Sikhs in the city: Castewatch UK update

Happy New Year to all readers of Paki Tin

The last few months of 2009 were ones that flew by in an instant for me. In what has been a momentous year for many, I will remember 2009 personally as one which opened my eyes to the many ills of our society. By opening my eyes, I saw the problems - now its up to me to either close them again and ignore them, or speak up and address them. But to avoid starting the new year on a negative note, I wish all of you a prosperous 2010 and begin this year with an update from our friends at Castewatch UK - always fighting the cause for equality amongst all and making excellent progress. So much so that the Sikh community has backed Castewatch's efforts to push the Single Equality Bill through parliament. Good work.

CasteWatchUK Press Release

Sikhs support “caste amendments” to Single Equality Bill

A delegation of CasteWatchUK met delegates of a number of Sikh organisations from East London and Essex to discuss Caste Based Discrimination and the need to outlaw it with respect to the forthcoming Single Equality Bill.
It was unanimously agreed that Caste Based Discrimination is now a serious problem facing Asian Communities in Britain and agreed to support the campaign led by CasteWatchUK. The meeting also recognised that Caste Based Discrimination practices (due to various cultural reasons) also pervade the Sikh community contrary to its religious ethos. All the organisations present unanimously condemned without equivocation and ambiguity Caste Based Discrimination practices and agreed to support the proposed amendments to outlaw Caste via the Single Equality Bill. It was emphasised that Caste must be declared as a protected category along with other discrimination strands addressed by the Single Equality Bill to make for a fairer Britain.

Satpal Muman, Chairman, CasteWatchUK
Davinder Prasad, General Secretary, CasteWatchUK
http://www.castewatchuk.org/ e-mail: info@castewatchuk.org
13th December 2009

Positive action in 2010 - follow the correct path and you shall find what you seek

HOW RACIST ARE YOU?

As a Punjabi, I often enjoy the delights of being a Punjabi man through endless drinking of alcohol and meat eating on a Saturday with my mates (stereotypes? Oh no). So when in conversation, the word 'paki' is bandied around it's usually not a problem. It's kind of like how American black rappers call each other 'niggas'. So when a member of my drinking party referred to another as a 'paki' it was laughed off in conversation - it's usually not a racial term and there is no malice in it (it's used almost as a counter racist word - turning it on its head). All laughed apart from one - our Muslim friend who joined us that evening. He had obviously been the recipient of this racial slur before. The rest of us laughed away until I noticed I could not see his pearly whites - he wasn't laughing at all.

What did that tell me? If it doesn't affect you, you often cannot see the problem! Today, I saw the channel 4 programme 'The Event: How Racist are You?' which aimed to explore racism in the UK by rallying up a cross section of British people and subjecting them to a race experiment. The whites in the group were made to feel what it was like to be on the receiving end of racism through a crude social experiment led by Jane Elliot - the self confessed bitch.

It was interesting viewing and one that I think revealed that racism is very subtle in Britain. It's not all about paki-bashing and shouting paki or nigga at the ethnic minority in the street. Racism is inherently built into our society and people who are not recipients of racism will not realise how racist Britain can be because they are not subject to it. The people in power may not see that there is a problem. In the experiment, Elliot turns it on its head and subjects the blue eyed white people to discrimination. Some of them fail to learn from it - denying that it exists. By not seeing the problem, they became part of the problem.

A mixed race gentleman talks of not collecting his daughter from her middle class school because he didn't want her friends and their families to see that her father was an outward black man - it was shocking but I could sympathise. He chose to conform and do what was necessary which meant his life was easy and uncomplicated. Why rock the boat? Why fight the perceptions and stereotypes associated with being a black man with dreadlocks - it means he will be marginalised and so will his daughter so he just doesn't create that problem for his daughter. He is acutely aware that his presence would cause an outrage or a subtle frown from the parents. It's not as though he is going to roll up to a middle class school where mummies and daddies pick up their children in their estates in a blacked out BMW rolling on 20's with the music blurting the rhythms of Bob Marley and hotboxing his car as he smokes a spliff is it? Isn't that what rastas or dreadlocked men do? The man was aware of the limitations of his being - completely out of his control and subject to the scrutiny of others.

It is inherent that groups in societies will feel privileged over others. I felt privileged at school because I was in the football team and captain - it meant I could pretty much do what I wanted because I was the man - it didn't matter that I had a top-knot anymore. The reality of modern life in Britain is that racism still exists - ask Boris Johnson. One of his senior team uses the 'n' word as it was described in the press. Why is it ok to scrawl PAKI all over the front pages of all the newspapers? There are millions of people in the UK who are crushed when called a paki - the media however thinks its ok to re-use the word in their stories but we can't say nigga oh no - way too politically incorrect. Who makes the rules here?

The funny thing about all of this is the underlying currents that still haunt the civilised nation we call ‘United Kingdom’. Only recently, an actress is called a paki on the most watched TV programme in the UK. It’s a disgrace and Anton Du Beke should have been forced to tango straight out of the door. Remember Carol Thatcher? Maybe Ms Rouass wasn’t too bothered by the comments but I was – the most watched show on TV allowed a race crisis to unfold and gain national attention. Then Brucey had the nerve to say it was just banter. No Brucey bonus for you mate.

So racism still exists in all forms and subtleties theres no question about it. The Experiment proved that racism is often inherent amongst the ruling classes - its not just a white and black thing. Ask anyone who has been discriminated against - whether for colour, age, sex, sexual orientation. Unless those who discriminate rethink and acknowledge their actions and beliefs nothing will change.

CHAOS rules OK - are you in control?

Even those that think they are completely in control of their lives are actually not. What is being in 'control' and where do we draw the line between fate, circumstance, chance, luck and coincidence? I don't know... but if I take myself through a normal day then I come to realise that in fact I am in control of nothing. While I make choices that create my everyday life experience, I am constrained and pushed by external forces greater than myself - the forces of mankind that as a whole create a much greater effect than my own choices alone. Out of the chaos that sorrounds us, we all live an existence constrained by law, environment and our conscious thoughts through rights and wrongs and morals.

So I wake up in the morning - why do I wake up at 7am? Who said 7am is the right time to rise? Why not 3am or 3pm? Man has decided that a working day begins in the am and ends in the pm and there is certainly a mathematical and historical reasoning behind this - but in 2009 do any of us know what that reasoning was?

I rise, put on the TV and begin taking in the days news. The recession bites harder, the Labour party causes more havoc, The Sun decides to change political allegiance, property prices fall yet again, a Tsunami hits Sumatra etc. The days' negativity has begun.

I go to work to please my boss. I board a train. From the chaos, a small time table allows me to plan my day, creating boundaries and order out of potential disorder. How else would I know the train arrives at 8.11am? On the train, I am quiet and calm, executing my 'business' posture like everyone else. Conformity is annoying is it not?

During work, timings are obeyed - lunch times, meeting times and close of business time. All of these 'times' and gateways structured to create my working day. Returning to the train platform, consulting my little timetable. Being held up on platform 4 because train x is late... I am constrained by the fault of others and the knock-on effect is not my fault. I get home late and get in my car - drive through endless traffic. I stop at man-made traffic lights, negotiate through roads constrained by traffic laws and roads that almost tell me which way to travel - after all I cannot drive onto the path can I? That would be dangerous and against the law? Who knows what would get in the way, a lamp post? Designed to provide light and visibility on this clear evening. Or maybe a person - forced to walk on the sidewalk because that is the right thing to do. Or maybe a building. Man made.

