I was born in India. We moved to Kenya when I was 4 years old. When I was 22 we moved to the UK. My family went and I didn’t want to stay behind on my own. It was November when I arrived. By God it was cold. When I woke up the first morning I turned on the tap and the water was freezing. I wanted to go back to Africa.

I was married in Leeds. It was an arranged marriage. There wasn’t a temple to go to. So someone brought the Sri Guru Granth Sahib ji and the marriage was in the sitting room.

I learnt how to live in the UK, how to put the fire on, how to do the shopping. And then I got a job making gents suits and raincoats.

I found the winters so hard. It’s so much easier to bring up a baby in Africa. It was a hard life. But what can you do? You have to accept it. But I liked my work in the factory and made friends.

I learnt English in Kenya but in the UK I found people speak so fast. But I learnt English from the TV. I watched the Saint and the Fugitive. And suddenly I found that I could speak much better.

When I stopped work I said to my husband that I wanted to go college. So I went to Thomas Danby and I learnt English and mathematics and arts and crafts. I still like to learn. I’m not ashamed to ask if I don’t know a word. College stopped because of Covid. But I still go to groups to learn knitting or card making or arts and crafts. Any course going and I join. I want to keep learning. My son says all old people should do this. He says he is so proud of me.