#anglo-indian

[thesobsister]

Not enough people are talking about Sheila Chandra, one of the great voices of the '90s. Her involuntary silence for more than a decade makes these albums all the more precious.

[najia-cooks]

Cranberry chutney

Sweet, tart, jammy cranberries evolve into the subtle aromatics of cumin, mustard, and bay leaf before rounding off into a smooth, even chili heat in this Anglo-Indian-style chutney. It's excellent in place of cranberry sauce on all kinds of roasts, meat pies, flatbreads, sandwiches, and charcuterie boards.

The cooked fruit-and-vinegar chutneys made by English cooks during the British colonization of India were inspired by the fresh and pickled Indian condiments that English traders and soldiers—including those in the East India Company's military arm—had acquired a taste for, but substituted locally familiar produce and cooking methods for Indian ones. "Indian" recipes began appearing in English cookbooks in the mid-18th century, inspiring and fulfilling a desire for the exotic and, effectively, advertising colonial goods. The domestic kitchen thus became a productive site for the creation and negotiation of colonial ideology: the average English housekeeper could feel a sense of ownership over India and its cultural and material products, and a sense of connection to the colonial endeavor desite physical distance.

This sauce, centered around a tart fruit that is simmered with sugar and savory aromatics and spices, is similar in composition to an Anglo-Indian chutney, but some Indian pantry staples that British recipes tend to substitute or remove (such as jaggery, bay leaf, and mustard oil) have been imported back in. The result is a pungent, spicy, deeply sweet, slightly sour topping that's good at cutting through rich, fatty, or starchy foods.

Recipe under the cut!

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Ingredients:

1/2 cup dried cranberries (krainaberee), or 1 cup fresh or frozen

5 curry leaves (kari patta), or 1 Indian bay leaf (tej patta)

1/2 tsp cumin seeds (jeera)

1/2 tsp black mustard seeds (rai)

3 Tbsp jaggery (gur / gud)

1-3 small red chili peppers (kali mirch), to taste

1/2” chunk (5g) ginger (adarakh), peeled

1 clove garlic (lahsun)

1/2 red onion (pyaaj) or 1 shallot

1 Tbsp mustard oil (sarson ke tel)

1/3 cup (80 mL) water

Pinch black salt (kala namak)

Curry leaves can be purchased fresh at a South Asian grocery store. If you can't find any, Indian bay leaves can be used as a substitute (the flavor isn't per se similar, but it would also be appropriate in this dish). Indian bay leaves are distinct from Turkish or California laurel bay leaves and have a different taste and fragrance. They will be labelled “tej patta” in an Asian or halaal grocery store, and have three vertical lines running along them from root to tip, rather than radiating out diagonally from a central vein.

Instructions:

1. Pound onion, garlic, ginger, and chili to a paste in a mortar and pestle; or, use a food processor.

2. In a thick-bottomed pot, heat mustard oil on medium. Add curry leaves or tej patta and fry until fragrant.

3. Add cumin and mustard seed and fry another 30 seconds to a minute, until fragrant and popping.

4. Lower heat to low. Add aromatic paste and fry, stirring constantly, for about 30 seconds, until fragrant.

5. Add cranberries, jaggery, black salt, and water. Raise heat and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook uncovered, stirring often, until thick and jammy. Remove from heat a bit before it reaches your desired consistency, since it will continue to thicken as it cools.

Store in a jar in the refrigerator for 2-3 weeks.

[greatworldwar2]

• Battle of Damascus

The Battle of Damascus was a battle between Allied Forced and Vichy French forced and was the final action of the Allied advance on Damascus in Syria during the Syria–Lebanon campaign in World War II.

