See, Anglo-Indian Survey Committee (1959) The Baptist
Mission Report or The Pilot Survey of Socio-Economic
Conditions of the Anglo-Indian Community 1957-1958
Calcutta Baptist Mission Press (pp.22-23)
The Anglo-Indians who lived in Thilljallah had all
attended Anglo-Indian schools. (See Profile Nos. 164-9)
One woman had attended an expensive "hill-station school"
in Kurseong, West Bengal. Her son attended a "hill-
station school" in Kalimpong, West Bengal. None of the
Anglo-Indians who were interviewed had completed ten
years of education. None of them had any marketable
skills. They were drop outs who were distressed that
they had to live in the slum.
Although, they were literate in English, and spoke
Bengali fluently, they could not read or write Bengali.
The two women worked as servants, one man worked in a
garage and one woman worked as a part-time typist and two
were unemployed. Six people were interviewed, but
comments were also made by members of their families who
joined the group. The six people belonged to two Anglo-
Indian families. The woman whose son was a boarder in a
hill-station school in Darjeeling spoke about the
reluctance her son had to leave his school clothes in the
hut. He said,
Why can't I keep them with Mrs....Her home
does not smell like ours. My clothes smell
so much when I go back to school.
The interview was informal and after a brief introduction
by the researcher the questions dealt with life in an
Anglo-Indian school and their life in India. The monsoon
rain hammered on the fragile tin roof. Carrying on a
conversation was difficult. The hut became crowded and
the atmosphere was stifling.
Conversation came to a standstill on two occasions, when
a sandbag barrier had to be erected to prevent the
monsoon rain from overflowing on to the floor of the hut.
The group were depressed and talked nostalgically about
the "good old days" when the British were in India,
although they all had to admit that they were born after
Indian independence in 1947.
This group was bitterly disappointed with their
education, which did not prepare them for life in India.
They all dreamed of emigrating to Australia, where they
had relatives. All the Anglo-Indians had attended an
Anglo-Indian school. The researcher mentioned an Anglo-
Indian school which offered scholarships to poor Anglo-
Indians. The man said,
Of course, I'd have liked to have gone to La
Martiniere, but I was too poor to attend the
school. For one thing, how do you dress up
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