Children from Mixed Parenthood emerging from Crossover Love

Interview of Monica Ghosh, a second generation of mixed parenthood of 

Mr Pabitra Ghosh( Bengali who migrated to England in 1950s) and Jane Ghosh

(a local resident, Bristol)

Interaction with Ai Nakagawa, a ceramic artist and and Belly Dancer from Japan, who has Japanese father and Bangladeshi mother. This interview was taken when she was a student of Kala Bhavana, Institue of Fine Arts, Visva Bharati, Santiniketan in 2006

Interaction with Rishav Gandhar Narzary, a visual artist and Art History Faculty in Department of History of Arts, Kala Bhavana , who has Bodo father and Bengali mother. This interview was taken when he was a student of Kala Bhavana, Institue of Fine Arts, Visva Bharati, Santiniketan in 2006

 

 

MISMATCH FOOD MENU,BRISTOL,UK

Mismatch food Menu by Pabitra Ghosh, Jane Ghosh and Monika Ghosh

CROSSOVER LOVE ,BRISTOL 2004

I went for a four month Charles Wallace Trust residency in Bristol in 2004. There I had the opportunity to interact with three different generations of Asian communities who have migrated since 1950's and settled in Bristol.While meeting people from different countries like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh I also met people who have arrived from differen coultures and have crossed over and lived together to make a family.
Migration on one hand generates a diasporic space of cultural absence and reconstruction of the original in a new context,migration also generates situations of meeting of the unknown and a crossing over to a new relationship that is beyond the notion of cultural specificity and root.
In this present blog I wan to share memories of meeting couples in crossover Love and also the next generations who have emerged from a crossover culture.
Bristol in England used to be a port city that also dealt with slavery.Slaves n the age of colonization will be deported in Bristol by ship ad they will have to wait before being sent to other countries under colonial rule for cotton and sugarcane farming.
Interestingly Bristol as a typical city layout has an outer ring raod that separates the city into two segments. The outer circle of the city were meant for coloured people mostly from African and Asian origin who settled for more that 100 years back and the inner space as one moves more and more to the center and near the port area its inhabited by more and more 'white' coloured people.Of coarse in recent times there has been some overlap, but the general configuration of the city remain the same.As I was based in Spike Island which is placed along the port area I was basically operating from a white community area of the city.
So as I was meeting the Asian people in the community centers in Easton, I came in contact with two families who have crossed over their cultural background and has started living together with different community.

 Pabitra Ghosh palying Harmonium and Jane Ghosh singing songs of Rabindranath tagore in the Joint Birthday celebration of Tagore and Kazi nazrul Islam the national poet of Bangladesh in Bristol, 2004

One was a first generation migrant Mr. Prabitra Ghosh. He fell in love with Jane , who later became Mrs. Jane Ghosh after marriage. I also met their daughter Monika Ghosh.The other couple was Rupa Ray(second generation of a Bengali couple, Alok Ray and and Andrews( who is a second generation of an West Indian origin from Trinidad)

 Interaction with Mr. Pabitra Ghosh and Ms. Jane Ghosh on Crossover Marriage

I visited Mr & Mrs. Ghosh's house and was intrigued by the shelf arrangements in their dinning room that included elements both from local English crockeries to craft works from Bengal

Shelf arrangement of Dinning Room of Pabitra Ghosh and Jane Ghosh