During school she learns about England again. “…all Sumitra could do was to put English scenery into African contexts…her English-style houses perched on African hills.” Sumitra’s thoughts about England were half based on Victorian and half based on what they thought of England in African culture.
Soon after, things had change in Uganda. Parents did not talk in front of their children anymore and a lot of families had emigrated to Britain, America or India. There is no school and Sumitra’s servants had left. Also Bap and Mai realised they had to leave. “We have to go. There is no choice. The president had told all Indians to leave Uganda. It is better to go than to be hanged. We will go to Leela’s house. If we stay here we will be killed.” Everyone is worried, but Bap chose to go to England because there was good schooling for free, also Leela was there, so they would have a place to stay. Everyone wanted to get out of Uganda as quick as possible as ‘life was scary’. “Avoid looking at the dead bodies hanging like rotten fruit.” Uganda was killing everyone who wasn’t African. Now Sumitra who is just 10/11 years old has been taking from her normal culture to change to some very different culture. During the flight to England, Sumitra had found her ambition, which was to be an air hostess when she was older. She wanted to be this because she thought it would be a different experience and also she had the desire to travel and had freedom.
When they arrived at England, everyone had changed. Bap, who used to be dominant of the family has his role taken away and goes into a deep depression. “…at the age of just 11 she became a form-filler, the provider, and the decision-maker. Bap, finding that the role he had filled for so many years was no longer his…” Sumitra was now head of the family at just eleven years old.
“…the British saw them as a threat, part of a huge wave of immigrants speaking different language, wearing exotic clothes, worshipping strange gods.” This shows that the British had xenophobia and were not planning to welcome immigrants to their country. Also this shows that Sumitra and her family are going to go through a lot of problems as they stay in England. There are a lot of changes when they arrive at England, as well as people changing roles; the weather is different as well. The Patels thought the country was cool but the British called it Indian summer.
Leela and Jayant come to collect them from the camp and the Patels stayed in their house. It was quite packed as there were a lot of people staying in their house. The Patels did not mind sleeping on the mattresses in kitchen and lounge. It seems normal to them but to social workers it would be strange and they would be horrified. On Monday morning the Patel’s set off. They are all nervous and they are like aliens as they are different to the other people. Sumitra goes to a multicultural school and thought it was an alien experience. She thought that they were overwhelming and informal. Also she found it embarrassing in PE as they were getting changed together, and bringing food to school because in Sumitra’s culture they don’t get changed together and the food she brings in is different to what the other people eat. Sumitra enjoys the experience and likes school. Even though Sumitra is welcomed in school, some of her family are not, there was some racism. Bimla and Sandya were being called ‘Blackie’ and Bap was called a ‘Paki’. Bap thinks of himself better than some whites as he used to be a shopkeeper and he also thinks that the whites had to be proud. Sumitra was now confused because “first they were told to hate black people in Uganda, now they had to hate the white people in England” This shows that her family are giving propagandas to their daughters.
Sumitra is enjoying and getting into the English culture but at the same time she is receiving propaganda from Bap. Sumitra is becomes integrated but Bap doesn’t know. Apart from Sumitra who is being drawn into the English culture, the rest of the family are drawn into the Indian culture and become part of the community, as they can go to the temple and go to the cinema which shows Indian films. The Indian culture was disrupting her homework, “she felt as if she were a bridge between two countries…” as she has to do her homework as well as clean the house etc… it was a hard life for Sumitra.
Two years went by and Leela became pregnant. The Patel family have to move into a council house, which there they meet more new people and racism. First they meet Jean who lives at the council house the longest. Jean had let prejudice rule her life and made horrible remarks just as the Patels entered the building. “Blimey we are being invaded.” Jean makes it clear that the Patels are unwanted as she used derogatory language. The Patels also meet Martin and Maria who are the complete opposite to Jean. Maria helped Sumitra a lot. Sumitra thinks she had a lot of problems such as being in two different cultures but she realises that other peoples’ problems are worse. Maria made Sumitra feel positive and made her feel as if she had a friend who she could trust. This shows that Maria influences Sumitra quite a lot and makes Sumitra thinks more maturely.
However even though Sumitra does not have many problems anymore but back in the room Mai and Bap have a problem. “Never had life seemed so bleak, so bare to Bap and Mai before…” Even thought everyone else is starting to get use to the English culture, Mai does not seem to be coping with the life in England as she is not so confident. She tries to isolate herself to try to cope. “Mai felt trapped.” She feels trapped as she used to be free with the same culture and had quite a lot of friends but now she feels like she is in an alien culture where she has no one to talk to apart from her family.