On June 8th, 1941, troops of the 5th Indian Infantry Brigade Group had crossed the Syrian border from the British Mandate of Palestine to take Quneitra and Deraa with the objective of opening the way for the forces of the 1st Free French Division to advance along the roads from these towns to Damascus. This was one of four attacks planned for the campaign by the Allied commander, General Sir Henry Wilson. Gentforce had been under the temporary command of the commander of the 5th Indian Infantry Brigade, Brigadier Wilfrid Lloyd, since 12 June when Legentilhomme had been wounded. The plan called for the troops of 5th Indian Brigade to advance northwards from their positions at Artouz on the Quneitra–Damascus road across country west of the road towards Mezzeh. Mezzeh was a large village on a junction with the Beirut to Damascus road, some three miles west of Damascus itself. The brigade's supplies, ammunition and the anti-tank element would follow closely behind on the road proper. Meanwhile, the Free French forces would advance along the Kissoué – Damascus road to capture Qadim as a preliminary to entering the Syrian capital, some four miles further north. On June 18th, the Indian troops set out and skirmished their way north. They reached Mezzeh at 04:15. By 05:30, after an hour of fierce hand-to-hand fighting, Mezzeh was captured. However, there was a major problem: the equipment and anti-tank guns travelling up the main road had earlier got ahead of the infantry and run into a Vichy roadblock where most of the vehicles were knocked out. Furthermore, the planned advance by the Free French to Qadim had been delayed, allowing the Vichy defenders to concentrate on the Mezzeh action, putting intense pressure on the Allied position whilst thwarting any attempt to relieve them and bring in vitally needed anti-tank weapons.

On June 19th, Major General John Evetts, commander of the British 6th Infantry Division, arrived to relieve Lloyd and take control of the Allied forces east of Merdjayoun. With the losses suffered by the Indian brigade, he requested that the British 16th Infantry Brigade be detached from the 7th Australian Division and sent to his sector. Three Australian battalions were also detached to Evetts' command: the 2/3rd Machine Gun Battalion and the 2/3rd and 2/5th Infantry Battalions. By nightfall on 19 June, the Allied position at Mezzeh was desperate. Ammunition was running low, no food had been eaten for 24 hours, casualties were severe, and medical supplies were exhausted. During the night (when Vichy attacks were suspended), three men managed to reach Gentforce headquarters with the news of the position in Mezzeh. Early on June 20th, Brigadier Lloyd, having handed over to Evetts, resumed command of the 5th Indian Brigade and sent a force comprising two companies from the 3/1st Punjab Regiment, two companies of French Marines and a battery of artillery to fight its way through to Mezzeh. But they could not blast a way through and they progressed only slowly against determined opposition from French tanks. A Free French attack on Qadim the previous night had failed expensively, so that they were unable to exert pressure on Qadim that morning to draw Vichy forces away from Mezzeh. That night, however, the Free French with support from British anti-tank and anti-aircraft guns and an Australian machine-gun battalion, advanced against light Vichy defences and captured Qadim by the morning of the 21st.

Throughout the evening of June 20-21st, the Australians fought several actions, attacking a series of stone forts overlooking the Mezzeh and the Quneitra road. Elsewhere, a company of Australians attempted to move around the left flank of the Vichy defenders to cut the road running north-west to Beirut and establish a road block in the Barada Gorge. A see-sawing action took place amongst the forts, during which a force of 59 Australians was briefly captured, before a counter-attack early on June 21st freed them and retook the forts. Meanwhile, a 12-hour defensive action held the Barada Gorge to the west, turning back several French attacks that included tanks and armoured cars. During the morning of June 21st, the Australians consolidated their positions around the forts, and in the Barada Gorge and around 11:00, the Vichy French garrison in Damascus surrendered. By noon, the Allied forces were in Damascus and the Vichy forces were retreating west along the Beirut road. With the fall of Damascus, Gentforce accomplished its primary goal. Elsewhere, fighting around Merdjayoun continued until June 24th, when Allied forces eventually captured the town. The fighting between the Vichy forces and the Allies continued throughout the month. Further actions included fighting around Damour and the capture of Beirut.

[chandaurtaare]

If you're making james indian in your fic, please make him anglo-indian. That's the actual LEAST you can do. Don't just be like “this is james, he's indian, but the same as normal white james“. The desi james hc makes most sense if james is anglo indian. Anglo indians have their own culture and all so research that. But itsg don't just make him brown for the sake of it.

Thanks.

[triviareads]

I like reading your thoughts on how brown people (and other BIPOCs) are written in billionaire romances. Do you have plans to write a romance with desi characters?

thank you! I've always wanted to try and finish ONE story (literally anything) but I've never actually put in the effort lol. At the moment, I'm just trying to advance my career and I don't super have time or patience for investing the amount of serious effort I'd need to finish literally anything.

