If you ever want to count our numbers you
must attend a funeral. The whole community
comes, and the gathering of the clan can
amount to many hundreds of people. We are a
very close-knit community. We know one
another very well and we are welcome in one
another's homes.
Profile No. 590 and Appendix (Photographs) SHILLONG
They are "fiercely proud of English", and relate how
teachers will travel the "length and breadth" of
Meghalaya to teach English. These Anglo-Indians in
Meghalaya are bilingual in Khasi and English. A woman
said,
We realise Meghalaya is small. There are not
many of us. We speak Khasi and English at
home. Hindi was our second language in
school.
See Profile No. 589 Appendix 3 Photographs SHILLONG. It
was interesting to note that Khasi and English were
"integrated" as a mother-tongue, although they are
separate languages. The Khasi Anglo-Indians were totally
bilingual with an integrated mother-tongue of Khasi and
English. They describe themselves in these terms. They
do not possess a caste system, and were proud to state
that there was no word for "servant" in Khasi, and refer
to a person who works in a home as a sister (kong). When
they addressed one another in the researcher's presence
they called one another brother (bah). The clan was
called (kur) and there was a sense of camaraderie during
the group interview. All Khasi Anglo-Indians stressed the
egalitarian society in which they lived, because
matrilineality was not the same as "British Paternalism".
A group of thirty five Khasi women were interviewed.
They were all Roman Catholics, but did not have Christian
names or Anglo-Saxon surnames. They were bilingual in
English and Khasi, and stated that their broad religious
teaching was "practically interdenominational". All these
women were the first generation Khasis to benefit from
positive discrimination. Their parents were farmers, and
their names had a breath of nature, e.g. "Beautiful",
"Rising Sun", "Easter Star" and "Wonderment". A few of
them were living in a Roman Catholic convent hostel.
Scheduled Tribe status gave these women self-confidence,
education and hope for the future. See Profile Nos.
595-628 and Appendix Photographs SHILLONG
Khasi Anglo-IndiansZSchedule Tribe receive positive
discrimination for entrance to Higher Education,
reservation of jobs in the Indian Civil Service and
Government departments, and are also entitled to be
educated in an Anglo-Indian school. Their unusual status
in India has benefited the community.
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