My Dad, my mentor influenced me to walk the path of the writer. As a child, I remember watching my Dad writing, at his desk, from the evening, after he returned from work, till late at night.
My Dad, Melvyn Brown always enjoyed writing and publishing. Although he worked as a Librarian, since he was nineteen, he was a Storyteller in Schools and in the radio show (All India Radio)in Calcutta, India for several years. People still come up to my father and tell him that they remember him from the time he would tell them stories. The senior students of the Schools in Calcutta loved to wait for “Uncle Melvyn, the Storyteller”, to arrive for their Creative English class, when he would weave stories, to keep them enthralled for an hour.
In most cases, Dad would create fairytales with Wizards, Goblins, Kings, Queens, Knights, Princes, Princesses, and magic Dragons without preparation. He would do all the voices, the sounds and he would set the scene for each story with its unique characters, heroes, and heroines.
My Dad, Melvyn Brown, also completed the “Storython”, which was sponsored by “The Statesman”, a local newspaper in Calcutta, in 1968. The Storython was non-stop storytelling for over three hours. He successfully moved from one story into another, each time introducing new characters, scenes, conflicts, and resolutions.
We belong to the mixed-race minority community called Anglo-Indians in India. A community that originated during the British Colonial period in India over four hundred years ago, when British soldiers had affairs or married Indian women, their offspring came to be known as Anglo-Indians. All Anglo-Indians are Christians, but all Christians are not Anglo-Indians. Anglo-Indians are the only race in India, whose mother tongue is English.
Dad initiated a lot of events, writing books, and a newsletter, which he published for over three decades, as part of his way of preserving the culture, history, and heritage of the Anglo-Indian or Eurasian community. In India, Dad is called the “Anglo-Indian Chronicler”, for his writings and research into the community. Dad was also featured on the “Who Do You Think You Are?”, a genealogical show produced by the BBC, that featured the comedian Alistair McGowan, who was in search of his Anglo-Indian roots in India and in the city of Calcutta.
Dad was also invited to tell children stories at the USIS (United States Information Service), which is now the Consulate in Calcutta, in the 1970s. Over the years Dad has written a large number of stories for children and adults. He has published articles on a variety of topics. Today, he writes a lot of articles on the Catholic faith and spirituality, which are published in “The Secular Citizen” in Mumbai, India. My Dad, Melvyn Brown, is the Founder of the lay Catholic unification movement, “Ambassadors for Jesus”, with the approval of the Pope in 1979.
Dad was always interested in writing and publishing. He self-published several books and newsletters over the years, “The Anglo-Indian”, “The All-Parish Paper”, “Pro-Life” and “The Catholic Post”. Dad was the Sub-editor for “The Catholic Herald”, in India and he would write his column in the Youth section, with a column devoted to “Letters from Peter Pan”, in which he would advise young people about expressing their imagination and creativity through writing poetry and stories.
I made this movie about my dad, Melvyn Brown, a few years ago. It is not a very long movie, but I am sure that you will enjoy the story of the man who inspired and keeps inspiring me as a writer today.
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