Chowringhee
Encyclopedia
Chowringhee is a neighbourhood in central Kolkata
, earlier known as Calcutta, in the India
n state
of West Bengal
. Jawaharlal Nehru Road (earlier known as Chowringhee Road) runs on its western side. A neighbourhood steeped in history, it is a business district, as well as a shopper’s destination and entertainment-hotel centre
.
In the seventeenth century or prior to it, the area now occupied by the Maidan
and Esplanade
was a tiger-infested jungle. At the eastern end of it was an old road, which had once been built by the Sabarna Roy Choudhury
family from Barisha
to Halisahar
. Beyond it there were “pools, swamps and rice-fields, dotted here and there with the straggling huts of fishermen, falconers, wood-cutters, weavers and cultivators. In that region were three small hamlets – Chowringhee, Birjee and Colimba.
In 1717, Chowringhee was a hamlet of isolated hovels, surrounded by water-logged paddy-fields and bamboo-groves separated from Gobindapur
by the jungle. Tradition has it that Warren Hastings
, hunted with elephants in the jungle. Birjee occupied the south-eastern end of later day Maidan, Victoria Memorial and Rabindra Sadan
area. Colimba took its name from the Bengali word for musk melon.
was followed by the construction of the new Fort William
, in 1758. The European inhabitants of Kalikata
gradually forsook the narrow limits of the old palisades and moved to around the Maidan. In the mid eighteenth century Englishmen began to build magnificent houses on the Chowringhee that earned Kolkata the title of ‘City of Palaces’.
The first road in Kolkata to be macadamised was Chitpur Road in 1839. In the evening of 6 July 1857 Chowringhee was lit up with gas lights provided by the Oriental Gas Company. Building of pavements started in 1858, first in Chowringhee and then elsewhere. The pavements were built to facilitate the erection of gas lamps. The traders objected as their customers were forced to park their carriages some distance from the shops.
in the north. According to old maps, Chowringhee is a locality, not a road. In Colonel Mark Wood’s map of 1784 while the road is marked ‘Road to Chowringhee’, the name ‘Chowringhee’ is given to the locality immediately south of Park Street. However, in Upjohn’s map of 1794, this district is marked Dhee Birjee and boundaries of Chowringhee appear as Circular Road on the east, Park Street on the south, Colinga on the north and a portion of ‘Road to Chowringhee’ on the west.
Travelling along the ‘Road to Chowringhee’ from south to north, the first crossing was with Theatre Road (renamed Shakespeare Sarani). At that corner was the Theatre of Calcutta from 1813 to 1839. It was destroyed in a fire. The next turning is that of Harrington Street (renamed Ho Chi Minh Sarani) named after John Herbert Harrington, a judge of the Sadar Adalat. The next crossing Middleton Street was named after Dr. Thomas Fanshaw Middleton, the first Bishop of Kolkata (1814–1822). Further down the road was Bengal Club (it is still there). The building was once the residence of Thomas Babington Macaulay
. Behind Bengal Club ran Russel Street (renamed Anandi Lal Poddar Sarani), named after Sir Henry Russel, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court from 1806-1813.
At the next crossing with Park Street
(renamed Mother Teresa Sarani), is the Asiatic Society
. Park Street is not shown in any map earlier than 1760. In Upjohn’s map of 1794 it is called ‘Burial-ground Road’, which means it led to the burial ground on Circular Road. The site of Sir Elijah Impey’s
residence on Middleton Row now houses Loreto House and Loreto College. St. Xavier’s College
, the great institution of Jesuit
Fathers, was once Sans Souci Theatre. It was formally opened in 1841 and was sold in 1844 to Arch Bishop Carew.
Camac Street (renamed Abanindranath Tagore Sarani) running from Park Street to Circular Road was named after William Camac, a senior merchant in the days of Cornwallis
and Wellesley
. Wood Street was named after Henry Wood. Free School Street (renamed Mirza Ghalib Street), named after a Free School established there in 1786, was a bamboo jungle in 1780.
