Oral history interview with Salima Dean Interview by Harriet Morgan-Sham

Interview description by: Harriet Morgan-Shami

Salima tells how her family came to India from the Middle East several generations ago, lived in Goa and Chennai before settling in Hyderabad. They did not mix with the local community so had a “distinctive look”. Talks about her Grandfather being a scholar and tutor to the Nizam of Hyderabad (monarch of the Hyderabad State), and her father who took the Indian Civil Service exam and became a civil servant therefore providing for his family. [03:40] Remembers going to school when she was 5 or 6. Tells of how the Nizam was keen for his people to be educated and remembers how carts were sent to pick up the girls to take them to school. Her cousins were well-educated and attended university. [04:45] Salima refers to Partition happening when she was about 7 years old. Tells of how “the Indian Army came and dismissed my father” along with others. Many people had to leave. Her father travelled to Karachi first, then Multan for work “but it didn’t work out” so he returned to Karachi. Talks about how she, her 5 siblings and sick mother travelled to Karachi in 1948 – “it was difficult to build a home and find schools, but we managed”. Discusses the establishment of an association and schools by people from Hyderabad in Karachi. [07:26] Discusses the Hyderabadi community’s initial desire to keep their “mother tongue” (Urdu) and then the decision to establish English medium schools in response to people “moving out”. She and her sister given the choice, her sister decides to continue her education in Urdu but she chose English. Talks about completing her Matriculation and studying Home Economics at University. [10:39] Discusses her marriage being arranged and subsequent return to Hyderabad where her husband taught at the Ali Gadar (?) university for Muslims. They lived there for a while before moving to the UK. [11:13] Interviewer asks about life between 1947-48 and the journey made after leaving Hyderabad. Salima reviews her family history including working for the Nawaab in Chennai (until the English “pushed him out”). Talks about problems with flooding in Hyderabad and determining when to celebrate Eid. Recalls that her Nana and Dhadha (Grandfathers) were brothers and that both families lived next door to each other, going to school together and enjoying family parties. [15:43] Talks about the Nizzam of Hyderabad wanting to keep the princely state independent but that India was against that idea. India sent in the army, “an invasion”, to which Hyderabad had to submit leading to a migration of Muslims to Karachi. Description of living conditions in new refugee settlements in Karachi, including the provision of water and sanitation. Reflections on how migrants lived alongside each other (language differences, schooling, housing associations, etc.). [20:10] Describes the differences between life in Hyderabad and her new life in Karachi. Describes the reasons for her family’s departure from Hyderabad (discrimination her father experienced in work due to his Muslim status) and the hardships of the journey she, her mother and siblings took by boat from Mumbai to Karachi in 1948. Discusses her father’s success in gaining administrative work on arrival in Pakistan and how the family moved from Karachi to Multan and back to Karachi as a result. [26:43] Reflects on her family’s acceptance of and adaptation to their new life. Describes the lessons learned by building new houses with mud bricks which were swept away in the monsoon, and mentions again the limited provision of water and sanitation. Concludes that despite the difficulties, life was peaceful in Karachi in comparison to now. [30:45] Explains how she came to settle in Manchester including college education in home economics, her husband’s job at a university in India, their migration to the UK , her securing work in the UK as a translator (Punjabi, Urdu), her subsequent role in a Family Advice Centre in Luton and gaining social work qualifications from Stevenage College, working in Bren