Transcript for: All work and no play

Interviewee: Mamuna Karim

Subject: Study

That was one thing; because we were brought up with such a strict household, where Dad obviously brought on his views from Pakistan, you basically went to school and you studied hard. I mean his whole aim my whole life involved around studying, and he thought that he came from a poor background to earn money, and he wanted all his children to be very successful, so we all had to study hard. Even as children, as far back as I can remember, we had to study, and if we were caught playing out we were in big trouble. So even though myself and my two sisters, where there's a year between each of us, one of us would always stand guard, to watch out for Dad coming round the corner at the bottom of the street, so we'd all run in and grab our books and pretend we were studying; a bit like the film East is East. Our whole life was aimed towards working hard, and obviously Dad still wanted us to have arranged marriages. And we always had that threat over use; if we didn't study we'd have an arranged marriage at the age of 16-17. That was one thing that sort of pushed us along, that we had to study, we had to be successful, and there was no other option.

I think he just wanted to bring his values over, he didn't want us to be influenced by the western way, and obviously he wanted us to be brought up sheltered and protected, and not have boyfriends. I think it was probably quite strict over there, because in that community in Pakistan the girls were always kept in the house; you weren't allowed out unless you had an older member of the family or a man with you. So he brought those boundaries over with him. I mean, when he came over there was just a group of men that came together, the ladies came afterwards; but it was just a matter of protecting us. We were never allowed to anything after school. I would have loved to have gone to Brownies but it was never allowed, you basically studied and then you came home and you studied, and then you went to bed, and then you got up and you studied.