The next crossing is that with Kyd Street, named after Lt. Col. Robert Kyd, Military Secretary to the Government of Bengal, who lived on that road. The road was earlier named Chowringhee Tank Street, after the tank that is still there opposite to the crossing with Park Street.
Sudder Street
, north of the Indian Museum
once housed the Sudder Court. The area beyond it is Colinga (from Colimba) and tank in the Maidan was called Colinga Tank. Lindsay Street leading to the municipal market, was named Robert Lindsay, who had a colourful career with East India Company and once owned a house on the street. The Opera House, a wooden building, was once located on Lindsay Street.Grand Hotel
is an important landmark on Jawaharlal Nehru Road.
, the first Prime Minister of India. Park Street was renamed after Mother Teresa
. Theatre Road was renamed after William Shakespeare
. There was no street named after the poet during the long years of British rule in India. Harrington Street was renamed after the leader of the Vietnam
independence movement, Ho Chi Minh
. Camac Street has been renamed after the great artist Abanindranath Tagore
. Russel Street was renamed after industrialist Anandi Lal Poddar. Free School Street was renamed after the Urdu/ Persian poet Mirza Ghalib
. Kyd Street was renamed Dr. Md. Ishaque Road. Lindsay Street was renamed after Nellie Sengupta
.
on the north, Taltala
and certain areas under Park Street Police Station on the east, Bhowanipore
on the south and the Maidan
on the west. The neighbourhood is spread over areas under New Market, Park Street, and Shakespeare Sarani police stations.
. These wards taken together had a total population of 159, 917 in the 2001 census, of which 101,189 were males and 58,828 were females. A major portion of this population lived in Chowringhee neighbourhood.
The Bengali novelist Sankar
wrote Chowringhee in 1962 (three years before Arthur Hailey
’s Hotel
). It became an instant hit. Set in Kolkata of 1950s, it is the saga of the intimate lives of the staff and the guests at the Shahjahan, one of the largest city hotels located in the neighbourhood, which is the title of the novel. Some of its larger-than-life characters, as for example the enigmatic manager Marco Polo, the debonair receptionist Sata Bose, and the tragic hostess Karabi Guha, attained cult status. It has been translated into English by Arunava Sinha and is available as a Penguin
paper-back. It has also been translated into several Indian languages. Film director, Pinaki Bhusan Mikherjee made it into a successful film
in 1968. It was also made into a play.
In 1981, Aparna Sen
wrote and directed a film, 36 Chowringhee Lane
, about an aged Anglo-Indian
school teacher who lives a lonely life in a single room flat in the neighbourhood.
Kolkata
Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...
, earlier known as Calcutta, in the India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n state
States and territories of India
India is a federal union of states comprising twenty-eight states and seven union territories. The states and territories are further subdivided into districts and so on.-List of states and territories:...
of West Bengal
West Bengal
West Bengal is a state in the eastern region of India and is the nation's fourth-most populous. It is also the seventh-most populous sub-national entity in the world, with over 91 million inhabitants. A major agricultural producer, West Bengal is the sixth-largest contributor to India's GDP...
. Jawaharlal Nehru Road (earlier known as Chowringhee Road) runs on its western side. A neighbourhood steeped in history, it is a business district, as well as a shopper’s destination and entertainment-hotel centre
Etymology
The name ‘Chowringhee’ has defied etymologists. There is, however, the legend of a yogi, Chourangi Giri, who discovered an image of the goddess Kali’s face and built the first and founded the original Kalighat templeKalighat Kali Temple
Kalighat Kali Temple is a Hindu temple dedicated to the Hindu goddess Maa Kali. It is one of the 51 Shakti Peethas.Kalighat was a Ghat sacred to Kali on the old course of the Hooghly river in the city of Calcutta. The name Calcutta is said to have been derived from the word Kalighat. The river...
.
