threebikesmcginty
Corn Fed Hick...
- Location
- ...on the slake
[QUOTE 2737426, member: 1314"]The rural Punjab was a desolate place in the early part of the last century, with a subsistence living to be made from the soil. My paternal granddad was murdered by his brother for his land, and that land now belongs to my cousins. My dad is sanguine about it, saying the blood revenge doesn't fall on the descendants. He's made a fortune by dealing in land in the same village, anyway, owning a large chunk of the property, business and land as the urbanisation of the Punjab continues.
He came to Britain in the late 50s and made a living by robbing banks and as a hired thug. That's when he made his first small fortune by dealing in property on the side. He lost it when he spent time in Wormwood Scrubs. When he came out he married my mum, went back to India where there was an assassination attempt on his life. He thinks it was related to one of the beatings he delivered in Britain. He survived, but my mum's best mate took the blow of the bomb, and she passed away in her arms. It was in the house that belonged to my cousins who own that house which my great-grand Uncle killed for.
I don't make any judgements, though, as the Punjab was even more lawless than, then now, and now it is still bandit country. My dad, when a boy, also remembers the trains coming across the Pakistani border into the Indian Punjab after partition, full of bodies.
My dad's been well-behaved since those days, and regrets his behaviour. I only found out last year. My maternal great-granddad had what is clearly bi-polar. However he was just considered "mad" and spent his life chained at the farm. My mum brought me to Britain when I was 6 months to join my dad in the 60s.
We're Jat Sikhs and until my generation, losing the purity of that caste line was just not done, as the caste sees itself as elite. We're more egalitarian though, well my family is, and I like to think of us as citizens of the world. Which is why I live in London. It's that diversity. The mono-culture of the Punjab is actually holding it back - I can go there for weeks and not see one white or black person except at the airport. That makes it rather moribund for me and which is why I would hesitate to move there permanently. Immigrants of all types add drive.
innit[/quote]
That's nearly as good as my great granddad being a boiler-maker on Grimsby docks. Innit.
He came to Britain in the late 50s and made a living by robbing banks and as a hired thug. That's when he made his first small fortune by dealing in property on the side. He lost it when he spent time in Wormwood Scrubs. When he came out he married my mum, went back to India where there was an assassination attempt on his life. He thinks it was related to one of the beatings he delivered in Britain. He survived, but my mum's best mate took the blow of the bomb, and she passed away in her arms. It was in the house that belonged to my cousins who own that house which my great-grand Uncle killed for.
I don't make any judgements, though, as the Punjab was even more lawless than, then now, and now it is still bandit country. My dad, when a boy, also remembers the trains coming across the Pakistani border into the Indian Punjab after partition, full of bodies.
My dad's been well-behaved since those days, and regrets his behaviour. I only found out last year. My maternal great-granddad had what is clearly bi-polar. However he was just considered "mad" and spent his life chained at the farm. My mum brought me to Britain when I was 6 months to join my dad in the 60s.
We're Jat Sikhs and until my generation, losing the purity of that caste line was just not done, as the caste sees itself as elite. We're more egalitarian though, well my family is, and I like to think of us as citizens of the world. Which is why I live in London. It's that diversity. The mono-culture of the Punjab is actually holding it back - I can go there for weeks and not see one white or black person except at the airport. That makes it rather moribund for me and which is why I would hesitate to move there permanently. Immigrants of all types add drive.
innit[/quote]
That's nearly as good as my great granddad being a boiler-maker on Grimsby docks. Innit.
Last edited:
