Hi, I am Shirley Abraham, an independent documentary film maker based in Mumbai, India. This is for a documentary where I am exploring the tradition of maintaining Hindu ancestral records at some sites in India, and am looking for a character whose journey I am looking to follow. My research is to look for somebody with a 'mixed' background- preferably a Britisher with some Indian connect, as this will lend a certain sense of historical significance to his/her search. Through this list, I wish to find somebody who is already looking for his roots in India, or just somebody who might be interested in pursuing his unique ancestory, with a Hindu background. I have met various similar people, but somehow their stories havent been able to lend me the strong cross cultural-historical connect that I am keen to explore through the film. Looking forward to hearing from you. Warm Regards, Shirley Abraham.

Shirley, <This is for a documentary where I am exploring the tradition of maintaining Hindu ancestral records at some sites in India, and am looking for a character whose journey I am looking to follow. My research is to look for somebody with a 'mixed' background- preferably a Britisher with some Indian connect, as this will lend a certain sense of historical significance to his/her search.> I think you are referring to the 'vahis' or 'notebooks' which traditional priestly families at well-known sacred places like Nasik, Tryambakeshwar, Paithan, Gaya etc. maintain. These 'vahis' are useful in genealogical research for the following reason. A person visiting these places for religious rites employes a local professional Brahmin priest to assist him. That Brahmin notes down as many names as possible of the relatives of that person in a 'vahi', which is somewhat like a traditional account book of a native trader. These 'vahis' covering several decades and or even centuries are valuable repositories of source material and of names of long-departed ancestors. At the same time, the 'vahi' is an important economic asset for the priest's family that owns it, because once a long-gone person is noted in a 'vahi', all descendants of that person will, if they visit that place in their own lives, will seek out that priest's family in whose 'vahi' their ancestor had noted his name and will have their religious rites performed with the assistance of the current members of that family of priests. This thread binds the visitors and priest families for generations and also ensures the interest of the priest families in preserving the 'vahis' as an economic asset for their livelihood. This being so, I doubt whether anyone with an Indian connection several generation old will have a genealogical memory long and strong enough to link himself with an ancestor and his name in a 'vahi'. Needless to say, the reason why the 'vahis' are maintained rules out anyone having a Muslim ancestry. You might find better success if you were to explore this with converted Indian Christian families. They, with their continued living in India over a few generations, may have a better-preserved memory of their ancestry. PS. Such sacred spots are called in the ritual context as 'kshetra' and the priests who ply their profession in such spots are called 'kshetropadhyaya (kshetra + upadhyaya = teacher or priest at the sacred spot)' Readers of this posting might be wondering as to meaning of 'priestly profession'. Any Hindu wishing to perform any religious rite - a wedding, a pooja or worship rite of a deity, a funeral etc. - has to seek the assistance of a professional priest who has the knowledge of the procedure of that rite and of the Sanskrit texts that have to be recited as accompaniment to the procedure. The priests performs this function for a fee. Many devout Hindus visit kshetras to perform religious rites and need assistance for their performance, which the priests render for a fee. Arvind Kolhatkar, Toronto, March 31, 2008.