But I do have ideas! I've thought about exploring the Indian diaspora in a historical romance; I want to write about a biracial Black/Indian character (characters?) descended in part from indentured Indians brought to Africa or South America or the Caribbean by the British/other Europeans and eventually immigrated to England. I've met Indians who immigrated from Africa, and they grew up with this unique culture that was a mix of African, British, and Indian and it's quite different from Indian culture alone. They or their families were also expelled (in the case of Ugandan Indians) or all but forced to leave (in the case of many Kenyan Indians) Africa, and it's a sad but interesting parallel because of how many of their ancestors were forcibly brought to Africa to begin with.

I've also thought about writing a biracial Anglo-Indian character (historically it would usually mean a white British father, and an Indian mother because, well—) because of the nebulous space they'd occupy in British society; Amita Murray has been doing an amazing job of that in her Marleigh Sisters series. Basically, they're too white to interact comfortably with Indians, too brown to be wholly accepted into British society. A lot of them historically were forced to convert to Christianity and change their names (do you see why "Kate Sharma" except surprise! her name is actually Kathani pissed me off? Why wasn't she always Kathani?).

My ideas for how I'd go about a contemporary romance are a little more vague; I've shelved my idea for a Harlequin-esque romance with an Indian billionaire from India because it was really hard to nail his voice and I spoke with multiple people about this and none of us could quite figure the guy out. So I was recently thinking about pivoting and writing a fake dating romance (and not just because people love that shit rn, though not as much as last year I think) with Indian-Americans but again, I kinda want to contrast experiences. One is the classic rags-to-riches wunderkind who made it (and a lot of that has to do with how their family immigrated to the States and under what circumstances because that's what makes a huge difference imo), and the other is comfortably middle class and they basically end up in a contractual dating situation because Reputation or something.

Anyway, those are my thoughts. TBD on if I go through with them.

[beastsovrevelation]

Why is there no content of Beelzebub in sari-inspired clothes?..

I mean...

But, it's black and red, and the details are demonic, think flies, pentagrams, maybe her sigil somewhere...

[morrigan-disapproves]

rod stewart power dressing started as a joke thing I was doing fashion wise but I'm coming to realise it's actually the expression of my truest self. He has it all: leopard print, tight flares, neck scarf, shirt half unbuttoned, general slut energy. Bowie and Jagger stole it all from HIM!

Sorry about this post my adhd meds are hitting and I should be working but instead I'm turning my Pinterest fashion inspo board into this

[aeolianblues]

FYI, 'what, should colonists just... leave?? Go live elsewhere?? You don't ask white Americ—' the Brits left India in 1947. Could be done in a land of a billion with proof, can be done again 👍

I'm being slightly flippant here of course. But it's sooo easy to pack up and leave when it's inconvenient to stay, when the sun's too hot, when your whole neighbourhood blames you for murder, and crucially, there are Quite A Few of those neighbours. Also India was Too Inconveniently East to have fellow white countries to cry to who'd come a-bombing at your slightest mood swing. Less oil to drool over. Also the last thing you'd want is them then allying with China, etc. etc.

What I'm saying here is, Zionist occupation is a matter of luxury and convenience, when it comes down to it. You have a little gated community, big bro America is doing the cleansing and bombing for you; look how efficient they are! They've got rid of 2 million 'undesirables' for you! Those people are not what you consider good normal (white) people 'like us'— you can keep telling yourself that and keep your conscience squeaky clean.

And they do it for you. They need to have someone throwing their weight behind them, they do it under the pretext of you, dear expat American, expat European, saying you have a life and house and family there. That and profit, of course. There's always been so much profit in colonisation, why stop? Just give it a new name, a new regime, and start it over. What was once plantation and land is now oil and land. Always has been.

The desire to wipe out your neighbours is purely greed, want, luxury and convenience. Never fucking forget that.

[mazzystargirl]

indian riverdale is SO WACKKKK

[manibolly]

How could anyone not tell Merle Oberon was Anglo Indian?

[yoramkelmer]

Manorama, 1940s.

Manorama was born in Lahore in 1926 to a irish mother and a anglo indian father, as Erin Isaac Daniels.

