I just went through this website, The National Centre for Jewish Film.

I think we need this kind of a dedicated Centre for Indian diasporic film. I read through the documentaries and movies coming out of the Indian diaspora, very randomly. We have some great work in terms of film and documentaries coming out of the diaspora and randomness causes us to lose some provocative, determined, sordid, painful and beautiful visual stories.

Is there such an International Centre for Indian Diasporic Film?

On the bus to work today, I was reading through the March 21st issue of India Today. The magazine featured articles of speakers from the Indian Tomorrow 2005 Conclave: Perception VS reality conference. It seems the speakers proved realities coexist with perceptions in India.

I was particularly impressed by the speches of V. S Naipaul, Amitabh Bachchan and William Dalrymple.

The edited speeches are available in the magazine (subscription required). So I'll just type in here parts of the speech.

Moreover, the big uncertainity in the years to come, it seems to me, is whether it will continue to be Indians in India mediating this country for the global audience of Englsih speaking readers - or whether it will the NRI's. In Britain and the US in the past few years, the waves have been made less by authors from South Asia, so much so US-born Asians such as Jumpha Lahiri and Meera Syal, or what Rushdie might call "chutneyfied" authors of mixed backgrounds - Hari Kunzru, Zadie Smith and Monica Ali.This seems to be the trend in music and film as well: if in the 60's it was Ravi Shankar and Satyajit Ray who presented the arts of India to the world, now it is Gurinder Chadha, Talvin Singh and Panjabi MC. none of whom was born in South Asia.

So if the 1990's were about the Empire writing back, about the the East to West transmission of culture, and showing how pallid British writing was compared to the hotter, spicier writers of the subcontinent, this deacde it has been the NRIS who have to some extent been reversing the flow, and exporting chutneyfied cultural influences West to East.- William Dalrymple

Scientific migration is not really a loss. The world of science is for most part an international world and the work done by Indian scientists abroad, like the work of Indian writers abroad, is accessible to people here. - V.S Naipaul

How can fiction possible compete with the stories scripted by real life? Life has become so strange, its convolutions so mindboggling that it is a kind of embarrassment to one's meagre imagination. Is life becoming a movie? Are we living in the republic of entertainment.

The often-derided mainstream films have been one of the common thread in binding the diaspora. Admittedly, the earlier films often had a literary base. Of late, the packaging or the visual sheen has improved vastly. Yet, there is an alarming trend to find shortcuts by ransacking ideas from the West.

There is no need for us to dream of the spotlight at the Academy awards. We are okay, they are okay. Amitabh Bachchan

Dear Friends,

I am researching Films on the Indian diaspora for my Ph.D. Being based in India, I sometimes feel that I am not competent enough to say much on these docus or movies, because I am not part of the diaspora. Also,I find it difficult to keep abreast of the latest film/docu productions that are coming out of the Diaspora.

So here is my offer, I request any individual with an interest in Diasporic Film or the Indian Diaspora to share this blog with me as a platform for learning more about the genre and also updating us on the latest films being produced outside of India.Let us have a desi and par-desi version.

All you have to do is email me cecilia_abraham@yahoo.com

Thank you!

Some South Asian Actress 

Now that I’m an adult and an actress my Indian-ness is being. – Purva Bedi, Actress in many Made in USA, South Asian Productions

Second generation Indians in the USA accept like a badge of honor their Desi Indian-ness only when they are adults and professionals. During childhood and student life, being Indian is grudgingly accepted because the parents say so. (An observation made from the movies!)

What is one things that America is scared of - Outsourcing. Take a look at the Call Centres out here in India - Microsoft, Dell, Virgin etc.

Now here comes a movie called American Daylightwhich stars the very strangely sexy Ms. Koel Purie as a call centre agent falling in love with an American millionaire.


It is a different movie to understand how a globalized world works.

The Namesake a novel by Jumpha Lahiri is being made into a movie by Mira Nair; The Mistress of Spices by Chitra Divakaruni is being directed by Gurinder Chadha.


Two more movies are added to the genre of "identity", "displacement" and "spices".
I am not excited about these films at all, even though being made by two czarinas of "Diasporic Indian Films", because I’ve read the books. It might be tempting to appreciate films such as these, plainly because they adapt from diasporic literature, which for a long time been the only way for the diaspora to connect and reconstruct in its mind the "Imagined" homeland. The characters in these are not about being heroic or fighting injustice, but letting confusion take precedence over your life.

