The Mistry family, Bradford

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The Mistry family have lived in their detached house, on a private estate, since recently buying it on a mortgage after moving to England from Uganda but, although pleased with their new-found status, feel isolated from the rest of the Asian community, a situation particularly felt by the paternal mother, who also lives with them, as she can only speak her native language, Gujarati. Dhaniben Mistry works long hours for very poor pay, as a seamstress at Initial Service Textiles, on Listerhills Road, Bradford BD7, and constantly looks tired and in need of rest, but the lifestyle they have chosen means that she must take whatever job she can find, regardless of any meagre financial rewards; she told photographer, Susan Hackett, that the first place she went for a job they put her on industrial sewing and, at the end of the first week, offered her ?5 and said it had been a trial period!; her husband is employed as a motor mechanic whilst her daughter, Sangeeta, who has one younger brother and sister who are still at school, is in the first year of a two-year Nursery School training course which concludes in July 1987, after which her parents will then plan to start to look round for a suitable marriage partner for her; both parents speak fluent English, Gujarati and Swahili, and are very relaxed about their religious activities, preferring not to be too strict about adhering to their own culture, but realising they must integrate with Western society if they choose to live in a modern world; the family practice prayers and Pujas quite regularly, Dhaniben having an altar in her bedroom, with photographs of Krishna, a small statue of Ganesh and an Arti tray, which she lights and swings every morning in her worship of prayers in front of the altar, and Sangeeta, who dresses mostly in Western-style clothes, but does wear saris for special occasions, fasts every week, on a Tuesday, seeing it as important in cleansing the body and clearing the mind, and also as an act of discipline; they also watch a lot of television and have a video machine, mostly so they can watch Asian films in their own language

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86 151 34

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Bradford Heritage Recording Unit

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