UK as a diverse society
027 Inderjeet Hunjan
click to read >
1. Mary: So you weren't born in this country. What were your first impressions when you came here, when you arrived?
2. Inderjeet: Well, we landed in this country in July.
3. Mary: Right.
4. Inderjeet: ... so I suppose it was quite warm then.
5. Mary: Right.
6. Inderjeet: And. And I remember the first week of being in England we stayed in Southall.
7. Mary: Right.
8. Inderjeet: And. And the only think I could think about was oh my God these houses are literally on top of each other, because all the houses were joined together in a street which we'd never experienced that in Africa, because everybody I know had big bungalows or big houses.
9. Mary: Right.
10. Inderjeet: Or if they lived in flats they were slightly different to what they were like here. So those were like my first impressions. And then coming up to Leeds it was very different. It was a bit more. I think a bit more airy I think.
11. Mary: Right.
12. Inderjeet: It seemed a little bit different to London.
13. Mary: Right. A bit more spacious.
14. Inderjeet: That's right, yeah.
15. Mary: Right, right. What ways do you think this country can become more tolerant to visitors?
16. Inderjeet: I suppose in a way I was at an advantage.
17. Mary: Right.
18. Inderjeet: ... because my brothers had already been here for four years.
19. Mary: Right.
20. Inderjeet: ... prior to us coming. And they were already going to school here in Leeds. And I suppose when we first started school our accent was a bit different.
21. Mary: Right.
22. Inderjeeet: And we were speaking proper English instead of saying 'you what'. You know, we were actually saying 'what' or 'pardon'. And I remember we used to feel odd, and I used to go home and try and practice the broad Yorkshire accent.
23. Mary: Oh.
24. Inderjeet: So I used to sit there going, 'boil the water, boil the water,' you know just so that I could speak like my brothers.
25. Mary: Right.
26. Inderjeet: ... and my peers that were in school. So I suppose in a way. So in a way I was at an advantage because I already knew, or part of my family was already here.
27. Mary: Right.
28. Inderjeet: So I suppose if I'd come in totally on my own it might have been a bit different. So in a way I didn't have that problem as such. But I think it is about people being a little bit more open.
29. Mary: Right.
30. Inderjeet: ... and welcoming in terms of, you know, new people have come in. And I suppose the responsibility also lies on school teachers.
31. Mary: Right.
32. Inderjeet: ... to make sure that the young people have felt included.
33. Mary: Right.
34. Inderjeet: ... in everything.
35. Mary: Right.
36. Inderjeet: ... and making the whole school community sort of adapt to that. And not sort of making a big issue of a new person coming into the class, but at least acknowledging the fact that. and I think a lot of schools do that because they befriend somebody who's new into the class or the school, just so that they can sort of find their feet. But I suppose it also depends on what circumstances you've come here. You know, if you've just sort of emigrated to this country that's a different experience than if you've actually escaped something, you know. I'm sure that's a different type of an experience.
37. Mary: Right, okay. So you yourself are a Sikh. Can you tell us about a Sikh festival?
38. Inderjeet: I suppose the key main festival for Sikhs is Vaisakhi and that takes place in April.
39. Mary: Right.
40. Inderjeet: And it's usually 13th or 14th of April. And I suppose that was when the birth of Khalsa happened going back 300 odd years ago. And. And I suppose in a way that's a bit like a New Year for us.
41. Mary: Right.
42. Inderjeet: And although we don't exchange gifts or anything, we do try to mark that celebration as something that perhaps is a happy occasion. We try to book annual leave if we have to do and we make sure that we actually visit the temple which is the gurdwara. And we have prayers recited over the three days at main gurdwaras but some of the gurdwaras make it an eleven day programme.
43. Mary: Right.
44. Inderjeet: And where the whole community sort of comes together, works together, eats together, cooks together. And then on the final day we change our flag that flies outside of the temple.
45. Mary: Yes.
46. Inderjeet: And so in a way that's done on an annual basis where everybody contributes to that and it's quite a festival time really. And I suppose that's when a lot of our community comes together, and everybody knows about Vaisakhi.