In fact everything around us is man made. Look around. What is natural? Everything you see around you is ergonomically designed, fit for purpose and functional. Even my patch of grass in my urban jungle sprawl has been placed with intention - no rhizomes here. No chaos - just functional.

I now live in an urban jungle and in all of the functional, fit for purpose elements that sorround me lies a person making sense of the chaos... My organised religion gives me reasoning to make sense of the chaos but then I fear the priest is taking advantage of me. After all, the priest was late getting to his sermon today, a traffic jam and strong winds makes for a delayed prayer. Why would the priests' blessing have any bearing on me? He is a human being, breathes the same, cries the same tears, shits like everyone else. Divine wisdom or inspired bullshit? Man-made religion - adjusted and negotiated to suit those who practice it? An opiate to make sense of the chaos?

So if I live with total freedom then why is every element of my life almost governed by the elements both natural and man-made?

Mr Singh and Mr Khan in the VIP, F-I-G-H-T-I-N-G.... Identity is non-existent…

Today I saw a comment on none other than the abominable Facebook about what it meant to be a Sikh. A Sikh is a learner, he who is willing to learn. “Wearing the turban and maintaining an outward Sikh identity does not make you a Sikh” it said. “Being a Sikh is an emotion” it said. So all of you who adopt a religious symbol that defines your being, I’m sorry to say it may mean nothing. Wearing it for the sake of wearing it, does not make it worthy of the status it seeks to own. Counter this with the argument that any symbol designed to display allegiance to a way of being makes it worthy of being what it seeks to be – it’s the intention that gives it meaning. After all aren’t we all trying to be something or someone?

A layered argument makes for a great debate – and my debate is one of identity. I argue that identity is non-existent. “I am what I am” said popeye the stubborn sailor man (I think he was Sikh) – stubborn, big muscles and likes Spinach. Definitely Mr Singh characteristics. Ask popeye why he didn’t embrace the turban. Hypocrite! Even his fat arch enemy Bluto (I think that was his name) went one better and grew a beard!

There is a whole raft of generations who are confused about who they really are. Take Mr Singh, a 20 something educated British citizen who follows his religion on a semi-permanent basis, drinks alcohol at the necessary social gatherings and partakes in the Khalistan debate when he is forced to think of the atrocities of 1984 in the presence of the Sikh society at his university. For a few minutes he feels the injustice only to later feel the comfort of his bed sheets in his parent’s semi in Slough and he forgets the whole thing till next time. Take Mr Khan, similarly follows Islam to a degree that he is comfortable with. Mr Khan likes to dabble in recreational drugs and enjoys the odd tipple. He participates in the Islamic society and associates mainly with other Muslims. Mr Singh and Mr Khan have a lot in common, they are not opposites. They are products of their environments – where boundaries and accepted norms are created by those who possess enough clout, enough power to define a reality for them. Mix this with a parental influence (usually an eastern disposition), an identity that associates them with a religion and a digital culture (of a western disposition) I like to call the ‘Digital Kalyug ’ and we have some confused kids on our hands. Kalyug: meaning dark days. In man’s evolution, the final era or ‘yug’ is the worst – with injustice being the norm amongst humankind (a Sikh philosophy).

Mr Singh has no real idea of what 1984 was really about. He knows that Sikhs were innocently slaughtered in the holiest Sikh shrine. But does he understand the significance of such an event? He is forced to hate Hindus and other non-Sikhs as a result of this – partly by the views of injustice he hears at the ‘cha and samosa’ party at his university lecture hall and partly by the militant fashion in which ideas are propagated. A well informed ‘man in the know’ uses his knowledge to instigate a vision of any reality he wishes. “The Hindu government have forced the Sikhs to take arms, to demand a separate homeland”. Munching his samosa, Mr Singh is oblivious. He takes away the propaganda and contemplates for a while.

Mr Khan has a similar hate of his own. In recent times his community of predominantly Musilim folk has been scrutinised since the terror bombings of 7/7. He is stared at in public places and he is stopped by the police more frequently when in his car. Mr Khan develops a hatred for rules. Sajjid at university talks of the ‘white power’ that maintains the firm grip of the ethnic man – the ‘whip hand’. He talks of the innocent murders of brothers and sisters outside of the borough of Berkshire in far-off lands. Mr Khan thinks for a second. A sense of justice defines his identity and he should do something about injustices.

Mr Singh and Mr Khan live their days in a bubble of reality that is created by the social circles in which they move. They have no real idea of what it means to be British, or to have a British identity. Their lack of understanding of their social environments afforded to them by a chance decision of a great grandfather to ‘find work’ and make money in a foreign land does not make them feel grateful for being in a better place away from gunfire, poverty or war with even the lowest levels of UK poverty being equivalent to a seven star hotel elsewhere. They have access to education, food, water and warmth far beyond what is deemed “acceptable” in India or in Pakistan. They have a chance to be educated free from the constraints of a caste system (debateable: see earlier articles for enlightenment) where class will prevail. Mr Khan however thinks the NHS is a waste of space because A+E took five hours to treat his slash wound when he decided to ‘claat’ some Singhs in the club who retaliated. Mr Singh thinks the law system in the UK is flawed since he was allowed to get away with a paltry 3 month driving ban when he got “smashed” on Chivas Regal at his mates wedding and attempted to navigate his way home. A small price to pay for a lifetime of stories with friends and a mountain of Facebook picture tags. Singh and Khan have a problem with etiquette speaking a hybrid English punctuated by sucking of teeth and an ‘init’ to end every sentence. It’s the norm. That’s what it means to be a Brit-Asian init?

A few Muslims have a run-in with some Sikhs at a club. Apparently Muslims and Sikhs do not get along… Khan doesn’t really know why. What the hell a fisticuff makes him more of an eligible bachelor in the eyes of the intoxicated females. Singh hates Muslims because they give it large and take all of ‘his’ women – its acceptable to fight and that’s what Sikhs do isn’t it? They are a warrior religion and they defend the weak. So when a Muslim brother chats up a Sikh sister, Mr Singh defends the weak (with the prospect of fornication with said “sister” upon dispatch of Muslim).

Fuelled by bravado and alcohol (and some recreational drugs) a showdown takes place. Mr Khan is bottled and Mr Singh is stabbed. Another innocent bystander however is caught in the struggle, is knocked unconscious and suffers multiple stab wounds. Police barricade the club and scores of clubbers of the Asian variety discuss proceedings outside amid the sirens as if they understand what is really happening – it’s exciting though. “Don’t mess with me” thinks Mr Singh. “I’ll take you down” says Mr Khan. The essence of the initial brawl is lost only to leave a re-enforced hatred based on… well nothing.

Mr Singh and Mr Khan sitting in A+E, S-T-A-R-I-N-G at each other. “This is not over” thinks Khan. “You will feel the wrath of my kirpan” thinks Singh. So the cycle continues… And for what? Meanwhile, a child dies every six seconds in Africa alone from poverty, HIV / Aids and hunger.

There are lots of Mr Singhs and Mr Khans who operate in the same way as above perpetuating a so-called reality of hatred and clash of religious groups. In fact some of them that will be reading this will be one of them too (females included – no gender bias in this debate oh no). The bigger picture is this: define your own reality. Ask questions and decide for yourself what is right, what is wrong and what can be dismissed. Just because all the lemmings went south and sank in the quicksand, will you too? The bubbles in which we live, those that define our realities can be easily burst if we open our eyes and minds a little more. There is a whole world out there.

