felt ready to pen her memoir, which begins and ends in India. She and her husband have travelled extensively but now live on the Pacific West Coast in Port Orchard, Washington—about an hour’s drive from Seattle.
ABOUT THE BOOK
From the barren plains of Central India, living hard-by the railway tracks in her stationmaster grandfather’s home, along the Great Indian Peninsula Railway, to an island home in Southern India with her naval officer father, Patricia McGready-Buffardi presents a colourful kaleidoscope of her “mixed-breed” family, before and after The Raj; the turbulence within the Anglo-Indian community; her father’s career in the fledgling Indian Navy and his agony over the division of it at Independence; and the division of Anglo-Indian hearts throughout the subcontinent. Moving from port to port with her family, she provides comic relief in the form of an old English Vauxhall, their travels across the vast subcontinent frustrating but wondrous. Spanning four generations of the McGready family her memoir, although intensely personal, is a historical tour de force.
Growing up in India for two decades she jumped the prickly fences of two societies, British and Indian. Like “pish-pash,” a mushy but tasty mix of over-cooked rice, lentils and left-overs, popular with Anglo-Indian children across the country, she enjoyed a delicious concoction of both cultures. As a child, her grandfather told stories of his boyhood and his own father’s passion for the railways, an intimate portrait of a simple pioneering family. Rich in detail, the memoir is a prism of days lost forever on the subcontinent, since the Anglo-Indian race is fast dwindling—with the inter-marriages of the new generation around the globe. In short, a race that is almost extinct.
The author currently resides with her husband, Lou, in Port Orchard (near Seattle).
NEW ANGLO-INDIAN AUTHOR…..
J. ChloE Braun will be releasing her first novel titled “HURDY GURDY” in September 2004. Details as follows.
Interested in cross-cultural/ethnic fiction? Then do take a look at J. Chloe Braun’s novel – a timely and insightful exploration into the trials and tribulations of a cross-cultural marriage brought on by the pressures and demands of family traditions, culture and customs.
Hurdy Gurdy, is the story of Bronwyn Morgan who went from being a free spirited, highly accomplished university student to the wife of Ronobir Sentupta, a suave, well educated and polished Calcutta Brahmin. She was young and innocent; he was charming, suave, handsome and well-established. Naturally, they fall in love and after a whirlwind courtship and fairy-tale wedding they pack their bags to return to India.
A brief synopsis of the intriguing tale to follow … … … …
Hurdy Gurdy is available through online bookstores such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders. You can send a check, money order, or use your credit card to order J. Chlöe´s book directly from her Publisher. You may also call in your order to PublishAmerica 301-631-0747 or 240-529-1031.
If you would like an autographed bookplate to place in your copy please let me know.
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