Inside Chennai’s Anglo-Indian heart: The people keeping a vanishing heritage alive

For much than a period now, the enactment villas of Veteran Lines successful Pallavaram — named for the European Artillery Veterans, its archetypal residents — person held retired against clip and tide. Airplanes swoop debased implicit its gabled eaves arsenic they caput for the airport. Sunlight pours successful done the slatted windows and a tabby feline sleeps connected the scalloped compound wall. 

Some villas inactive person flagstone floors, cavernous rooms and nonmigratory reptiles that person made themselves comfy successful the wood heap down the navigator house. But it is the enduring friendships and languid evenings of euphony from the aged Murphy radio, creation and Christmas toasts that inactive echo done the verandas arsenic I conscionable Harry Maclure, Richard O’ Connor and the Peppins, Bryan and Helena, extracurricular their location Erehwon.

A bequest of European colonialism successful India, the word Anglo-Indian has changed to present denote radical of mixed lineage dating backmost to a clip erstwhile European powers moved from commerce to conquest and intermarried with the natives. “A people,” arsenic the Anglo-Indian novelist Allan Sealy wrote, “who spoke their father’s lingua and ate their mother’s salt”.

The assemblage that thrived nether the British was near successful a twilight portion erstwhile they exited successful 1947. Over the past 79 years, Anglo-Indians person migrated successful droves, mostly to Commonwealth countries, and it is their representation that Harry and Richard person worked to support live for 2 decades now.

“I was raised successful Trichnopoly; studied astatine St John’s Vestry wherever my parent was a teacher,” says Bryan, who retired arsenic head, section of English Literature, New College, successful a clipped accent. “My full satellite was Anglo-Indian, I knew small beyond it till I joined college. It drove maine to survey the Anglo-Indian individuality successful caller English fiction, question the insider-outsider analyzable and the stereotyping of the community,” says Bryan, who has written galore books, the astir caller Forget was released successful October, astir the satellite helium grew up in. “Today, the assemblage is much Indian than Anglo,” helium says, adding that Anglo-Indians person managed to surmount the situation of the section connection with their unsocial dialect. “Tamil Nadu inactive boasts the largest fig of Anglo-Indians successful the country. But, of course, determination is simply a consciousness of nonaccomplishment astir what was erstwhile beloved and familiar.”

Bryan keeps that satellite live done the location helium and Helena, a retired Superintendent of Customs and Central Excise, unrecorded in. “When we bought this house, determination was a sizeable fig of Anglo-Indians here. We often went sportfishing successful the rivulet adjacent by,” helium says. The shouts of ‘C’mon boy! arsenic generations of young Anglo-Indians dribbled their mode to hockey glory person somewhat faded, but events similar the caller Monsoon Ball and the upcoming Christmas Ball featuring dances and a festive dispersed of mutton shot curry and devil’s chutney feels similar an excursion backmost successful time.

It is this old-world nostalgia that Harry Maclure, writer-director, founder, Anglo-Ink Books (India’s archetypal Anglo-Indian publishing company) and exertion of the mag Anglos In the Wind that examines issues of the diaspora, brings to airy successful his work. Harry’s ain communicative has been 1 of struggle, spurred by the robust optimism that is simply a hallmark of his community. “My large great-grandfather came from Aberdeen and worked successful the Nilgiris beverage gardens. He joined an Indian woman astir 140 years agone and we descended from that stock, increasing up successful Trichy Junction wherever my begetter Richard was a railway motor driver. He moved up the ranks; from cleaner to operator of a steam locomotive that travelled from Trichy to Tanjore, Manamadurai, Manapparai, and truthful on. I’m the youngest of a ample household that moved to Madras erstwhile helium retired, bidding a fond farewell to the fantastic camaraderie and the 128-year-old Railway Institute wherever the Christmas Ball was a hoary tradition.”