The village
Maidan (Kolkata)
The Maidan is the largest urban park in Kolkata in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is a vast stretch of field and home to numerous play grounds, including the famous cricketing venue Eden Gardens, several football stadia, and Kolkata Race Course. Maidan is dotted with several statues and...
and Esplanade
Esplanade, Calcutta
Esplanade is an area in central Kolkata, earlier known as Calcutta, in the Indian state of West Bengal. This is not a conventional esplanade in the sense that the place is not exactly situated alongside a waterbody. However, the river Ganges, also known as the Ganga or the Hooghly, is located nearby...
was a tiger-infested jungle. At the eastern end of it was an old road, which had once been built by the Sabarna Roy Choudhury
Sabarna Roy Choudhury
Sabarna Ray Chaudhury family were the Zamindar of the Kolkata area, prior to the arrival of the British. On November 10, 1698, they transferred, by lease, their rights over the three villages – Sutanuti, Kalikata and Gobindapur - to the East India Company...
family from Barisha
Barisha
Barisha is a residential locality of Kolkata , West Bengal, India. Historically, it one of the oldest boroughs in Kolkata. It was the abode of the great Sabarna Roy Choudhury family. Barisha is known today for being the home of the Indian Cricket idol Sourav Ganguly...
to Halisahar
Halisahar
Halisahar is a city and a municipality under Bijpur/ Naihati police stations of Barrackpore subdivision. in North 24 Parganas district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is a part of the area covered by Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority.It was formerly known Kumarhata. It has an...
. Beyond it there were “pools, swamps and rice-fields, dotted here and there with the straggling huts of fishermen, falconers, wood-cutters, weavers and cultivators. In that region were three small hamlets – Chowringhee, Birjee and Colimba.
In 1717, Chowringhee was a hamlet of isolated hovels, surrounded by water-logged paddy-fields and bamboo-groves separated from Gobindapur
Gobindapur
Gobindapur was one of the three villages which were merged to form the city of Kolkata in India. The other two villages were Kalikata and Sutanuti...
by the jungle. Tradition has it that Warren Hastings
Warren Hastings
Warren Hastings PC was the first Governor-General of India, from 1773 to 1785. He was famously accused of corruption in an impeachment in 1787, but was acquitted in 1795. He was made a Privy Councillor in 1814.-Early life:...
, hunted with elephants in the jungle. Birjee occupied the south-eastern end of later day Maidan, Victoria Memorial and Rabindra Sadan
Rabindra Sadan
Rabindra Sadan is a cultural centre and theatre in Calcutta, located near the Nandan cinema and cultural complex and the Academy of Fine Arts on AJC Bose Road in South Kolkata. Construction began on 5 August 1961 and ended October 1967...
area. Colimba took its name from the Bengali word for musk melon.
Urbanisation
The strengthening of British power, subsequent to their victory in the Battle of PlasseyBattle of Plassey
The Battle of Plassey , 23 June 1757, was a decisive British East India Company victory over the Nawab of Bengal and his French allies, establishing Company rule in South Asia which expanded over much of the Indies for the next hundred years...
was followed by the construction of the new Fort William
Fort William, India
Fort William is a fort built in Calcutta on the Eastern banks of the River Hooghly, the major distributary of the River Ganges, during the early years of the Bengal Presidency of British India. It was named after King William III of England...
, in 1758. The European inhabitants of Kalikata
Kalikata
Kalikata was one of the three villages which were merged to form the city of Kolkata in India. The other two villages were Gobindapur and Sutanuti. Job Charnock, an administrator with the British East India Company is traditionally credited with the honour of founding the city...
gradually forsook the narrow limits of the old palisades and moved to around the Maidan. In the mid eighteenth century Englishmen began to build magnificent houses on the Chowringhee that earned Kolkata the title of ‘City of Palaces’.
The first road in Kolkata to be macadamised was Chitpur Road in 1839. In the evening of 6 July 1857 Chowringhee was lit up with gas lights provided by the Oriental Gas Company. Building of pavements started in 1858, first in Chowringhee and then elsewhere. The pavements were built to facilitate the erection of gas lamps. The traders objected as their customers were forced to park their carriages some distance from the shops.
