“He was and still is, by all means, my hero”

“He was and still is, by all means, my hero”
My parents, Tarun Coomar & Indira Bhadury. Nagpur, Maharashtra. Circa 1940

My parents, Tarun Coomar & Indira Bhadury. Nagpur, Maharashtra. Circa 1940 Image and Narrative points contributed by Jaya Bachchan, Mumbai This photograph of my parents Taroon Coomar Bhaduri and Indira Bhaduri is by far one of my most favourite images of all, and while I have asked myself the reason so very many times, I am still not sure why. I had looked at and thought about it so often, that a few years ago my mother simply gave it to me as a gift. I think this photograph was taken right after their marriage. My mother whom I call Ma was 14 and my father, Baba was 20. One of the most striking parts of this photograph is Ma’s black Georgette saree. I have wondered about that too. Georgette & Chiffons were expensive materials, meant only for the rich. We came from a middle-class income family, and affording Georgette would have been out of the question. But I think Baba had a role to play in that; he was very broad- minded and seemed to have kept in touch with the latest elegant fashions of the time. It must have made him very happy seeing a visionary image of himself and his family, even if the opportunities were far and few. I also remember another story within the family- when he went to Calcutta (now Kolkata) to buy his sister’s wedding trousseau and insisted that his sister get married in a beautiful white saree. The family was aghast. Hindu women never got married in white, but red. The outcry against tradition was met with no avail, and it was to be his will or nothing. The family later complied and my aunt did get married in a beautiful white Banarsi Saree. Baba's family came from Krishnanagar, West Bengal…

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The only valuable he saved while fleeing to India in 1947

The only valuable he saved while fleeing to India in 1947
My father, Anand Prakash Bakshi as a child with his parents. Rawalpindi. (now Pakistan). Circa 1930

My father, Anand Prakash Bakshi as a child with his parents. Rawalpindi. (now Pakistan). Circa 1930 Image and Narrative contributed by Rakesh Anand Bakshi, Mumbai On October 2, 1947, during partition, my father Anand Bakshi’s family was informed that within an hour or two their Mohalla- Qutabdeen in Chityian Hattian, Rawalpindi (now Pakistan) was going to be attacked by rioters and marauders belonging to another community. My father Anand, then 17 years old, his grandparents, father, step mother & step siblings, had only minutes to grab whatever money, clothes, personal effects, they could possibly carry with them. Hundreds of others and they fled from their homes, overnight. From Rawalpindi, the family travelled to Delhi via a small Dakota Air plane, (the plane was a bonus, because my great grandfather was at the time, the Superintendent of Police of Punjab Prisons in Rawalpindi.) When the overnight displaced family reached Delhi in India, homeless and with only few valuables on them, my grandfather took stock of what everyone had managed to carry across the border. Upon seeing what my father had carried, in those moments of life threatening crisis, my grandfather was livid. Angrily he asked my father - 'Why did you not carry valuables!? What useless things have you carried with you? How can we survive without our valuables? You should have carried some valuables!’  My father had carried what he had thought were valuables, a few family photographs; and particularly those of his mother.He had lost his mother, Sumitra Bali, when he around 9 years old due to pregnancy related complications. On being yelled at, my father said to my grandfather - "Money we can earn when we find work,…

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The Tiger man of Jabalpur

The Tiger man of Jabalpur
The Tiger Man, Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh. Circa 1930

The Tiger Man, Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh. Circa 1930 Image and Narrative contributed by Deborah Nixon, Australia This image was found in my father Leslie Nixon's private collection. He was born in Agra in 1925, was schooled in Mussoorie, and trained with the Gurkhas. Later he joined KGV’s 1st OGR (King George V’s regiment). My Anglo Indian family has a history of having lived in India for four, or possibly five generations- they were all Railways people, and my father worked during the Partition to transport refugees in and out of the Gurkha head quarters. He 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 Gurkhas. When he migrated to Australia he went to University and became a Geologist. There isn't a lot to say about this image as there was nothing written behind it, but to me it is a very arresting photograph. My father says he remembers the 'tiger men' used to come around in Jabalpur, his family home, and dance as part of the Islamic festival Muharram and he imitated the dance himself as young children do. There is another image and narrative on my father here that sheds some light on his life in India.

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The Anglo Indian men who escorted millions of refugees to safety

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…

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