47. Mary: Right.
48. Inderjeet: It's quite a big festival for us.
49. Mary: Right. Because I know there's this great tradition of sharing within Sikhism.
50. Inderjeet: That's right.
51. Mary: So it's a time of people coming together and like you said share the cooking.
52. Inderjeet: Yeah.
53. Mary: Share the. because everybody does that don't they?
54. Inderjeet: They do, they do. And everybody contributes.
55. Mary: Yes.
56. Inderjeet: ... as well. So whether people contribute by giving money in.
57. Mary: Right.
58. Inderjeet: ... or whether people contribute by bringing ingredients for the food that's going to be eaten.
59. Mary: Right.
60. Inderjeet: ... over the three days or the eleven days that.
61. Mary: Right.
62. Inderjeet: ... it's going to be cooked for.
63. Mary: Right.
64. Inderjeet: And some people will just come and contribute their time.
65. Mary: Right.
66. Inderjeet: ... you know, and actually spend a lot of time at the temple.
67. Mary: Right.
68. Inderjeet: ... cooking, cleaning, whatever needs to be done. And it's totally done selflessly in a way.
69. Mary: Yes, on a voluntary.
70. Inderjeet: Yeah, which is absolutely necessary really.
71. Mary: Yes, yes.
72. Inderjeet: Yeah.
73. Mary: Yeah, okay. So the community comes together and the gurdwara, the temple, is the focus of that.
74. Inderjeet: Yeah.
75. Mary: ... at the temple.
76. Inderjeet: And I think what's one of the amazing things whenever I've taken any white colleagues into the gurdwara is that they can't believe that this is a place of worship. And in terms of the age range you have toddlers right up to grandparent age and everybody is there. Because, you know, from their experiences they say, you know, if you go to a community hall or a church hall you would normally see a certain criteria of people.
77. Mary: Right.
78. Inderjeet: Whereas I don't think it's like that in a Sikh gurdwara.
79. Mary: Right.
80. Inderjeet: I think everybody comes together, and I suppose in a way that's the way the faith has sort of promoted Sikhism. So people don't sort of, you know, well it's not cool to go to gurdwara.
81. Mary: Right, it's just. It's just part of what being a Sikh is.
82. Inderjeet: Yeah, that's right.
83. Mary: So how often would people go to the gurdwara in general?
84. Inderjeet: I think again it's never sort of regimented in any way,.
85. Mary: Right.
86. Inderjeet: ... the how often you should go or not go because it's a little bit like when they say charity begins at home.
87. Mary: Right.
88. Inderjeet: And I think like if you do your prayers and your worship in your home, you know, you don't have to just go to the gurdwara to do that.
89. Mary: Right.
90. Inderjeet: But the good thing about being at the gurdwara, what we call sangat, is actually getting together with other people.
91. Mary: Right.
92. Inderjeet: ... and that's really key and important. I think we as a family, we go to the gurdwara quite a lot because not only do we go there to worship but we also do quite a lot of voluntary work, you know, which we do as just part of our contribution to the Sikh community in a way. So like on a Wednesday evening we do, totally voluntarily, we run a supplementary school there where young children come together to learn our mother tongue, Punjabi.
93. Mary: Right, right.
94. Inderjeet: So we have a whole host of volunteers.
95. Mary: Right.
96. Inderjeet: ... who come in and either teach or help run the school. We've got about a 150 young people that attend that. And then on a Friday we've got an archery group that takes place.
97. Mary: Right.
98. Inderjeet: And again it's volunteers that run it.
99. Mary: Right.
100. Inderjeet: So that's not going there totally to worship, you know.
101. Mary: Right.
102. Inderjeet: ... it's actually going there to do other activities.
103. Mary: Right.
104. Inderjeet: And then on top of that, you know, the worshipping takes place nearly every day. Sometimes in the morning. There's three evenings, no two evenings when it happens. Sunday morning. And people can go in whenever.
105. Mary: How do you encourage? How do you foster both the Sikh and a British identity in the children?
106. Inderjeet: In a way I think it's about being flexible and adaptable to the situation but not forgetting your identity, you know.
107. Mary: Yes, yes.
108. Inderjeet: I would say I'm quite a strong Sikh. I strongly believe in our culture and our faith, but equally I'm very liberal in a lot of ways. I enjoy living in this country and I think I'm a community activist.
