Having spent much of my childhood in Lajpat Nagar 4 (now Vikram Vihar, New Delhi) and many delightful years with the  Anglo Indians who were my teachers ( at The Frank Anthony Public School), friends, and mentors (Mr G W Mayor my Principal at school), I have many reasons to love them. Indeed one of my earliest memory is of my neighbour and nursery playschool teacher Mrs Dawes taking us four year olds for a walk to what is now the Defence Colony Police Station , (then there were open fields there) and point out cabbages and radish that grew there.

Now a book, “These Bloomin’ Anglos,” by  former corporate honcho Hari Basakaran brings back sweet memories. These Bloomin. Anglos is  an interesting and enjoyable narrative of the Anglo Indian community in India that captures the essence of the community in India. This book reminds me that it is both a personal and national loss that  so many of them have left for opportunities abroad.

The book has been  well received by the Anglo-Indian community . The launch events held at Chennai and Bangalore were well attended and early reviews of the book are quite positive. Here are what some of the readers say.

     Hari has travelled many miles to meet a large number of Anglo-Indians and has focused on the personal rather than the community history, giving life to the book and engaging the reader at a more intimate level. This enables him to talk about what life was like in old Royapuram before it became Lorrypuram, of what it was like settling abroad and struggling to make it into a comfortable life today, and those who stayed behind and have discovered there was a whole world of opportunity for them in India.                                                                                                                                                                               — Mr. S Muthiah