Like the cat that's left behind
Most Anglo-Indians I know feel drawn with affection to both their countries; but they have mainly made up their minds already as to which they regard themselves as belonging. I remember with sadness one Anglo-Indian, the trappings of whose culture were entirely English but whose life for better or for worse was indissolubly married to India, saying to me over a Guinness in a Delhi cricket club : 'You cannot know how it is with us, since independence. When I am miserable and alone, I feel like the cat that's left behind when its owner moved house'. He always liked to think that he could `go home' to the ui (as most 'patrials' refer to this country) but knew he never could. Shortly after our conversation, he was knifed to death by his Indian servant for being an Englishman.
Previous page
