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Name: Kewal Singh
PA Number: PA2671/4/34
Ref: C2C/190705/INT/08
Date of interview: 19 July 2005
Date of Birth: 19 April 1939
Origin: Kukran, Hoshiarpur, Punjab, India
Gender: Male
Religion: Sikh
Caste: Jat
Came to England: 1958
Came to Coventry: 1958
Language of Interview: English

Timing: 11.04-12.04

11.04
Would you tell me your name and age please?
Yes, my name is Kewal Singh. I was born on 19.4.1939.

Where were you born?
I was born in India, Punjab, in District Hoshiarpur, and my Village was Kukran.

What is your caste?
11.05
I am Jat Sikh.

What was your age when you came here?
I was 18 years old when I came here.

Why did you leave your village & would you tell me about your background?
My father was here he called me over here. I came in 1958. My mum also came with me. She stayed here for two years and then she returned home. She kept on coming and going here. She died in 1988 with stroke.

Did your father have any more connections in Coventry?
Yes, my brother-in-law was here. My uncle was here. He was a graduate from India. He came here in 1937- 1938 before the 2nd world war.
11.06
He used to help people a lot. In India, he had some problem & he came here. He faced many problems here. He used to sleep on floor. He had no facility for bath. Black people were not allowed in public baths. After independence, we got that right. My uncle went back in 1958 and he died in 1968.

Did you used to get letters?
Yes, we used to get letters from India.

11.07
Where did he work?
He used to work in Bicycle Company in Walsall. Then one day he came back from work and decided to go back to India for good. He went in 1958.
Then his son came here he was a headmaster by a village called Bangian.
11.08
His family joined him afterwards. We have a big family. My sisters came here. My eldest sister came in 1957 about six months before me. My big brother was a well known person people know him by the name of Mota Singh. He died about two and a half year back. He was 85 years old.

11.09
How did you come here?
We came here by a ship. It was a long journey. It was very difficult for us. We could not speak English. Then we met a very niece young couple. They were going on their honeymoon. They helped us a lot. That young girl really loved my mum. She respected her like her own mother.

Did you get the ship from Bombay?
11.10
No we got the ship from Cochin. There were only two ports at that time, Cochin and Bombay. This ship was cheaper than the other one. From Norway we came to Victoria. My relative was there to receive us.

Was it cold that time?
Yes, it was very cold. It was very foggy. Houses were very cold.

11.11
Did you have warm clothes?
My father got us warm clothes from the market. At present town is very beautiful but those days there was nothing. Now a day there is round market but there was open market in those days there were no showrooms all these were built later on.

What was your first impression here?
I did not face many problems because my dad was here. But others had to go through very difficult times.
11.12
A man, his name was Maha; he owned a cafe shop in Hillfields. He used to help people who used to be new to this place. He was very helpful to every one. When a person used to go to him for help he would offer him shelter and would feed him as well. He would even buy clothes for him. He did not charge the person till he gets a job. He even used to give the person £40 so he could send some money back home.
11.13
Some men came here from poor background. So there family was expecting help from abroad. Family used to feel happy to get money from here. When that man got the job he would return the money. Houses were not in good condition. I did not face many difficulties in getting a job. My brother was working in a bakery. He got me a job there. It was very hard job. That was on Walsgrave Road. I left that job after 15 days. It was in year 1959.
11.14
With hot bread my hands used to get burn. I had to take out the bread from the oven and put that on the rack. It was very hard job.

Was that Mother Pride's Bakery?
Yes, it was Mother Pride's bakery.

Were there any machines to chop the bread?
Yes, there were machines but those were only used when the bread used to get cold. Our morning shift used to start at 6.00a.m but there were vans already by 5.00 a.m. to get the bread. Then we had to load the bread. They used to deliver to shops and homes.
11.15
It has become very easy these days every supermarket has got its own bakery. It was not like that in those days. That bakery was doing a very good business. Then they opened another bakery at London Road but I have not seen that bakery.

Where did you go from there?
I started work in Courtaulds. I worked there for 15 years and two days. After that, I started work in Jaguar Car Factory.