Nevertheless this has made Sumitra feel frustrated and puzzled. “I feel as if I’m looking for my own identity.” She is stuck in the middle of the situation and does not know what to do. One of the reasons they came to England was because of education and it shows that Sumitra’s life is different from her friends at school, as she is the dominant person in the family and her family are going through problems, whereas her friends can go anywhere they want (e.g. discos) – Sumitra’s friends have more freedom and Sumitra does not as she has so much pressure going on in the family. Sumitra has teen problems as she wanted to do what other people could do but she was not allowed because of her culture. Sumitra and her sisters finally get some freedom, as they are allowed to go out with Martin at week-ends. Also Sumitra finds a part time job. At first Bap was not as keen on this idea as he thought that men should go out and earn money whilst women were at home doing chores, but since they were having some financial problems he allowed her to get this job so it would be easy for them to find more money. “Working on Saturdays at Highbury…” Whilst Sumitra has been doing her job, she has become more mature and people have thought that as well. “Simply Sue, the Saturday girl” people at work have treated her the same and not some unexperienced teenage girl. “Her Saturday job became a lifeline to Sumitra” Sumitra has more freedom and is enjoying more of the English culture. Also this job has given her more experience with people (getting to know more people and different personalities) as well as more experience with work. The money the job had gives her allowes her to develop/establish her personality, as she has used this money to buy new clothes.
Sumitra and her family finally moved out of the council house, the family are happy, but for Sumitra it meant going back to the Indian culture and having no freedom and also leaving friends such as Maria. When they arrived at their new house, Bap is being his old self again – the dominant member of the family. Sumitra has to do the old things again, which is doing chores in the house. “She saw herself looked up in some samsara, a cycle of life and death.” Sumitra begins to understand the situation she was in. Once more she felt like a bridge and this shows she is growing (her understanding and situation) because but her cultural upbringing is stopping her.
“Since they had moved Sumitra had felt isolated.” At the guest house she could be more dependent and got to know the culture more, but now at home she does not get the freedom as she is only allowed to stay at home and do chores. It made her feel as if she was getting ready to get married.
“So he kept them, by the force of his personality…” Bap once again has the power to control the family again which is making Sumitra wanting to be more dependent but Bap stops her. Sumitra has an idealised idea of the lifestyle in the English culture on television and Sumitra is still naïve as she doesn’t really know what her lifestyle really is (questioning her lifestyle). At this moment Maria talks to Sumitra and saying that not everyone is free.
“But no one is really free. We all are restricted by our families, or one culture, or our particular century” Maria is trying to say that everyone is restricted by their families and that women can still be happy even if they are restricted. However Sumitra is starting to be depressed and confused. She is Indian outside and English inside.
“She had three personalities.” This shows that Sumitra is putting on different masks for different situation, Sumitra wants to change her lifestyle but Mai wants her to continue the culture/life like this.
“What does she need opportunities for? All she needs is a husband.” Jayant thought that Sumitra does not need to do A-levels or stay in school. He thinks that every woman only needs a husband and that is it. This shows that he can stop Sumitra going into the English culture as well as Bap. However Sumitra does not think this, she thinks that she should finish school and be an air hostess (which is her life ambition).
“Eating a ploughman’s lunch, drinking lemon and lime…” Sumitra starts going to other adulthood places such as the bar, Sumitra wants to be an adult but just as she is experimenting and going to other places Jayant and Leela sees her.
“He took her arm, pulled her from her seat and dragged her up…” Sumitra does not like Jayant as he is stopping her from being in the English culture as he hates white people.
“She broke away from the arguing group and ran down the street to the sanctuary of the office” Pat comforts her saying everyone goes thorough the same situation and she says that Sumitra has changed a lot since she had worked there.
“The Family court...” what Sumitra had done was like a serious crime in the Indian culture; also this was not a fair trial as the men were always right.
“It was the fact that she was stepping outside the community circle…” this shows how strict her family was towards her problem and she was not allowed to back chat, so she was not allowed to have her say. After this situation, Sumitra’s life was event stricter and this leads her to not bother with school anymore, also she felt like an old woman whose life had been lived and has no meaning of living anymore.
Sumitra’s life seemed to be getting even worse as her parents had threatened to move her to Birmingham. “Families are like chains that tie you down” this is one of the problems which are stopping her to grow.
Soon after, Sumitra started working at a detective agency and met an Indian girl called Vasha Nahri who was in the same situation as Sumitra. Vasha Nahri was 21 years old and had left home because Varsha’s parents wanted her to marry but she didn’t and also her parents threatened to send her back to India. Varsha changes Sumitra’s perspective and they both start getting really close (good friends). Sumitra also meets another person called Kirit, who she falls for and he had the same feelings for her as well. Shortly, Sumitra works at a travel agency where she meets another friend called Gwynneth. He talks to her about a flat which his old roommate had moved out and asked if Sumitra wanted to move in. Sumitra was worried that her moving out would get Sandya into trouble, but in the end Sumitra plans to move out as she realises and has found the answer.
Sumitra’s story tells us that people can grow in various different ways. At the beginning of the novel Sumitra was a shy little girl who kept her problems to herself and not telling anyone, who then turns into an elegant woman who can tell her problems to her friends and change her perspective at the end of the novel. As Sumitra was maturing throughout the novel it seemed like she had her life planned. Also Sumitra grows independent and more intellectual as she is able to develop individuality such as buying new cloths but developing individuality has conflicted with her culture and her parents. Plus Sumitra growing up has been influenced by other people as she had learnt not to take insults personally and learning to adapt to a different culture. I think as she grows she understands more which then she has emotional talks with other people but all this has been prevented by Bap as he thinks she belongs to the Indian culture.
