| Three Pounds in My Pocket; R4 x 3 episodes | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Mar 11 2014, 02:08 PM (1,755 Views) | |
| Mobson | Mar 11 2014, 02:08 PM Post #1 |
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Three Pounds in My Pocket... I saw this title when surfing for something interesting to listen to on the way back from Kent, and it struck a cord with me as many years ago a lovely Punjabi man told me the story of how he had arrived in Manchester with only five pounds in his pocket before making his way to London to make his fortune!. And make it he did...Jadav Chowdhury opened a tiny indian restaurant in St Martin's Lane which we, my husband & I and a neighbour who lived opposite us in St J, used to visit regularly. Unfortunately, we got off to a rocky start with Mr Chowdhury...who, on one visit round about 1967, was so infuriated by the behaviour of our dear eccentric American/Mex friend, Mr de Temple, that he ran him out of his restaurant and up St Martin's Lane whilst brandishing a meat cleaver in the air! True story! After that experience (he didn't catch his prey), we actually became very good friends, so much so that when Mr de Temple wanted a curry delivered to his flat in Jermyn Street, he usually got it and we all went on Jadav's Christmas card list! Jadav had a wise countenance and a very cultured face with lots of thick hair that went completely silver over time... apart from being a hardworking family man, he was also a very astute businessman. He and his brother worked in the little restaurant and prospered to such an extent that they bought the freehold of a much larger premises around the corner from St Martin's Lane in Irving Street which leads directly into Leicester Square...there Jadav opened a large and spacious indian restaurant, opulently decorated in swathes of red velvet and gold, which during the Christmas period, was generously decorated with flashing lights and tinsel for a truly over-the-top experience! He was always pleased to see us and over the years we bought our own children, family and friends to eat there! He never seemed to stop working especially after his brother went to Miami to open a restaurant there. He had a beautiful house in Highgate - I know this because it was on the Christmas card we received from him and his wife one year. But all good things come to an end..Jadav wanted to retire and cash in his chips or aloo paratha! Russell Kane, the Essex comedian, often tells the story in his stage routine about the Alpha Male, of the only time he saw his tough alpha male father break down in tears and cry - and that was when his local Akash closed...well it was like that for us when 'our' Akash closed down - it's now a Wagamama/Italian restaurant. So back to this programme, which is about people like Jadav; the tens of thousands of migrants who came to Britain from the Indian subcontinent in the 1950's. "Many arrived with no more than £3 in their pocket - the limit set by the Indian authorities. They came to work in Britain's factories, foundries, and new public services. It was a time when the country desperately needed workers from its former colonies to regenerate its post-war economy. Presenter Kavita Puri, whose own father Ravi came with just a few pounds himself, hears his and other stories of the pioneering men who arrived in the 50s. They recall their first impressions of the country that once ruled over their own: the shocking housing conditions, the curiosity of neighbours and kindness of strangers and also the memories of casual racism and animosity. These men led the way for the three million people of South Asian descent who live in Britain today." says the webpage where there is a clip of a man standing by a train on a station just like Jadav... First episode of 3 broadcast Friday 7th March @ 11am ... http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03xq6h7 |
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| Norm Deplume | Mar 11 2014, 05:18 PM Post #2 |
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That's a great story of success for your Asian restaurateur Mobsy. However, unlike him, there were thousands from the Indian sub-continent and the Caribbean Islands who were little more than underpaid slaves, who worked in conditions that in today's world, would give any self respecting Health and Safety officer double apoplexy. I lived in Northolt just after WW2 which is only a mile or two from Southall. There was a factory there which produced vulcanised rubber equipment for the heavy end of the motor industry. This factory employed hundreds of these men and paid them starvation wages and their accommodation was basically wherever they could find it which was often in garden sheds, where the beds...if you could call them that... were on a three-shift rota. Edited by Norm Deplume, Mar 11 2014, 05:20 PM.
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| rumbaba | Mar 11 2014, 11:07 PM Post #3 |
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True Norm |
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| Mobson | Mar 12 2014, 08:06 AM Post #4 |
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It is nevertheless worth listening to these three episodes, which do not deal with the Windrush generation, but concentrate on the South Asian immigration, to understand how and why there are 3 million of Asian descent living in the UK today...
Edited by Mobson, Mar 12 2014, 08:09 AM.
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| Mobson | Mar 16 2014, 10:14 AM Post #5 |
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The latest episode of Three Pounds In My Pocket looks at the story of the pioneer women of this generation: their first impressions of Britain, their unlikely friendships, and their struggles at work. Plus learn how England's World Cup win in 1966 paled in comparison to their excitement at the results of the Miss World competition. http://bbc.in/1fZ5wgx |
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| Norm Deplume | Mar 16 2014, 11:52 AM Post #6 |
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I know that I am old and probably a bit decrepit but I like MY country the way it was when I was younger, before there was mass immigration. Firstly there were the Carribeans and then those from various parts of Asia and now from most of Europe and the rest of the world. As a boy and young man I had an Indian GP, one of our friends was married to a French girl, on Bank Holidays my dad would take us to Hampstead Heath for the funfair and 'Prince Monalulu' was always there giving his horse racing tips. there were a few Big Bands in West End venues which were led by coloured or black bandleaders and they were good...they were very good. It was nice, it was colourful and pleasant and the few foreigners that there were, integrated into the communities without trying to instil their way of life upon the rest of us. Today I hardly recognise MY country. I don't hate foreigners, I have travelled quite extensively around this Globe that we live upon and by a very large margin, I have loved most of the places and countries that I have visited and even more so, the people who live in them but that doesn't mean that I want them on my doorstep, no more than they would want me on theirs. |
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12:16 AM Jul 11