109. Mary: Right.
110. Inderjeet: And I don't just work for the Sikh community. When I do that sort of work, I work across the board.
1. Mary: So you weren't born in this country. What were your first impressions when you came here, when you arrived?
2. Inderjeet: Well, we landed in this country in July.
3. Mary: Right.
4. Inderjeet: ... so I suppose it was quite warm then.
5. Mary: Right.
6. Inderjeet: And. And I remember the first week of being in England we stayed in Southall.
7. Mary: Right.
8. Inderjeet: And. And the only think I could think about was oh my God these houses are literally on top of each other, because all the houses were joined together in a street which we'd never experienced that in Africa, because everybody I know had big bungalows or big houses.
9. Mary: Right.
10. Inderjeet: Or if they lived in flats they were slightly different to what they were like here. So those were like my first impressions. And then coming up to Leeds it was very different. It was a bit more. I think a bit more airy I think.
11. Mary: Right.
12. Inderjeet: It seemed a little bit different to London.
13. Mary: Right. A bit more spacious.
14. Inderjeet: That's right, yeah.
15. Mary: Right, right. What ways do you think this country can become more tolerant to visitors?
16. Inderjeet: I suppose in a way I was at an advantage.
17. Mary: Right.
18. Inderjeet: ... because my brothers had already been here for four years.
19. Mary: Right.
20. Inderjeet: ... prior to us coming. And they were already going to school here in Leeds. And I suppose when we first started school our accent was a bit different.
21. Mary: Right.
22. Inderjeeet: And we were speaking proper English instead of saying 'you what'. You know, we were actually saying 'what' or 'pardon'. And I remember we used to feel odd, and I used to go home and try and practice the broad Yorkshire accent.
23. Mary: Oh.
24. Inderjeet: So I used to sit there going, 'boil the water, boil the water,' you know just so that I could speak like my brothers.
25. Mary: Right.
26. Inderjeet: ... and my peers that were in school. So I suppose in a way. So in a way I was at an advantage because I already knew, or part of my family was already here.
27. Mary: Right.
28. Inderjeet: So I suppose if I'd come in totally on my own it might have been a bit different. So in a way I didn't have that problem as such. But I think it is about people being a little bit more open.
29. Mary: Right.
30. Inderjeet: ... and welcoming in terms of, you know, new people have come in. And I suppose the responsibility also lies on school teachers.
31. Mary: Right.
32. Inderjeet: ... to make sure that the young people have felt included.
33. Mary: Right.
34. Inderjeet: ... in everything.
35. Mary: Right.
36. Inderjeet: ... and making the whole school community sort of adapt to that. And not sort of making a big issue of a new person coming into the class, but at least acknowledging the fact that. and I think a lot of schools do that because they befriend somebody who's new into the class or the school, just so that they can sort of find their feet. But I suppose it also depends on what circumstances you've come here. You know, if you've just sort of emigrated to this country that's a different experience than if you've actually escaped something, you know. I'm sure that's a different type of an experience.
37. Mary: Right, okay. So you yourself are a Sikh. Can you tell us about a Sikh festival?
38. Inderjeet: I suppose the key main festival for Sikhs is Vaisakhi and that takes place in April.
39. Mary: Right.
40. Inderjeet: And it's usually 13th or 14th of April. And I suppose that was when the birth of Khalsa happened going back 300 odd years ago. And. And I suppose in a way that's a bit like a New Year for us.
41. Mary: Right.
42. Inderjeet: And although we don't exchange gifts or anything, we do try to mark that celebration as something that perhaps is a happy occasion. We try to book annual leave if we have to do and we make sure that we actually visit the temple which is the gurdwara. And we have prayers recited over the three days at main gurdwaras but some of the gurdwaras make it an eleven day programme.
43. Mary: Right.
44. Inderjeet: And where the whole community sort of comes together, works together, eats together, cooks together. And then on the final day we change our flag that flies outside of the temple.
45. Mary: Yes.
46. Inderjeet: And so in a way that's done on an annual basis where everybody contributes to that and it's quite a festival time really. And I suppose that's when a lot of our community comes together, and everybody knows about Vaisakhi.
