A repost of an older post of mine…. Seeing as I brought up the EU Referendum earlier!
I’m not a great one at remembering who said what, quote wise, though, if in an argument with Hubby Dearest, I can remember the second something was said, and by whom!
Ok, only just started and already going off tangent!
So, where was I? Oh yes, I was thinking about something someone once said, about immigration, and whether we want a melting pot or a metaphorical salad bowl…
I liked that whole thought. We’re all different, and if integrated properly, all the different cultures around us, living together, make a veritable smorgasbord of flavours for us to enjoy.
I know the original quote was regarding America, but it goes for everywhere, doesn’t it? Every country where there is a large number of different cultures living together, every school where there are many different children, and even within families, because, even within cultures, there are very different types of people, and if we were all the same, how boring would it be?
When you move to another country, I believe you definitely should NOT forget where you came from, or what your background was/is.
But that you need to remember that you are moving somewhere that has different ideals and sensibilities. And this should be respected.
Where I live now, in Kent, we are part of a large Sikh population that moved here mainly in the 50’s and 60’s. At that time, I’d imagine the thoughts of the general Gravesendian population would have been thinking where have these brown faces with cloth wrapped around their heads come from?
But over the years, and with hard work, most of these people built businesses, set up home and brought their families over. We see the Sikh Gurdwara standing, side by side with churches, and over the average year, as much as Christian festivals, and days of importance in the British calendar are observed, the same importance is given to the Sikh festivals, with Vaisakhi, a festival Sikhs give a lot of importance to as it signifies the birth of the Khalsa, being celebrated in such a way, the majority of the town is shut to allow a grand procession to go through, and everyone, from all walks of life are welcome to join in, and they do!
The same at Diwali, or Bandi Chorr Diwas, where we celebrate the festival of light. It’s spectacular, the fireworks, the lighting up of the temple, then days before, or after, we all celebrate Bonfire Night, or Guy Fawkes Night with the GB population!
Yes, there are areas in town where it is a bit Indian-ified, punjabi shops catering for food and clothing needs, but who doesn’t like the restaurants, with authentic food, that have also popped up over the years?!
In the beginning, many of the men found it hard with their turbans, so many cut their hair, to fit in, much to the chagrin of their families back home, and gave themselves English names so the English tongue didn’t find it hard to say their names. Jagdeep became Jack, Satinder became Steve, and so on. And children where registered with simple names, and hair cut from the beginning so the child didn’t suffer any bullying at school. There were, however, those individuals who refused to change their exteriors to fit in, and this didn’t hinder them in the long run. Yes, it might have been a slightly harder integration, but they wanted to be accepted, and their religion respected, as well as being able to show they could do all the jobs just as well as your average hair cut individual!
But times have changed, a Sikh person is now proud to wear a turban, if they are baptised, or even if not, and many of our children go to Punjabi school alongside their normal education to keep a grasp of their roots. The majority of children have their UK born parents to impart the knowledge which will help them day to day, and grandparents who will help them with their cultural roots.
When I first moved here, I found it a bit wierd, having grown up in quite an anglicised area in Birmingham, in a predominantly white school, with lots of brown interaction through my large family. I walked into the town centre here, not long after getting married, and so many faces were brown, like mine! But there were no worries, everyone got on just fine! There were very few obvious looking Muslims and I didn’t see many Afro Caribbean people initially. But that changed too over the years.
Now we have a huge addition of Eastern Europeans in the mix. And I feel like the way everyone talks about them now is probably what the locals were saying about Indians all those years ago. There are a few differences though, not so many of these new additions finding employment, instead, being housed, and having rather a lot of children.
But going back to what I originally started thinking about, with this post in mind… It’s so nice to be able to live side by side, stand beside one another, celebrate your differences, add a different dimension to the community. But don’t try and create your own land within another… What was the point of moving, if that was all you wanted? Heck it’s not like the weather is any better here! Live by the rules of the country you move to, don’t forget your background, your culture, they make you who you are… as much as the place you move to, and the people who are from there, their beliefs and culture, make them the people they are too.
I like salad!
