kdsingh80 Posted January 27, 2011 Report Share Posted January 27, 2011 http://www.tribuneindia.com/2011/20110128/main4.htm Destitute Punjabis dot London streets Shyam Bhatia in London Punjabis who once travelled to London in search of ‘streets paved with gold’ are today among the most acutely deprived citizens of the British capital.They include Sikhs who queue for free food in local gurdwaras and spend the nights huddled in sleeping bags inside telephone boxes or in giant rubbish bins where they have oversize rats for company. In British English parlance these men (and some women) are known as “rough sleepers, those who have no homes of their own and spend the cold London nights (last month was the coldest December since 1659) in empty garages, along the roads, inside dustbins and anywhere else they think will give them some minimum shelter. According to one recent estimate there are at least 200 rough sleepers currently trying to survive the cold nights in the London borough of Southall, also known as ‘Little India’, where almost 60,000 local residents are thought to be of Indian, Punjabi origin. Among them is 56-year-old Pirty Sandhu who told the Evening Standard newspaper, “We get massive rats crawling over us at night and sometimes foxes jump into the bins and we have to chase them out. The place is disgusting but we have nowhere else to go and on freezing nights it’s a roof over our heads to keep us dry before the lie The scale of the destitution is frightening for a city like London, one of the richest cities in the world, and local welfare and charity groups say there is no simple answer or explanation for the problem. Some of the victims are addicted to drugs, others are not fluent in English and a few with immigration problems are afraid of identifying themselves to the authorities in case they are put on the next plane back home. According to Randeep Lall, founder of the local Sikh Welfare Awareness Team (SWAT), there were hardly any rough sleepers in Southall two years ago, but the numbers have mushroomed since then. Lall told The Tribune how he and a handful of friends started SWAT two years ago to try and combat what they believed was a growing problem of drug addiction in Southall. Supported by the Ramgharia gurdwara, which gave them access to free premises, they set up a youth club to educate teenagers about the dangers of drug abuse. “At the youth club we had some 35 young people and all activities from karate to judo and input from all kinds of agencies, including experts from the Drugs, Alchohol and Addiction Programme (DAP). It was a DAP expert who first alerted Lall and his friends to the plight of an elderly Punjabi spending his nights on the streets of Southall. “We told him, ‘when we come tomorrow we will give you a sleeping bag, fresh clothes and warm clothes.’ But the next day when we met him he brought along two or three friends, who were similarly homeless and we said we would help them as well. It grew by the day. Last year we personally looked after 150 of them and there were still another 50 or 60 who felt ashamed and didn’t want to be known. This winter SWAT has so far looked after some 90 homeless men, most of them Sikhs, with still another 60-70 hiding in the background.” Some support from the homeless has been forthcoming from local gurdwaras, such as the Ramgharia gurdwara, which made premises available for the SWAT youth club. Most of the 20 others offer langar (free food) to all and sundry. “They need more than that, they need assistance across the board”, explains Lall. “We are proud of being sikhs, but we can’t be that great if we don’t look after our own people.” His argument is that gurdwaras are in any case obliged to offer langar, but it’s the rest of the support that is not forthcoming. Lall also points out that with some gurdwaras there has been a reluctance to provide langar to those who appear intoxicated. Under a compromise hammered out last year, langar is now dispensed at the gates of gurdwaras to those who appear intoxicated. More surprising has been the attitude of local politicians. A senior official of the Local Ealing Council, Hitesh Tailor, commented, “It is important to understand the difference between the many in the borough who are sadly without a permanent home and the small minority who actually sleep on the streets. “All our work in Southall has shown most of those outside at night do have a place that they could go to sleep, albeit not a permanent home. Outreach workers constantly visit areas where there are known problems, but one issue is that many of the people are fearful of being approached by officers, possibly because of concerns they may have about their immigration status.” An even tougher response has been forthcoming from the local MP, Punjab-born Virendra Sharma, who was quoted as saying, “I have no compassion for these people. Their situation is totally self-inflicted.” 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dalsingh101 Posted January 27, 2011 Report Share Posted January 27, 2011 (edited) Nice to see the Gurdwara making effort to help. I know some round here allow them to sleep in the divan hall if needed and are open late for them. All things said and done, I'm sort of proud of the way our lot do actually help the faujis despite some people thinking we leave them to the wolves here. I've got to know a few and although you get the odd obnoxious twat, some of them are nice guys. That being said, I don't know why they came here as they would be infinitely better off in Canada? UK is a bad choice, I see lots of them loitering around. They look stressed. I think they thought it would be cushty when they got here. Reality is a mf. Hell, I know plenty of new grads and other UK raised people who have been out of work for a while now. What chance do these guys have? At least they have somewhere warm in this cold weather as well as a chance for a hot meal. Edited January 27, 2011 by dalsingh101 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chatanga1 Posted January 28, 2011 Report Share Posted January 28, 2011 Nice to see the Gurdwara making effort to help. our gurdwara committee's forme memebers complained about sikhs coming into langar for their meals, i know they wouldnt be very helpful in a situation like this. I feel sorry for these fools, they are fools, cos they spent like 10 or 12 lakhs of rupees to be here sleeping rough. But still they come... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dalsingh101 Posted January 28, 2011 Report Share Posted January 28, 2011 (edited) But still they come... That's what kills it. You can send the message back home, show them videos no less! But still that pendu mentality that thinks everyone is a liar out to thwart them has them doing God knows what to get here. They don't even do any sensible planning, thinking that they will get here and everything will be cushty. I'm just amazed no one has opened up trade schools in Panjab so that they can have construction skills to use when they reach here!! For God's sake that's what the majority aim for here, you'd have thought that someone, in all these years would've clocked that one back home. Plus they frequently can't even speak English or speak it really poorly at best. We've gone from being this apparently highly successful community (which I think is possibly a dubious statement in itself - but that's another matter) to having some of our people sleeping rough in a matter of a few years. Are people back home ever going to understand that it actually isn't like heaven over here? UK isn't a good place to be right now. They are better off in US/Canada or even Australia. Hell I think even places like Malaysia and Africa could offer more opportunity? I tell you, the increased rightward swing here doesn't help either. Some of the white firms who may have formerly hired desis, now aren't having any of it. Plus, those Polish, Albanians etc. etc. are coming here with skills. Our lot aren't. our gurdwara committee's forme memebers complained about sikhs coming into langar for their meals Really?! What Gurdwara was this? Edited January 28, 2011 by dalsingh101 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chatanga1 Posted January 28, 2011 Report Share Posted January 28, 2011 wednesfield gurdwara. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dalsingh101 Posted January 28, 2011 Report Share Posted January 28, 2011 I would have thought the freshies would have been looked after in Wolves?? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chatanga1 Posted January 29, 2011 Report Share Posted January 29, 2011 our gurdwara was very financially motrivated, it has relaxed a little since but not too much. about 2 months ago, i asked the committee that seeing as we have 6 harmoniums for kirtan class, can the gurdwara buy 1 taus, 1 dilruba and 1 saranda as well for anyone who wishes to learn. "but that will cost a lot of money..." was the first reply i recieved. the committee before this one, would start muttering under thier breath at anyone who came into langar more than once a week. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kdsingh80 Posted January 29, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 29, 2011 That's what kills it. You can send the message back home, show them videos no less! But still that pendu mentality that thinks everyone is a liar out to thwart them has them doing God knows what to get here. If you think that it is pendu mentality of dreaming about moving out of India and going abroad then you are wrong.I was recently discussing this topic my brother and he told me about his colleague .The guy is 24 year old very good software engineer(non sikh) with earning more than 0.5 million salary per annum yet the guy is saving all the money so he can go abroad .He is so desperate that he is even enrolling himself in very sub standard university outside India.If he will work here then in next 3-4 years his salary will be sureshot more than 1 million yet he just has craze of moving out of India even at the cost of risking their very bright careers. now if educated people are like this one can easily think what is the condition of pendu's who dream of moving out of India 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SURYADEV Posted January 29, 2011 Report Share Posted January 29, 2011 If you think that it is pendu mentality of dreaming about moving out of India and going abroad then you are wrong.I was recently discussing this topic my brother and he told me about his colleague .The guy is 24 year old very good software engineer(non sikh) with earning more than 0.5 million salary per annum yet the guy is saving all the money so he can go abroad .He is so desperate that he is even enrolling himself in very sub standard university outside India.If he will work here then in next 3-4 years his salary will be sureshot more than 1 million yet he just has craze of moving out of India even at the cost of risking their very bright careers. now if educated people are like this one can easily think what is the condition of pendu's who dream of moving out of India In the same vein, I know of a singh who was a power station engineer in India. One, if not the most educated person in terms of general knowledge and academia I know from India. He left his promising career to come here looking for work in the same field. What is he doing now??? working in a bakery, making bread in Southall!!!! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kdsingh80 Posted January 29, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 29, 2011 In the same vein, I know of a singh who was a power station engineer in India. One, if not the most educated person in terms of general knowledge and academia I know from India. He left his promising career to come here looking for work in the same field. What is he doing now??? working in a bakery, making bread in Southall!!!! Just think of positive side.If his future wife refuse to cook then he can himself make tasty breads 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dalsingh101 Posted January 30, 2011 Report Share Posted January 30, 2011 (edited) I mean how can you describe people already doing well in India leaving to do crap jobs abroad as anything other than dumb? Edited January 30, 2011 by dalsingh101 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kdsingh80 Posted January 30, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2011 I mean how can you describe people already doing well in India leaving to do crap jobs abroad as anything other than dumb? I don't think they imagine themselves doing crap jobs.Many Indians imagine that they will good jobs abroad.There are many success stories of people going outside India and doing very well.These stories get circulated through Friends to their friends to their friends.Then There is hollywood ,Bollywood which many children grow up watching and start dreaming of having life outside India.These days even bollywood make many movies where they show the entire film made in outside India.The question is why are they doing it even if the story of film has nothing to do with abroad.May be they just want to sell the dreams of outside India to youths O/W I have no answer why producers are making Hindi films outside India 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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