Charted genes
I’m just a searcher, I’m just a seeker… no, this isn’t the first line to my next hit single. Rather, it describes the mindset of anyone who passes time in that most addictive of pastimes; genealogy. Lots of us do it. We all learn that this is one of those personal interests that will last more than a lifetime. The adjective “”finished” is not part of the wordlist.
This evening, CBC launched a new thirteen part series called Who Do You Think You Are, with the intention of showing us tidbits on a series of Canadian personalities. The focus of episode one is Shaun Majumder, a funny lad in his own right. He has a split background, with a mother from Newfoundland and a father from India.
The program started off with his maternal side, and we learned that he is as Canadian as anyone else from the Rock. Then, a quick detour down a side street, or as he put it, “through a wormhole” (scientific reference) to urban India, specifically Calcutta. No time here for compare or contrast. Different.
With only one episode aired, it is too early to make assumptions. Tonight, we didn’t learn how (or by whom) the research was done. Enough that we saw some old photos and a few filiations. Still, the program comes with solid sponsors from the Canadian archives and ancestry.ca which means we may find out what tools are easily accessed online (for those of us, at home, with piles of notes and old photocopies and the odd letter from a relative that mentioned somebody we’ve never met).
I think I’ll add this one to my “to be watched”list. My research is going well, thank you very much, although if you have any notes on my antecedents on the Island that would be nice, too. After all, as one friend says, we “must keep rooting.”
