Anuja Susan Varghese By

Express News Service

KOCHI:India’s Anglo Indian community - a legacy of the British rule on the subcontinent since independence - has dwindled in size with many Anglo Indians marrying outside their community. The All India Anglo Indian Association with a mission to encourage marriages from within their community has launched a new matrimonial site to prevent their distinctive culture from dying out. A micro-minority group with around 80,000 people across the state are battling for recognition and survival.

According to the survey conducted by the Federation of Anglo Indian Association in 2007, there were 85,000 Anglo Indians in Kerala. “At the time of Independence there were a million Anglo Indians in the country, but over the years the number has decreased and now no one has the real figures on how many are alive in different parts of the state,” said Mark Peters, an Anglo Indian residing in Fort Kochi. In many parts of the state, many of the Anglo Indians are not recognised.

Network in Anglo Indian community to preserve culture

The one thing that stands out is the speciality of their names which makes them identified, he added.

The community developed from mixed marriages with Portuguese, Britishers, Germans, French, and Italians in Kerala. Since the time of Britishers, they have developed a unique hybrid culture which carefully preserves a pre-war sense of English identity.The people in the community are worried about their culture being compromised when youngsters find their life partners outside the communities.

"With the aim to preserve our culture we have launched a network within our community so that our children do not have to go outside our community for marriage. So far, we have got only less than 20 registrations as most of them are unaware of such a site, and also many of them are registered in other matrimonial sites. In the coming days, we hope a rise in the number of registrations," said Gerald D'Souza, secretary Anglo Indian Matrimonial Bureau.

There are around 40 settlements of Anglo Indians in Kerala with the major one being Kochi, said Charles Dias, president, the Federation of Anglo Indian Association, headquartered in Bengaluru. "Major settlements of the Anglo Indians can be found in areas of Varapuzha, Mulavukkad, Kodungallur, and Kollam. According to the survey in 2007, there were about 40,000 Anglo Indians in Kochi alone," he said.