Multicultural Diaries: Part I

B.B. Kindred
Aug 9, 2017 · 4 min read

B. B. Kindred’s Multicultural Diaries.

A fifty-year journey through the maelstrom.

Part I


Despite their common usage, I dislike the terms ‘White’ and ‘Asian’. I believe they’re unhelpful. Nevertheless, I’m going to employ them because these are the terms people generally use. These observations are not about good or bad, right or wrong, just an honest account of my own experience. For ‘White,’ I mean peoples generally indigenous to Britain/Northern Europe. For ‘Asian’, I mean peoples generally from Pakistan and Bangladesh, as most of our residents with Indian sub-continent heritage are originally from there. Please excuse any use of unfortunate language, I do so only to accurately report events.

Some background. I grew up in a small village bordered by the conurbation of Oldham on one side and the Pennine hills on the other. It was on the boundary of what was then Lancashire and the West Riding of Yorkshire. It seems I was always destined to walk between worlds. I grew up in a sixties’ working-class home, when cotton was king and we all knew who we were. There were three hundred and sixty-four working cotton mills in Oldham at that time. Now, there are none. Wherever you went, you were never far away from the scent of raw cotton; pungent and organic, like it was infused with the sweat of the bodies who had picked and shipped it. Labour shortages meant that people from other countries in the Commonwealth were invited to come and work in the mills — and so they did.

When I was around nine, a group of us used to go to Glodwick Baths, a typical Victorian swimming pool, lots of bottle green and cream brick tiles, changing cubicles at the side of the pool, girls on one side, boys on the other. There were also hot baths and a laundry room.

As we played in the water, two little boys approached us. It was the first time I’d seen anyone from an Asian background. They were skinny, with beautiful olive skin, brown eyes and thick, black hair. Their broad smiles revealed perfect, white teeth. It became apparent that they didn’t speak a word of English. We played around for a while, typical pool games, at one point I held hands with them as we made a circle, kicking our legs out and dipping our heads under the water. After we left the baths and walked to the bus stop, the boys followed us, hiding around the corner, giggling until our bus came. It was innocent and unremarkable.

The next day, two of the girls rounded on me in the playground. “We’re going to tell everyone you were holding hands with a Paki.” They said. The wooden spoon had obviously made an overnight appearance.

Even now, I can accurately recall my feelings; outrage, shame, fear, humiliation. I was an anxious child and sometimes bullied, so I always dreaded giving people ammunition, even though I would often provoke it. Nevertheless, I had a highly precocious sense of social injustice. I don’t know where it came from, certainly not my family. “Tell them,” I said. “I don’t care, there’s nothing wrong with it.” For once, taking the wind out of their sails did the trick.

The second significant encounter I remember was at the age of twelve. My mum was a supervisor on the early evening shift at Leesbrook Mill and I’d occasionally call in to see her. Old Jack, who used to work the lift, used to take me for rides up and down sometimes and let me see all the different floors of the mill. One day he took me down to the basement, where they sorted the raw cotton. It was then I met my first Asian man, tall and slender, with a long beard peeking out from under the safety mask he wore. Smiling and waving with enthusiasm, he spoke to Jack. “I’m looking for a wife.” He said.

“Oh, no lad, no.” Jack said. “She’s too young, too young.” He hurried me back to the lift. I thought it was hilarious.

These early encounters were fleeting and fascinating, but by the time I was fifteen, Memoirs of a Northern Childhood had turned into When Two Worlds Collide.

B.B. Kindred

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Now is the time for revelation. My debut novel “The Cairo Pulse” is now available: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cairo-Pulse-B-Kindred-ebook/dp/B072L43LCF

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