Question who you are but do not question others for they are also prescribing to an identity of some degree – it’s a continuous process. We are born alone and we die alone. What we do in the middle is up to us. Learn something new today. Be proud of where you have come from and be proud of where you are now. The two do not have to be mutually exclusive. More importantly, be sure of where you are going because the direction you take is down to you…

Identity in the crudest sense is non-existent. We become whatever we want to be in the moment. If I see an injustice, I become the law enforcer or the morally right. If I see prejudice, I become the peace maker… I am in the moment and the moment is me. Be not constrained by a category or boundary… Be the person who you want to be. Being dressed in the hijab or wearing the turban will not make you more favourable in God’s court, but you deserve some credit at least. If you adopt the “Mr Khan and Mr Singh” approach as above, you only scratch the surface, you will never fully know who you really are because you don’t question and ask why things work this way…Think about it.

I’m off to have a beer, and maybe spend 7 hours on facebook. After all that’s what we all do isn’t it?

Don’t be concerned about the wind that goes opposite to you… it only blows to make you fly higher. Like an aeroplane, it needs the wind coming against it at unbearable and sometimes brutal speeds to fly it. Take off and see the world at magnificent heights…

Picture 1 - Ignorance, You'll never know how bad things are if you never ask.

Picture 2 - 'The Thinker'. The artist Cézanne saw no difference between a human sitter and an inanimate object such as an apple, except that the reflection value and the palette were different. In the end, his subjects and his fruit wilted - all of his pictues were sad and sombre. He didn't embrace the beauty of life.

Picture 3 - 'The Original Sin' - According to traditional Christian theology, human beings have fallen from divine grace. Satan tempted Adam and Eve to defy the command of God not to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Eve disobeyed. Original Sin was born. All descendants of Adam and Eve have fallen from a blissful state of innocence and communion with God. Now humankind is condemned to a life of suffering and toil ("the primal curse").

Birth and Death - and the bit in the middle

Wake up it’s the 1st of the month!

Its been about 8 months now since Paki Tin was conceived and I began writing about things that were essentially me "thinking aloud". It has been a strange year so far and one that has probably moved faster than any other period of my life. They say things happen all at once - very true.

Paki Tin has moved leaps and bounds since then. Here are just a few of the headlines.

Endorsement by CasteWatch UK – a leading organization aiming to address caste discrimination in the UK.
An invitation and subsequent appearance to appear on a popular current affairs TV show exploring race and identity – and other projects in the pipeline.
Invitations to attend conferences and conventions addressing identity politics and discrimination in the ethnic communities.
Many artists, musicians and writers have offered their work to us and this will culminate in the ‘Who Are You? Join the Debate’ project coming soon.

Paki Tin has covered some of the following topics:

Racism, race, ethnicity, arranged marriage, religion, terrorism, identity, outward religious symbols, institutional racism, the BNP, politics, ethnic representation in the media, white flight, and the topic that has sparked the most debate: caste discrimination.

Many of the topics discussed have stemmed from supporters of the site sharing their thoughts and I thank you all for your support. I also thank those that have contributed to the site and offered advice so far. Get in touch with me at paki-tin@live.co.uk.

It’s very easy to get caught up in the hype that has come out of this site but I’m not here for that nor did I set up this site for any of the above. They are by-products of my thought processes.

So in true Paki Tin fashion, I leave you with some words that I first posted a few months ago but subsequently removed because I felt they were too personal. We all have questions about life and God… remain inquisitive and seek answers. Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers. I don't have the answers, I just hope to ask the right questions.

Every generation thinks it has the answers, and every generation is humbled by nature

I would like some answers please (originally posted March 2009)

Today is a bad day. Tomorrow could be worse. I have had the wind taken from my stomach; I have had my peace of mind eroded faster in the last week than ever in my life. I have had my life put into perspective through endless iterations in the last few days. I have learned that I am hard faced, un-reactive but strong and resilient.

A person close to me was told that they had a life threatening illness. This person was lucky and I am grateful to God that this person has been given a second chance. Talking of God, I question further God’s role in all things that formulate our destiny. A person who has been devoutly religious (more so than the average person) all of their life, has never partaken in sinful activities such as drinking, smoking and meat-eating (all cardinal sins for a Sikh) still has their life threatened in the most terrifying way. Where was God’s help and leniency? Why does God allow such cruelties? And why do we blame God when such an occurrence takes place?

I have always been a person who has been ashamed to ask God for something. I’m like your proud uncle whose pride is precious and I will die for it. I do however thank God when things go right or I am grateful for what I have. I try my best to lead a life that would be worthy of an invitation to heaven. When judgement day arrives I would approach the pearly gates with trepidation, recalling my worst human acts and hoping that I was able to counter them with equally good ones and somehow the tally sheet holds enough evidence for my allowed entry like an immigrant awaiting his fate at the border of a foreign land. I’m not foreign to heaven am I? They know of me… they were expecting me… I would be afraid of being turned away or something has been overlooked and I am refused. Come to think of it, I am like this whenever I check in for a flight. I am worried that I have missed something or the airport security gives me a hard time for nothing. I am always very jittery on these occasions. When at the gates of heaven, all of my quivering and trembling is justified. This is me.

I have designed my whole life around the person who for a second I thought I was going to lose and I did not react. I couldn’t react although I had admittedly thought about this kind of morbid situation many times as a way of strengthening my own resolve and determination. When it happens for real, there is no knowing how you will react and my reaction has certainly shocked me. God certainly didn’t give me a teary disposition; I must have been at the back of the queue when he handed out his quota of tears per person. I have dissolved into a trance-like do-this-do-that android that goes about his daily life and takes each day as it comes.

I have questioned everything important in my life. The fact is that nothing is as important to me as my family. The human product I am today is inextricably linked to my upbringing, environment and the haves and haves-nots that have shaped my character and my persona. The person whose life was put in question has had the most profound impact on me that I am in awe of the strength, compassion and resilience that this person has displayed all of their life. I am angry with God for allowing this person to endure such a position… I further question whether religion really is the ‘opiate’ that nulls the pain of human kind. After all, where does worship get us? I would like some answers please…

I conclude that there is no correlation between worship and length of service (a life time). If this was the case, then why do the good die young? And why do some evil bastards drag on and kick their heels for years and years? Where’s the balance and more importantly where is the justice? I was told once that God takes people at any time when he has a need for them… I have a need for this person and so I politely ask God to leave this person alone… for me.

Rays of sunshine may oust a shadow once CASTE - Single Equality Bill update

CasteWatch UK, a supporter of Paki-Tin have informed us of the progress made in the passing of the Single Equality Bill. Paki-Tin reported on the pitfalls faced by British Asian society in light of the caste debate - it seems that British Asians embrace the west but cling onto caste prejudice. Can you truthfully explain what caste you belong and what significance it holds for you today?

For those victims of caste discrimination - take heart and take note - this will continue.

For those who practice caste discrimination - your ignorance will not be tolerated in a free society.

Please also see Paki-Tin's previous articles on CASTE discrimination:

A societal weather report: Expect this dark cloud to reign perpetually. A shadow is CASTE over our societies… - 7th April 2009


Societal Weather Report Part 2: High Caste, Low Caste – We are Over Caste… The high winds of change are upon us. - 10th April 2009


A Letter of Thanks - CasteWatch UK - 19th April 2009


DNA of an Indian: a rich cultural heritage, centuries of exceptional academic achievement and CASTE discrimination - 22nd April 2009


**Update July 2009**

You will be aware that CasteWatchUK has been leading the campaign to have Caste Based Discrimination (CBD) addressed in the Single Equality Bill (SEB).