Harry grew up wanting to survey English Literature and go a journalist, but started disconnected arsenic a waiter astatine the Taj Coromandel astatine 18. After 4 years, helium traded the steward’s salver for a barman’s strainer and worked successful the Maldives earlier heading backmost to Madras. His emotion for books lingered and Harry opened Book Nook, a lending library, with his person sourcing books from Moore Market. But soon, wanderlust led him to the Gulf and by the precocious 1980s Harry recovered himself a occupation successful Kuwait. When the Iraqi penetration triggered the Gulf War, Harry became a penniless exile successful a campy arriving backmost successful India with conscionable his passport, jeans and a brace of slippers. “We touched down successful Bombay and the Maharashtra Government gave america 500 rupees to find our mode home. It’s a section of my beingness that I don’t deliberation of often but had I not travel backmost I would’ve ne'er recovered my calling. I started drafting cartoons for a Tamil mag and it’s astir this clip that I recovered Jillian, my woman and puerility friend. It was her uncle, Leslie D’Souza, who asked maine ‘why don’t you bash thing for our community? Maybe, a magazine?’ And for 3 years, helium gave maine effect money.” 

AITW, a quarterly magazine, was archetypal published successful 1998 (it turned integer post-Covid) and Anglo-Ink Books successful 2005. “We utilized to people astir 16,000 copies but present it’s astir 700, acknowledgment to its online version. The work travels crossed the world, covering Anglo-Indian past and culture, fiction, poetry, interviews, trivia…,” says Harry. 

Many of AITW’s readers inhabit a satellite wherever the Anglo constituent is fading astatine home, portion the Indian constituent is fading abroad. “Hence, determination is simply a quest to recognize and hint one’s ancestry,” says Harry, adding that galore from the diaspora privation to embark connected this journey. 

In this, Harry recovered a duplicate psyche successful Richard O’Connor, Assistant Commissioner, Customs. “I person a job, and past I person my passion,” says Richard, whose great-grandfather, an Irishman, made landfall successful India astir 110 years ago. “I besides travel from an Anglo-Portuguese background, from a household with a agelong past of work successful the Government, some assemblage and Indian. I’m a Madras lad — grew up successful the Anglo-Indian haunts of Royapettah and Vepery and present unrecorded successful St Thomas Mount, which erstwhile had a thriving Anglo-Indian community... the aerial was redolent with the aroma of cutlets and jazz.”

As the schools and homes successful the neighbourhood, erstwhile flooded with members of the assemblage emptied out, Richard and Harry decided to papers the past of Chennai’s Anglo-Indians successful their ain localities. With Richard arsenic the superior storyteller the bid of documentaries moved from Santhome, Royapuram, Vepery, St Thomas Mount, Pallavaram, Perambur, Pudupet, Madhavaram, and more, interviewing a cross-section of people, inactive surviving a beingness of gentility fraying astatine the edges. The YouTube bid that was filmed archetypal successful 2016, with encouragement from metropolis chroniclers S Muthiah, Sriram V and Vincent D’Souza is ongoing and Richard hopes to marque a java array publication of it.

“I didn’t spare a thought connected my individuality for the archetypal 40 years of beingness due to the fact that I was inactive engaged trying to get myself connected my feet. At enactment I recovered myself to beryllium an oddball and I wondered wherever I stood; I realised however fantastic and generous our civilization was. And past I happened to conscionable Harry. We ended up doing an AITW peculiar connected hockey. And that was an opus — the Anglo-Indian was to hockey what the Brazilian is to football. And from determination it went connected to helping radical find mislaid graves and travelling to McCluskieganj that has its ain spot successful our history. We inactive anticipation to bash a round-up of the railway colonies, similar Jolarpet, which were erstwhile peopled by us; determination is an urgency arsenic clip is moving out. Some places similar Kolar oregon Whitefield could’ve been preserved,” says Richard, wistfully.

Not everything is astir looking backmost though. With an progressive All India Anglo-Indian Association that celebrates its centenary successful 2026 and the upcoming satellite reunion successful Kochi, Harry and Richard hold that “the youngsters are doing a large occupation astatine preserving the Anglo-Indian mode of life. We are not keen connected a imperishable memorial but possibly a integer abstraction that radical funny successful america tin look up” with Bryan, adding that the Derozio Library successful Kolkata does a bully occupation of it. 

Still talking, we locomotion nether the trees creaking with the value of past to the location of Melanie D’Nazareth wherever Harry and Richard airs for photos, successful a mounting overmuch similar the sepia pictures astatine the Peppin’s house. The spot of the Anglo-Indian successful the Indian taste satellite whitethorn person changed but the old, weathered location remains a tenderly written emotion missive to the galore lives they person touched.