Interviewing Anglo-Indians in Lewisham

Tuesday, February 10, 2009
London

It is absurd that I should feel so pleased with myself whenever I sleep later than 7 am! But that was exactly how I felt when I awoke at ten minutes to seven (and not at 5.00 or 5. 30 or 6. 00 am). I finished reading the last few pages of my Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets and not a day too soon as my books were due at the Holborn Public Library today. I then made a call to my nephew Arav, proofread my blog entry of last night, checked and responded to email and got out of bed only at 9. 45am! Where does the time go?

By the time I had my breakfast (cereal with yogurt) while having myself a Contrast Bath, took a shower, did my foot exercises, dressed and got out of the house it was 11. 15 am. I went first to the library, returned my books and was delighted to note that the fourth book in the series, The Goblet of Fire was available in paperback. This means that I now have all seven of them in my possession. I shall start reading the third one, The Prisoner of Azkaban and then get on with the Goblet of Fire. I really have entered into the spirit of fantasy of these books and am quite enjoying them, though I have to say I am not a devotee--not yet.

I returned to my flat to drop off my book, then took the Number 17 bus from Gray's Inn Road to London Bridge. I have just made the discovery that the 17 goes eastwards towards London Bridge and the 371 goes towards Waterloo Bridge via The Strand! This means that I no longer have to walk along Chancery Lane to get to the Strand anymore! Truly, I am learning a bit more about the bus system daily and the manner in which the system is unfolding itself to me is just fascinating.

A few minutes later, I was at London Bridge changing buses. You see, I was headed to Lewisham for a 2 .00 pm appointment with an Anglo-Indian couple, Cecil and Mary Wilson, who had agreed to speak with me about their immigrant lives in Great Britain. It was blowing on London Bridge something nasty, but in a few minutes, my bus arrived. I boarded it (upper deck, front row seats) and was off.

I arrived at Lewisham High Street sooner than I expected which gave me the chance to browse in the shops for a bit. I began at T.K. Maxx (the equivalent of T.J. Maxx in the States) and was delighted to find myself a Bodum Cafetiere for my morning coffee (as the one provided in my flat has worn out and the coffee grounds remain unfiltered, much to my annoyance). In the Oxfam store, I found two vintage pressed glass jelly moulds which at a pound and a pound and a half were hard to pass up. It really is odd but all of the purchases I have made here in the U.K. have been vintage or antique items and my collection is growing. Tomorrow, if the weather is good, I will be driving to Rochester with my friend Janie Yang to an antiques store called Memories on the High Street to pick up a vintage weighing scale from the 1940s complete with a set of weights.

When I had finished shopping, I stepped into the cafe of the British Home Stores to enjoy a cup of peppermint tea and I called the Wilsons from there to find out exactly how I should get to their place from the High Street. When I mentioned that I was just about to have a bite at the BHS cafe, they very warmly invited me to join them for lunch. Since there had been no mention of a lunch invitation prior to this point, I had assumed that they would finish their own lunch and then welcome me to their place. It turns out that they expected me to take it for granted than our 2 pm appointment would include lunch!

Well, Cecil came and picked me up and walked me to his lovely little cottage (that's what they call 'row houses' here) that was just a few minutes' walk from the shops. Lewisham is a rather old community that was first settled by the Irish. It has an old clock tower, a Catholic church on the High Street and all the shops that one could desire. Within minutes, I was being welcomed indoors by his wife and we sat down to a delicious home-cooked meal of pullao, chicken curry, dal and coleslaw. Every single item was scrumptious and I actually took a second helping. Our meal had been preceded by a glass of Harvey's Bristol Cream Sherry--a most civilized English custom. I declined the ice-cream that was offered for dessert as I was just too full and, within minutes, we got down to business.

As with the other Anglo-Indians I have been meeting, I found this couple fascinating. What was particularly impressive about this gentleman is the manner in which he has maintained his personal and family records. Priceless documents dating back to the 19th century are carefully preserved in plastic slipcovers in separate files. He showed me photo albums, scrap books and his own collection of books on Anglo-Indian history and literature--all of which make him very proud and very happy. It was a joy indeed to handle this gold mine of documentation and I was most touched by his devotion to his community and to his family members. The pity was that neither one of his two children is at all interested in their heritage and seem to be determined to erase the Indian part of their parents' roots. This couple has never visited India and though the gentleman hangs on to the fond dream of making this 'sentimental journey', his wife is uninterested in going back and, at any rate, can no longer do so for medical reasons.

They are also so proud of their home and their lovely garden and gave me a nice tour of their dwelling. I was repeatedly moved by their innate simplicity and their sincerity which managed to contrast with their pride in their accomplishments. Like so many of the Anglo-Indians I have met, they are articulate and eager to share their experiences.

I took the buses back home, stopping off at the Tesco Extra at Surrey Quays to buy myself some Muesli (I really do like Tesco's Finest Fruit and Nut Muesli for breakfast and have introduced Llew to it too). By the time I reached home, it was almost 7 pm. I spent the evening dealing with my email correspondence. I have a trip to Rochester tomorrow and since I am meeting Janie at North Dulwich station, I needed to figure out how to get there by bus. When that was done, I had dinner and called it a day.