From : The Times of India Saturday 6 February 1999

At long last, author Ruskin Bond's achievements have been recognized by the nation. This is not the first time Ruskin's talents have won an award. As a teenager he wrote The Room on the Roof which bagged the Llewellyn Rhys Prize; in 1993 our Sahitya Akademi honoured him, rather belatedly. But when Bond, an Anglo-Indian, receives the Padma Shri from the President, it should send a strong message to many. In the 50 years since Independence, the community has produced a number of achievers contrary to the skewed media projection of Anglo-Indians.

To start with the term Anglo-Indian is misleading. Under the Constitution, an Anglo-India does not necessarily have `Anglo' blood. All that is required is direct descent from a male European ancestor in the male line. Moreover, Anglo-Indians are the only Indian citizens who must be born in India. No one born abroad, even if born to Indian citizens and then registered as an Indian, can be an Anglo-Indian.

Success Stories

Before 1947, many jobs were earmarked for Anglo-Indians. Because of this, there were virtually no incentives for young people of the community to aspire for higher education. The removal of reservations after Independence forced many who were under-qualified to migrate in search of new opportunities and self-respect. This led to the great diaspora of Anglo-Indians.

In those early days, however, two categories of Anglo-Indians stayed behind. The first were those who had depended on job reservations but could not afford to migrate. Many, but by no means all, of them went into decline and are now the pathetic grist for our media mills. The second group, the achievers, are seldom mentioned.

One reason for this silence could be our western names. People still greet us saying: "But we thought you were Germans!" The insinuation is that Anglo-Indians, as sad `remnants of the Raj' cannot possibly make their mark in any field. And yet, post-Independence India has produced a remarkable number of Anglo-Indian success stories. Among them: Allan Sealy, prize-winning author; Wilson Jones, world Billiards champion; Melville de Mellow, the late radio broadcaster; Diana Hayden, Miss Universe; Marc Robinson, model; Ron Pereira, the late Naval Chief; Dennis La Fontaine, former Air Force chief; the Keelor brothers, war heroes, and Frank Anthony, barrister-legislature-educationist.

The list does not stop there. Former naval officer and diver George Duke, who rode across from the mainland to the Andamans, set up his own diving company on leaving the service. Duke Offshore is listed on the stock exchange. Walter Johnson has his own line of pragmatic and affordable designer wear. Clyde Cooper is one of the founders, and now the MD, of Blue Dart. The story of the formidable O'Breins, who pioneered quiz shows, is a tale which has many imitators but no parallels in India. Among a host of remarkable educationists, Terrance Phillips, Principal of Allen-Wynberg Mussoorie and the Doon School's John Mason must be mentioned for their achievements in extremely trying circumstances.

Promising Future

Education has been the community's greatest contribution to the land of its birth. Article 30(1) of the Constitution, in effect, gave Anglo-Indians the right to run schools in their mother tongue: English. Historic forces have given that language the status of a global lingua franca, a doorway to an international world of opportunities. Naturally, parents of all other communities want their children to study in Anglo-Indian schools where instructions are given by those who speak English fluently.

As a people devoid of caste or regional biases, with a 100 per cent literacy and cultural mores which are, today, in the forefront of social acceptability, the community has all the basic qualifications to ride the crest of India's globalization wave. Happily, many of our young people have realized the value of a college education and the need to move into fields where caste and regional prejudices don't rule the roost. In particular, they are aware of the advantages of drawing on their integrated Indo-European heritage in a nation striving to secure its rightful place in a west-centric globe.

Ruskin's Padma Shri could well encourage many Anglo-Indians to look beyond to a very promising

future.

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