Some Great Danes
I have been most encouraged by the recent response to my AOTM article and especially by Monica D’Cruz’s beautiful comments that emphasises how little is known about the senior generations of Anglo-Indians, either in India or abroad, who contributed so much to shape a unique culture that identifies us today. On emigration to distant shores, they perpetuated this uniqueness and ensured that, in many a foreign land (to use that inimitable English phrase), there will always be a corner that will forever be Anglo-Indian.
The need to chronicle the dedication and contribution by so many unsung AI heroes is beyond question. ‘Men of Harlech - Land of our Fathers’ would have equally befitted our granddads, uncles, dads and brothers. And not forgetting the women who ran their homes, signed the call book, packed the line boxes, filled the ‘tiffin’ carriers, nursed in hospitals, taught in countless railway schools and oiled the cogs of business and industry in the cities with their indispensable secretarial skills.
They have not had the opportunity to publicize their life and experiences simply because they have faded into the background, age and infirmities have taken their toll or they believe their lives were uneventful and ordinary. Most times this is as far from the truth as one can get.
In an age of accessible and convenient communication, this untapped wealth of knowledge must not be allowed to pass unrecorded. Due recognition must be given to the undeniable and unalienable fact that India, past and present, unites us all; white, brown and khaki, wherever or whatever we now are. Our descendants, it is hoped, will recall with uninhibited pride, their association with India, jewel or no jewel in the crown. As a community, on the cusp of fragmentation and questionably oblivion, this omission will tantamount to a dereliction of duty to those who seek, will seek and, hopefully, will find and treasure from ‘whence I came’.
In this context, I have had a most pleasant experience just recently when a most casual genealogical link was established with the DeBrass and D’Brass families. My wife Hazel, whose mother was a D’Brass, received an e-mail from a lady living in Denmark, married to a Dane, making inquiries about the D’ or deBrass family with links to South India. No tangible evidence of relationship could be found other than in the similarity of name. Hazel remembered her grandfather, a retired railwayman on the Bengal Nagpur Railway stationed at Vizag having mentioned that he was born in Mettapalyam, a small railway post at the foothills of the Nilgiris. This was enough to establish a tenuous link and an invitation to visit Denmark was soon received and, needless to say, instantly taken up. A new kaleidoscope of human experience was waiting for us in Aalburg, a town in Jutland, Northern Denmark. There we were to meet Lynn and Benny Pedersen and to see, first hand, the courage and tenacity of a young Anglo-Indian woman, who was lifted out of the casual warmth of India, to love and live in the rigid bone-chilling cold of Viking Denmark.
Elise Lynn DeBrass Pedersen, the middle of three children, was born on Nov 30, 1941 in Bangalore to Cecil DeBrass and Valerie Masters. Losing their father and breadwinner at an early age honed the family in the virtues of frugality and opportunity through education, that was to see Lynn and her two brothers, Peter and Kevin, excel in their chosen careers. Both the DeBrass and Masters were well know Anglo-Indian families in the South; high achievers by any stretch of the imagination.
After the death of her father, the family settled in Fraser Town, Bangalore and her mother, Mrs Valerie Brass (Masters), began teaching at St. Germains High School.
After high school Lynn joined the Army Nursing Corps, commissioned as a Lieutenant and saw service in various military hospitals throughout India.
Benny was born in Denmark on May 9, 1944, trained as a mechanical engineer when he answered a call for volunteers to set up a Danish funded dairy project in Bangalore. This decision graphically illustrates Benny’s caring nature and precipitated an event that was to change his and a young woman’s life forever.
He met Lynn at a Catholic club social in July 1968 and a world-wind romance began that was quite quickly and naturally the talk of the town. They were married in Bangalore by Rev. Fr. Roland Masters SJ, Lynn’s uncle who, in the early ‘50’s, was my English teacher at Campion, Trichinopoly. They arrived to start married life in Denmark on July 4, 1969. Needless to say, Lynn was received with much scepticism by Benny’s family, but she was all the rage in town with the local newspapers, agog, when a local boy brought a beautiful oriental girl home as his bride. But the fairy story had to end sometime and the enormity of living in a non-English speaking Northern European country was soon to present the problems that most of us are familiar with today.
Wedding Day - May 10, 1969 St.Patrick’s Church, Richmond Town, Bangalore
Benny soon joined the local authority water company but Lynn had to start at square one; learning the language so as to quickly put her nursing skills to good use, to fit into the local community. Lynn was determined to make her marriage work, to make Denmark her home. By the end of 1970 she had passed the basic examinations set by the Danish Nursing Authority and began her eventful nursing career that was to take up the next 33 years of her life. In 1978, after the birth of her two sons, she was selected for advanced nursing studies at the University of Aahus where she gained a BSc in 1980 and soon after was appointed as sister tutor at the prestigious School of Nursing, Aaborg. Doors opened after this and a most satisfying career ensued until her retirement in 2004.
Life was no less stressful for Benny either. He had to climb the ladder again on his return from India andwork around the commitments that Lynn had taken on in her pursuit of her nursing career that took her away from the family for weeks at a time. Benny understood that Lynn had a point to prove and was man enough to accept the challenge. Their two boys, Peter and Kim have been the beneficiaries of their parents’ ethic of high achievement. Kim, now 33, with a Master’s in International Politics and Law works in Switzerland and Peter, now 29, with a Master’s in Datamatics, Business and Management works in Amsterdam. The world’s their oyster.
