Lucknow :
He is not an Indian but a part of India always lived inside Noel Gunther. In fact, the desire to see ‘Charbagh’ grew with this Briton in mid 50s. On Saturday, his dream came true and the ‘happiness of its achievement’ rolled down his eyes as tears.
Overwhelmed with joy, Noel said, “I could feel the warmth of my grandfather’s love in the air.” Noel represents a group of some 1.2 million non-Indians surely in love with India brought together by London based ‘Families in British India Society (FIBIS) a not for profit organization started in 1998. Accompanied by 15 others, Noel reached India to trace his roots in September.
“Charbagh was the workplace of my grand-father Robert Upshon who worked as electrician in Indian Railways and stayed in Lucknow in the 1920s – the formative years of Charbagh Railway Station,” he said.
Trustee of FIBIS, Elaine MacGregor who headed the group said, “Ancestors of all FIBIS members have a common heritage emanating from India. Their forefathers have worked or lived in cities of Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Lucknow, Kanpur, and Meerut among others in years between 1600 and 1947 AD.”
So far, the group has covered Delhi, Meerut, Amritsar, Dharmshala and Shimla. After Lucknow, they would travel to Kanpur, Bithoor, Agra and Jaipur before leaving in the coming week. “While other places are important, Lucknow stands out because a large chunk of people who visited India are connected to it,” Elaine told TOI.
“Lucknow’s importance may be gauged from the fact that one-third of all queries received by FIBIS are related to it,” she added. In Lucknow, the group would pay a visit to La Martiniere and Residency on Sunday morning besides having a brief walk in Hazratganj.
Like Noel, other members in the group are also very sure of their Indian connection. Some of them have done individual researches to establish their links. Noel for instance had Baptism record of his aunt who was born in Lucknow.
Others relied on FIBIS which ‘joins the dots’ for British in love with India with the help of references. “We have a name data base of 1.28 million members extracted from hundreds of documents including East India Company Parish Registers, Newspapers, Directory of British residents in India, old books, photographs and diaries,” said Elaine.
Besides reclaiming one’s history and origin and answering ‘who do you think you are?’ the journey is a nostalgic experience to most. Twenty year old Mark, youngest member in the group says that decided to explore a country they are so passionate about while Penny from Brisbane wanted to see her alma mater – the La Martiniere Girls College once again.
A secondary aim is to document condition of British cemeteries in India. Valmay, who is compiling the report said, “Many cemeteries are overgrown and missing. But there are some positive stories as well as in case of Shimla where a local pastor has volunteered to save cemetery.”
Two other groups starting from Bengaluru and Kolkata would come in the subsequent weeks.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Lucknow / by Shailve Sharda, TNN / October 11th, 2015