Creating diasporic films on the tradition of literature is to tell an exotic story in a singular way. These films from book adaptations aren’t going to help individuals understand their own identities and issues, the "Indian" identity tends to be shallow yet painful in these novels. Think Gogol and Tilo main characters of the novels. Are these films going to evince a meaningful interest in “Indian Culture” or what it means to be “Indian”. Or is it just a film showcasing unidentifiable characters seeking an identity in a place called “home”. What a slothful plot and a commonplace narrative?

Diasporic film can define a “culture”, that is the potent of the genre. It uses images and sounds much more than words. Therefore they must tread carefully - create images of successful compromise with the culture of the home country or a well drawn out fight with the dominant community to accept your minority/ethnic status. This could be one way of saying we have assimilated successfully into the home of our parents and left with respect our grand parents home that will always be a part of the story or memory. Cultural Production needs to be self-conscious because through the products we are talking largely about ourselves.

Diasporic movies need some straight talking to do, not some spice and self-introspection. It is time to go out there and make a claim! I know Our big girls Mira and Gurinder can do it.

The Gollapudi Srinivas award has gone to UCLA film-grad Shonali Bose for her film "Amu".

Shonali Bose 

"Amu" is less about finger-pointing than a plea for India to confront its past, to overthrow its official amnesia and deal with the cycles of sectarian violence that continue to haunt that country as witnessed by the 2002 uprising in Gujarat.

Now one more lesson that Diasporic film can do to make it self a more useful and less narcisstic genre of film making is to reveal to the "homeland" its weaknesses as a nation, this way nations are benefited from strong external impressions.

We need more awards from India to support such meaningul movies.

I enjoy watching Hinglish (Indian made English Films) films; “Everybody says I’m fine” is my favorite, now there is a new one out called “White Nose” starring Rahul Bose and Koel Purie.

I find a lot of similarities between films made in English and Indian Diasporic film. First of all most of these movies will be shown only in a multiplex urban setting. Secondly the movies will be in English with a dash of Hindi here and there. Third, I love it that there is no song or dance routines, which sometimes make me squirm in my seat. Last but not the least both these genres are pretty new. Only the early 90’s saw these genres become more main stream.


Bend it like Baichung 



Both these genres of movies are inward looking with a painful dose of emotional pain pushing the character to be human. There is an inward journey in the characters mind to define the self. The steady reference in these movies is always individual “Character” and the choices they have to make, be it Urban India or suburbs in the US or UK. The characters in these films are strong and deep, they hold interest because they are educated and trying hard to heal their suburban confusions.

A Hinglish film deals with characters within the context of India, an India which is full of modern vs. traditional dichotomies. Same with the Diasporic film maker, who is trying to make sense of being Indian in a foreign land, the Western Vs Indian identity.

So both deal with “confusion” and “Identity” in very different settings. In a way the Hinglish directors have many storylines keeping in mind that they are in an Indian setting and there is no real need for fighting for a cultural identity.

The Diasporic film makers need to develop new story lines. Their main pitch has been I am American, I am Indian and the twain shall meet - how about a story of the diligent and smart slick Desi trying to become President of the U S of A.

We Indians, endured, loved and hated Doordarshan (DD), at one point the only Public Television broadcaster in India . Today with cable TV, DD takes a backseat in most Indian urban homes. Not to be out done by cable competition, the latest programs, news features have all been revamped, made much more slick. Provoking a slight urban reversal to DD.

And the latest - Doordarshan is planning a TV channel for the Indian diaspora in Britain, which will also cater to sub groups of the diaspora like Gujarati, Bengali, Punjabi etc. For more...


DD 

I will be profiling some of the interesting "Indians from the Diaspora" that I meet. This would be an interesting way to learn more of the "less spoken of" but very accomplished members of the Indian Diaspora. Move over Lakshmi Mittal...

I met with Prof. Brij V. Lal briefly, a very interesting, insightful and humorous speaker.I wanted to know more and here is what I found:

Prof.Brij, the grandson of a girmitiya (indentured laborer) who migrated from India in 1908.


Brij lal 


He was awarded the Order if Fiji for his distinguished contribution, as a sole representative of the Fiji Indian community on the Fiji constitution Review Commission whose reports forms the basis of the country's internationally praised constitution.