CasteWatchUK recently submitted a memorandum as evidence to the Scrutiny Committee overseeing the Single Equality Bill. Caste Based Discrimination has now been addressed as per the amendment as proposed.


Although several MP’s who have been supportive of our cause were working hard behind the scenes, the amendment was proposed by Lynne Featherstone MP and Dr Evan Harris MP - members of the Bill Committee. Please see the Single Equality Bill amendment by following the URL below.


The Committee stage now comes to a close. The SEB will now proceed to the Report Stage then 3rd reading after that onto the House of Lords. We will continue to eagerly monitor the passage of the Single Equality Bill.


You will not be surprised to learn that we faced immense opposition from Hindu Council UK and Hindu Forum of Britain. No doubt when they learn of this amendment there will be retaliation. We will have to keep an eye on how the SEB progresses in the next stages.

Here is the URL for the memorandum that CasteWatchUK submitted:-

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200809/cmpublic/cmpbequality.htm#memo

Here is the URL for the proposed amendment to the SEB:

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200809/cmbills/085/amend/pbc0850707a.1113-1119.html

A link to Bill Committee: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200809/cmpublic/equality/equality.htm

This is a historic day for our people in the UK & rest of the world and marks the beginning of an end of our suffering in silence for centuries in the name of caste.

Regards and thanks for your continued support to our common cause.

Davinder Prasad
General Secretary
CasteWatchUK

Michael Jackson made culture accept a person of colour, way before Tiger Woods, way before Oprah Winfrey and way before Barack Obama

Saturday 27th Feb 1993 was the happiest day of my life. I had forced my dad to buy me a copy of the greatest music video the world had ever seen. I was 9 years old and I was in awe. Michael Jackson was my idol as he was to millions of fans across the world and my childhood was defined by two things – football and Michael Jackson.

I remember that Saturday like it was yesterday. I had pestered my dad for weeks to buy me the Thriller video. I was too young to see it during its peak – having being recorded a year before I was born and the video doing the rounds when I was merely vomiting over my mum’s shoulder as a baby. But I grew up with the Jackson phenomenon firmly entrenched in my mind. I am looking at my Thriller video now, still one of my most prized possessions. A rather battered case and darkened image but it holds a lot of memories. It cost £9.49 (a lot of paise my gran would have said) and the price tag my mum left on the inside cover knowing I would look back in years to come and remember the time. Today I reminded her.

Other MJ films had the same effect as I teetered on the edge of pre-pubescent existence. When it comes to embarrassing moments in life, I have had my fair share of them but one that I don’t deem embarrassing is my love and adoration for the man known as the King of Pop. My appearance on the local Asian radio station during one school summer holiday serves as a reminder to me of how big an influence Michael Jackson really was to me – and for many others.

“So what have you been doing in the holidays? Playing football? Building a tree house? Having lots of fun?” the radio host asked in a light Indian twang.
“I’ve been wochin Moonwalker evriday” I exclaim excitedly in the way only we know in the Black Country.
“Oh really, how many times have you seen it?”
“I’ve seen it baat 80 times now, it’s brilliant, ah love it. I gorrit at ‘ome on video”.

I plucked the number 80 from thin-air and truthfully it was probably a lot more times than that...My Moonwalker viewing rituals included recording the montage of early Jackson songs onto cassette whilst simultaneously hosting my ‘Michael Jackson’s Disco’ show as ‘Music and Me’, ‘The Love You Save’, ‘Whose Lovin You’, ‘Dancing Machine’, ‘Blame It On the Boogie’ and countless others ran in sequence. If the music that defined me was Michael Jackson, my devotion to the king of pop manifested itself in the form of Moonwalker in the visual arts. I didn’t watch anything but Moonwalker and follow Manchester United religiously on Match of the Day as a child. I absolutely adored that film (and maybe even more than Thriller). Sci-fi effects, sports cars, robots, space ships, gangsters, guns splattered with music videos and of course Smooth Criminal (I still cannot get over that lean!). It was ground breakingly original even though I accept now that it did ‘not make for a structured or professional movie’ as Variety pointed out in 1988. I was 8 years old at the time of watching it… come on.

Some of my ‘radio shows’ also consisted of bitter rants as I recorded speeches of the injustices of life – the one and only injustice being that my cousin had seen Michael Jackson in person having fun in Disney Land whilst on holiday there. It was enough to make me hate the world for a week or so… “Why can they meet im and not may [me]? That’s all I wont. I wanna meet im but I car [can’t]”, cringeworthy indeed but I wouldn’t change it for the world. Those that know me well will know how passionate I was.

My recordings of life’s injustices were balanced with optimistic, heart felt personal mission statements about what I wanted to achieve in life most of which were to meet Michael Jackson. And a second opinion was always welcome with a little coaxing (forcing) of my brother to say his piece too – I recall whispering words to my brother to say aloud on my “tribute” tape of his “ambulition” (translated "ambition" – a regrettable miscommunication on my part) to see Michael Jackson in person one day as well utilising his services as a back up singer on my ‘disco’ shows. Good times.

The three albums that influenced me most throughout my childhood was MJ’s Thriller, Bad and Dangerous. In the late 80’s / early 90's when I began to develop a sense of self whilst barely growing out of my nappies and still peeing the bed, I developed a keen interest in music and Michael Jackson was the indisputable driving influence on me. My first childhood memories irrevocably centre around MJ, my mum dressing me in the same clothes as my brother who was five years my junior and my cassette player which was the holy grail from which I spread the love (mainly out of my front window while I peered from a corner to see who would notice the heavenly melodies of Beat It, Smooth Criminal, Liberian Girl or PYT as they walked past). I am proud to be a child of 90’s – East 17 and Take That were good but MJ was great.

Michael Jackson was a genius. A man whose mystery and controversy nearly became as famous as the music. He was an enigma who transcended boundaries. For a 9 year old Sikh lad from a conservative second generation Indian family living in the heart of Britain’s Black Country, with a top-knot and Sikh lifestyle, MJ was not out of place in my household.

It wasn’t like idolising the other greats. If you liked Bob Marley you were seen as a ganja smoking, gun toting rasta. If you liked the Beatles you were probably a pill-popping hippy who believed in free love and peace. If you liked Elvis you were probably – well, a big girl. Anyway, Elvis, the Beatles and Marley were before my time. But everyone loved Jackson – young white kids, black kids, brown kids – it just didn’t matter. Michael Jackson was uniting people before anyone. The Reverend Al Sharpton put it so eloquently the day Jackson died – “Michael made culture accept a person of colour, way before Tiger Woods, way before Oprah Winfrey, way before Barack Obama. Michael did with music what they let it do in sports, and in politics and in television. He used his strength to help people around the world”.

Songs of identity made me question who I was: ‘I’m not gona spend my life being a colour’ (Black or White). What did it mean to be a colour? Why were people of different backgrounds, ethnicities and religions? Why was Jackson becoming whiter and whiter and was he proud of his own race? As Michael changed colour, did he appeal to more people? Did he really break the trans-culture trans-racial barrier and allow everyone to embrace him? I think so… even if he didn’t like himself or how he looked, his metamorphosis from black to white and then back to black (he was proclaimed to be a ‘black’ artist after his death) meant that he touched everyone. More importantly, his music did the talking. Colour shouldn’t be an issue anymore and much credit to Jackson for helping to mould this view.

Words from various Jackson tracks from hits across the board resonated with me and looking back those messages were real and true – 'Life aint so bad at all if you live it off the wall' (Off the Wall). Of remaining focused on your goals and dreams: 'Aint no mountain that I can’t climb baby, all is going my way' (Leave Me Alone); ‘I’m taking no shit though you really wanna fix me’ (This Time Around which featured another great – The Notorious B.I.G); ‘Don’t let no-one get you down, keep moving on higher ground' (HIStory). Of appreciating your fortune and what you have and to help the needy (an important facet of Sikhism): 'You got world hunger, not enough to eat, so there's really no time to be trippin' on me' (Why You Wanna Trip On Me). I could go on…

Michael Jackson was a flawed individual. I switched off somewhat to the media circus that surrounded him during the abuse trials. He was raped by the media – the same media tosspots that now revere him as the greatest musical legend the world has ever seen. The critics now understand his impact or at least now embrace the positivity he brought to the world through his music. He now tops the charts, breaks records posthumously and develops a new fan base – those that open their ears in the wake of his death. But the real fans mourn, knowing that no more MJ magic will be upon us and he leaves us amazed just as he did during his peak. Two weeks before his comeback tour, the world is stunned by his sudden departure. I for one am saddened that I didn’t get to see my childhood hero in person in London; an event that I looked forward to with tremendous excitement. We all know where we were and what we were doing the day the King of Pop was no more. The closest I got to MJ was a Jackson waxwork (a rather bad one) me and my brother posed with in the 90’s in Blackpool… a small (minuscule) consolation.

On this day, I write this post as Michael Jackson is laid to rest on 7th July 2009. Having just watched his memorial on TV like the millions if not the anticipated one billion viewers around the world I am reminded of why he was and will remain a legend, a great philanthropist and peaceful humanitarian. I’m sure my memories are like many other people’s and that is why we all connected with him and his music. These are just some of my memories at a time when he influenced me the most and I smile (and cringe) in equal measures.

Al Sharpton fittingly proclaimed at the memorial today that Michael out-sang his cynics, he out-danced the dancers and he out-performed the pessimists. The greatest entertainer of all time is no more and my fond memories keep him alive for me. What are yours?

R.I.P Michael Jackson

No single culture or race has a divine right to occupy a certain area - 'White Flight'

When speaking to a good friend of mine (a white 20-something male) I was shocked to hear his words regarding the state of the UK in the next 30 years…

‘You do realise that the UK will become a white minority nation within the next 30 years don’t you?’

In other words, the ethnic minorities in the UK will take over the white population leading the UK to become over populated by non-whites. Tie that in with Trevor Phillips talking about how the UK will become increasingly mixed race within the next 15 years (and the mixed races will become Britain’s largest ethnic minority population) and we have a backlash from white nationals who fear this outcome.

‘White flight’ where white Britons uproot and move to other areas of the UK to avoid and move away from largely populated ethnic minority areas. Maybe this is partly the reason why integration can be so difficult. Just go to some parts of London, Birmingham, Manchester or Leeds and you can see exactly where white flight has taken place.

All of this at a time where Britain is to be known as a multi-cultural nation – multi-cultural it is but integrated it isn’t. When a young British Asian can cause infinite pain within the country he was born and raised in, we can be certain that integration doesn’t take place in certain areas of the UK. People become segregated, and subject to religious extremism.

Research by Migrationwatch suggests residential movements in Britain are mainly from areas of high ethnic minority population to those with predominantly white populations. I remember many of my Asian town folk expressing their wish to move to a less ‘ethnically populated’ area. It meant that you were climbing the social class ladder to be occupying a space amongst white folk. It was a sign that you were integrated. So when my aunt moved to a white area of Bradford in the 1980’s she was very proud to have integrated – shame the area didn’t stay that way. There is also now an element of ‘ethnic flight’ where those people of ethnic origin who are of a higher social class also move away from deeply and often deprived working class areas. It’s not just a white problem anymore.

Just last month, The Guardian reported that a report published by charity Barrow Cadbury Trust “dismisses tabloid images of a segregated nation at war with itself, concluding that more than two thirds of respondents in Birmingham consider relations between different communities to be good” with rising social mobility among ethnic communities. Almost half of the respondents thought there was “more integration between communities than a generation ago”.

Extremists express a deep concern that the UK is becoming less white – the way it should not be they say. With the ‘go back to where you come from’ debate seemingly coming back into the fore especially in light of the immigration policies currently observed in the UK, it seems the UK is going back to a time when racism was alive and kicking. Only now, racism exists because we have come full circle. The ‘not understanding others’ excuse is now replaced by the influx of immigrants causing economic instability and the Britishness debate – are mixed race people British when they share white genetics with an ethnic race? What does it mean to be British? etc etc.

What’s the moral? It can be argued that the UK is a confused hot bed of racial tension. No-one knows what it means to feel British and Islamism seems to be giving all ethnic communities a bad name. Where do we go from here? As one respondent in the Birmingham study reported in the Guradian pointed out: 'No single culture or race has a divine right to occupy a certain area’ – and this should be extended to the whole of Britain.

The video below portrays a shocking image of the UK as a place where ethnic minorities have had a deep negative effect on the country and all it stands for…

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Mum! Look! An Indian on the TV!

When I was growing up it was not uncommon to cry with excitement when an ethnic person appeared on the box from heaven i.e. the TV. The television has been a primary artery in the body of education I call ‘life’. I don’t think for a second that TV has corrupted me. In fact, TV has helped me to learn more about the cultures, societies and environments that surround me. So when I saw a black person appearing on TV for the first time, I was pretty happy about it. When an Indian person appeared on TV I was very excited. But when a Sikh appeared on TV exemplified by his turban I was ecstatic!
‘Singh, Singh!’ I would scream and jump up and down with joy – I was like a raver on acid. It was so uncommon to see a Singh on the box that if I did see one I would question whether Uncle Malkit had secretly climbed into the TV.

Come to think of it, how many Sikhs who display outward religious symbols do we see today on TV? I can only think of three and I am pushing the boundary in terms of talent. It is late but I am really scraping the ethnic barrel here.

1. Hardeep Singh Kohli (pictured) – clearly a talented individual who appears on the BBC’s One Show. With his extrovert turban often of varying colours (I think the last colour I saw him wearing was purple or maybe it was mauve, lilac or lavender?). He is actually a role model to me. An outward Sikh with an equally outward turban that even my uncle ‘Shipwreck’ would wince at (and they don’t call him shipwreck for nothing I can tell you). A great individual and a brilliant sense of humour.

2. The Sikh with no fashion sense whatsoever who challenged Peggy Mitchell as Walford councillor in Eastenders not too long ago. She subsequently gave an ‘emotional and inspiring’ speech at the councillors session and then collapsed afterwards in the Vic. That awful speech must have really taken it out of her eh? The Singh in question wear a turban that looked like it had been tied by David Blunkett. Religion and politics never mix – lesson learnt.

3. The third Singh I make reference to is also part of the Eastenders faithful. The extra in Eastenders! I never fail to miss him and always point him out to my fellow Eastenders audience whenever he appears. Quite embarrassing really when your grandma who is a devout Sikh watches with you deciphering the cockney dialect when she cannot utter a word of English but still somehow manages to work out that Heather is pregnant, Billy is a twat and Jeneen is an evil schemer and the offspring of Frank Butcher! So when I scream ‘Singh, Singh!’ my grannie shoots me a disapproving glance and continues to listen to Shirley talking crap about how she loves alcoholic Phil Mitchell.

