Rowan Ainsworth, the lively and amiable consul general of Australia, completed her three-year tenure in the city. She looked back on her time in Calcutta while packing for her return to Melbourne.
Are you leaving with any regrets?
I was hoping we’d have an India versus the rest of the world consular corps cricket match but there weren’t really enough of us who are good cricket players. Nonetheless, I did get to attend some pretty fantastic cricket matches, including the World Cup semi-final against South Africa at Eden Gardens.
Didn’t Steve Smith attend Anzac Day once in Calcutta?
Yes, he was then playing for Rajasthan Royals and left us this as a gift (shows an autographed bat). What I wanted was a Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) souvenir with a Pat Cummins signature. But because of Covid, we never had that opportunity to host him. For the two years that he was a part of KKR, I don’t think he even visited Calcutta.
There is another Australian star in KKR now — Mitchell Starc.
Yeah. That will be something for my successor to look forward to. If Mitchell is here, perhaps Alyssa Healy might be inclined to pop by when she’s not too busy playing elsewhere as captain of the women’s cricket team!
Calcutta has an Aussie sporting connection in the women’s football team, right?
Yes, Sam Kerr, the captain of the Matildas (the Australian football team), with her grandparents coming from this very city. I don’t know what links she still has with Calcutta but I do know that she’s very proud of her Indian heritage. I think that was inculcated by her grandmother and she said she feels that when she goes onto the field she’s there representing not just Australia but also young girls of Indian heritage.
Have you found any new links with Australia?
I didn’t know what to expect in terms of Australian links before I came here. A lot of our mining technology companies are active here, working with Indian mining companies. A couple of big Australian companies are represented here. I knew about the cricket links. But beyond that, it was for me to discover and explore as we hadn’t had a consulate here before.
You were the first Australian consul general to complete a term.
Andrew (Ford, predecessor) came before the consulate was set up, working from a single room to actually set up the consulate. This office opened two weeks before Covid shut down everything. But we have established ourselves now that we’ve formally opened the consulate, with the visit of the assistant foreign minister last May.
Any Australian connection that surprised you?
One that delighted me is to constantly find alumni everywhere. No matter how far I travelled to — the Northeast for example — I found Indians who’ve studied in Australia. We have a database to which we keep adding names and every now and then we have a get-together.
Which disciplines do you find to be the most popular among Indian applicants?
Some are going for vocational training, some to do their Masters and doctorates, some for mining engineering… I like this diversity. I am told that it’s not the piece of paper that you get but the life skills you learn by experiencing another culture, looking at things with a different lens — that’s a huge part of the value that they get from their Australian education.
In your tenure, which events were the highlights?
We got some really important runs on the board. The free trade agreement (Australia-India Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement) has led to all sorts of possibilities. For example, Australian critical minerals now have had the tariffs eliminated. That makes it more possible for Indian companies to import critical minerals to support the make-in-India battery industry for electric vehicles and high-tech aerospace industry or to support the solar panel industry, which is growing here.
You had mentioned that a better brand of Jacob’s Creek is now available for less.
That’s right! It has also meant a cut to wine tariff for mid- and upper-range Australian wines. We’ve now got the really good quality Jacob’s Creek — that lovely double barrel Shiraz — besides the entry-level drink, at a reasonable price. You’re no longer paying a huge premium for a high-quality wine.
Tell us about the events that you organised.
My favourite was the Jarracharra exhibition — of textile arts by indigenous Australian women who came from a remote community called Maningrida in West Arnhem Land. We brought their exhibition here at the Indian Museum and it went on to travel all over India to all our consulates. We arranged for two of them to meet Indian tribal textile artistes. Most of the time, there was no mutual language and they communicated only through their art. They draw heavily from their cultural heritage. Both sides drew different sorts of inspiration and got ideas from what the others were doing. Our artists use woodblock printing, not traditionally a woman’s art form. Now they have sent some of their designs to a group of artists here, who have cut them into wood blocks and are using them to print Australian designs in an Indian art form. They’re going to return to India this year and build a new exhibition which hopefully will go on tour as well.
Are the Indian artists also sending over something for them?
The Indian artists were working on their own designs with wood-block prints. So they are incorporating the Australian ones with their own designs.
You participated in the Kolkata International Film Festival.
Yes. There was a serious side of the film festival — promoting our audio-visual co-production agreement, which has just been signed. That was very important to us — looking at Australian cinematic and production excellence.
We also had all the fun of presenting Australian horror films and taking out the tram of horror, which was a regular tram, promoting Australian outback horror films, a genre that Australia is known for. The tram was just running its regular route from Esplanade to Ballygunge and it was fun to see the rather bemused commuters getting on board the tram with severed body parts hanging from the roof, skeletons strapped to the front of the tram and eerie music playing! It also highlighted another lovely link between Australia and India — the Calcutta-Melbourne tram city culture.
Any local event that you attended comes to mind?
I am glad I could visit the Hornbill Festival (in Kohima). It is unique and quite marvellous. Here the big one was, of course, Durga Puja. It was inscribed by the Unesco while I was here. I love the build-up to the festival — how the city starts to celebrate. Everybody is out buying new saris, the families are flying in, there’s a frisson in the air. Then you get to go and see the pandals. They’re just mind-blowingly imaginative. The artistes are so wildly creative and the way the pandals are built is breathtaking. And, of course, what is pandal-hopping without kathi roll! I am so addicted to Nizam’s kathi roll. (Laughs)
Any other local food item that you have discovered?
Mishti doi, of the sweets, that has become my absolute favourite. The mangoes here are delicious and in so many varieties! I love that you can try different sorts — tiny ones, sour ones, those with fur on them. And of course, Darjeeling and Assam tea. This is really the tea capital of the world. I was not a tea person before I came but now I’m a convert.
With milk or without?
Never with milk. The milk takes away from the flavour. I like to smell and savour tea for itself.
You had mentioned Malaysian laksa being your favourite dish when you came to the city. Did you find a place that serves the dish?
I discovered Ping’s (on Middleton Row) which serves Pan Asian. They do a jolly good laksa.
On your day off, where did one find Rowan Ainsworth?
One of my great pleasures was going for a walk. I’d find a nice cafe that’s not too far away and walk, exploring the back streets, looking at all the beautiful architecture — the beautiful deco buildings, the Bauhaus buildings, the lovely iron lace-work, rounded fronts, the red oxide floors, the lovely teak windows with shutters…. It’s a really beautiful city but you have to pay attention. You’ve got to be looking up as you walk. That’s my tip — stop and look up and you’ll see all this beautiful architecture. But you don’t see it at eye level and you don’t see it when you’re looking at the pavement, being careful not to trip over something. All that lovely architecture is kind of hidden.
Those walks must help to keep the mishti doi calories in place.
(Laughs out loud) I am not sure about that. The mishti doi is telling on me. I love wandering around New Market with all the noise and vibrancy and activity but in short bursts.
Is that where you picked up your saris from?
(Laughs) When I arrived it was Bengali New Year. My colleague said: “You have to wish everyone in a sari.” She took me to a sari shop. After a lot of thought, I chose a sari. Now three years later, I have 30 saris! They are certainly more than I need but they’re so beautiful and irresistible — works of art that you can wear. If only I could learn to drape one properly, I’d wear them every day! The other thing I love doing in Calcutta is going to the galleries. There are some really good ones. The art life in Calcutta is extremely vibrant.
What else are you taking back?
Above all, my memories of Calcutta. It’s been a magnificent three years and such an adventure! What I would remember most is the warmth of Calcutta in every sense of the word — generally, the weather, but the people too.