The neighbourhood
The ‘road to Chowringhee’ ran from Lower Circular Road (renamed Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Road) in the south to DharmatalaDharmatala
Dharmatala is a neighbourhood in central Kolkata, earlier known as Calcutta, in the Indian state of West Bengal. Dharmatala Street has been renamed Lenin Sarani but the neighbourhood continues to be referred to as Dharmatala...
in the north. According to old maps, Chowringhee is a locality, not a road. In Colonel Mark Wood’s map of 1784 while the road is marked ‘Road to Chowringhee’, the name ‘Chowringhee’ is given to the locality immediately south of Park Street. However, in Upjohn’s map of 1794, this district is marked Dhee Birjee and boundaries of Chowringhee appear as Circular Road on the east, Park Street on the south, Colinga on the north and a portion of ‘Road to Chowringhee’ on the west.
Travelling along the ‘Road to Chowringhee’ from south to north, the first crossing was with Theatre Road (renamed Shakespeare Sarani). At that corner was the Theatre of Calcutta from 1813 to 1839. It was destroyed in a fire. The next turning is that of Harrington Street (renamed Ho Chi Minh Sarani) named after John Herbert Harrington, a judge of the Sadar Adalat. The next crossing Middleton Street was named after Dr. Thomas Fanshaw Middleton, the first Bishop of Kolkata (1814–1822). Further down the road was Bengal Club (it is still there). The building was once the residence of Thomas Babington Macaulay
Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay
Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay PC was a British poet, historian and Whig politician. He wrote extensively as an essayist and reviewer, and on British history...
. Behind Bengal Club ran Russel Street (renamed Anandi Lal Poddar Sarani), named after Sir Henry Russel, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court from 1806-1813.
At the next crossing with Park Street
Park Street, Kolkata
Mother Teresa Sarani, formerly Park Street and still often called by that name, and originally Burial Ground Road, is a street in the city of Kolkata , India. The street runs through what was a deer park of Sir Elijah Impey, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in Calcutta from 1773 to 1789, hence...
(renamed Mother Teresa Sarani), is the Asiatic Society
Asiatic Society
The Asiatic Society was founded by Sir William Jones on January 15, 1784 in a meeting presided over by Sir Robert Chambers, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court at the Fort William in Calcutta, then capital of the British Raj, to enhance and further the cause of Oriental research. At the time of...
. Park Street is not shown in any map earlier than 1760. In Upjohn’s map of 1794 it is called ‘Burial-ground Road’, which means it led to the burial ground on Circular Road. The site of Sir Elijah Impey’s
Elijah Impey
Sir Elijah Impey was a British judge, at one time chief justice of Bengal and MP for New Romney.He was born the youngest son of Elijah Impey and his wife Martha, daughter of James Fraser and was educated at Westminster School with Warren Hastings, who was his intimate friend throughout life...
residence on Middleton Row now houses Loreto House and Loreto College. St. Xavier’s College
St. Xavier's College, Calcutta
St. Xavier's College is located in Kolkata, India, and is named after St. Francis Xavier, a Jesuit saint of the 16th century, who travelled to India. It is an autonomous college affiliated to the University of Calcutta. It gained autonomy in July 2006, thus becoming the first autonomous college of...
, the great institution of Jesuit
Society of Jesus
The Society of Jesus is a Catholic male religious order that follows the teachings of the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits, and are also known colloquially as "God's Army" and as "The Company," these being references to founder Ignatius of Loyola's military background and a...
Fathers, was once Sans Souci Theatre. It was formally opened in 1841 and was sold in 1844 to Arch Bishop Carew.
Camac Street (renamed Abanindranath Tagore Sarani) running from Park Street to Circular Road was named after William Camac, a senior merchant in the days of Cornwallis
Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis
Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis KG , styled Viscount Brome between 1753 and 1762 and known as The Earl Cornwallis between 1762 and 1792, was a British Army officer and colonial administrator...
and Wellesley
Richard Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley
Richard Colley Wesley, later Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley, KG, PC, PC , styled Viscount Wellesley from birth until 1781, was an Anglo-Irish politician and colonial administrator....
. Wood Street was named after Henry Wood. Free School Street (renamed Mirza Ghalib Street), named after a Free School established there in 1786, was a bamboo jungle in 1780.