Is Eastenders a representation of multicultural Britain or purely just a realistic and disappointing interpretation of a London suburb or even the UK? I think the latter. How come there isn’t a Singh family anyway when Punjabi Sikhs make up a massive percentage of the ethnic British population? Maybe I should make a case and send them my credentials as a new Sikh character. I can imagine my story line: Sikh lad enters the Queen Vic and sits within shot of Phil’s barmaid not saying a word while Ben wets himself because Phil just downed his 56th vodka and orange. All this while I chat away to the mute that is ‘Singh in Eastenders’. He is so popular that he even has a facebook fan page (and guess what I’m in it).

Another one of my pet hates in Eastenders is the race proofing… filling the ethnic quota by replacing one defunct Asian family (the pesky Ferreiras) with another, the Masoods. And the recent addition of Syeed, the forgotten son who happens to look nothing like either his parents or his younger brother. Why on earth does Zainab still have the most infuriating Pakistani accent that changes constantly? Once she sounded Punjabi and my gran pointed out that ‘her English good’. No it’s not gran.

Lenny Henry recently pointed out that TV when he was growing up was white with only a smattering of black. “America was light years ahead of us when it came to on screen diversity. Unfortunately I wasn’t living in America – I lived in Dudley”. I share his pain, being a fellow West Midlands and Black Country contemporary. Just like Lenny loved to see a black person on TV, I like to see an Asian and more importantly one that is a Sikh – an identifiable Sikh.

I have had my own conflicts with having a turban in the past. I wanted to be like the other cool boys when I was growing up. I told my mum that I was going to cut my hair. The finger prints of my mum’s slap around my face remained for 3 days. Sathnam Sanghera didn’t ask, he just went and cut his hair and then wrote a story about it! ‘The Boy with the Topknot’ was like reading about my own life only my hair stayed where it was.

My serious point is this; on-screen diversity in the UK has come a long way (in my last post I made reference to the many Asian newsreaders I see nowadays!). But as a Sikh, I fear that some stereotypes remain – Sikhs are under-represented by a mile. Does the West still fear the turban? Is the turban threatening and do people liken a turban to Arabian attire? When I have a conversation with somebody and their eyes wander north of my eyes, I sometimes wander what kind of society I live in when I can be judged not by skin colour (the classic) but by an outward religious symbol that now seems to get in the way for some people. It’s fucking annoying. What do you think?

Lenny Henry got it right when he asked TV decision makers how far we had come in the UK TV industry in relation to ethnicity and stereotypes… “And while we’re about it - lets cut the stereotyping right now: when you can cast a Somalian girl in your piece simply because she is the best actor for the job, when you can cast an Asian actress and she’s not the victim of an arranged marriage, when you can cast a Jamaican man with dreadlocks and he’s not a drug dealer… then we will have achieved something”.

Just because there are more and more ethnic faces on TV, it doesn't mean that society is represented appropriately... Just ask a Sikh.

I am a "Racial Foreigner" says the BNP...

According to leader of the British National Party Nick Griffin, black and Asian Britons are ‘racial foreigners’. In recent news of the leaked BNP "Language and Concepts Discipline Manual", all people from ethnic minority groups are “no more British than an Englishman living in Hong Kong is Chinese". The classic line we hear from hardline BNP members is the age old adage that 'a dog born in a stable is not a horse”. In a rather shameful but common sense way it actually makes sense. When I ask the racial foreigners around me – sorry I mean when I ask my fellow British Asian counterparts whether they are British I always get the response “yes but I don’t feel it sometimes”.

I find it extremely amusing that Bradford was named one of the three most "English" places in England. Bradford has a high proportion of Pakistani Muslims as well as one of the country's highest ratios of fish and chip shops to people! Down the road to this very English part of Britain, lies Leeds – home to the 7/7 bombers. It goes to show that being a legal Briton does not mean you are British… and Griffin points out by likening the term British to an ethnic description.

This probably goes some way to explain why young British Asians become guilty of plotting and executing terror attacks in the land that has raised them. Young people who have the right to be as British as anyone else become disenfranchised with their environments to the point where they hail mutiny and cause chaos. I guess Nick Griffin’s point that these people remain “of the stock” where they come from is correct. "We don't subscribe to the politically correct fiction that just because they happen to be born in Britain, a Pakistani is a Briton… they're not; they remain of Pakistani stock." Point taken.

Griffin goes on to suggest that calling all people of colour British resulted in a ‘bloodless genocide’ because indigenous people were denied their identity. What’s wrong with being called a Black Briton or Asian Briton? I am an Asian Briton. I don’t tell other British people what their identities are. I guess I should drop the ‘Asian’ tag because I also feel this segregates me to a certain degree. But essentially I am Asian because my family originates from India. I am also British without question – I was born in the UK which legally grants me the right to call myself British but more importantly I adopt the British culture if that culture can actually be defined.

I am British and I come from Indian “stock” – and a very tasty stock may I add in the culinary sense. Talking of food, Chicken Tikka Masala is one Britain’s national dishes. There is a huge “stockpile” of “racial foreigners” in the UK:

Amir Khan - the UK’s most prolific boxing talent and of Pakistani stock.
Monty Panesar – a British Sikh and an England cricket sensation. Indian stock.
Lenny Henry – a Dudley born black comedian. “I am yam, what I yam” he would say in his deep Black Country accent.

Or funny-man Omid 'Iranian in UK' Djalili?
What about all the pretty “racial foreigners” now presenting on our news channels? Mishal Hussain, Nina Hossain, Susanne Virdi, Samira Ahmed? And not forgetting George Alagiah or Krishnan Guru-Murthy?
What about the activitists and humanitarians such as Liberty director Shami Chakrabarti and Parvin Ali who has fought endlessly for the rights of Muslim women?
What about exceptional UK entrepreneurs like Karan Bilamoria, James Caan, Perween Warsi and Tom Singh? The list goes on and on…..

More importantly, what about the millions of hard working, tax paying, law abiding African-Caribbeans, Pakistanis, Punjabis, Bangladeshis, Chinese, Jewish and countless other community groups who contribute to the wellbeing of Britian today? All of these groups contribute to the United Kingdom but how united must one feel when still regarded as an inferior second class citizen?

There are so many “racial foreigners” in the UK that to take them away (Nick Griffin thinks we don’t exist) is to take away a lot of what Britain has achieved and will achieve in years to come as the UK becomes a further enriched melting pot of varying stocks.

And what of those who are mixed race? Are they ‘semi racial foreigners’ perhaps?
Leona Lewis is one Britain’s brightest singing talents and of mixed race background – Black Caribbean stock.
Craig David – the son of a Jewish mother and a West Indian father.
Lewis Hamilton is mixed race – the youngest ever Formula 1 champion.

So the next time I fill out a form that asks of my credentials in terms of identity, I will do what I usually do… I will draw a box at the end of the list, title it Human Being and tick the box with pride. Or maybe I should not bother, after all I don’t exist…

DNA of an Indian: a rich cultural heritage, centuries of exceptional academic achievement and CASTE discrimination

The UK government is trying its utmost to remain politically correct and not to “hurt” the feelings of the many minority groups that now reside here. As part of this, the government is trying its best to outlaw all forms of discrimination through the Single Equality Bill.

