A Community Fighting To Survive

KOLKATA: ‘Uncle’ and ‘Aunty’ have replaced ‘Sahib’ and ‘Memsahib’ and drivers or rickshaw-pullers no longer refer to the children as Babalog or Missibabas. Para boys no longer rush forward to help ‘Rosy Ma’am’ down from the rickshaw for the simple reason that the Rosy Ma’ams are no longer their first teachers in neighbourhood schools. Things have certainly changed for the Anglo-Indian community in Kolkata. There are an estimated 17,000-18,000 Anglo-Indian families living in the city today. Nearly 50-55% of them survive on allowances sent by family members who have migrated to other countries. With job opportunities drying up and the community too proud to seek reservation, there is a steady trickle of youngsters to other commonwealth countries. What worked to their advantage immediately after Independence, turned out to be their undoing in later years.

“Despite a fear psychosis setting in immediately after Independence, the community did pretty well for the first 20-25 years. Though the majority of the migration took place during this period, jobs were easily available here as the Anglo-Indians knew better spoken English than others. Naturally, there was a tendency to opt out of school and seek jobs. Tragedy struck after this when there was a mad rush for graduation among all other communities. Most young Anglo-Indians were high-school dropouts. Despite good spoken English, they stood no chance in job interviews where graduate candidates were present,” says chronicler Melvyn Brown, who runs a research bureau on the community.

Things are changing now with the youth being encouraged to study. Organisations like the Calcutta Anglo Indian Services Society are doing quite well, Brown says. “They are providing night shelters, helping youngsters find jobs and urging them not to give up. Many youngsters are today studying at home and clearing their exams through open schools and universities,” Brown adds.

Former MP Paul Mantosh admits that there is a sense of alienation among the older generation. “Many of them want to migrate. The others are, however, very much a part of the mainstream. The youngsters are graduating and even pursuing post-graduation. As a result, they are getting good jobs,” he says.

President in chief of the Anglo-Indian Association Neil O’Brien says that the community has integrated very well with others. Though there is no reservation of jobs in the public sector, new opportunities are opening up in private companies.

Social anthropologist professor Robyn Andrews from New Zealand has conducted a recent study on the city’s Anglo-Indian community. In Kolkata now to participate in a conference, she feels that the Anglo-Indians will be able to maintain their distinct culture in the years to come.

“The community is picking up in the education front and will continue to contribute towards development of the country. There is a strong emphasis now to get admissions to good schools and colleges. The community is culturally distinct and will continue to remain so. Even the poorest among them is westernised in view and behaviour,” she says.

Brown thinks that the community will do better, once a different level of thinking evolves. “One cannot continue to live in the past. Leaders will have to come up, who will work towards uplift of the community,” he feels.