The next crossing is that with Kyd Street, named after Lt. Col. Robert Kyd, Military Secretary to the Government of Bengal, who lived on that road. The road was earlier named Chowringhee Tank Street, after the tank that is still there opposite to the crossing with Park Street.
Sudder Street
Sudder Street
Sudder street is a street in Kolkata.The street is famous for cheap hotels and foreign tourists often prefer the living places in this street during their stay in Kolkata.-Localities:...
, north of the Indian Museum
Indian Museum
The Indian Museum is the largest museum in India and has rare collections of antiques, armour and ornaments, fossils, skeletons, mummies, and Mughal paintings...
once housed the Sudder Court. The area beyond it is Colinga (from Colimba) and tank in the Maidan was called Colinga Tank. Lindsay Street leading to the municipal market, was named Robert Lindsay, who had a colourful career with East India Company and once owned a house on the street. The Opera House, a wooden building, was once located on Lindsay Street.Grand Hotel
Grand Hotel (Calcutta)
The Grand Hotel, officially known as the Oberoi Grand, is situated in the heart of Kolkata on Jawaharlal Nehru Road . It is an elegant building of British era and is a famous building in Kolkata. The hotel is owned by Oberoi chain of hotels.-History:The Grand Hotel had humble beginnings as Mrs...
is an important landmark on Jawaharlal Nehru Road.
New names
Indian independence saw a rush to rename streets. The process has slowed down as few streets are left to be renamed. Chowringhee Road was renamed after Jawaharlal NehruJawaharlal Nehru
Jawaharlal Nehru , often referred to with the epithet of Panditji, was an Indian statesman who became the first Prime Minister of independent India and became noted for his “neutralist” policies in foreign affairs. He was also one of the principal leaders of India’s independence movement in the...
, the first Prime Minister of India. Park Street was renamed after Mother Teresa
Mother Teresa
Mother Teresa , born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu , was a Roman Catholic nun of Albanian ethnicity and Indian citizenship, who founded the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta, India, in 1950...
. Theatre Road was renamed after William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
. There was no street named after the poet during the long years of British rule in India. Harrington Street was renamed after the leader of the Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
independence movement, Ho Chi Minh
Ho Chi Minh
Hồ Chí Minh , born Nguyễn Sinh Cung and also known as Nguyễn Ái Quốc, was a Vietnamese Marxist-Leninist revolutionary leader who was prime minister and president of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam...
. Camac Street has been renamed after the great artist Abanindranath Tagore
Abanindranath Tagore
Abanindranath Tagore was the principal artist of the Bengal school and the first major exponent of swadeshi values in Indian art. He was also a noted writer, particularly for children...
. Russel Street was renamed after industrialist Anandi Lal Poddar. Free School Street was renamed after the Urdu/ Persian poet Mirza Ghalib
Mirza Ghalib
Dabir-ul-Mulk, Najm-ud-Daula Mirza Asadullah Baig Khan , pen-name Ghalib and Asad , was a classical Urdu and Persian poet from India during British colonial rule...
. Kyd Street was renamed Dr. Md. Ishaque Road. Lindsay Street was renamed after Nellie Sengupta
Nellie Sengupta
Nellie Sengupta was an Englishwoman who fought for Indian Independence and was elected President of the Indian National Congress-Family:Born Edith Ellen Gray, she was the daughter of Frederick and Edith Henrietta Gray...
.
Geography
The Chowringhee neighbourhood is located in central Kolkata. It has JanbazarJanbazar
Janbazar is a neighbourhood in central Kolkata, earlier known as Calcutta, in the Indian state of West Bengal. The two century-old house of Rani Rashmoni, the central attraction in Janbazar, is still used by descendants in the family.-History:...
on the north, Taltala
Taltala
Taltala is a neighbourhood in central Kolkata, earlier known as Calcutta, in the Indian state of West Bengal. One of the old neighbourhoods of the metropolis, it has a police stationand is an assembly constituency.-History:According to H. E. A. Cotton Taltala was chiefly peopled by Bihari Muslim...
and certain areas under Park Street Police Station on the east, Bhowanipore
Bhowanipore
Bhowanipore or Bhabanipur is the oldest locality of South Kolkata. It is located just south of the Lower Circular Road . It is the second largest locality in South Kolkata after Ballygunge...
on the south and the Maidan
Maidan (Kolkata)
The Maidan is the largest urban park in Kolkata in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is a vast stretch of field and home to numerous play grounds, including the famous cricketing venue Eden Gardens, several football stadia, and Kolkata Race Course. Maidan is dotted with several statues and...
on the west. The neighbourhood is spread over areas under New Market, Park Street, and Shakespeare Sarani police stations.
