'The Indian in Me' project celebrates the links between the Anglo and the Indian with a special interest in the voice of the Indian in that relationship.
Share your family stories about your Indian connections
We Want to Share Your Story
There's much to see here. So, take your time, look around, and learn all there is to know about us. We hope you enjoy our site and take a moment to drop us a email.
- The Indian In Me Facebook Group -
The Indian In Me, Facebook Group. We are a group of like-minded Anglo-Indians who feel that we need to give more attention and recognition to our Indian Heritage. We are interested in hearing stories from others who have greater awareness of their Indian links and from those who wish to join us in uncovering and reconstructing their links with their Indian heritage. I have an 80% DNA link with India and yet my Family Tree does not reflect that. We plan to construct our family trees with an emphasis on identifying our Indian link. We want this group to provide a collegial environment where Anglo-Indians can tell their stories and be helped and encouraged to tell their stories about their Indian connection. We would also like to share our knowledge and resources on the practical art of constructing a family tree. We have access to our own website which is rich in resources. There is no cost or charge for anything we offer in this space. We want to work together with like-minded friends. Yes, we do believe that it is better to be connected. You are welcome to join this group and contribute your story and open it for discussion, if you wish. Or, you can start a discussion through asking a question or making a suggestion with the hope that others join in and a story emerges. I tend to do my family tree work at the State Library of Victoria (328 Swanston St, Melbourne) on Sundays from around 11 am. If you wish to connect with me and share ideas or get help, send me an email (richardgoethals1963@gmail.com) and we could meet. You could also communicate with me in this space. We are not looking for argument and disagreement; we would like to be working with like-minded colleagues in a trusting and collaborative environment. Richard Johnson
Link to Facebook Page
The Johnson family. Parents, Beryl (Knight) and Kenneth with children; Baby Judy and Richard.
- Meet The Team -
DR. RICHARD JOHNSON
DR. RICHARD JOHNSON
DR. RICHARD JOHNSON
University Academic, Mentor & Project Manager
Melbourne, Australia
NIGEL FOOTE
DR. RICHARD JOHNSON
DR. RICHARD JOHNSON
Multimedia Creative Producer, Writer & Director
Melbourne, Australia
BERNIE MORGAN
DR. RICHARD JOHNSON
BERNIE MORGAN
Author, Pod-caster & Radio Newsreader
United Kingdom
BERNIE MORGAN
Dr Richard Johnson. After twenty-seven years of tertiary study and many years of professional work as a university academic, Dr Richard Johnson has decided to investigate what he calls “the cold case of my own identity’. “I need to find out about the gaping missing link in my family tree; I need to identify The Indian In Me”, he says. He is working in a collaborative project with a group of Anglo-Indian friends who share the same objectives. “As I have channelled my skills of research analysis, writing, publishing, and teaching, so have others. We have a remarkable group of film makers, artists, entrepreneurs, writers, researchers, engineers, scientists, and story tellers working in collaboration to identify, recognise and celebrate the Indian in their Anglo-Indian culture.” He is currently contributing to the group’s ambitious project agenda of making of a film (currently being scripted) which is fictional but informed by researched evidence. The group have plans to have a filming and story gathering visit to India in 2023. He is contributing to a book of pictures and illustrations, and he is organising an international virtual roundtable ‘sharing stories of The Indian In Me’ to be held in November 2022. Richard describes his most absorbing challenge as “mapping my own family tree with the discovery of my Indian connection in focus. While that is a current, personal pursuit, it is also a group activity because is being done with others as they share their resources, findings and stories. Our website is our meeting place through which we will share our work.” In 2003 Richard worked with an exceptional group of colleagues who were funded to present the exhibition ‘Passage from India’ at the Immigration Museum, Melbourne. Richard, born in Gaya, immigrated in 1969 to “the country that stops for a horse race and a city that worships sport”. He was quick to include Australia football into his diet of sport and describes himself as a “one-eyed Essendon supporter”.
Nigel Foote is a businessman with businesses in Australia and India. He is an accomplished artist, photographer and writer with a passion for film and video. In 2013 Nigel produced and released, on DVD, the film GOING AWAY written and directed by Harry MacLure shot in Chennai. It is the first film to be funded, produced, written, directed and sold by Anglo-Indian's. Nigel continues to produce and direct documentaries and music videos, he also writes original songs with music producers that are released on Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon etc..
Nigel is the founder of the Anglo-Indian Heritage-Centre project and FB page, he also has YouTube channels with 2500 subscribers with in-excess of 1.5 million views. Recently Nigel has begun producing Audio Drama plays collaborating with actors in India. Nigel says "I enjoy collaborating on projects, my strengths are realising a creative team's ideas to a high degree of professionalism that is also saleable".
Nigel was born in Bombay, the family emigrated to England in 1960 then again to Australia in 1971. He has a passion for motorcycling in Australia and overseas, his furthest tour was 9000 K's in 24 days. Nigel and his partner Maree live on a coastal property in Victoria, he has 3 children and two grandchildren.
Bernie Morgan lives in the UK and is an author, podcaster and radio newsreader. Her mother's family, Anglo-Indians, moved to the UK in 1950 after Indian independence. They came from what is now Pakistan but was, of course, British India before 1947. As a child, Bernie learnt about her great-grandmother, Cecilia Chattergee, who was one of British India's first female lawyers. As an adult, she decided to research and write Cecilia's story. It was published in 2021 as The Amazing Life of Cecilia Chattergee and has sold in more than eight countries. Bernie is proud of her Indian heritage and is excited at the prospect of this website, where she hopes to connect with others with Anglo Indian heritage and explore what that means to everyone. As well as painting large, expressive abstracts, Bernie enjoys spending time with her partner, three children and five grandchildren.
