Success begins at home

Indianness helps Indian immigrants shine in Britain

Prasenjit Mund

When the England team walks out to the cricket ground, Monty Panesar pauses at the ropes, bows, touches the earth, then his forehead and heart. This is how he always enters the field. This is how he has seen his father enter the gurdwara (a Sikh place of worship), in the traditional Indian way to respect all things sacred.

Born in Bedfordshire, Monty wears the British colours on his sleeve, jumps like a madman when he bowls Sachin out, grinds away doggedly for his team and feels he was “destined to play for Britain”. When he is not playing cricket, Monty does community work — he picks the harvest, mixes cement to repair temples and spends time with children. And yes, he has an honours degree in computer sciences from Loughborough University.

In many ways Monty represents the success Indian immigrants have had in the United Kingdom and the reasons for it. The secret? His father, Paramjeet Singh Panesar, puts it succinctly: “He was brought up the Indian way.”

Immigrants shine

It is not only the Mittals, Montys or Lord Pauls, the average immigrant Indian worker or student has done very well for himself in Britain. Figures provided by the UK department for education reveal that more than 70 per cent of Indians get five or more A* in GCSE, compared with 55 per cent of whites. And 25 per cent of the Indian community in the UK have high technical qualifications compared with 17 per cent of whites.

What’s more heartening, says the Indian deputy high commissioner in the UK, Ranjan Mathai, girls are surpassing boys in the school leaving examination. “It is the mothers who are behind this revolution,” he says.

Over 21 per cent of Indians of working age are self-employed, a significantly higher number than any other community, white or ethnic. Indians are collaring more white-collar jobs in the UK every year. Quite some success for a community whose parents and grandparents came here as mostly masons, plumbers or road workers.

“It’s something unique to India, perhaps. We pass on a lot of things to our younger generation: our aspirations, family traditions and, most importantly, the hunger in our belly,” Wembley resident Dharmesh Singh says. “If you ask me that’s the secret of our success. We haven’t forgotten the values that make good, successful human beings.”

Inspiring families

As Monty says, “My family is my inspiration. I picked up the appetite for hard work from my parents. My father still works, even though he’s twice my age. I look at my parents and know they’ve worked hard, and the idea has grown on me.”

This contrasts starkly with the fear in Britain that youth is turning away from “core British values”. A recent study by the Institute for Public Policy Research says, “British youth is on the verge of mental breakdown, at risk from anti-social behaviour, self-harm, drug and alcohol abuse.” And the reason, IPPR says, is the breakdown of family structure. The Economic and Social Research Council feels the same way.

In 1970, 92 per cent of children lived in a “couple-family”, but by 2005 this had dropped to 76 per cent. The Office for National Statistics has found that English parents spend less than an hour a day with their kids aged 5-11 years and barely 15 minutes with children in the vulnerable age of 12-14 years.

This has become a real cause of worry for everyone in Britain - from teachers and parents to MPs and religious heads. The Archbishop of Canterbury has been quoted as saying: “We don’t at the moment look much like a society that values children for what they are.”

Indian families, however, are much less likely to go this way, says Professor Tariq Modood, director of the Centre for the Study of Ethnicity and Citizenship at Bristol University. Indian couples are much less likely to be divorced and they are almost duty-bound to spend time with their kids, especially keeping an eye on their studies.

Education, education, education

“There are three things important to an Indian parent: education, education, education,” says Dr Neeraj Patil, a councillor in the London borough of Lambeth and a promising Labour politician. “I hated it then but I am glad now that my parents virtually locked me up every evening with my books. My wife sits down with our daughter and her books every day. It’s only education and upbringing that will give us success and recognition here.”

Amid growing clamour to bring back Victorian values, the former Home Secretary Jack Straw has said white British households “have a lot learn a lot from Indian families”, particularly the way “different generations live together, the older ones nurturing the new ones, with the young in turn caring for their elders”.

Festivals like Durga Puja, Diwali and Eid are an occasion for the entire community to get together

We had little when we came here, says Golak Jena, who lives a pensioner’s life in Edgware and still makes the long trip to the Iskcon temple at Soho with his family. “Caring and sharing was our strength. I am glad I passed it on to my children and grandchildren.”

Perseverance is a common trait among Indian immigrants, says Ansar Ullah of the Swadhinata Foundation. “Most of the Indians who came here worked hard and ensured that their children went on to further studies. That is the secret of their success,” he says.

Trust in tradition

It has also helped that Indians are traditionally taught to repay their debt to society and take responsibility for their families, rather than breaking away to pursue their own individual desires. Psychologist Narinder Gharial, who is a second-generation immigrant, dubs this the “please the parent syndrome”.

“It does lead to conflict now and then but most Indian youngsters are programmed to going along with the family rather than revolting against it. You might ask whether it is right but it does seem to keep things in check,” she says. Narinder and her husband Amarjit Singh, although devout Sikhs, allowed their son to break from religious custom and cut his hair.

“He wanted to fit in. We agreed. It was a practical decision and we all came out stronger for that. We speak Punjabi at home and visit the gurdwara often,” she says, recalling the days when she would go to school in salwars and be jeered at by her white classmates. “We also celebrate Christmas. We have to integrate with British society.” She hadn’t yet heard Prime Minister Tony Blair’s strong speech on December 8 on the immigrants’ “duty to integrate”. 

It would hearten Mr Blair to know that most immigrant Indians feel they are “truly British” - people like Monty Panesar and Neeraj Patil make it very clear. At the same they stick close to their roots.

“Britain is home now. But my Indian culture is a security blanket,” says Hementika Patel of the Confederation of Indian Organisations. She came to the UK 35 years ago with her parents but she hasn’t forgotten what dhebara (a savoury snack) tastes like. Navratri (a major Hindu festival) is still a big day in the calendar and she speaks Gujarati at home. “How can I forget I am Indian? In fact, our feeling of Indianness is so strong that most Indians here go for traditional arranged marriages, whereas back home love marriages are the in-thing,” she says. 

“The picture among Indian immigrants is starting to look like Britain in the 1950s - life-term marriages, parents living with their children, possibly accompanied by one set of grandparents, and very low divorce rates,” says Professor Modood of Bristol University.

Back to roots

It is this traditional nuclear family that is being promoted by British politicians as the ideal family unit for a stable society. And it is perhaps the one thing in common between Prime Minister-in-waiting Gordon Brown and prime ministerial hopeful David Cameron. They have each made public speeches on the need to retain family values and what British society can learn from Asians.

Already there is a concerted effort by the Conservatives to understand the reasons for family breakdown in British society, with parliamentarian Iain Duncan Smith publishing a study on the subject. Labour’s higher education minister Bill Rammell has called for value education; so have teacher’s associations.

Professor Modood would like to see Britain return to a family structure where the ethos of caring for other generations remains, and where older family members retain the authority.