Feels like home

S Kalyana Ramanathan takes a walk through Southall, the London suburb that could well have been transplanted from the Punjab heartland.

It’s about time to rewrite the adage, “You can take an Indian out of India, but you cannot take India out of an Indian.” It should be replaced with something like this: “You can take an Indian out of India, but be dead sure he will create his own India wherever you plant him.”  

Southall, a large suburb in west London, is one such slice of India. The trickle of Indians here started in the 1950s, reportedly to work in a local factory run by a former British army officer. Today, Southall offers a unique experience — a real home away from home, complete with food, language, a handful of gurudwaras, speeding vehicles on the wrong lane and crowded streets filled with shops that sell everything a Punjabi family would expect of a normal life.

Reportedly, as much as 55 per cent of the population here is South Asian. Gurudwara Guru Singh Sabha, built in 2003, is one of the largest gurudwaras outside India.

Yet, sections of the local population bemoan the stress of living here. Some complain about the prevalent street crime, mostly due to easily available drugs. A local beat cop says the drug problem is being dealt with. But by his own admission, the problem is far from solved. He, however, adds that those involved are not just Sikhs but include white Christians, Muslims and Hindus as well. A politically correct Bobby? Perhaps.

However, racial tensions and related violence that had beset the area in the ’70s and ’80s, seem to have largely abated.

For those willing to overlook the mundane stress of survival, Southall has plenty to offer. Though popularly associated with Punjabis, the dominant population here are Sikhs from India and Afghanistan; there are also some Pakistanis and a minority group of Sri Lankan Tamils. This diverse group provides a lot of gastronomical variety as well. There an amazing array of kabab joints run by Pakistanis, a few Afghani eateries and over a dozen tandoori joints, as well as a few Sri Lankan restaurants.

There’s a McDonalds and KFC, too, in Southall but they sport a barren look. It’s the same story at grocery stores. The big banners mean nothing to the local population which floods the biggest local store, Quality Foods, that sells everything that Indian households need in their kitchens. The bells from the till here ring late into the evening.

Local restaurateur Ifthikar Ahmed says business is normal. Ahmed, originally from Karachi in Pakistan, has been around since the late ’60s. Starting his life here as butcher, he now owns two restaurants but is keen to hand over the business to his children and head back home for a quieter life. He says the BBC is making a movie based on crime in this area that will be released next year and that his restaurant was one of the locations where the movie was shot. “I was 13 when I came here. Life is much too tough here,” says Ahmed.

The Punjabi Sira family that has been around in Southall for more than three decades disagrees. Life might be tough here, says 58-year-old Rashpal Sira, but it comes with lots of “facilities. Even the homeless get a place here. The local council helps.” Her family is a big supporter of Baba Ramdev and his anti-corruption crusade in India.  

A stone’s throw from Sira Cash and Carry is Broadway high street. This is a street littered with shops that offer everything from exquisite Indian wedding outfits and jewellery to pirated DVDs and mouth-watering jalebis fresh from the pan.

A local Sri Lankan eatery is trying hard to compete in this predominantly Punjabi locality. But the masala dosas fail to draw in a crowd despite the free welcome drink served by the ladies at this takeaway.

The eateries also have to compete with the free fare at the langar at Gurudwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha right across the street. This is by far the most happening place in Southall. The day-long kirtan fills the air at the gurudwara with, the hymns translated on a big screen. “He has extended his power in all four directions and placed his hands upon my head./ Gazing upon me with his eye of mercy. Whatever I ask my Master/Lord gives that to me.”

The majority Asian community in Southall has its political benefits as well. The electoral constituency, known as Ealing Southall, has been a Labour stronghold since it was formed in 1983. It has, in fact, had the India-born Piara Singh Khabra as Member of Parliament since 1992. Khabra died in 2007 while in office, and in the by-election that followed, the constituency returned Labour candidate and former bus conductor Virendra Sharma to succeed him. Sharma was re-elected in the 2010 general elections as well.

Despite being a historically Sikh-dominated locality, the demography has been undergoing fundamental changes of late. The last 15-odd years have seen a large number of Somalians settle in Southall. Some say it’s partly owing to the increasing affluence of Indians who have moved out of this Punjabi cluster to greener and more sophisticated pastures in the city. There are no official figures for the number of Somalians. But some claim it could be well above 10 per cent of the local population.

A generation from now, Southall could well be a story in the newspapers in the Horn of Africa.

Next week, S Kalyana Ramanathan travels to Tooting in south London and East Ham in East End, both areas Tamils from Sri Lanka and India flock to