A year later Jah decided to move to Australia after visiting George Hobday, a friend from Cambridge who was working as a doctor there. “I love this place,” Jah mused on an early trip; “miles and miles of open country and not a bloody Indian in sight.”
He didn’t have a mirror??
Reminds me of a friend of my father’s who visited Italy, the land of his forefathers. “What did you make of Italy then, Mario?” “Aye, it’s nice enough, but there’s too many bloody ‘Tallies”.
Speaking to a 2nd gen British Indian whose family had business interests in both nations about trips to the land of his father. “I can only take about a week to be honest.”
My Chinese ex-wife says the same when visiting “home”.
I see this as a success of immigration. Person comes to Britain to become British and merge into the local culture, rather than those constantly hitting the headlines that loathe this country and hate the culture they live in.
“I see this as a success of immigration. Person comes to Britain to become British and merge into the local culture, rather than those constantly hitting the headlines that loathe this country and hate the culture they live in.”
My sentiments exactly, except substitute Australia for Britain in my case.
It’s a trivial example, but one event that made me smile when my kids were younger was when we went to a Sri Lankan families house (daughter was a good mate of my daughter) and I saw their cricket mad son had a massive poster of Ricky Ponting on his wall. I winked at him and said good lad. We both understood what that was about. People coming here and embracing our way of life makes me happy.
My father left Italy when he was 19.
I’ve been there a few times. Wouldn’t want to live there though.
Every day I give thanks that I’m a true born Englishman and not a mongrel with Welsh, Scottish and Danish (Schleswig Holstein probably) ancestry.
Ermm…
I just take comfort from the fact that there is still a Nizam of Hyderabad in the world. Not everything has gone to pot, clearly.
I look forward to reading the doings – or perhaps the obituary – of the Wali of Swat any time soon.