He is currently editor of the in-progress "Encyclopedia of Indians Overseas", a project based at the National University of Singapore.

In his book Mr Tulsi's store he examines the misunderstandings and mistrust between native Fijians and Indo-Fijians which continue to trouble the country today, and expresses his hopes for its democratic resolution.

Works

Girmitiyas : the Origins of the Fiji Indians (1983)
Problems and methods of enquiry in South Asian history (1984)
Politics in Fiji : studies in contemporary history (1986)
Broken Waves (1992)
Tides of history : the Pacific Islands in the twentieth century (1994)
Fiji Before the Storm : elections and the politics of development (2000)
The Pacific Islands : an Encyclopedia (2000)
Coup : Reflections on the political crisis in Fiji (2001)
Mr Tulsi's store : a Fijian journey (2001)
Bitter Sweet: The Indo-Fijian experience (2004)

As I research, I come across a lot of academicians working on "Bollywood" and the "Indian Diaspora". I am going to try and put up lists on the blog for benefit of other research scholars. If you know of other researchers interested in similar themes please email me.


Fareed Kazmi is Reader in the Department of Political Science, University of Allahabad. His book is titled - The Politics of India's Conventional Cinema : Imaging a Universe, Subverting a Multiverse.

Prof. Madhava Prasad, Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages. His book is titled - Ideology of the Hindi Film
A Historical Construction.

Ashish Rajadhyaksha is a Senior Fellow of the Centre for the Study of Culture & Society (CSCS), Bangalore, and was the editor, with Paul Willemen, of the Encyclopaedia of Indian Cinema.

Aswin Punathambekar is a master's student in the department of comparative media studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Tejaswini Ganti is another Indian American scholar who has been conducting research about the Bombay film industry since 1996.

Professor Jigna Desai's book Beyond Bollywood: The Cultural Politics of South Asian Diasporic Film (Routledge, January 2004) focuses on the emergence and formation of a South Asian diasporic cinema by examining films made by Indians who have emigrated to Canada, Great Britain, and the United States, as well as films produced in India.

Monika Mehta is a Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellow at University of California at Berkeley, affiliated with Film Studies and Comparative Literature. She received her Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the University of Minnesota. At Berkeley, she is working on her book project, "Selections: Cutting, Classifying, and Certifying in Bombay Cinema," which focuses on censorship of sex in Bombay cinema.

Nitin Govil is Assistant Professor of Sociology and Media Studies at the University of Virginia. He joined the department in Fall 2003 and has completed his doctoral work in film and media studies at New York University. Govil is the co-author of Global Hollywood and is completing a study The Indian Film Industry, with Ranjani Mazumdar, under contract at British Film Institute.

Priya Joshi is Associate Professor of English at the University of California, Berkeley. Joshi is currently at work on a book-length project entitled Crime and Punishment: Nationalism and Public Fantasy in Bollywood Cinema in which she studies popular Hindi film and the fabrication of national identities in postcolonial India.

Raman Johal, at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada, is completing a dissertation entitled "From Bollywood to Bharat: Identity and Ethnic Revival in the Youth of Diasporic India."

Professor Phillip Lutgendorf at the University of Iowa.


Ananda Mitra (Ph.D., University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign) is Associate Professor in the Department of Communication, Wake Forest University.He is the author of three books: Television and Popular Culture in India (Sage Publications, 1993), India through the Western Lens (Sage Publications, 1999) and Research Methods in Park, Recreation and Leisure Services (Sagamore Publishing, 2000).

I watched this short 13 minute experimental sort-of film on-line from a site called cinequestonline. The movie is called “This Moment”, the movie deals with of an Indian girl wanting to marry a black guy.


This Moment 


It is true movies of the South Asian Diaspora will always represent their conflicts, in this movie it is the second-generation conflict of “interracial marriage” .

The subject of “Interracial” marriage and dating needs skillful handling in film not just a show casing. This film just states loaded dialogues without the film asking questions or seeking answers so important when making films based on race and ethnicity.

Uma: I am the cultural bearer
Uma: My ultra Hindu parents want to visit India with their Ph.D daughter and Doctor son-in-law.
Uma: If I married him, my parents would never talk to me again.