Starting out as a child actress in the Lahore Film Industry in the late 30s, she had her breakthrough in “Khazanchi” in 1941 opposite M. Ismail and Ramola Devi. Another big success was “Khaandaan” in 1942, where she played alongside Noor Jehan and Pran.

Until partition in 1947 she was one of the most popular actresses in Punjab, and appeared in both hindi/urdu and in punjabi movies.

In 1947, she fled to India upon partition, and while she had some initial success in both hindi and punjabi movies, from around 1953 she was relegated to supporting/character roles, and from 1958 (at the age of 32) in mother roles.

She would then mostly be remembered in comedic villainous roles like in Seeta aur Geeta, and from the 70s on she would - together with fellow actors from her generation, like Veena - frequently appear in punjabi movies of the time.

Her last movie was “Water” in 2005, by Deepa Mehta.

She died alone and forgotten in 2008.

[faithdeans]

everytime i talk about india and my family on here i feel kinda guilty that people might think i'm desi... to reitterate, i'm white but my dad is mixed race (and both his parents were mixed) <3

[mass-convergence]

A tumblr poll (and a friend responding to one of the options on it) has led me down an internet rabbit hole of figuring out the fucking origins of Chicken Tikka Masala.

Turns out the origins are nebulous with some saying it was adapted from Chicken Tikka in Glasgow in the 1970s (I think there's evidence that that story may be bullshit but it's stuck around in the popular culture) and others saying it originated in the British Raj to appease the colonizer's palates.

I guess then I do somewhat agree with Robin Cook's statement on CTM as a "true British national dish" because it's the "perfect illustration of the way Britain absorbs and adapts external influences".

Though it's not Britain adapting to the Indian culture (noting that Indian food is not a monolith but I'm not out here to write an entire novel this afternoon). If the Glasgow story or some variant holds true: it's the South East Asian immigrants adapting to British palates so that they can make a living. If it originated in the British Raj: it's the people that had been colonized trying to adapt their cooking to their colonizers to appease them.

Can't imagine anything more British than that :)

[flaynbestgirl]

i get that when americans talk about "british english" theyre most likely talking about RP english and they, like, Dont Know about all the classist implications of mocking various uk english dialects

but it still fucking sucks to see, yknow?

[katiajewelbox]

Eating homemade coronation chicken while watching the actual coronation of King Charles III is a whole mood. 

Here’s the classic Coronation Chicken sandwich filling recipe if you’d like to make it yourself! My Mom’s recipe uses celery, fresh black grapes, green onions, dried apricots, and chopped cashews in addition to the basic ingredients shown here. 

Fortnum & Mason and Tom Parker Bowles’s Coronation chicken sandwiches

This version omits the original nuts and uses fresh coriander, plus plump raisins, mango chutney and a little spice to keep all that naughty sweetness in check.

Ingredients

Makes 16 finger sandwiches

1tbspn vegetable oil

1½tbspns mild curry powder

1tspn turmeric

3 cooked chicken breasts, skinned and finely diced

8–9tbspns good-quality mayonnaise

3tbspns mango chutney

1tbspn chopped golden raisins

2tbspns chopped coriander

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Butter, for spreading

8 large slices of white bread

Method: Gently heat the vegetable oil in a small pan, add the curry powder and turmeric and cook over a very low heat for one minute, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat and cool slightly. Put the diced chicken into a bowl, add the spice mixture and rub it into the chicken. Add the mayonnaise, mango chutney and raisins and mix well. Fold in the chopped coriander and season to taste.Lightly butter the bread and spread the Coronation chicken mixture over half the slices. Sandwich together with the remaining bread, cut the crusts off, then cut each sandwich into four fingers.

From ‘The Cook Book: Fortnum & Mason’ by Tom Parker Bowles (Fourth Estate, £30). Tom’s new book with Fortnum & Mason, ‘Time For Tea’, is out now (Fourth Estate, £20)

[pebblegalaxy]

Hari Singh Nalwa - A Prominent Military Commander of the Sikh Empire

Hari Singh Nalwa was a prominent military commander and general of the Sikh Empire in northern India, during the rule of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. He served as the Commander-in-Chief of the Sikh Khalsa Army and was known for his bravery, military tactics, and administrative skills. He fought in several battles and campaigns, including the First Anglo-Sikh War, and expanded the boundaries of the Sikh…