Barrypuram – The Indian Village That Was Named After An Englishman

I think we can all agree on the fact that India is quite an unusual country. Incredible, sure, but all things considered - pretty strange. In this land of contradictions, there’s no real dearth of stories of courage, of integrity and hope, just like there’s no shortage of horrifying tales of hunger, poverty, and straight up negligence. In one such curiously astonishing story of Barrypuram, there are instances that reveal both the best and the worst of our society.

In rural Andhra Pradesh, the most deprived of India’s tribes - the Yanadi – lived on a barren wasteland that was little more than a rubbish heap. The living conditions were so appalling that the average life expectancy of a tribe member had swooped down to a shocking 40 years. Their sole consolation lay in a prophecy made a long time ago, that of a white man who will one day come and save them from poverty, hunger, and untimely death. Perhaps in one of the most bizarre coincidences in human history, a white man called Barry did show up and save the tribe.

Barry Watson, a Chepstow, UK, resident and a father of four, first visited the village with a charity led by Julie and Michael Davies. Evidently dismayed by what he saw, Watson shelled out £20,000 in an effort to make the place livable. He describes the villagers’ reaction when he announced his plans to rebuild their village: “It really was like Sean Connery and The Man Who Would Be King, when I said I was going to build them a village. About half believed me and half didn’t. To start with they were in total awe of me. They would walk ten paces behind me, none of the children would come up to me,” he told Telegraph UK. As time passed, the villagers swapped their sceptical awe for flat out devotion. Watson is now practically royalty to them, complete with a title - ‘King Bazzaa’ - and all for good reason. He managed to successfully “construct 31 huts with lighting, install water pumps, a chicken farm, a school and church,” according to Daily Mail UK. He has big plans for the future starting with making the village more durable by constructing buildings out of stone. “In future, I want them to have community houses and ensure that they are self-sustainable. Hopefully, some of them will also get to go to university. Now they have an opportunity to have a better life,” he told Deccan Chronicle. The Indian Government is also considering officially naming the village ‘Barrypuram’.

Back at home, his kids are inspired by the work he does, but that doesn’t stop them from occasionally “taking the mickey out of him” for being anointed king of a small village. He is constantly teased by people, asking him if they should courtesy before him, antics that his family finds quite entertaining. His wife Shirley is now excited to visit Barrypuram as ‘Queen Shazza’. Watson first came to India as a twenty-one-year-old overland bus driver, a job that enabled him to travel extensively through the sub-continent for 3 years. “India is like Marmite, you love it or hate it. I love the chaos, it’s totally different to anything else I have done,” he told Deccan Chronicle. 40 years later, when given the chance to come back, he immediately accepted. Inspired by the work of Davies’ charity in another small village called Burlavaripalem, Watson was determined to make a difference in the lives of the unfortunate. He did just that and walked away with a ‘Royal’ title too.

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