101 Traces: Bow Barracks is home To Kolkata's dwindling Anglo-Indian community

Rejected by American soldiers in WW1, it's now home to this dwindling community in the city. The Bow Barracks was a garrison's mess built for the American army soldiers posted in India during World War I. Back then, the US army soldiers thought it beneath them to stay in such housing. The apartments were handed over instead to the thriving Anglo-Indian community, who have held onto them ever since. Located in central Kolkata, just behind the Bowbazaar police station, it is currently home to over 80 Anglo-Indian families, along with several Anglo-Chinese families too. Over the course of the last 50 years, members of the community have been moving out from Kolkata to places like Australia and the United States. Today, Bow Barracks is a community trying to hold on to its identity as the world moves on.