Flower Silliman on Baghdadi Jews of India
By kamla bhatt • Oct 15th, 2008Category: Books and Authors, Diaspora, Life, New York, USA
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Flower Silliman is a third generation Baghdadi Jew, who was born and brought up in Calcutta, India.
During World War II, Flower’s family sent her to study in a Christian school in Nagpur and later on she went to New Delhi for her college, and eventually returned to Calcutta.
In this episode Flower talks about her experiences of growing up in pre-Independent India, and away from the confines of her tight-knit Baghdadi Jewish community.
Even though her mother was against Flower pursuing an undergraduate degree, Flower managed to persuade her otherwise. She went to study at Lady Irwin College. The reason her mother selected the college was because Hannah Sen , the principal of the college was of Jewish descent says Flower.
India’s struggle for independence left a lasting impact on Flower. When India became independent in 1947, Flower and her husband decided to stay in India and raise their family. Flower taught Home Science at Loretto House, Calcutta. She later migrated to Israel, where she established the first Kosher Indian vegetarian restaurant. She now lives in New York, USA.
This interview first ran in 2006, and was recorded in New York city.
Kamla Bhatt is the host and producer of an Internet Radio show where listeners can find stories about the new and emerging India and the global Indian community. As a pioneer of 'internet radio' format in India Kamla started her first show News about India, followed by TalkNewsIndia in 2005. In 2006 she premiered her new show: The Kamla Bhatt Show: Life, People and Ideas. 
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Interesting interview with Flower Silliman, the Baghdadi Jewish woman who grew up in Kolkata (Calcutta), India. The last name (probably her husband’s) sounds like a variant of Suleiman (Solomon).