“It’s a small world, but you’d hate to have to paint it” (Attributed to Chic Murray, Steve Wright and a hundred other wits) What are the chances of a new dear chum having worked for a school in a remote part of North East India - about which I made a BBC radio documentary 30 years later? John Coston worked at Dr Graham’s Homes as a teacher from 1963 to 1965. I visited in 1998, in time for its centenary. |
Dr Graham’s (DGH) is interesting because it looks after the children of Anglo-Indian families : originally the offspring of British men and Indian women during the Raj. And my programme roughly coincided with the fiftieth anniversary of Indian independence.
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The documentary is as much about the Anglo-Indian community as it is of the school itself.
A community which is still accused of favouritism and aloofness - at the same time as it often finds itself discriminated against.
Over time DGH had come to rely more on money from well-meaning evangelist organisations, as old sources of donations withered away. This is what John has told me…
By the way, it turns out that John is a documentary presenter himself. Here are some charming shots of him in action in his BBC TV series from the late seventies : Story Beneath the Sands... Thanks, John! | |