The Brown Chronicles
The famous British comedian Alistair McGowan recently traced his roots back to Calcutta, back to his identity as an Anglo Indian.
"Back to" is a wrong way to put it, as he was never really aware of his Anglo Indian roots, which his father hid from him. However, when his father died in 2004, he took his birth certificate to the registrar's office to apply for his father's death certificate and was astonished to see the phrase Anglo Indian under caste. McGowan had no idea of what the term meant. Sometime later, he was contacted by the BBC for a series called "Who Do You Think You Are?" and was soon on his way to search for his roots in Kolkata.
"Back to" is a wrong way to put it, as he was never really aware of his Anglo Indian roots, which his father hid from him. However, when his father died in 2004, he took his birth certificate to the registrar's office to apply for his father's death certificate and was astonished to see the phrase Anglo Indian under caste. McGowan had no idea of what the term meant. Sometime later, he was contacted by the BBC for a series called "Who Do You Think You Are?" and was soon on his way to search for his roots in Kolkata.
Gay Ho!
Rajarshi, a 35-year old- college teacher near Kolkata is a relieved man. After struggling with his sexual orientation for years, facing persecution at home and outside, and grappling with a sense of guilt for years, he feels a sense of relief that he is not a criminal for loving another man. He is among the hundreds of thousands of gays and lesbians who are breathing lighter after the Delhi High Court’s decision on July 2 decriminalizing homosexuality.
The Last Bioscopewallah
Mohammad Salim, with his 100-year-old projector, is a relic from a forgotten era. He roams the streets of Kolkata, letting people experience in short bursts the often surreal world of the bioscope. Salim’s voice has become weaker with age, but the enthusiasm remains undimmed. He is the thin string that binds Kolkata with its glorious past to the beginning of cinema — the Royal Bioscope Company, India’s first bioscope company.
Slumdog Redux
Shaffiq Syed, the rag-picker kid who shot to instant recognition with Mira Nair’s path-breaking, Oscar-nominated film Salaam Bombay in 1988. Mira Nair established the Salaam Baalak Trust for the 27 kids who acted in her movie. The trust looked after the wellbeing of the kids, helped them integrate into the mainstream, and tried to prevent them from slipping back into the drudgery of slum life. They had little success with Syed, who found it hard to cope with his life after fame.
Kenya's Wahindis
Nearly a generation ago, Pres. Idi Amin booted Indians out of Uganda with his infamous "Asian farewell speech" on Aug. 5, 1972, in which he accused them of "economic sabotage." Within a matter of weeks, Uganda's Indian population had been decimated from 75,000 to under 1,000.