Racism is seen as anti-social behaviour but there is no reference to caste discrimination – a potentially more damaging and acute form of prejudice for Asian communities. Should caste discrimination be added to the Single Equality Bill? Of course.

In theory there is to be a single Equality Act for Great Britain. It will encompass disability, sex, race and other grounds of discrimination within one piece of legislation. With the Equality Bill expected to be published this month, I explore some of the issues still facing minority ethnic communities of the South Asian Diaspora – the main issue it seems remains to be Caste discrimination (no surprise there then).

There are three main guilty parties in the caste discrimination arena. Some openly practise caste discrimination whilst others inadvertently maintain it:

1. The Oppressor: those with perceived power.
2. The Victims: who fail to stand up and challenge the oppressor.
3. The Law Makers: those reluctant to address the problem.

Most of us will not believe that Caste discrimination was outlawed in India in 1947 when caste divides are openly seen and practised there today. I have seen it myself. The system has been in existence in India for centuries. Members of lower castes have lived lives in squalor and it continues today. It is safe to say that making caste discrimination unlawful in the UK will go a long way to ensuring that ill-informed social divides in the context of a UK British Asian society will diminish significantly. We are not in India. The UK government needs to address a problem that has hindered the progress of South Asian communities since they first arrived here over 50 years ago.

In my last post, I maintained that class would kill caste. It’s obvious and necessary in a free world. All are given equal opportunity and we become the shapers of our destinies. This is what makes the UK a fantastic place to live. It could have been very different for me. My grandfather could have decided to go elsewhere when he left the Punjab in 1954 to make a better life for himself. I consider myself lucky to have been brought up in the UK with moderately liberal Indian parents who didn’t push the caste agenda onto me. I was always told that my education was important and I could be anything I wanted to be if I worked hard to get it. I think my parents got it right.

Just yesterday, I tried to explain the notion of being ‘working class’ to a friend of mine who instantly proclaimed that I was middle class based on my education and career. It was a revelation. Here I was proud to be from a working class migrant family and in the eyes of those around me I was already a middle class high achiever. To be honest, I am proud to be working class and in my eyes I will always belong to this group. It makes me who I am. The caste system however upsets me – and it’s my fellow (often uneducated) Indian counterparts who push this outdated system onto me.

In the UK, it doesn’t matter which caste you belong to. We are all treated equally (some will challenge me on that). Everybody is free. My friend Ashwin, the ‘chamar’ I talked about in a previous post is a high achiever. In India, he would never have excelled as he has done in the UK and he openly admits it. In CasteWatch UK’s report on "Caste and the Asian Christian Diaspora" released in March 2009, a key note speaker describes how he overcame caste prejudices through higher education. It empowered him and his family and allowed him to excel. His caste had no bearing on who he aspired to be. According to Kapil Dudakia of the Hindu Forum of Britain, “caste is well and truly non-existent” in the UK. Which world does he live in?

Including caste in the Single Equality Bill would be a step in the right direction for UK British Asians. There is no need for a caste system in the UK. The Jatt farmer doesn’t cultivate his land here. He works in IT, lives in Birmingham and has three children who attend a state school. The Hindu Brahmin runs a florist, owns a Ford Mondeo and shops at Tesco. The chamar runs his own business, takes expensive holidays and sits on his local council. Caste? It does not matter anymore does it?

When South Asians introduce themselves, they are advertising their origins.

“Hi I’m Bal Sidhu” - Note to self: He is Jatt (indicated by the surname, a Punjabi, a Sikh, and most likely to be from Jalandhar district India).
“I am Gopalanand Das” – mental note taken: A Hindu, possibly Brahmin, most likely to be from Northern India, possibly Uttar Pradesh or similar.

The above examples show that we as Asians use caste as a defining feature – it often forms part of our identity and we enforce and maintain it often without thinking. Until we all see that it adds no value to who we are, it will remain alive. It is unfortunate that the caste system has been exported from India. It is up to us to first understand the problem and diagnose a suitable solution for its remedy – The Single Equality Bill. When we are punished for doing something unlawful, chances are we don’t do it again.

“I am Gary Robinson” – My mind works overtime - meaning "son of Robin” with English heritage, possibly of Northern Irish descent? Could he be related to Sugar Ray Robinson the famous boxer? A real stab in the dark here… A member of the Royal family perhaps? There’s just no telling. No signs of status, caste and social standing here – he is free to be whoever he wants to be.

Caste discrimination becoming unlawful will help to remove some of the ingrained perceptions of power of the oppressors – they cannot enforce an age-old belief in a forward thinking society. It will give the victims a better chance to live in peace. Legislation is the vehicle in which to make this happen. The law makers are responsible for ensuring that all are free from discrimination of any kind and given equal opportunity.

Incorporating caste into the Single Equality Bill will also send a message to the world and those who practice caste discrimination elsewhere. It’s not feasible anymore and my children will certainly be better off for it in years to come…

The South Asian migrants have come a long way since the 1950’s. The following generations will move even further once caste has been removed and all are able to compete equally… The Caste system has been described as the ‘cancer of Indian society’. The only way to cure it within the UK context is to remove it.

A Letter of Thanks - CasteWatch UK

In my recent posts concerning the caste system and its impact on British Asians, CasteWatch UK who actively promote to remove caste discrimination from British Asian society thanked Paki Tin for airing an issue that is often shrouded in secrecy. From a British Asian perspective, the effects of the caste system are very much still ingrained within our communities. To totally remove it would be difficult. To understand what caste is in the context of modern society however is far more realistic and we should all take note of who we are and what we stand for - when the 18 year old lad in the club sips his drink and proclaims his superior caste we can be sure that the caste system is abused and misunderstood. Let us all seek answers...

Dear Paki-Tin,

I am extremely thankful to you for taking interest in our cause. I have gone through your blog and it is fantastic, thought provoking and is full of information that must be presented to every young Asian mind in the UK. I have to thank you for supporting us. We need people who oppose Caste discrimination in the UK and are willing to take part in a massive social reform and education of young Brit Asians to develop their identities in line with British Values and not based on obsolete and discriminatory bigotry.

It is fascinating to see the view points of people when they speak about racism. The same people make a complete and very fast u-turn the moment you present them with caste issues and go into denial mode. As someone, who has personal experience of both, caste discrimination is considerably more painful, particularly in British situation. Hindus and others who are still trying to maintain the caste divides have to be re-educated in human rights and British Values. I am going to forward the link to your blog to the rest of our members.

Regards,


Davinder Prasad
General Secretary
CasteWatchUK

Societal Weather Report Part 2: High Caste, Low Caste – We are Over Caste… The high winds of change are upon us.

Not only is the caste debate big enough for us to ponder over all day long, it is a debate that is very much needed today. I am a modern Sikh, who lives a British lifestyle. I battle to maintain a Sikh identity and lifestyle whilst conforming to a Western way of being – the two do not have to be mutually exclusive and I combine the two as much as possible. After all, they are two facets of my identity that I am equally proud of. My identity is however further complicated by my caste. For me, just like power begets resistance, caste begets social division…

In my last post, I explored marriage and the caste system. Two complex arenas that are almost matrimonially intertwined as they can be in modern British-Asian society. But where does all of this leave us? What really is happening with the caste system in our societies today? And the biggest question of all for me - Are UK British Asians reviving their cultures in ways they don’t understand? Is the South Asian Diaspora inherently caste racist?