Demographics
Chowringhee is spread over parts of ward nos. 46, 52, 61, 62, and 63 of Kolkata Municipal CorporationKolkata Municipal Corporation
Kolkata Municipal Corporation is responsible for the civic infrastructure and administration of the city of Kolkata. The organization is known, in short, as KMC . This civic administrative body administers an area of 185 sq. km. Its motto, Purosree Bibardhan, is inscribed on its emblem in Bengali...
. These wards taken together had a total population of 159, 917 in the 2001 census, of which 101,189 were males and 58,828 were females. A major portion of this population lived in Chowringhee neighbourhood.
Creative inspiration
Life in the neighbourhood has inspired creative efforts.The Bengali novelist Sankar
Mani Shankar Mukherjee
Shankar, real name Mani Shankar Mukherjee, and generally known in English-language literature as Sankar is a very popular writer in the Bengali language...
wrote Chowringhee in 1962 (three years before Arthur Hailey
Arthur Hailey
Arthur Hailey was a British/Canadian novelist.- Biography :Born in Luton, Bedfordshire, England, Hailey served in the Royal Air Force from the start of World War II during 1939 until 1947, when he went to live in Canada. Hailey's last novel, Detective , is a mystery told from the perspective of a...
’s Hotel
Hotel (novel)
Hotel is a 1965 novel by Arthur Hailey. It is the story of an independent New Orleans hotel, the St. Gregory, and its management's struggle to regain profitability and avoid being assimilated into the O'Keefe chain of hotels. The St. Gregory is supposedly based on the Roosevelt Hotel, although the...
). It became an instant hit. Set in Kolkata of 1950s, it is the saga of the intimate lives of the staff and the guests at the Shahjahan, one of the largest city hotels located in the neighbourhood, which is the title of the novel. Some of its larger-than-life characters, as for example the enigmatic manager Marco Polo, the debonair receptionist Sata Bose, and the tragic hostess Karabi Guha, attained cult status. It has been translated into English by Arunava Sinha and is available as a Penguin
Penguin Books
Penguin Books is a publisher founded in 1935 by Sir Allen Lane and V.K. Krishna Menon. Penguin revolutionised publishing in the 1930s through its high quality, inexpensive paperbacks, sold through Woolworths and other high street stores for sixpence. Penguin's success demonstrated that large...
paper-back. It has also been translated into several Indian languages. Film director, Pinaki Bhusan Mikherjee made it into a successful film
Chowringhee (film)
Chowringhee is a 1968 film by Pinaki Bhushan Mukherjee, starring Supriya Devi and Uttam Kumar. The film is based on the best-selling novelof the same name by Shankar and was a huge hit in its own right.-Plot:...
in 1968. It was also made into a play.
In 1981, Aparna Sen
Aparna Sen
Aparna Sen is a critically acclaimed Bengali Indian filmmaker, script writer, and actress. She is the winner of three National Film Awards and eight international film festival awards.-Biography:...
wrote and directed a film, 36 Chowringhee Lane
36 Chowringhee Lane
36 Chowringee Lane is a 1981 film written and directed by Aparna Sen and produced by Shashi Kapoor. The film was very well received upon release. It stars Jennifer Kendal in a critically acclaimed role and Debashree Roy.-Plot:...
, about an aged Anglo-Indian
Anglo-Indian
Anglo-Indians are people who have mixed Indian and British ancestry, or people of British descent born or living in India, now mainly historical in the latter sense. British residents in India used the term "Eurasians" for people of mixed European and Indian descent...
school teacher who lives a lonely life in a single room flat in the neighbourhood.