What did you use to do in Courtaulds?
I was on the spinning machine. I used to make different kinds of threads. Those threads used to be very thin. There were coloured threads, black, red & brown.
11.16
There used to be light coloured threads as well. We used to dye the threads. Later on that spinning department closed down. Then I was moved to another job. Some of the jobs were very dirty. I started working where pipes were made. It was full of dust very hard and dirty job. I worked there for 3-4 years.
11.17
After work, we used to go to have a bath before going home. There were no baths at home. Then I started working in Jaguar Car Factory.

What was your experience at work? Were there many Indians?
Yes, there were mostly Indians in Courtaulds. There was short of labour so they used to call people from other countries. People used to come from Italy. Young Italian boys used to come there but did not stay there more than two weeks. The work was very hard. Out of 50 boys only 2 or 3 used to stay. We Indians kept on working no matter how hard was the work.
11.18
When we learnt the job, we started enjoying working there.

Did you get work easily?
It was not easy to find a job in those days. But I was lucky in this matter. I had three jobs and all of them I got easily. In the Jaguar Car Factory people used to get a job with other's help. I went there for interview, after interview I told them that one of my friend is employed here they said go and get your friend I brought him & they said that I could start work next day.
11.19
People faced many problems but I was really lucky in this matter. I had a good job in Jaguar. Some of my friends were doing very hard job. Work in Stalin Metal Factory was very hard. I used to find myself good work

11.20
What about English?
I learnt English in six months. When I was in the bakery, I used to be a shy boy. Pandit used to work there; he used to do all the talking. He used to keep all the records of stuff going out and how much coming in. He left then I had to tell the foreman but I could not speak English.
11.21
In two weeks, I learnt a few words and stared doing my job. After 6 months, I was doing quite well. I can speak, read, I can write the addresses and fill the forms but if there is more to write I can't write much. When I came here, I started working but if I had gone to a school, I would have learnt more. I was a brainy boy.
11.22
Now we advise our children to get good education. This the age of computers without education they can't find a job. My son is well educated he got a company car. After 3 or 4 weeks, he changes his car. I could not afford a car till now.

What was the condition of the house when you came here?
We came at Wellington Street. It was in Hillfields, now you can see the big flats are built there. My father had a house there. We reached at night.
11.23
In the morning, we got a room. There were about four more people living in that house. My dad said don't rush stay could stay there till they get another place. Two of them moved to another town. We got a room. I had to share a room with another man. There was a double bed, we had to share the bed, and I used to leave the bed as it is with my duvet there.
11.24
We used to have our separate duvets. It was very difficult to get off the bed. There was not enough room by the side of the bed. Some people had such beds as you could see the nails popping out the mattresses. I was lucky that my father had already bought a house and he had good beds. He also looked after the lodgers properly.

Where was your father's house?
It was in Wellington Street
He sold that house to one of our lodgers. That house was going to be demolished soon.
11.25
Then we bought house in (?) It had three bed rooms. We bought this house for £1000.

When did you buy that house?
We bought that house in 1961. We sold that house in 1974 and bought this house where we are living at present. Later on, we bought the next door as well. We wanted that our children live together. Where they were born they were all living together and we want them to live together here as well.

11.26
What was the condition of the houses?
Only a few men used to buy their own houses. Everyone used to think that we should save some money and then go back. On arrival people used to think, we are here for 4-5 years. But later on, they called their families and children here. First, they used to rent the places.
11.27
Houses used to be in very bad condition. In our house in Wellington Street, we had very dirty curtains in the front room. My sister went to market and bought some material, she sewed the curtains with her own hands and she put up the clean curtains. We started papering our house. We did not know how to put up the paper. We were trying to put the paper could not succeed. As soon as we put the paper, it used to come off the wall. Then we brought lino and put in two rooms.
11.28
We used to use two rooms. In the front room a man used to live, only he used to open that door for himself. We used to use the back door. That was always kept open. No locks were used. There were no locks on the upstairs rooms either. We did not have any fear of thieves. People did not have money those days. If there was some money people used to keep in their pockets or in Post offices.
11.29
There was nothing in staircase no lino nothing, I put lino there and in the upstairs rooms as well. There were three rooms one was in the attic. It was already built. I used to sleep in that room.

