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From London to Mumbai, or a UK you have not seen On the last day in London, just a few hours before the departure of the train to Brussels, I decided to drive to the small town of Southall (coordinates ), which is 25km west of central London.
I have not found Russified farianta spelling of a city, but it sounds like "Southall" and we will call it. On this point, do not write books, this place is not like so many Brits and this place - a big headache UK immigration authorities. Meet the most natural Mumbai an hour away by train from Buckingham Palace. The population of this seemingly unremarkable suburb of 140,000 people officially and up to 300 thousand in fact, of which 60% - Indians (mostly Punjabi Sikhs), 30% - Muslims of Pakistani origin and 10% - are also Muslims, but Somalis and Arabs .
The remaining one-fifth of the population of the town is rapidly shrinking "indigenous" white population, which literally twenty years ago was half of the population, and in 1950 - 100% of the city's residents. Today, about 60% of residents are migrants, that is not born in the UK, one in three - not a British citizen, and every fourth generally illegal. In large, absolutely accurate information about the population of the city does not exist, for it settle yet and those Afghans, Iraqis and others who managed to break out of France to the UK hidden in one of the thousands of trucks crossing daily La Manche. For example, most Somalis - illegals and their purely visual is not 10% of the population, and much more. Still it is possible to talk about the fact that the unemployment rate in the city at around a third of the working population, it is possible to talk about the fact that there podvorovyvayut and many homes are surrounded by barbed wire that quite unusual for Britain.
 Your journey to "Little India" always starts with Paddington Station, where, by the way, for trains to Heathrow Airport, so you can combine.The same train that goes to the airport - makes a stop in Southall, ticket costs 5 pounds in one direction, or 8.50 round trip -  Trains depart every 10-15 minutes -  Driving time of 20-25 minutes, depending on the train. Already at the station you feel like you came into another dimension -  I want to emphasize that absolutely have nothing against immigrants, especially in the UK, to which have nothing to do. As a tourist, if you ignore the demographic challenges that the country is beginning to "sink", then a trip to Southall is a wonderful tour of the very tourist and very banal London in a place where there are no tourists and never will be. Here you will see quite a civilian Mumbai, enough clean and tidy, here a great flavor of the East, there are hundreds of colorful restaurants, shops, spices, here smartly Thorog stolen cell phones. Still there are many Hindu temples, mosques, madrasas, various training centers for the study of the Koran. There are fairly cheap by UK standards, dense lunch would cost 5-7 pounds, which is about four times cheaper than in central London. Just be careful with the food here is for Europeans did not adapted, all very sharp, since you believe me!  Indians began to settle in these areas in the early 50-ies of XX century, shortly after independence of India and Pakistan. Hundreds of thousands of Hindus who had collaborated with the British colonial administration were forced to leave India with the British. In addition, severely damaged during the war, Britain (mean massive bombardment of the Luftwaffe 1940-1943, during which the entire south of the island, including London, was largely destroyed) in need of cheap labor for the economic recovery.  Funny sign at the bottom right "Support your local barber" -  Somali shops, notice a strange language?      There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is his prophet (the inscription on the mosque) -  Business Centre Toufik, apparently the name of "businessman" who owns a closet the size of a 2 by 2 meter -  Somali women -   Sikh temple -  Shop "Mini Punjab" -   Here on every corner literally everything involved visas. Indeed, a considerable part of the inhabitants of cities do not have British passports and live in the best case with the residence permit, if not illegally. For them, the theme of which would have to move in search of a better life - always current. Others on the contrary, received British citizenship, but were forced to abandon Pakistani or Indian, as their countries do not recognize dual citizenship and you can run into a lot of trouble about the arrival home, and so they need a visa to India, for example -              Local attorneys (whose licenses I would doubt) offer a full range of services, from marriages (to obtain a residence permit and then British citizenship) and ending with the help of a knockout of the state benefits. Please note that on the window indicated that the service of all religions -    Again, these visas, which would have to run? In Canada, or better in Australia?    Half of halal restaurants Southall (corresponding to the norms of Islam), and the other half - vegetarian, that is for Hindus. There are even a Big Mac was marked with "Halal".   At the end of walking around the city, I strongly doubt that in Southall every fifth - an Englishman. Well, just two hours I have not met virtually no white person. This is neither good nor bad, just a statement of fact. Even in the present Mumbai , or Kolkata , I met periodically white (tourists), and there is simply no white -   In India, this cafe looks organically, and in the UK some nonsense, you see -        I enjoyed the walk. Did not expect to see a very civilized in the UK to the most natural Indian ghetto right next to London. Incidentally, Southall - not the only city of migrants in this country; it is the largest and almost entirely "Asian", but not the only one. When you go from London to Heathrow Airport by train, then drive through towns such as Winslow (Hounslow) with 30% of the Indo-Pakistani people, Harrow (Harrow) - 25%, Ealing (Ealing) - 22%. It is only the immediate suburbs of London. Also, there are large communities in Leicester (Leicester), Coventry (Coventry) and several other cities. And okay, if only the Indians. In the end, these guys are more or less joined the society and do not create problems. The trouble is that in the last decade, the UK is literally overrun by a new wave of emigration - the Arabs, Somalis, Iranians, Afghans. And these guys have not sweet. By the way, in this town Bollywood takes episodes of its many films and TV series, to learn about Europe. It was filmed here such Indian blockbusters as "Goal" (Get Set Goal, 2007), Patiala House (2011) and many others. At this until I finish and go to Antwerp. You remember that last night came on the train from London to Brussels. About a trip under the English Channel just tell tonight. |
skystrike posted on 22-7-2014 01:39 AM
memang banyak indian & pakistan immigrant kat london ni....
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