Barry O’Brien has been deeply involved in the affairs of the Anglo-Indian community for over three decades. He began his work for the community at the grassroots level, and was nominated to represent it in the West Bengal legislative assembly (2006–11). Since 2001, he has been a governing body member of the All-India Anglo-Indian Association (founded in 1876), and its president-in-chief since 2016 when he was unanimously elected to lead the organization.
His writing canvas has been wide—as a sports journalist for Sportsworld; a social commentator and columnist for The Pioneer and The Telegraph; and a pioneering author of school textbooks for leading publishers, with several bestselling titles; and now, as a writer of narrative non-fiction. Restless, Barry is neck-deep in his debut novel, and his first collection of short stories—all this between conducting quizzes, public speaking courses, and motivational sessions in India and overseas.
But what keeps his batteries charged is his hands-on involvement with the running of two homes for the elderly, and other outreach initiatives of the East India Charitable Trust and the Telegraph Education Foundation in Kolkata, besides staying connected with the sixty-three branches of the Association across the country.