Interview with female Indian migrant, husband brickworker. Interviewed with the aid of an interpreter, in Punjab language.

  • Women's Voices and Life Writing
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Title
Interview with female Indian migrant, husband brickworker. Interviewed with the aid of an interpreter, in Punjab language.
Notes on Audio Quality
The audio is quite quiet. From 31:25, there are almost 4 minutes of silence and another minute of silence at the end.
Interviewer
Semeraro, Carmela
Document Type
  • Oral history Recording
Date
10 Oct 2002
Interview Date
10 Oct 2002
Biography
She was born on 7 November 1940 in Haripur, Pakistan. As a result of the partition in 1947, She moved to the Indian side of the Punjab region. She was the youngest of three sisters and one brother. Her father was a farmer who grew crops and food for the buffaloes which were used to plough the fields. Her mother did all of the housework. She and her siblings went to school in her village until about eleven years of age. Her parents had to pay a small fee for the school, and otherwise she would not be required to go to school. At school she had to write on a wooden board instead of paper. As children, boys were told to play in the fields whereas girls had to be closer to the houses, meaning that boys and girls did not often play together. As a teenager she learned cooking, sewing and embroidery at home. She made embroidered tablecloths, bed sheets, and chair covers for her future parents-in-law as part of a dowry. She was told she would be married at 20 years of age and met her husband for the first time the day they were married. She then went to live with him and his parents. His family were also farmers. She and her husband had one son. He was born in India, before the family moved to Bedford. Originally the husband moved on his own to Birmingham to work, and then about ten years later, she and her son joined him permanently. The husband worked in a foundry in Birmingham, and then the brickworks in Stewartby. While her son went to school, she went to work in Bedford. At the time of the interview, her husband and son still worked at the brickworks. Her son and his wife lived with his parents and his four children.
Length (minutes)
45
Copyright and Source Archive
Material sourced from Bedfordshire Archives and Records Service