Boom Boom Bradford
I don’t know how many readers of this article have ever heard
of the city ’Bradford’ before. Frankly I had not heard of it seven months back
when I came to this city of UK for my professional assignment. But I think most
of Indians should have known this city very well. There is a close connection
of the city with India. I don’t know the origin of the fashionable name of this
city but I am sure it cannot be Brad of Brad Pitt plus Ford of Harrison Ford.
In last fifty years this city received a major influx of
migrants from south Asia and majority from Mirpur, Azad Kashmir or Pakistan Kashmir.
There is connection of the ‘K’ for Kashmiris from Bradford to Kashmir of India. Even the landscape and the weather of Bradford has close resemblance to Kashmir valley. One more reason for Mirpuri to love this place.The building of ‘Mangla’ dam on the Jhelum River in Mirpur district in second
half of 1960s resulted in the displacement of large number of families. England
was in dire need of hard working and cheap labourers for its textile mills and
infrastructure projects during the same period. The displaced families of
Mirpur appeared as golden goose to British government and businessmen. Contractors
and architects of the ‘Mangla’ dam who were mainly British, helped them land in
England.
The displaced Mirpuris had no choice but to catch that boat
of opportunity to England. They worked hard, very hard and over time. Roads,
factories and various infrastructure projects of UK were fuelled by the sweat
and blood of Mirpuri. The trove of confused unskilled workers who came in 1960s
in England now has their third generation thriving confidently and comfortably here.
The new generation of British Mirpuri speaks English in typical British accent
but has no hesitation to flaunt their long beards too. I have seen lots of Indian
Muslims keeping long beard and skull caps but not much of younger generation of
the community doing the same. You will be surprised to see the rigorous
following of Muslim tradition in Bradford if you had imagined UK as an ultra-modern,
a fashionable cosmopolitan country. Muslim women old or young, clad in full
hijab and handling four to five kids is a common sight in Bradford. Children
dressed in black or green dresses going to mosques on Friday is another common
sight. If you don’t speak even Basic English and has somehow landed in
Bradford, you need not to worry. You have landed in just a perfect place. You
can easily survive in Bradford with your knowledge of Urdu or Hindi as every
fourth person on the street knows that language. If you miss your ‘desi’
commodities outside Indian subcontinent, relax and visit any ‘desi’ general
store mostly owned by British Mirpuri same like Gujrati Patel of US. You can easily
get mustard oil, pressure cooker, haldiram bhujiya, ‘desi’ mango pickle and
even Parle G biscuits.
Bollywood and British cinema owners are also aware of the
sizeable presence of this community who like any south Asian loves Hindi
movies.
Cineworld, one of the multiplexes giant of UK keeps at least half of
its screens for Bollywood movies in Bradford. Bollywood stars are also forced
to do promotion of their movies in Bradford to have healthy earnings from
overseas. Recently stars like Ranveer Singh, Vani Kapoor came to Bradford very
near to my residential place for the promotion of their movie, ‘Befikre’. Restaurants
with the name of Akbar, Mughal, Jinnah, Lahore etc. and general stores with the
name Burhwani, Khana Peena, Apna Store etc. can be easily seen in Bradford. The
community which came to Bradford due to flooding of their houses in Mirpur has
left no stone unturned to flood it with their booming population. You visit any
maternity ward of Bradford and can easily understand the meaning of ‘population explosion’. Educated or
uneducated, rich or poor British Mirpuri is having all the fun having kids and
lots of kids here. Most of them already have at least four to five kids and if
not they are in pipeline to touch the target where target can be double digits
too. Completely aware of this craze for having kids, lots of kids, the NHS
(national healthcare services) of Britain has hired Urdu or Punjabi translators
in their maternity wards to deal with British Mirpuri mothers and their
relatives.
Due to soaring inflation, hectic lifestyles and many more
other reasons in Indian subcontinent, people are scared to have more than two
kids but things look completely different in Bradford. Somewhere Mirpuri feel
it as their birth right to claim each and every British resource. There can be
genetic reasons for this claim. British too had left nothing to exploit the rich
and valuable material and human resources of Indian subcontinent during their colonial
rule seventy years back. Mirpuris are just reminding them the seventy year old
chapter. Having large brood of children is the new status symbol in UK especially
in Bradford. The demography is changing rapidly in Bradford and so is the
colour from more milk to more coffee. Oblivious of any stats, much discussed Brexit
or future repercussions; Bradford is booming and bubbling with its new
generation of British Mirpuri having British accent and long black beard.