Where was that house?
It was in Wellington Street. Then we moved to (?) When we moved to that house we decorated the house, in the front room we put floor tiles as we had young children, they used to spoil the carpet. In 1972 we got that house modernised with the help of grant. Later on we sold that house in 1974 we bought this present house.
11.30
It was in bad state. We had to do a lot of our here. We had extended the house done.
We built the Garage and laid the gardens. We still keep on doing some kind of work all the time. Now we are set here.

What about your Indian meals (Roti)?
About three weeks I made Roti. I used to cook the lentils and make Roti. I used to live with my father. When I had to work in the evening I used to make Roti in the morning, when I had my morning shift I used to cook at night. Later on I only used to make the lentils or cook vegetables. And who ever finish work he would come and make the Roti. Dinner was cooked together for everybody. We used to buy ration jointly. Roties were made by different men daily who ever used to be free will make the Roti. We used to ask each other how many Roti (Chapatti's) you want then would make according the needs.
11.31
There was one fire in the house. I used to put coals and put fire on Fridays. So it would keep on burning till Monday. We used to leave the ashes in the fireplace.

Did not you burn fire in weekdays?
We did not have time.
11.32
Everybody used to go to work. When we come back from work, we were too tired to do any work. We were all single. We used to heat the water put in bottles & take bottles to bed. If somebody had some time then they would go out to have some beer. But it was very rare. There was no gas heating then. In our other house we had coal fire. It was very difficult with babies. In those days mums had to use towel nappies. There were not any disposable nappies. In one day they had to wash 7-10 dirty nappies and then dry them in front of fire to reuse them.
11.33
It was there daily job. When we brought gas fire ladies did not like that. They started arguing with us that those fires were not as powerful as the coal fire. Later on, central system was introduced. Ladies had to do really a hard work to run he house. They used to get their hands dirty with ashes, wash the clothes and then they had to sit in front of the fire to get the clothes and nappies dry for the babies. They brought up the children in a hard way. They used to go out for work as well. My wife has worked for 30 years.
11.34
She is a retired a lady now but still they call her for work when they need her; even today she has gone to work for couple of hours.

Where from did you use to get ration, flour vegetables and lentils etc?
Everything was available in those days. My brothers had a shop. We used to get chillies from there. It was a small shop but it was a nice shop. A Bengali person had a meat shop. Potatoes and biscuits we used to buy from English shops.
11.35
I used to shop for my mum, dad and myself. My mum stayed here for 2 years.
I had told my mum not to bake chapatti's for me. I used to finish work at 9-10 pm. after work I used to make chapatti's for my self. On one side, I would put the hot-plate (Tava) and on the other burner I would put water to heat. I had to use hot water for washing my feet. I had to wash feet at home. I would fill the tub and wash my feet. Sometimes I used to wash my feet in the sink. One of my mates always looked dirty.
11.36
His clothes were full of ashes. Sometimes we could notice ashes around his neck. He said he was helpless. He did not have hot water or bath or to wash himself. Our work was very dirty. People had problems about bath. They only used to go to baths on Fridays.

Did you go to baths as well?
Yes, I used to go to baths as well. When I stared working in the Courtaulds I used to have bath before I come home. Ladies wanted to have bath every day.
We had toilets outside the house. So we put some tiles there and placed iron tubs on them. They used to fill the tub with water and have their bath there. It was very difficult. Toilets were outside at time of snowing. It was very hard.
11.37
Later on we build a room outside and made arrangements for the toilets there.

Was every home like that?
Almost all the houses were like that as we could not afford costly houses. We used to go for cheap houses. Those houses did not have any baths. But at present people buy such big and costly houses they look like palaces. Every facility is there.