What do these dialogues mean, they just sound trite within the context of a 13 minute movie. There is no reconciliation of the main character Uma, not to her parents, not to herself and least of all to somebody who wants to marry her. The early morning sunrise shots of defeat, confusion, enlightenment, culture (whatever?) interspersed in between the movie held really had no symbolism.

Are parental rules being mistaken for culture? If that is the case, most of the diaspora films need to delve deeper into what the true Indian culture is. Culture is much more that dating or marriage.

In nearly all Bollywood movies lovers get happily married and walk of into the sunset with the entire family smiling. At the beginning of the movie the lovers are barred by their parents from meeting because of class and caste differences. But eventually the couple fights and shows strength of character leading to the parents themselves celebrating the wedding of the couple in jubilation.There is reconciliation, a victory that makes these movies dear to its audience.


Kabhi Kushi Kabhi Gham 


Most of the diaspora movies and literature leave confusions unattended, open ended and unresolved. Of course “Bend it like Beckham” was an exception; it had the typical Bollywood ending happiness and reconciliation.

I was reading through "The Idler" site, read about an Indian Idler - Satish Kumar settled in the Cornish countryside in the UK.

I decided to put off my thoughts of returning to India... I should have known that life does not operate on the basis of plans, no matter how rational.

There is a book that I've got to get my hands on - Beyond Bollywood: The Cultural Politics of South Asian Diasporic Film - by Jigna Desai 2004, Routledge

Bollywood has attracted a lot of academic study, so I was actually pleased to see this book, which

" At one level, it is the first study of South Asian Diasporic cinema and hence it asks questions generally considered of interest to those wanting to understand the emergence of this cinema...."

It appears that a lot of analysis has been done on the films by Ms. Desai and a theoretical framework called the "Brown Atlantic" has been evolved to study the films.

Like each genre of films has a framework to establish its self within,eg: cinema noir, feminist etc we now have a framework for the South Asian Diasporic film.

I believe once a film fits into a genre, its aesthetics become predictable, the plot and narrative becomes contrived making the films easier to analyze and not challenging to watch.

I chose to research on "Diaspora Films" for largely personal reasons, the movies are trying to question yet build on a culture there are so far removed from. Myself, (the researcher) being from India has largely those same questions.

1. What does it mean to be Indian?

2. Why is our identity as Indians so important to us?

3. Do these films treat our confusions?

There are a lot of answers that come to mind, but I'd rather research on them and create a Ph.D dissertation.


PS: One of the reasons I loved Kill Bill I, the juxtaposition of all genres, thereby breaking the film theorists framework.

To continue with yesterday's post, I read a very interesting and brilliant speech "With Contempt or Love? By Shauna Singh Baldwin".

A quote from her speech

Even geographical storage of books about India is testament to the historical imbalance of power - you can find out more about India, as viewed from the West or from India, using interlibrary loan in Canada, the US, or the UK than you can find in libraries in New Delhi, the capital of India.

It is true, as a research scholar living in India, I find this statement resounding with truth. To do some of my reference study and to analyze the films on the diaspora, I reach dead ends. I do not find videos or DVD's available at a local store, infact the movie library at the University has very few videos. I find abstracts of useful articles that are available on many publishing sites.I can't afford to pay US 24$ for a single article.The University library has a limited access to online journals, most of which aren't useful to my on-going research. Most of the movies made on the Diaspora, will never see an India release, hence getting them at the video store is ruled out.

Thank God for the internet it gives me snippets of information that I use to establish a case for my thesis. But the internet is not a research tool.

How then do I create a "Ph.D" research that is accepted as *brilliant* and *outstanding* among the academics?

I need information - academic books, videos and other scholarly literature most of which are published and produced in the US and UK. It takes awhile before we get the books at University or a paper back version that is printed in India for a cheaper price. Books on the humanities, normally do not get published in paper back.

Therefore it seems western scholars in the US and UK are more informed about India and more interested in the academic study of the country's politics, society, business and culture. Some of the most brilliant book on "Immigrants", are by American scholars.
For eg: Karen Isaksen Leonard - The South Asian Americans (The New Americans)

Sunaina Marr Maira - Desis in the house

However thanks to Orient Longman and Sage publications and the Oxford University Press they selectively reprint outstanding titles published abroad, to make them accessible and inexpensive to readers in India and the subcontinent.


