A Preliminary Assessment of the Anglo-Indian Community in Odisha through Memories and Lived Experiences

Abstract

Anglo-Indians are a mixed-race Indian minority community. The word 'Anglo' denotes their mainly British descent, and ‘Indian’ refers to the Indian ancestry of this community. V.R. Gaikwad studied the Anglo-Indian community as a cultural and linguistic minority in July 1959-January 1961 in Bangalore, Jhansi and Bilaspur(Gaikwad, 1967). Subsequent studies on Anglo-Indians have focused on the experiences of Anglo-Indians based in metro cities such as Kolkata, Chennai and Mumbai while overlooking Anglo-Indians' historical and geographical presence in small towns and non–metropolitan cities. This anomaly was, to an extent, remedied in a book on Anglo-Indians in smaller towns and cities (Andrews & Gera Roy, 2021). However, there has been no known study on Anglo-Indians (AIs) in Odisha. This article explores social and cultural changes through their lived experiences and attempts to provide a historical perspective on the Community in Odisha and its relationship with the railways. It also touches on the concept of ‘home’ or desh, examining the popular notion of Anglo-Indians not being rooted in India as home, with particular reference to the community in Odisha.