Three Pounds In My Pocket

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Three Pounds in My Pocket

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Kavita Puri hears the stories of Asians who came to Britain from the 1950s onwards.

Kavita Puri hears the stories of pioneering Asians who came to Britain from the 1950s onwards.

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Three Pounds in My Pocket: Series 4: Episode 3

Series 4

Episode 3

BBC Radio 4 - Three Pounds in My Pocket, Series 4, Episode 3

Different generations of South Asians reflect on what it means to belong in Britain.

Kavita Puri hears stories from the three pound generation of British South Asians and their descendants about how the fight to be accepted has changed.

Different generations of South Asians reflect on what it means to belong in Britain. Since 2014, Kavita Puri has been charting the social history of this community in post-war Britain. Many came with as little as three pounds due to strict currency controls. 

Many of these early pioneers expected to return to the Indian subcontinent. Their instinct on arrival was to keep their heads down, work hard, and accept the humiliations that came their way. For their children - many of whom were born here - their relationship to Britain was quite different: this was their home. There was nowhere else for them to go back to.

Following  this summer's wave of protests after the death of George Floyd, we look at the conversations that have opened up among British South Asians - and the different demands for progress and equality made by the different generations.

Producer: Ant Adeane
Editor: Hugh Levinson

Historical consultants:
Dr Florian Stadtler, University of Exeter
Dr Edward Anderson, Northumbria University

Three Pounds in My Pocket: Series 4

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

Kavita Puri follows the stories of the 'three pound generation' into the 1990s

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Three Pounds in My Pocket

Series 4

Episode 3

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