But academic publishers abroad are updating and disseminating their works at a rapid rate.By the time these works reach us, it is old information and the power of old information is much less than new information.

"East meets West in expatriate Gujarati's film" - The Memsahib. I just read about this film and hope to watch it some time.

Without a watch I can't review the film, but from comments by the director like "a Gujarati student in Britain, falling in love with a British woman", "a king, married to a British woman" and "dialogues in English and a couple of garba sequences", " and "backdrop of colonial rule", I have figured the theme.

I keenly watch movies and read literature of the second-generation expat Indian directors and writers. I am kind of weary of their themes. Most of which are exotically storylined - the love story between a white man/lady and the Indian. The presentation of India as a distant land of unfulfilled dreams, a painful mirage and the clumsy self-realization that even though your Indian in color your part of the larger white family and the smell of your mother's spice mingling with the smell of fat melting steak. The latest of course is for some movies is to use large smattering of Bollywood style dress and dance to represent a colorful Indian identity.


I do wish there were more movies like "Just a Little Red Dot" where the movie doesn't explore internal dilemmas of a national identity but makes peace with it and shares it with the larger diverse community.An entertaining movie for children, but with a wise and deep understanding of human nature and culture .




Just a little Red Dot 



Racial understanding is not something we find, but something that we must create. Through education we can create change. - Martin Luther King Jr

I found this quote on the "The Peace Tree" film site.


A still from the film Peace Tree 

I have been quoted on Indolink in an article titled - Letter from the Center for Study of Indian Diaspora, Hyderabad by Francis C. Assisi.

The article talks about the International conference held at the Center for the Study of Indian Diaspora,University of Hyderabad.

The conference was an inspiration to start this blog, which also brings to mind the question of why should we study the Indian Diaspora in an academic light?

After reading a lot of blogs from members of the Indian Diaspora, I am convinced that the diaspora uses blogging as one way of creating and asserting their identity and taking a strong position in the virtual sphere.

I found this fascinating article: Virtual ethnicity and digital diasporas: Identity construction in cyberspace

In addition to a common goal, most successful experiments in cyber-communitarianism presume some shared history, language, and culture that provide the "raw material" in terms of the symbolic capital for the reproduction of a community in the virtual meta-space.

On another note, I sat thinking about India's relationship with its Indian Diaspora.

To use Pandit Nehru's words

"these Indians abroad, what are they? Are they going to be citizens of India or not? If they are not then our interest in them becomes cultural and humanitarian not political."

Ofcourse today the tables have turned since Nehruji offered that comment when the Indian National Congress was asked to intervene during the Fiji strife against the the Indian identured labour.


Today the
Government is interested in the Diaspora both politically and economically.

And in my humble opinion it is the Diaspora that is interested in India Culturally and on Humanitarian grounds. Don't believe me check out the zany and smartly written "Desi" blogs.

The husband (Puneet) works as a Major in the Indian army serving his time in Kargil, while I live in Hyderabad working and studying to complete a Ph.D. I remember one night both of us discussed going for an over-seas holiday and boy we came up with the bills and loans, not to mention the family we are planning.


Puneet and me 

We both said, "maybe we could have afforded the holiday, had we gone abroad to work". Puneet said, he would give up the army life to live abroad for a few years. When I reminded him of our parents- the usual line - We'll make some money and come back and live with them.

I am often reminded of that conversation, when ever I am reading of the Diaspora -

We'll make money and come back.

Doesn't really happen. Why?

1. The dollar, the pound, the dinar will always be converted to Rupees .

2. Indians do not face physical insecurity or violence. (Stray cases do not qualify)

3. We will not be denied Economic rights, as time passes we will be given political rights.

4. Our kids won't have to compete against 2 million kids to get a seat into Medical college or say against 700 students for a seat into the MA course for "Communications".

4. We won't be subject to corruption, daily routine hassles like not getting an RTC bus to work.

5. We won't live in pollution and how can we forget the "social security" in our old age.

Like most middle class couples Puneet and me will wistfully think of an imagined better life" overseas. Bur deep down in our hearts we know we are having it "as good as it gets", here in India. India has been shining for the middle-class.We just like to "bargain”, a very Indian trait.

Doing a Ph.D part time is tough, it is not the extra time that is needed, but the self-discipline. I met with my guide Dr. Vinod Pavarala .

