Uprooting oneself and starting afresh in a foreign land is not easy.
New arrivals in the UK were often met with uncertainty. Most found themselves alone in a cold, grey environment which stood as a metaphor for their trials – adapting to an unfamiliar culture, finding suitable housing, and navigating their way through the demanding employment and education systems.
Many arrivals also faced overt and covert forms of discrimination in their daily lives. At the same time, there are numerous stories of new arrivals being welcomed into, and helped by, the local community.
At Brush, they would not let us wear sarees to work. My sister said to them that I was a very hard worker. They decided to give me a chance. I kept on working hard, but tears kept running down my face as I missed my people. I was the only Indian person amongst nine white ladies, so felt really out of place with no English language.
To come from a vibrant, hot country to a very cold September, and moving to Lancashire, where we lived for a while in the windy, cold, dark years, it sort of plays on your mind a little bit because you’re so used to the sunshine and the weather is very cold. And, yeah, it wasn’t, in terms of the atmosphere, probably not great.
When I first came, I wasn’t trusting anybody… but then gradually English people and everybody started helping each other. Then I got the confidence that… no it’s not that bad… we will be able to manage it now and integrate into the Loughborough community.
I think until you kind of hear these stories, you don’t really appreciate or understand the kind of challenges that they experienced, and they kind of persevered through, sometimes not necessarily overcome… when he was sending money
back home, you know, there was, there was a lot that was riding on my dad and people of his age who came at that time, because
there were a whole lot of people who were relying on them, depending on them.
In the 70s, racism was so rife in the country that you could cut it with a knife. It’s so rife, it’s like a block which you could cut with a knife. That’s how intense racism was. There was the National Front and the local people also inclined
to be racist.
