Going back to their roots

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown explores changing attitudes in Asian society.

A. Naima hurries along excitedly, bumping into people as she goes. Trailing behind her, her mother, two aunts and a
grandmother, who tease her in Gujarati as they visit the glorious Asian shops in Wembley, north London. Naima, a 28-
year-old biochemist, is marrying a solicitor - a man her parents suggested. But, more importantly, Naima has come home
after leaving acrimoniously six years previously. Her family was devastated. She was apathetic. Then six months ago,
she turned up, emaciated and shaking. 'I used to think Asians were stupid and boring: she says, 'but when my life went
wrong, I felt such a plastic person. I had come back; my heart's here.’

B. Her aunts, after some intense haggling, buy her 12 pure gold bracelets costing £2,000. Grandmother, not to be outdone,
splashes out on a diamond necklace and nose stud. Jewels for her feet, hands and forehead are set aside. In the next shop,
assistants unroll acres of wonderful wedding cloth. Naima is just one example of how Asians are rethinking their identity
in this country.

C. Although the expectations of the community are that second and third generation immigrants will readily assimilate,
more complex processes take place. The young from many ethnic communities long to link up with their heritage and
history. This rethinking usually follows a period of denial, as it did for Naima. There was a time when many Asians felt
ashamed of their backgrounds. I remember cringing with embarrassment if my mother was out with me, or if I saw a
group of Asians at a bus stop. To be part of the brave new modern world, you had to cast off these people who were
'backward' and 'uncivilised'.

D. 'We are old-fashioned about marriage: says Amina, a middle class Muslim from Birmingham, 'but English friends who
want to be liked by boys are prisoners of love games. It is inherently demeaning. Look at their own dilemmas of family
breakdowns and divorce. The boys we know are family friends; there is respect between us. We need our parents, who
have wisdom, who love us, to do proper market research before we give our lives to somebody. With romance, you start
at the top and come down. We have to work up to love. You then treat it with some respect.’

E. Other aspects of traditional life are also becoming popular again. Kamla Jalota, a dentist, is a passionate advocate of
the extended family. 'I want my in-laws to live with me. I think that having three generations of women will be a real
education for my daughter. 1 want them to tell me what to do with my children, so 1 don't treat them with indifference or
thoughtlessness; my children will then learn that, in our community, to get old is to gain veneration - not to lose it as in
this utilitarian society: These attitudes have become more commonplace because many parents have come halfway to
bridging gaps.

F. Perhaps these changes are also due to the fact that the younger generation is a product of the 80s, the decade of
conservative values. 'Yes,' agrees Jafar Kareem, an Asian psychologist who runs a clinic for ethnic minorities. But he
warns that something else is going. 'There is a difference between a healthy return to roots - a positive expression of pride
in who you are - and a retreat into a meaningless past which comes from a sense of loss and confusion in who you are.’

G. These feelings, says Jafar, are further exacerbated by rejections by the host community. 'When an Asian child goes to
school, his culture is often denigrated. The child feels a sense of annihilation and time makes this worse. So he reacts
either by being ashamed of himself or by becoming vociferously Indian, hating whites or whatever.’

H. Arvind Sharma, a lecturer with two sons, says, 'I sometimes want to cry when they go to school. All the experiences
our children have there are about wiping out their heritage. ‘These pressures continue through life, says Arvind, so you
'begin to chip bits off yourself to make yourself more acceptable, until one day you realise you are a distorted image of
yourself and you are still on the fringes of society. It hurts because you expected to belong because you did all the right
things.’ Many non-white people feel that while it is possible to be in Britain it is much harder to be of Britain. They feet
marked out and unwanted whenever they leave the confines of family or community.

Notes Gujarau- a language spoken in the West of India, North of Bombay.

The 80s, the decade of conservative values-: a period when the Conservative party was in power and advocated a return to
traditional values.
Comprehension Questions:
1. Answer the following questions using your own words. (4 marks)
a. Why did Naima leave home? Why did she return?
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b. There are two reasons for Naima’s family to celebrate. What are they?
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c. Jafar Kareem differentiates between two types of reinstatements. What are they?
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d. What is the effect of the rejection by the host community on Asian children?
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e. What views and attitudes to western life are mentioned in the article?
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2. Look at the topics below. Read the text and identify which sections (A-H) refer to which topics. Some sections
may be chosen more than once. Which section refers to the following?

a. Asians rethinking their identity ….…………….

b. The influence of conservatism ….…………….

c. Naima's shopping trip ….…………….

d. Remaining on the outside of society. ….…………….

e. Experiences at school ….……………. ….…………….

f. The rewards for reinstatement ….…………….

g. The advantages of Asian customs ….…………….

h. Asian attitudes to love and marriage ….…………….

3. Say whether the following statements are true or false. Justify your answer from the text. (4.5 marks)
a. For years, Naima was indifferent towards her family.
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b. Asian parents compel young people to marry chosen partners against their wishes.
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c. To British Asian girls, it is humiliating to dance to the tune of the dating.
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d. In a British Asian community, the aged are looked upon with respect and reverence.
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e. An Asian child’s right to regard himself as a British citizen is contested and challenged.
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4. Find in the text equivalents to the following words:
a. abnormally thin or weak, especially because of illness or a lack of food: ……………………………………
b. made worse: ……………………………………
c. unfairly criticized: ……………………………………
d. In a loud and forceful manner: ……………………………………
e. angrily; bitterly: ……………………………………
f. get rid of/ cut ties with: ……………………………………

5. Explain the meaning of the following statements. (1.5 marks)

a. “This rethinking usually follows a period of denial, as it did for Naima.” (paragraph C)
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b. “With romance, you start at the top and come down. We have to work up to love.” (paragraph D)
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c. “Many non-white people felt that while it was possible to be in Britain it was much harder to be of Britain.”

(paragraph H)

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6. What do the underlined words refer to?

a. “these changes” : (paragraph F) ………………………………………………………………

b. “These feelings”: (paragraph G) ……………………………………………………...............