Did you share toilets?
Yes, when we were in Wellington Street we had to share the toilets. We were four people there. We always tried to go before each other. There were three toilets at the back of the house two belonged to people next door. Some times, we used to use their toilets as well. Nobody would mind in those days.

11.38
What about baths?
There was always a queue in the baths. We used to sit and wait there. There were 25-30 baths. We had to pay (half a crown) for a towel and a small bar of soap. If someone had spare money he would buy shampoo from there. When bath was free they would say next please. There was already water in the tub. We could not fill the tub with more water. They would ask us to check the water if it was the right temperature. We could spend from 15-20 minutes in the bath
11.39
Then they built baths in Hillfields, there we could fill the tub with water by ourselves. People don't go there for bathing now. In those days I used to have a bath once in a week but now I take bath twice a day, once in the morning and then before going to bed. In those days sometimes when I used to be very busy I would have bath after two weeks. I wonder now how we used to cope like that in those olden times.

11.40
Why you only used to go to baths on Fridays?
When we finish work on Fridays we used to go to baths. Because Saturdays were saved for shopping. Sometimes shops used to close by 4-5.pm. If we were late then we had to miss our shopping. Even sometime we had to do overtime till 2.30.pm or till 4.p.m. We had a very hard life in those days.
11.41
I can remember one incident. Once on Xmas eve we were sitting in a pub. We were drinking beer there. We got late. By the time we finished all the shops were shut. My mate went home and his wife asked for the meat, that he was going to buy for the house. There was argument in the house he had to ask a shopkeeper to open the shop for him and then he got the meat.

When you used to visit the doctors or go to any other office what was your English like?
11.43
I could serve my purpose with my English. One of my friends who used to live with us, once he asked me to go the solicitors with him. He had to go for the purpose of his passport. They used to be in town in Broadgate. We went there
They said your passport is o.k.
11.44
We came home and we were told off that for the last 6 months why he had not made the passport. It was all the confusion for not knowing the language. If they had to go to Drs others needed help but I was o.k. Ladies in those days needed help with the language.

Who used to help the ladies?
There were a few people who could speak English. Ladies used to ask those ladies somehow they used to get their problems solved. Where there is will there is way.
11.45
Sometimes we had to use the sign language to make others understand. A white man used to drink with us in the pub, he was a deaf and dumb person but he used to make understand everything. We thought we were dumb at that time. We felt very ashamed of ourselves and degraded as well. In my opinion if anybody wants to learn English he should try to say what ever he can tell. Don't feel shy. When on telephone we want to say something we try to say as much as we can.
11.46
The person on the other end would understand the purpose of your call.

Would you tell us about your social life, what men used to do in leisure time?
My life was very limited one. People must have tried many things in different ways. But my life was very limited. The reason behind was my father. At the time of leaving my home I was advised that if I wanted to lead a happy life in England I should follow his advice. By ignoring his words I might not be able to progress in my life.
11.47
I want to tell you frankly that what his advice to me was. He advised me to refrain from smoking because that was against my religion as well. He told me that ladies in England are very frank so I should always watch myself from them. He told me that if I could act according to his advice I would be a happy person. Some of us used to go to pubs and clubs and spend all their earnings and started asking for money next day. My idea of life was not to overspend. Wasting money for drinks and other pursuits was not my motto.
11.48
After 1980 I got well settled. We are enjoying ourselves. We go on holidays. I go out for drinks as well. I enjoy with my family. I have seen such people who have never gone out of Coventry, though they have got plenty of wealth but don't know how to enjoy themselves. I am retired person now. My motto is to keep your needs according to your pocket.
11.49
Overspending would ruin the person.

How & where were the marriages performed?
In the start marriages were performed in the house. Only 5-10 people used to attend the wedding. As the time passed we had more relations and we felt the need of hiring a hall. In those days mostly school halls were hired for the marriage purposes.

11.51
Could you tell me about your personal experiences?
I arranged two marriages in A Railway Club which is across the bridge.

