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The Anglo Indians of Karachi Nobody Talked About Told By (Someone Who Was There)

From Agra to Australia

13,322 views

This is a true story sent in by Wayne, one of our subscribers, who grew up Anglo Indian in Karachi.

In 1947, the Anglo Indians of Karachi went to sleep in India and woke up in Pakistan. Most of us never knew this community existed. In this video, I look at Karachi's history through the eyes of the Anglo Indian families who lived there, how the port, the army cantonment and the railways brought them to the city, and what happened to the ones who stayed behind after the 1947 Partition.

Then Wayne takes us inside an old Karachi bungalow: the day he went to fix a kitchen tap for an elderly Anglo Indian widow living alone, and the moment that stayed with him for years.

Wayne's section uses his own words, shared with his permission, and is narrated with an AI voice. The house scenes are recreations based on his description.

Did your family know Anglo Indians in Karachi, Lahore or anywhere else in Pakistan? Tell me in the comments. If you have your own Anglo Indian story, get in touch. It could become the next video on this channel.

Want to support these stories? Click Join under this video to become a member.

Sources:
Karachi Development Authority, History of Karachi
Dawn, "Harking Back: Lahore, Irish Anglo-Indians and our common colonial past," 29 December 2019
McMenamin, "Anglo-Indian Experiences During Partition and Its Impact Upon Their Lives," New Zealand Journal of Asian Studies, 2006

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Chapters:
0:00 Karachi and the 1947 Partition
0:55 Karachi history: the port, army and railways
1:53 Not every Christian was Anglo Indian
2:14 Partition of India and a new country
2:52 Why nobody talks about them
3:48 My childhood home in Agra
4:36 The Anglo Indians who stayed behind
5:52 Wayne's story: an old Karachi bungalow
8:21 The kitchen with no water
10:13 She insisted on paying
11:26 What happened to the house
11:51 Thank you, Wayne

20 Comments

@matriputra2624 2 days ago

Thank you, and Wayne, for this story which brought to life an old widow in Karachi who lived and died much before most of us were born.

@andrelafrenais4478 1 day ago

Thank you for making a video about Karachi. I have fond memories of that place. The old lady depicted in the video could very well have been my grandmother.

@whabibullah1 10 hours ago

Lucknow had a large community of Anglondians who have all migrted but have left a lasting legacy:schools, churches and whole neighbourhoods still functional, but occupied by local residents

@ahsonkhan2408 14 hours ago

Thanks for sharing this wonderful story,brought back memories of lively Angloindians of Rawalpindi,honest people working in railways and as teachers.What a lovely description of colonial homes I have been living in,I always wondered if jaffery is a proper word for wooden lattice work.
Many thanks for the video

@DerekWilson-l8h 1 day ago

What a nice suprise : to see your video & hear you again: so lovely to hear about lovely forgotten days : of the lovely Angloindians;

@Aditiyan 1 day ago

I was brought up in Karachi. There was a prominent community of Anglo-Indians living in this city half a century ago. Sadly, most of then began leaving Pakistan after Zia-ul-Haq came into power and brought in his brand of Islam. This was the death knell for all Pakistani non-Muslims, including me. One reason I left the country I once loved. There were many Anglo-Indians in Pakistan's armed forces: Brig. O'Reilly and Wing Cmdr. O'Brien, both of Irish descent but classified as Anglo-Indian. I studied at the Karachi Grammar School, where many Anglo-Indians taught.

@sarahanne9590 1 day ago

There were also large, active Anglo Indian communities in Lahore and Rawalpindi. Most of them were police or railway families.
They got together at the ‘Catholic Club’ and enjoyed events such as the Christmas and Easter Ball, New Years dance and many other events, including a ‘pagal gymkhana’, housie and picnics.

Most families were either police or Railways. They congregated at the ‘Catholic Club’, held dances and balls and generally had a wonderful time.

Some if the better known families were the Nibletts, Manuel’s, Snell, Bakers,

@Aditiyan 1 day ago

Seventh Day Adventist Hospital wasn't too far away from my school.

@vincentdsouza10 1 day ago

We are Goans now well settled in Delhi by the Grace of God, as a kid we had a lot of Anglo friends and those were wonderful days. A lot of friends from St Michael's Church, (Pusa Road now Parsad Nagar) and School now are in Australia & New Zealand. I hope every thing is fine with all of them.

@haroonjan9492 1 day ago

Miss you all...

@rasbijalpatel310 22 hours ago

This is so nice to hear and connect many that were in Pakistan on diff jobs. And that they mattered. Moved out to diff countries but have ties to Lahore and Karachi. Very imp and interesting. Thanks

@nayyarjaffery1051 1 day ago

Ma'am I did share your story. I myself have stories from Gonda UP to Karachi to United States. My new home Karachi of 1970s can't forget in my life.
Nayyar Jaffery, Dallas TX

@wcronin7307 2 days ago

Thanks for sharing this important part of Anglo-Indian history.

@nandakumarrao5667 1 day ago

Why don't you don't you do an episode about Anglo Indians who stayed.Andrea Jeremiah is an actress who has become a success in film industry

@mikesheth5370 3 hours ago

100 Rs of those days now perhaps 5000 Pakistani rupees!

@anitacliffordcareercoach 1 day ago (edited)

Be it Karachi, Pakistan or any of the Indian cities, I think the homes were the same. I live in Chennai, previously know as Madras; till this very day the houses of my grandparents as well as that of my husband's grandparents that they bought in the early 1930s in Veteran Lines that falls under the Pallavaram-St. Thomas Mount Cantonment still exits and not much has been done to change it, mainly beacuse their children have all died, and only one out of the many cousins get to enjoy living in it. It still has the rustick look about it and resembles the pictures of the individual houses/ bungalows in your video.

@wadiefaridhaddad7429 12 minutes ago

That is really beautiful: just like Anglo-Indian, whom I met here as a doctor in Australia, Anglo Palestinians, Anglo Egyptians are definitely part of the history of the working people who did so much services for their communities. What happened with imperialist powers was indeed 糟糕。 Decarving so called nations, artificial and irresponsible..it is sad that this is AI . It would be nicer if it was a proper report. Huge lost generations of educated western educated generations, Anglo or other mixed origin people were all abandonned..it's a tragedy, unnecessary..