We decided to

1. Use only "Films from the Diaspora", mainly the US and UK for my rhetorical analysis. Initially we wanted to compare the Films made by diasporic directors and Films made by mainstream Bollywood directors. This streamlines my researchwork.

2. Until June, I will have to do more reading on the Indian Diaspora.

"Till I have the story on my fingertips."

3. My Ph.d could reach completion in December 2006. If I persevere. ( Perseverance , the hallmark of the Diaspora)

4. That I should study films like "Green Card Fever" (this film had good reviews when we showed it at the Conference) and "Hyderabad Blues" to study new migrants journey the return of the migrant.


There are other details, like procuring movies from the US and asking for books from other professors etc.

I chanced upon reading about the movie - Guiana 1838 directed by Rohit Jagessar. I have to watch this movie. In my very limited opinion, I found this to be among the first movies that talked about indentured labour. The labour that migrated from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar to work on the sugar cane fields in Africa, late 18th century.

I watched the trailor of the movie and it really moved me, now I have to get the Cd in India. To watch Indian actor, Kumar Gaurav the actor in this role was surprising.

The Arrival of the East Indians in Guyana.

I found at intrested Guyanese quote - Don't mind how bird vex, it can't vex with tree

Meaning:

It does not matter if you are annoyed with conditions at work, you have to return to your job. Similarly, although you may be frustrated with the situation in your homeland, you may still have to return to it.

• A 2-blowhards account of the "The Kumars" - Good time ethnic humour. Now we have an Indian version of the Kumars, called "Batliwalla House No 43" on India's famous Sony channel, the language used for fun and parody is Hindi to suit the local desi's .
• Tejaswini Niranjana, from the CENTRE FOR THE STUDY OF CULTURE AND SOCIETY, Bangalore says research in the Caribbean made her rethink many things about questions of culture and identity in India.
• The literary page of the Sunday Hindu, had a lot for the fancy intellect of the Indian - The Wonder that was India, A.L. Basham. On this same link, if you scroll down, there is a review of a new book - Overseas Indians: The Global Family by Shubha Singh.

I found this post in the archive of prashantkothari.com.

Bollywood & The Desi Diaspora: The Love Affair Deepens

They have a Bollywood Berkeley Hindi Film Dance Competition at Berkeley.

"It's an identity resurgence," says Juluri!

I hope more of my posts in the blog will be about "Films and the diaspora". That is what my interest is.

In the headlines today "Danny Glover" actor from the "Lethal Weapon" movies, has started afilm company Louverture Films which "will support the employment and training of cast and crew from the African Diaspora, minorities and/or marginalized communities," says Glover's publicist Arnold Robinson in a statment.


The actor wants to make films of historical relevance with a social purpose.

Maybe this is a solution to make more meaningful movies on the diaspora.



A heart wrenching report on Africa's top film festival, Fespaco.....movies mainly funded by ex-rulers, who call the SHOTS!

GOVT. COMMITTED TO GREATER ENGAGEMENT OF INDIAN DIASPORA
I heard that lot of the pravasis think the GoI is interest only in the investment of the NRI's. Bit it is not investments we are looking at it is "engagement".

From: Sasi Raj
Subject: Immigration of Indians into USA an Indian Agenda (Nexus) (Click for full version of email)

Quotable Quotes:

“These are economic migrants, and their agenda is to bring dollars to India because they can't bring it any other way............"

"The population in India is over-pouring, with buses crowded like pigs traveling to slaughter house."

“But India and Indians are not a progressive society, they are survivalistic in attitude and actions and thought, this is the glitch."



Apparently the "Indian Diaspora" in Seoul is learning some acupuncture. The Indian first wives are having a good time.

Before I embarked on my Ph.D "Films on the Indian Diaspora", I was interested in the "Anglo Indian (AI) Community", I wanted to study how the community constructed identities by using "Music", "Food" and "Dress" as cultural commodities. I somehow didn't find that one strand that would sustain a Ph.D thesis. Nevertheless, what I learnt fascinated me about this community, that I am in a way connected with. Please note I am not AI, atleast the one "defined" by the Constitution of India.

I have a part of the family living in Australia, Melbourne. I happened to just find out that Melbourne has an "Immigration Museum". They had just concluded an exhibition on "Anglo Indian Stories - A Passage from India".

For the latest status of AI's in Kolkata, India.