What was the year?
It was in 1968 -1972. By and by we started looking for the halls. We had to think about the cost as well. We did not know where from we had to ask for the hall.
11.52
At present there is a community hall at Cross Roads. It was a Club. No Indian was allowed in that club. There was another club known as Barras Green Club. Later on, both of those clubs were bought by the Indians. I used to work in Herbert at that time and I tried to hire Mercia Club for showing the films.
11.53
At that time there were rumours about the Ritz Cinema. We tried our best but could not succeed. Later one other party got that club. After Gurdwara we used to go pubs.

What were you used to do before Gurdwara?
We used to perform the marriage ceremony at home. My wife's uncle arranged to marriages at his home in Wolverhampton. They used to Bring Holy Book home. At that time not many marriages were performed. Later on we started looking for the school halls.

Did you have to pay for the halls?
Yes. We had to pay £10-20. After marriage we used to go to pubs .We could not bring beer home because there were not bottles or tins of beer at that time. So used to drink in pubs.
11.54
We used to take our meals in the bedrooms. We used to sit on our beds to have our meals. We just used to get together in our house.

What were pubs like?
Pubs were just like our local pubs at present.

Where did you use to go?
In the start, my favourite pub was Williams. It has been closed down now. I also used to go Crow. When I was working in Courtaulds I used to go to Stag. We used to finish work by 10.p.m. That was the closing time for the pubs.
11.55
So one of us used to run to the pub a bit early. He would get 15-20 glasses filled of beer for all of us. Due to heat and dust at work we had to drink beer every day. Later on we started going to Mercia Club. Earlier people used to go seven days a week. But not now not many people go to pubs. Work in Stalin Metal Factory was very hard and dirty and the workers of that place had to go to pubs to relax there.
11.56
Actually beer was for working class in those days. Now it has become a fashion to drink beer. Now people sometimes just drink 15-20 glasses of beer. I myself only go to pub at the weekends for drinks.

Did this migration from India affect you?
Yes, it did affect our lives. We came here for better life. In a way we had better life but on the other hand we lost our generation. Sometimes we think to go back to India. But our children don't want to live there. They go there for holidays but not to stay. We make houses there just a waste money. If we give house on rent then lodgers won't leave the house. It is just a headache.
11.57
If want to settle there we have to leave this place for good. But we are not leaving this place till they ask us to leave. My son had gone to India for three four times. I asked him to get married in India. He said I only want to get married with a girl from here.
11.58
A girl from India was here. He met her and told us he wanted to marry her I said she was from India. He said but I want to marry her. Every one has one's own opinion. People have different views, as some people wanted to buy land or fields in India, others want to build houses there.
11.59
Our relations become greedy. We buy the lands and build houses and they take over. When we go back to our village, we are not welcomed by the villagers or the relatives. We have found out that some got beaten, some been murdered and been arrested due to the properties. Only 5% of us are treated with love otherwise 95% of us are not welcomed by them. We build big houses there, we go back and spend 20-25 thousands of Rupees to live there by the time we feel like home there it is our time to return.

Do you feel at home here?
Yes, all my family members are here. I go to India for 2-3 months. I am ready to go to India now. Now I am free. I can go where ever I want to. I got a very good friend in Hoshiarpur. He wants me to come to India and live there. He said he got plenty of money and he would build a house of my choice if I decide to live there. Still you can get some good friends there.
12.01
But most of the people are after your money.

What was the effect of War?
After war not many young people were left. In this country, there were more women than men. Young boys of 24 or 25 of age were sent to war. They were killed. When I came here in 1958 there were many widows. They were about 32-33 years old. Later on when Ukrainians or Polish people came here they got married with those ladies. They were war prisoners. There were not many Indians in those days.
12.03
At present town looks totally different. It has a new look. In those days it was a deserted place. In front of the Coventry theatre there was nothing. There was a small pub. There was no car in Broadgate. There was not any place to park the car. Later on they built the car parks. At first they started a machine system to park the car the driver had to put 3 shillings. Then they built 3 storey car park. Now Debenhams is built there.
12.04
There were only two stores Woolworths and British Homes. Not many people used to go to town. There were not many stores.