Benny, Kim, Peter and Lynn with Peter’s girlfriend
Benny is transfixed by his love of India and all things India to the extent that he always wears a ’lungi – a type of dhoti’ around the house. He has immersed himself in tracing Lynn’s family roots and her larger than life family around the world.
Benny in a ‘lungi’
We also had the great pleasure of meeting another Anglo-Indian girl, Cheryl Rouse and her husband Ernest, a former major in the Danish Air Force, now close friends of Benny and Lynn. Cheryl hails from another one horse railway town, Jalarapet, in South India. She came to Denmark in the late ‘70’s to teach English in a local Aaburg school, loved it, married, and stayed.
Ernest & Cheryl
She also went through the familiar loop but with typical AI tenacity, achieved a fluency in Danish that eventually led to a degree in Clinical Physiology and has never looked back. She and her husband visit India frequently and Ernest insists on staying at her mother’s in Jalarapet.
He husband, like Benny, exudes a love of India that is truly edifying and sometimes one is so ashamed that, as native-born Indians, we were so depreciative of so much that was and is Indian. Perhaps it has taken us to live abroad to appreciate that we are not just ‘Anglo’ but ‘Indian’ as well.
To round off a most exhilarating experience, a footnote must be added that Lynn’s two brothers, Peter and Kevin, after graduating from the Indian Defence Academy, were commissioned into the Indian Navy. Peter served as a pilot in the Fleet Air Arm aboard the INS Vikrant, commanded this flagship of the Indian Navy and retired as a Rear-Admiral. Kevin specialised in naval architecture, gaining a series of engineering degrees from Royal Naval Colleges in England and eventually retired as a commodore.
Lynn with brothers Peter (L) and Kevin
What a family, what achievements and what fulfilling lives to write about. It’s been my pleasure.
More please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ed Haliburn
August 14th, 2007 at 2:38 am
Mr. Haliburn,
Yes, I would ask for more indeed. I love reading,especially stories like the ones you write. They just take me back in time. They’re so interesting and I just don’t want to be interrupted until I’ve reached the end.
You went all the way to Denmark and discovered that Lynn’s Uncle, i.e., Father Roland Masters was your English Teacher in school. It’s a small world after all.
I just like to add that I too am from Bangalore. I was born in Kolar, but grew up and lived in St. Joseph’s Convent, Frazer Town, Bangalore from the age of four. I now live and work in Doha, Qatar in the Middle East.
Somehow, Lynn’s face seems very familiar.
Nice knowing you and will definitely read the rest of your blogs.
Good day to you.
Cheers!
Nora
August 14th, 2007 at 7:27 am
A great example and a beautiful life story of Anglo-Indian’s enriching the community in other parts of the world. People like to say that folks like that who leave India are now more Anglo than Indian but here are two more fine examples of interracial couples Lynn & Benny, and Cheryl & Ernest who have blended their cultures yet have never forgotten the ‘Anglo Indian’ roots.
I admire Lynn & Cheryl’s strength and determination. They too have had to endure many trials and tribulations to survive, successfully, in a new country with a different language and culture. They overcame many barriers and prevailed!
That same sheer determination and high achiement to break through all barriers and difficulties in a foreign land, I have been fortunate to have learned from my Anglo-Indian parents who came to America in the late 70’s with just their most precious belongings in their suitcases, 2 teenage children and a 9 year old. They overcame all odds and now are retired and reap the benefits of their hard labor with their wise investments from their hard earned money. They give us and will leave us kids a wonderful legacy that is much appreciated and cherished for the rest of our lives. It is an honor to pass that down to my child and grandchildren.
Mr. Haliburn, please continue to write more life stories of the much respected older generation in our community. It is a great reminder and example to the younger generation that we can enrich our community no matter where we are in this wide, beautiful world of ours and still remain true to our Ango-Indian roots.
“He husband, like Benny, exudes a love of India that is truly edifying and sometimes one is so ashamed that, as native-born Indians, we were so depreciative of so much that was and is Indian. Perhaps it has taken us to live abroad to appreciate that we are not just ‘Anglo’ but ‘Indian’ as well.”
We should “always” remember and never ever “forget” who we are and were we come from. For our children and grandchildren will benefit from love and passion of our roots!
And lastly, Ken (my American husband) is very much like Benny & Ernest. Not an ounce of prejudice in him. It is enlightening to see the honest interest, appreciation, knowledge and love of India and of the Anglo-Indian community. I am very blessed to have Ken in my life!
Regards,
Charlotte
August 14th, 2007 at 8:35 am
Very Informative, cheers
August 14th, 2007 at 8:36 am
well writtenand very informative cheers
September 5th, 2007 at 5:58 am
it is with great pleasure and curosity that we benny and I read your description of us and our sons. our 38 years of marriage and partnership is filled with great joy of being together although our sons are far out of denmark.
we had the pleasure of meeting Ed and Hazel in our home this year 2007 july
our son Kim works and lives in Amsterdam
and our son Peter with Kelly live and works in Switzerland Lausanne
It was wonderful that each conversation revealed a story of my father debrass and his family and my mothers family Masters. Most of this history I had not heard before.
Benny my husband loves all the storys from India and from my family.He excels in the history of India and loves the country.
I would love to see Ed producing a Book, called “Roots and Trees from India” detailing all the many wonderful people of the familys and their life, in those Days.
We are quite sure that Ed has fine quality s of expression. so come on Ed and publish that Book.
thanks to all who have read this biograph I would like to get in touch with you.