Among the showcasing of top names for the recently announced Padma awards, there was a quiet victory for this Anglo-Indian veteran travelling couple, who finally got their due, albeit a tad late, we feel
Hugh and Colleen Gantzer. Pic Courtesy/The All-India Anglo-Indian Association
The opening track for their ground-breaking travel show on good ole Doordarshan in the late 1980s was as soothing as their voices. If you, like this columnist, were a telly buff of similar vintage, Looking Beyond, Hugh and Colleen Gantzer’s travel show, was an eye-opener in so many ways. For middle-class kids like yours truly, who grew up in a (then, not now!) quiet northern suburb of Bombay, it offered a window to all that was fascinating in amazing, undiscovered India. The prime-time travel show on the lone television channel at the time was like a kaleidoscope for many like us who could only dream of visiting and exploring those hidden sights and gems in far-flung corners of our vast country.
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The slow realisation of the magnitude and contribution of those in-depth research-backed shows in a technology-starved era, minus the glamorous faces, slick production and airbrushed frames that we are used to seeing across the dime-a-dozen shows by chef-turned-travel guides (and vice-versa) and other ‘intrepid travellers’ is critical to note, especially when we put things into perspective of the early days of travel show television. Hugh, a Christ Church School, Byculla, alumnus and his wife Colleen [she passed on last year, sadly] were pioneers in travel documentation as rock solid researchers and raconteurs who took the viewer seriously and gave them the 360-degree factually correct tour of every location on their map. The content and personal narrative made one [me for sure] feel as if you were given a tour by a friendly, knowledgeable and well-travelled uncle and aunt in your living room.
Hugh was a Naval Officer for 20 years. In 1973, he took premature retirement when he was the Judge Advocate of the Southern Naval Area in Kochi. After having come across travel columns in local newspapers they wanted to try something different. So, they hopped on a scooter with their son and went to Kanyakumari. By the time the India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) requested them to write for them, they had travelled extensively across Kerala.
I was lucky to have interviewed them back in 2013 for a new book series that they had released. It covered the North, South, East and West of India, taking readers on a heady and happy mix of old and new, known and rare locales of the country. Hugh admitted then that they didn’t approach the idea as a means to earn a living. “Colleen encouraged the idea, and was ready to take risks. Our savings would see us through a year. Or else, we’d agreed that I would find a new calling as I am a trained lawyer and accountant.”
Creating content for India’s first nation-wide TV travel show was another amazing leap of faith. In 1988-89, the couple connected with Bhaskar Ghose, director-general, Doordarshan for a travel show. Things moved smoothly and soon enough, they went on air. Looking Beyond with Hugh and Colleen Gantzer was a 52-weekly episode show that was the first of its kind for Indian TV audiences. After their first stint, Doordarshan approached them to become the show’s producers. The rest was history, one milestone after another. The Gantzers, over time, also wrote several books that document their passion for discovering India; these books were well-packaged for discerning and curious readers alike.
News of them being conferred with the Padma Shri, the country’s fourth highest civilian honour, was first broken and met with joy, especially within the country’s tiny Anglo Indian community, to which they belong. It was a quiet celebration, going by the lack of column space to hail these two pathbreaking chroniclers and their contribution to India’s travel and tourism, as well as information and broadcasting industries. Last year, when Colleen Gantzer passed away in November at Oakbrook, the family’s two-century-old home in Mussoorie, there was the same radio silence barring a few mentions in regional publications, the community’s newsletters and WhatsApp group chats.
The Gantzers wore their unique tag lightly. Perhaps they were ahead of their time, in a day and age when social media meant a simple, personal conversation. Their attention to detail and rigour to create factually correct content was a solo effort—a far cry from the battery of experts and support staff that most of today’s travel guides are pampered with. Who is the real guide is anyone’s guess in most scenarios, barring odd exceptions. The endearing image is that of the couple on their scooter with their then-young son in tow, ready to discover roads and trails unbeknownst to most. Such was their wanderlust. Hugh summed it up best in that oh-so-precious interview with them, “India has to be accepted and appreciated with the rough edges.”
mid-day’s Features Editor Fiona Fernandez relishes the city’s sights, sounds, smells and stones...wherever the ink and the inclination takes her.
She tweets @bombayana
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