47. Mary: Right.
48. Inderjeet: It's quite a big festival for us.
49. Mary: Right. Because I know there's this great tradition of sharing within Sikhism.
50. Inderjeet: That's right.
51. Mary: So it's a time of people coming together and like you said share the cooking.
52. Inderjeet: Yeah.
53. Mary: Share the. because everybody does that don't they?
54. Inderjeet: They do, they do. And everybody contributes.
55. Mary: Yes.
56. Inderjeet: ... as well. So whether people contribute by giving money in.
57. Mary: Right.
58. Inderjeet: ... or whether people contribute by bringing ingredients for the food that's going to be eaten.
59. Mary: Right.
60. Inderjeet: ... over the three days or the eleven days that.
61. Mary: Right.
62. Inderjeet: ... it's going to be cooked for.
63. Mary: Right.
64. Inderjeet: And some people will just come and contribute their time.
65. Mary: Right.
66. Inderjeet: ... you know, and actually spend a lot of time at the temple.
67. Mary: Right.
68. Inderjeet: ... cooking, cleaning, whatever needs to be done. And it's totally done selflessly in a way.
69. Mary: Yes, on a voluntary.
70. Inderjeet: Yeah, which is absolutely necessary really.
71. Mary: Yes, yes.
72. Inderjeet: Yeah.
73. Mary: Yeah, okay. So the community comes together and the gurdwara, the temple, is the focus of that.
74. Inderjeet: Yeah.
75. Mary: ... at the temple.
76. Inderjeet: And I think what's one of the amazing things whenever I've taken any white colleagues into the gurdwara is that they can't believe that this is a place of worship. And in terms of the age range you have toddlers right up to grandparent age and everybody is there. Because, you know, from their experiences they say, you know, if you go to a community hall or a church hall you would normally see a certain criteria of people.
77. Mary: Right.
78. Inderjeet: Whereas I don't think it's like that in a Sikh gurdwara.
79. Mary: Right.
80. Inderjeet: I think everybody comes together, and I suppose in a way that's the way the faith has sort of promoted Sikhism. So people don't sort of, you know, well it's not cool to go to gurdwara.
81. Mary: Right, it's just. It's just part of what being a Sikh is.
82. Inderjeet: Yeah, that's right.
83. Mary: So how often would people go to the gurdwara in general?
84. Inderjeet: I think again it's never sort of regimented in any way,.
85. Mary: Right.
86. Inderjeet: ... the how often you should go or not go because it's a little bit like when they say charity begins at home.
87. Mary: Right.
88. Inderjeet: And I think like if you do your prayers and your worship in your home, you know, you don't have to just go to the gurdwara to do that.
89. Mary: Right.
90. Inderjeet: But the good thing about being at the gurdwara, what we call sangat, is actually getting together with other people.
91. Mary: Right.
92. Inderjeet: ... and that's really key and important. I think we as a family, we go to the gurdwara quite a lot because not only do we go there to worship but we also do quite a lot of voluntary work, you know, which we do as just part of our contribution to the Sikh community in a way. So like on a Wednesday evening we do, totally voluntarily, we run a supplementary school there where young children come together to learn our mother tongue, Punjabi.
93. Mary: Right, right.
94. Inderjeet: So we have a whole host of volunteers.
95. Mary: Right.
96. Inderjeet: ... who come in and either teach or help run the school. We've got about a 150 young people that attend that. And then on a Friday we've got an archery group that takes place.
97. Mary: Right.
98. Inderjeet: And again it's volunteers that run it.
99. Mary: Right.
100. Inderjeet: So that's not going there totally to worship, you know.
101. Mary: Right.
102. Inderjeet: ... it's actually going there to do other activities.
103. Mary: Right.
104. Inderjeet: And then on top of that, you know, the worshipping takes place nearly every day. Sometimes in the morning. There's three evenings, no two evenings when it happens. Sunday morning. And people can go in whenever.
105. Mary: How do you encourage? How do you foster both the Sikh and a British identity in the children?
106. Inderjeet: In a way I think it's about being flexible and adaptable to the situation but not forgetting your identity, you know.
107. Mary: Yes, yes.
108. Inderjeet: I would say I'm quite a strong Sikh. I strongly believe in our culture and our faith, but equally I'm very liberal in a lot of ways. I enjoy living in this country and I think I'm a community activist.
109. Mary: Right.
110. Inderjeet: And I don't just work for the Sikh community. When I do that sort of work, I work across the board.
The words removed below are the key words used most by this speaker.
accent contributes evenings everybody festival impressions prayers suppose temple totally voluntary worship
accent contributes evenings everybody festival impressions prayers suppose temple totally voluntary worship
Try to spell some of the key words used most by this speaker.
Hold your mouse over the image to see the word.
Hold your mouse over the image to see the word.
see word |
spell word |
check |
correct so far |
OK |
|---|