The caste system is deeply ingrained in the minds of some Asians (for Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims). In India, I have seen the Hindu ‘untouchable’ caste excluded from Indian society, begging and getting by in the most demeaning ways imaginable. It was heartbreaking to see since these people were trying to get by but were ignored and marginalised because of an apparent system that dictated their sub-human status. In history, Hindus brahmins would take a shower if they touched a chamar by mistake or purify their homes with water and prayers should a chamar enter their premises. Every sixth human being in the world today is an Indian, and every sixth Indian is an untouchable. It makes you think doesn’t it?

I remember being at school and first discovering that I was of a particular caste. It didn’t mean anything to me; I was a British lad living in Britain with no other comparison. For a fellow student to claim he was superior to me by his caste was farcical to me! After all, we were at school to learn and his caste didn’t mean that he was given better treatment than me… it was all a bit silly at school but there were many underlying tensions that segregated the Asian communities in this way. Looking back now, casteism was alive more than I realised and often governed relationships between people even in the younger age brackets. In the 60’s and 70’s, these prejudices were more ingrained with first generation British-Asians learning the ways of the world from migrant parents who may not have known a life without caste. I have been told that many people in the 1960’s and 70’s suffered at the hands of racist bigots. But adding to the complexity of race discrimination, many ethnic minorities suffered racism from within their own communities due to caste divides.

So when a fellow student at school was beaten up for his caste, I became sure that I didn’t want to know about the caste system again. The police called it a ‘racially aggravated assault’. And that is exactly what it was, an assault made on the grounds of race. Casteism is equivalent to racism. It has no place in a modern society where the class structure prevails.

In modern Britain, the South Asian Diaspora revive their Asian roots and cultures through various means which display an inherent racist attitude. Not only have we learned that inter-caste marriages are seen as wrong by many (I am a direct witness to this), we can also acknowledge that they are now becoming more frequent. A good sign I think. But it goes deeper than that. In Sikhism, gurdwaras are often divided according to caste. It is not uncommon to see the Ramgharia gurdwara, the predominantly Jatt gurdwara, the Satsang gurdwara (accommodating a sub-set of Sikh followers) and so on. The establishments themselves are often managed by members of particular castes and therefore maintain the caste divides. It is ironic since Sikhism promotes equality, the Sikh Gurus forbid caste and the gurdwara is open to people from all corners of the world (the Golden Temple in Amritsar, the spiritual capital of the Sikhs has four entrances on all four sides representing an open door to all faiths, races and creeds). In reality, only those from the ‘caste’ community attend their gurdwara in Britain. I don’t think it is as frank or as obvious as I describe it but it is definitely there quietly governing modern day worship.

The youth of today promote caste. The UK Bhangra Industry promotes caste and it is possibly a medium through which caste is glamourised the most. Its very common to hear caste bias lyrics re-enforcing caste stereotypes. The Asian youth latch on to half formed realities concocted by Bhangra songs and take these realities as real life. I accept that bhangra music in the UK initially helped migrants to remember their home countries and cultures whilst living in foreign lands and often in poor conditions. I also accept that bhangra music allowed Asians to reaffirm their ethnic identities in the face of a new western culture and an often racist environment. Nowadays however, caste no longer bears the same significance it used to. There is no difference between me and another young British Asian – we both receive an education, we both strive to achieve our goals, we pay our taxes and we climb the class structure in parallel to our economic and social accomplishment. Why then should the caste I seemingly belong to influence my standing in society?

Rajinder K Dudrah eloquently purports that Bhangra music allows for internal reflection – a means through which individuals can make sense of their identities. These reflections however are “unique according to individual life experiences” and “collective in that other British South Asians are able to internalise similar life experiences but not necessarily in identical ways*”. The process of making sense of oneself however, is hardly enhanced by bhangra songs that promote caste divisions and usually irresponsibly.

I was asked once in a bar by an intoxicated Indian lad – ‘Are you Jatt mate?’. No formal introduction. ‘No I’m a Sikh’ I replied and proceeded to the bar (I’ve always been a smart arse). Later we met again and he asked again. ‘So what does it mean to be Jatt?’ I asked. ‘Well we’re the highest caste in Sikhism, we don’t like chamars and we drink a lot, haha’. Somehow I knew that he was mis-informed and his knowledge probably went no deeper. In reality, I have had this conversation many times with individuals including the girl who once asked me what my caste was on our first date. I never did return her call. It made me laugh when I witnessed young Asians singing the lyrics to a popular bhangra song promoting casteism but the only words they knew were ‘Putt Jattan De’ followed by painful lip synching and mumbles. Even Britney Spears would cringe at those attempts.

Warped truths inform the realities of those who don’t seek the truth. Until I fully understand what it means to belong to a caste, I don’t belong to it.

‘I’m a privileged member of the community because my caste is higher than yours’, I was once told.
‘I’m a [caste] and that makes me a highly regarded member of the community’ said another.
‘I’m proud to be a [caste]’.

‘In the context of your current life circumstance, you own no land in the UK apart from the semi-detached house your father brought in 1985. And that he paid for with his savings accumulated by years of toil in the local steel mill. And now your father is a manual labourer (I use this example since my own grandfather laboured for over 30 years in the local manufacturing works – he was very proud of it too). You father looks forward to the end his shift, he looks forward to the weekend when he can put his feet up and relax. He pays his taxes and has the right to vote like the rest of us. He attends the same religious establishment as everyone else and associates with the same community as everyone else. Now tell me again why you claim to be a privileged member of the community when your caste has no bearing on the life you lead here in the UK?’

Wouldn’t it be great to respond like this? We all think it but don’t quite express it. Are we therefore all guilty of maintaining the system that categorises us according to age-old beliefs that no longer apply to us as Asians in the West? Are we even Asian (Asia is so huge)? I sometimes question that too. Why enforce an obsolete belief in an environment far removed from pre 20th Century India or even modern day India? I’m about as Indian as Ben Kingsley playing Gandhi.

However we choose to live our lives, we should be doing it with humility. At the most basic and fundamental level, we are all human beings. The caste system is a man made concept steeped in tradition and history that only seeks to divide individuals – it has no place here anymore. Abolishing deeply held beliefs can be difficult and I appreciate that many cannot do this or struggle to understand life without the caste structures that shape their opinions and beliefs. We must however, seek to understand one another, learn about the differences between us and embrace the diversity among us - not just between community groups and religious groups but between various castes too.

Loyalty to a caste is much more detrimental to society than merely belonging to one – it re-enforces the system and helps to shape identities. As a Sikh, I have first hand experience of the caste system forging hatred between people and do I want that for my children? It will be a sad day if my children are forced to make sense of their lives in a society still overshadowed by a caste structure.

The caste system cannot survive in Britain where education will send you up the social class system far quicker than any caste would – there is no room for a caste system here. The rays of an honest sunshine can never be overcome by a temporary rain cloud (and this stubborn cloud has been around for a long time). In the UK, or any other economically developed country, class will kill caste. This will happen more effectively if we also shift our mindsets accordingly and understand the significance of what we are faced with. Looking ahead, mild temperatures and cold winds continue, maybe the sun will come out tomorrow.

“They say that time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself”.
Andy Warhol

* An excellent article exploring Bhangra music and ethnic identity and experiences of South Asians in the UK.

"Drum N Dhol 1: British Bhangra Music and Diasporic South Asian Identity Formation" by Rajinder K Dudrah - European Journal of Cultural Studies, Vol. 5, No. 3, 363-383 (2002).

I also recommend CasteWatch UK – a brilliant organisation promoting the removal of caste discrimination in the UK. [www.castewatchuk.org]