| Description | Interview with James Whettem, in Calcutta. He talks about his life and interests, his feelings of affection towards the city of Calcutta despite its problems, and the difficulties for company employees in not being able to get away from the city to the hills or the sea for holidays. He talks about the gradual decline of 'local leave', and his ability to visit England fairly frequently. He discusses the relationship between ex-patriats and their Indian colleagues and friends that develops into lasting friendships, and the difficulties he believes that many people have in settling in England. He discusses his acceptance of life in Calcutta, the amount of time it took for him to feel settled there, and to feel that he has an understanding of the Indian way of thinking (tracks 1-6).
Track 7: silence 5.28 mins
Track 8: recording setup 0.16 mins
James Whettem continues to talk about his life in Calcutta since 1948, his trips to England on leave, to his home town of Portsmouth, and to see his children who are at school in Surrey, and the reasons for his coming to Calcutta after leaving the armed services and joining an unidentified company. He discusses his first impressions of the city and of India, feeling overwhelmed by Calcutta because of its size and population, and the different expectations he had before arriving. He describes some of the changes that have taken place since he has lived there, the departure of many British and European people from India - partly for business reasons or because they want to be with their children while they are being educated in England - the decline of 'club' life and the trend for informal entertaining at home. He explains his reasons for staying on, his marriage to a Bengali woman, and his concerns about being separated from his children and the breakup of the family unit, and the efforts that he and his wife have made to minimise this (tracks 9-15).
Total: 32.54 mins
Dubber's reference number: PLA KF565D0567280 |