Elizabeth Tara Nongbri nee Elizabeth Mary Matthews.
Dad, John Edward Matthews, popularly known as 'Joe', among the Tea Community in The Dooars and Upper Assam. A RNVR; active service on HMS Belfast. Demob at the close of WW2; made his way through the Gateway at Bombay, to the verdant NE India; found his land moorings in the Tea Estates; initially Octavius Steel at Doomdooma; shifted to Dooars, (Red Bank, Pashoke , Pushimbing); moved to Upper Assam (Sonabheel, Bamgaon, Singri, Belseri, Wokha & Hautley).
Somewhere down the line, met my Mom Margaret Brillda Nongbri ( Khasi from East Khasi Hills0. Four siblings- John & me at India; Reginald and Caroline in the UK.
I am married to an Army Officer( now a vet, Col from the Assam Regt) flitting between Bangalore and Shillong. Two girls; one married, at Dubai; the younger one, at London, working with Business Insider, having completed her post grad with City, University of London.
As I look back what a journey! A chequer- board of colour; some black & white; some gray; and some a rainbow of colour. Am now politically active; a social worker, keen on looking after the interests of the tribal community of Meghalaya & the Anglo - Indian Community in India.
Am a member of Koi Hai Junior; the British Association of Cemeteries in South Asia (BACSA); keen golfer, looking to play at all the quaint TE Golf Courses in NE India, once the Wuhan Virus loosens it's stranglehold on humankind. |