Samran, Bradford - 27
My Grandad, or Baba as we call him – Mohammad Din – arrived alone in England in 1961 aged 31. He had left his wife and 1 year old child alone in Kashmir. He says that there was no actual need for him to venture abroad in comparison to the economic migrants coming from South Asia at the time, since his family were wealthy tailors, but he kept hearing about how great Britain was and how much opportunity to make money their was. So soon enough he brought a one way ticket to Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. Greeted by friends whom he went on to stay with during that early period in England, he said that the city was nothing like he had imagined. Albeit the locals were friendly and always smiling, Bradford was merely a town with cloudy, dark skies; and the walls of the textile mills in which he worked were as black as the night sky. The snow in those times he recalls, reached his knees! Although Baba is of Kashmiri origin, his parents hailing from Baramullah, the Bradford snow, he found, was different. It was much colder than the type he was used to when travelling around the valleys of Kashmir; it is then that he says he began to feel that he had made a big mistake in coming to England and toyed with the idea of returning to South Asia to fulfil his short-lived dream of becoming a Bollywood actor. Baba recalls moving to Bombay in his late teens to work with his brother, whilst secretly, he was trying to break into Bollywood, by sneaking on to film sets with the help of a friend who had promised Baba that he had contacts in the industry. Baba’s father was in the Navy and had died at sea when Baba was just a little boy, so his elder brother became the family’s breadwinner. He caught wind of Baba’s dream and pulled him up, since the family had no time to prance about in front of cameras! They were tailors and not ‘silly entertainment people’. With that, any idea Baba had about becoming an actor was crushed. In ‘60s England, Baba’s social circle was growing as more friends joined him from back-home. His situation was steadily improving and he purchased a house and moved into it with 4 friends, living the bachelor life until my grandma caught a one way ticket with my mother to join him in 1963- she also wanted to see what was so great about the UK! Party time was over for Baba and the family soon moved to Chapeltown, Leeds, to raise my mum and her new baby brother. Baba was now a taxi driver and was making serious money; I’m told there was always enough food on the table and a new dress for my mum every week! Before long, more and more of my grandparents’ friends and family had moved to Bradford and so my grandparents moved back in order to be amongst familiar faces. Baba continued driving taxis for Hackney Carriages and my Grandma worked in a factory making skirts and blouses, as well as sewing clothes for the now fast growing community of Indian and Pakistani women in Bradford. Together they raised 2 children, ensuring they had a very British upbringing amongst children of various backgrounds, and so the family of 4 celebrated all the different holidays and festivals! My mum got married at 19 and taught at the local Primary school. Baba’s neighbour was an old English lady who took a liking to my mother and said she wanted to leave her house to my mum, but, my Baba being a man of pride, insisted that he pay even a small sum to the English lady for the house. There are 4 of us siblings, all raised next-door to our grandparents. Although we studied and graduated with Law degrees (every desi parents dream!), the acting bug also bit me and I started up a theatre company (every desi parents nightmare!)- they say these things skip a generation J. I am often reminded about the struggles of the first generation – ‘we came here with nothing, just a dream, to earn and provide: the new generation doesn’t realise how lucky they are’. I don’t argue – he is right to an extent, but growing up I didn’t see as many smiling faces from the “native locals” – the taunting, abuse and racial segregation in a very changed Bradford was real, followed by two major race riots which only added to the tension. I’ve always likened Bradford to a Desi Harlem- a very rich city in terms of culture and identity which is thriving with British Asian owned businesses in all sectors, even the Arts; but we must acknowledge the stories and struggles that the 2nd and 3rd generations have faced, and still face today, which no doubt has moulded and shaped Bradford and the wider UK. But one thing for sure, this is home.