ANDRE ALPHONSO
ANDRE ALPHONSO
ANDRE ALPHONSO
Business Owner, Management Consultant, Published Author, Keynote Speaker, Executive Coach, Group Facilitator
Sydney, Australia
André Alphonso a few months after his 50th birthday, André Alphonso left a very successful corporate career culminating in being a Managing Director of an international management consulting firm. The calling to start up his own business was deafening. So after 38 years of living away from India he took his wife and two of his daughters back to India for four years to set up and run his first business. Living in India again was an adventure of his lifetime This journey, in the second half of his life, led to starting up and leading multiple business in corporate training, business consulting, executive coaching, and mindfulness. He has done this in India and Australia. Today he has clients all around the world. The central theme of his entire career, and under all the labels has been the development of human potential. However, if you ask him the label he is drawn to most, he says it is "adventurer". He is an avid collector of adventures and not things. He finds his adventures in growing his businesses, collaborating with others to create something new, and exploring ways he can give back. He is the co-author of “Strategic Connections – The New Face of Networking in a Collaborative World” released worldwide in 2015. He is featured in the book “50 Unsung Business Heroes Volume 2” released in March 2019. Born in Calcutta, India his family immigrated to Sydney Australia when he was 12 years old. Along the journey of his life, André has wrestled with his racial identity and in embracing ‘the Indian in him’. Living in India brough him much clarity. So, the appeal to be part of “The Indian in Me” project was and is compelling. The adventure of this collaboration continues.
RICHARD FLORY
ANDRE ALPHONSO
ANDRE ALPHONSO
Business owner in Australia and India, Lawyer, IT Company Director, Consultant.
Melbourne, Australia
Richard Flory I am 68 years and did all my schooling at Xavier College in Calcutta, I finished Cambridge in India and never wanted to leave, but my mother (bless her soul) a widow with four children would not let me stay she felt we all had to be together. Left home and went to Melbourne University and did an Arts Law degree then started my own law practice for a number of years and branched out into International law and commercial law including technology, and start ups and was involved in a number of listings on the ASX and was a Director of a listed medical company for many years owned by a Singapore Indian friend of mine. Started a water purifying business in Noida Delhi in the 90’s when I bought some technology from Sydney and took it to India to purify the water there because I remembered the terrible times we had in Calcutta with the quality of the water and the Cholera and dysentery that abounded. Who can forget boiling the water in Calcutta that was kept in the soorai! I was a committee member of the Australia India Chamber of Commerce in Melbourne and also on the Australia India Business Council in Delhi. I met Neville Roach in the Chamber and he was a very dynamic Anglo Indian with great vision. Currently am general Counsel of a number of companies in Energy, Mining, Health Farming and a media and IT company in Bangalore. My focus was always to deal with India and particular business as part of my heritage as an Indian and no distinctions are made and I continue to speak Hindi when I am in India with colleagues and also with my business colleagues in Singapore or Malaysia, so I don’t lose touch. I am very interested to learn from our group your stories and experiences and especially your Indianness and how you traverse the cross cultures we all have had to embrace. Richard J has always been an inspiration for me in his knowledge and quest for learning and I am looking forward to learn a lot from the conversations we will have and hope I can contribute something no matter how small to the journey. Thank you for inviting me Richard and members, look forward to the discussions.
JEFFERY KNIGHT
ANDRE ALPHONSO
JEFFERY KNIGHT
Scientist, Writer, Artist
Melbourne, Australia
Jeffery Knight I am a proud Australian-Indian (Anglo). I have been blessed with a wonderful wife Daria, children Jackie and Jason, grandchildren Jess, Remy and George, and great grandchildren Isla and Raphael. My parents George Knight & Olga (née Alphonso) and my siblings Patsee, Sue and Stephen migrated to Melbourne Australia in 1968. I was born in Calcutta, schooled at Goethals in Kurseong (Darjeeling) and graduated with Chemistry honours from Calcutta University. My Indian inspiration was definitely influenced by George who spoke multiple Indian languages and acquired his exceptional Indian cooking skills from our “borchi”. George made us the best dishes on cook’s days off and he was always highly regarded as an Indian-cook extraordinaire until the day he died. My childhood memories are filled stories about my many aunts, uncles and cousins. Also featured prominently in my mind are the Indian families who were employed in our home as “servants” but regarded by all of us as our wider family members. My career has moved me through many phases of understanding who I am. Initially engaged as a Defence Industrial Chemist (boom boom), my inherent concerns for the health and safety of people and the detrimental impacts of chemicals on our planet led me to post graduate studies in Occupational Health, Safety and Environmental Science. I was appointed to a role that promoted Product Stewardship in ICI-Orica, the internationally acclaimed manufacturer of industrial chemicals, plastics, agricultural chemicals, paints and pharmaceuticals. Under their sponsorship I studied human behaviour and became an Affiliate of Behavioral Science Technologies USA. I continue to assist organisations who aspire to maximise success using the Shingo principles of Operational Excellence. In between, and particularly in this closing chapter of my life, I have embraced art and draw my inspiration from Friedensreich Hundertwasser whose paintings awaken my inner-Indian self. My ambition for “The Indian in Me” is to be involved in weaving and spinning this rich tapestry of our lives based on the stories I look forward to hearing.
- Photo Gallery -
