Unsuitability
Posted on
One of the outcomes of having crossed from one 'culture' to another is that forever after that, you or your partner will be seen, in one way or another, either unsuitable, uncomfortable, a bit funny, odd, an outsider, a problem, if you happen to live in a mono-cultural place. Yes in 2012 England, a brown skin is still regarded as 'foreign' and different, among many of our generation anyway still, in some places.
However it's not that a big deal, since the very act of crossing means that wherever you have left was 'unsuitable' in some way for you. Some people are by nature outsiders, and have to follow their own path.
What is great to see around us now are the many mixed race family groups in the UK today. It's all very natural.
It was very different for us in the sixties when our lives together began. My book attempts to record what it was like for a family whose clever son left them to marry a white girl. A typical end of empire, fractured lives story. It's happened over and over again, as time drifts on and the fall out of Great Britain's imperial past comes back to these tiny islands.
Revenge for the Raj? Some might say that. I prefer to see it as a rich harvest of talent which is invigorating this country both in a wider gene pool, and in the tremendous capacity for hard work and enterprise, which all immigrants bring with them. They are the best of their people. They are the ones who had the gumption to get up and go, to fight for a better life for their off spring and themselves.
Jetha, my first main character is one of those. Read my book to see how he fairs on his quest for a better way of life, away from poverty and a harsh climate in Western India, to the tropics of Africa. It's still in draft form.
Add a comment: