1920 Archives - Page 4 of 5 - INDIAN MEMORY PROJECT

The Anglo Indian men who escorted millions of refugees to safety

(Left to Right) My grandfather Bundy Nixon, 2 bearers - one sitting & one standing, my Uncle, Norman Costanzio Nixon, Rob May (an Australian Gurkha officer) and my father, Leslie Nixon. Pagdhal, Hoshangabad District, Madhya Pradesh, 1946

(Left to Right) My grandfather Bundy Nixon, 2 bearers - one sitting & one standing, my Uncle, Norman, Rob (an Australian Gurkha officer) and my father, Leslie. Pagdhal, Hoshangabad District, Madhya Pradesh, 1946 Image and Narrative contributed by Deborah Nixon, Sydney My family has a history of having lived in India for four, or possibly 5 generations- they were all Railways people. Both my grandmother and great grandmother were buried in Bhusawal. My father Leslie Nixon, was born in Agra in 1925, schooled in Mussoorie, trained with the Gurkhas and joined KGV's 1st OGR (King George V's regiment). He worked during the Partition to transport refugees in and out of the Gurkha head quarters in Dharmsala (then Punjab territory, now in the independent state of Himachal Pradesh) to and from Pathankot, Punjab, by train. This photograph was taken at Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh in 1946 . Behind them was an empty elephant stable. I like this photograph because it is at variance with the way the British in India were depicted on Shikar (Game hunting). This was an ordinary Anglo Indian life away from the metropolis and now there is very little to be seen of it. My father, aged 22 then and his friend Rob May were very young and had to take on an enormous responsibility and an almost impossible task during partition in protecting refugees. He, like millions of others, was left deeply affected by it . My father archived all of the family images in India and thanks to him I have been lucky to have a 'bird's eye view ' of partition. He kept a lot of old army documents and memorabilia from the few years he served with the…

A teenager couple’s fight for freedom

My Grandmother Chameli Devi Jain and Grandfather Phool Chand Jain, shortly after their marriage. Delhi. Circa 1923

My Grandmother Chameli Devi Jain and Grandfather Phool Chand Jain, shortly after their marriage. Delhi. Circa 1923 Image and Narrative contributed by Sreenivasan Jain, Journalist, New Delhi Some text is paraphrased from the Book - Civil Disobedience : Two Freedom Struggles, One Life, memoirs of my father LC Jain, noted economist and Gandhian. This image was photographed in Delhi, shortly after my paternal grandparents Chameli and Phool Chand, got married. She was 14 and he was 16. It was unusual for couples in our family to be photographed, especially holding hands, which turned out to be an indication of the unconventional direction their lives would take. They were Gandhians and freedom fighters. The only visible reminder of her brush with the radical politics of the freedom movement was the milky cornea in her right eye, the result of an infection picked up in Lahore Jail where she had spent 4 months in 1932. Otherwise, she was Ammaji: gentle, almost luminous in her white saris, regular with her samaik (Jain prayer), someone who would take great pleasure, on our Sunday visits, to feed us dal chawal (rice and lentils) mixed with her own hands. My grandmother grew up in a village called Bahadarpur in Alwar, about four hours south of Delhi, in a deeply conservative Jain family. The family was locally influential; they were traders in cotton turbans, woven by local Muslim weavers and sold in Indore, Madhya Pradesh. They also were moneylenders. As with much of rural Rajasthan, the women were in purdah. Within two years of their marriage, their first child, my father, was born. Ammaji moved with my grandfather into the family home in the teeming bylanes of Dariba in Chandni Chowk. But he had developed a growing interest…

The All India Heavyweight Wrestling and Weightlifting champion

My paternal grandfather, Manjerikandy Ramchandran, Cannanore, Kerala. 1927

My paternal grandfather, Manjerikandy Ramchandran, Cannanore, Kerala. 1927 Image and Narrative contributed by Sheetal Sudhir, Mumbai This picture of my grandfather Manjerikandy Ramchandran was taken when he was 16, just before he set sail for Dar-es-salaam for the first time. He came back to India 5 years later and won the All India Heavyweight Wrestling and Weightlifting championship beating several champions including the Sri Lankan heavyweight wrestling champion in 1937. His son Sudhir Ramchandran is my father who was born in British Tanganyika and retains his British Citizenship until this day. My grandfather was also responsible for building gymnasiums in Cannanore (Kannur) and in Tanzania. There are several tales of how he used to be called to handle African robbers, who existed in plenty those days. His happiest life was in Dar-es-salaam. After he retired in 1968, he moved back to Cannanore, India to build a house but passed away the same year of cancer. My dad believes that I have adopted his no-nonsense approach to life and loyalty to friends.

The plush bunglow that became an Ashram

These pictures of the Drawing Room, Dining Room and Lounge was home to my uncle and aunt, Nani & Mehra Moos. This is also my birthplace (1923) My parents and grandparents shared the house. It was constructed in Bandra, Bombay in 1923 and is now stands behind the Hotel Taj Lands End.

The Drawing Room, Dining Room and Lounge of my former home. Bombay, Maharashtra. 1923 Image and Narrative Contributed by Late. Feroza H Seervai, Mumbai These are photographs of a Bunglow that was home to my uncle and aunt, Nani & Mehra Moos. This is also my birthplace. My parents and grandparents shared the house. It was constructed in Bandra, Bombay in 1923 and is now stands behind the Hotel Taj Lands End. I was born in this house in 1923 and we lived there until 1941. My uncle was a barrister, then a Solicitor, (Partner in Payne and Co. Solicitors), and still later, High Court Receiver. The most distinguished Barrister at the High Court in Bombay, Inverarity (cited with Moos), was my uncle's friend, and often spent days in this house. At one stage he is said to have suffered losses in investment and I heard that he made a bonfire in my uncle's garden of his investment certificates. My sister was 13 years elder to me and she had interacted with Inverarity. If I am not mistaken he died while I was an infant. Whether he died in Scotland or in India, I am not sure. 50 or 60 years ago, this bungalow, along with 8000 sq. yds. of land and a cottage on an elevated part was sold for Rs. 3 lakhs, without the furniture, which had been imported from Vienna. A lot of the furniture was then bought by Maharani Chimnabai Gaekwad of Baroda sometime in the early 1940s. The old bungalow now houses the Father Agnel Ashram, since the Priests of the Order of Pilar purchased the property. There is a Church within it, and on the…

He was a Ph.d. in Sanskrit and Philosophy

My maternal grandfather Dr Vasudev Sukhtankar (center, with garland & white turban) Director of Education, Indore State. 1926

My maternal grandfather Dr Vasudev Sukhtankar (center, with garland & white turban) Director of Education, Indore State. 1926 Image and Narrative contributed by Ashok Bhandarkar, Mumbai In this photograph, my grandfather, the Director of Education was on an inspection tour of a school in Tarana (Indore State) on February 6, 1926 with group of boy scouts (probably the entire population of the school!) 'Ajoba' as we called him, was a PhD in Sanskrit and Philosophy from Germany and also a staunch Brahmo Samaji.

All translations are machine generated, hence they are not 100% accurate.