The Gap-Toothed Banister: A Tale of Anglo-India

The Gap-Toothed Bannister – A Tale of Anglo-India is a close, compassionate look by Juliette Banerjee, an Anglo-Indian, at her community facing the challenges of change. It portrays the lives of Anglo-Indians in Calcutta with clarity during the 1960s and 1970s. In a shabby apartment block in Central Calcutta, four families, the Renshaws, the D’Cruzes, the Johnsons and the Vincents live in harmony. This smooth tempo changes forever one humid night when one of the families’ children is singled out, one lauded, the other randomly attacked. Tragedy and horror seem to haunt the apartment block. The next day a resident is raped by a servant. The social fabric has been torn in a way that tilts this world. It brings together all the other families of the ‘mansion’, as this block of flats is wryly nicknamed. The Gap-Toothed Bannister is a love story, not in kindergarten hues but with softer colours of hope and faith. It is a story of a people more confused than disloyal, puzzled by a lack of appreciation for their myriad talents and fuelled by an anger at what is perceived as scornful rejection. The Gap-Toothed Bannister will be of immense interest to all curious about the mores and magic of Anglo-India.