Anglo-Indian

Bridget was born and brought up in Kolar Gold Fields,Karnataka. She got her B Ed degree in Bangalore, taught for two years, and then joined Canara Bank, from where she retired a few years ago. She is a self-published author of five cookbooks specializing in Anglo-Indian cuisine, and works as a consultant on food related matters. For copies of her books, contact her at bidkumar@gmail.com or visit http://anglo-indianfood.blogspot.com

In the late 1950s to early 1960s, when I was a child, our Anglo-Indian family would gather every Sunday in my grandparent’s home in Robertsonpet, Kolar Gold Fields, Karnataka. My siblings, cousins and I would crowd around grandma Maud White, who was in her late 60’s, as she prepared Country Captain Chicken, a favourite of the whole family.

Anglo-Indian cuisine is a fusion of Western and Indian cuisine, in which the normally bland Western cuisine is given a dash of Indian flavour. Over many years, Indian ingredients and cooking techniques were assimilated into western cuisine, giving rise to a distinctive cuisine that comfortably straddles both cultures.

Bridget was born and brought up in Kolar Gold Fields, a small mining town in Karnataka. She got her B Ed degree in Bangalore, taught for two years, and then joined Canara Bank, from where she retired a few years ago. Now she is a self-published author of six cookbooks specializing in Anglo-Indian cuisine, and works as a consultant on food related matters. Bridget has also published a nostalgic book on KGF entitled Kolar Gold Fields Down Memory Lane. For copies of her books, contact her at bidkumar@gmail.com or visit http://anglo-indianfood.blogspot.com

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My family

I was born and brought up in Kolar Gold Fields (KGF), a charming little mining town in the erstwhile Mysore State, which is now a part of Karnataka. I was the second born child to Sydney and Doris White. My brother John was born two years earlier than me, and my younger sisters Maryanne and Bernadette were born two and four years after me, respectively. We were a well-known Anglo-Indian family, which traced our roots to British ancestry on my paternal side and Portuguese and Dutch ancestry on my maternal side.

Bridget was born and brought up in Kolar Gold Fields, a small mining town in Karnataka. She got her B Ed degree in Bangalore, taught for two years, and then joined Canara Bank, from where she retired a few years ago. Now she is a self-published author of six cookbooks specializing in Anglo-Indian cuisine, and works as a consultant on food related matters. Bridget has also published a nostalgic book on KGF entitled Kolar Gold Fields Down Memory Lane. For copies of her books, contact her at bidkumar@gmail.com or visit http://anglo-indianfood.blogspot.com.

MY MUM'S COOKING

I was born and brought up in a well-known Anglo-Indian family in Kolar Gold Fields (KGF), Karnataka, which had a large and predominant British and Anglo-Indian population.

Our lives were influenced to a great extent by British culture. There was no dearth of British goods in KGF during the 1940s and 50s. These goods were imported from England and sold through The English Ware House, Spencer’s Stores, the Clubs, etc.

Kenneth Hugh Staynor was  born at Madhupur on 16 September 1927. In 1929, his family went to the United Kingdom, and returned to India in 1931 to Kurseong, where his father was a teacher, and later Headmaster, at  Victoria School.  Kenneth was educated at St. Josephs College, Darjeeling, and St Mary's High School, Mount Abu. He left India in August 1951 for permanent residence in the UK to get into research and development in engineering, which was not available in India, and because his ancestral roots were in the UK. He lives in South Wales after retirement. His wife passed away in January 2010\; he has three sons, five grandsons, five granddaughters and one great granddaughter.

Editor's note: This is part of a chapter from Mr. Staynor's forthcoming book on the Indian Raiwalys.

Before India’s partition in 1947, the North Western Railway (NWR) had several prestigious trains running on its lines.

These included the world famous Frontier Mail, a through train with the BB&amp\;CIR from Bombay Central to Peshawar, (although this train lost a lot of its glamour after Rawalpindi), the Punjab Mails, through trains from both Calcutta and Bombay Victoria Terminus to Lahore, and the Karachi Mail between Lahore and Karachi. And, not to forget, the Sind Express from Peshawar to Karachi via Campbellpore, where it left the main line and followed the River Indus, keeping to its left bank through Mianwali and Darya Khan, and joining the Lahore-Karachi Main Line at Muzaffagarh, just south of Multan.