This is a translation version of the original video documentary which was than transcribed and translated from Bengali to English. A book with the title of History of Bangladeshis in Greater Manchester has been published and it will be distributed to the libraries, schools and universities. The interview took place on 11 April 2010, so information about his personal family information may have been changed.
8.50 Alhaj Abdul Kadir Jilani (Bodor Uddin)
8.50.1 Life in Bangladesh
Alhaj Abdul Kadir Jilani was born in 1955, in the village of south Bhadeshwar, Gulapgonj, Sylhet. His father’s name is late Hazi Nehar Ali and his father was a Sub Inspector of Police based in Dhaka. He attended the first primary school at “Bhadeshwar Primary Model School”, then he moved to Dhaka due to his father’s employment and it was for a better education, he studied at “Gendaria Primary School” yet he didn’t enjoy it at all.
He was thinking about home whilst at this school, he completed is primary school education, then he moved back to Bhadeshwar to “Nasir Uddin High School” and completed his secondary school qualifications there. The education back then was better for studying; the “Nasir Uddin High School” was a very good school and had a very good reputation for giving people a good education.
There was no need to employ private tutors because the school delivered such a high standard of education, very different from now days. His parent’s family was moderate; they had some land and properties. The road communication system wasn’t bad at the time, the main roads were all tarmac, and only the main roads were tarmac.
The village people were very lovely, kind and down to earth, they also had an excellent sense of humour. The majority of the people were dependant on cultivation, growing rice and vegetables and there was a small village bazar (market), the village is surrounded by a river and has a very nice environment.
It was a very lovely place and he states that birds were singing, the trees were beautiful, flowers blossoming everywhere and the farmers would be doing their jobs in this beautiful climate. Every Friday they would play football on a large field, other activates would be done on this field also. Whilst he was a student he was involved in a variety of school activities such as cricket, football and scouting, he used to really enjoy it.
When he was a young boy he had a pet monkey, dog, goat and a sparrow. When he used to come back from school all his pets would come to him and he used to play with them. His monkey used to go on his shoulder and would steal bananas and share them with him, where he lived there was plenty of bananas, his monkeys name was shamoo and his dogs name was sham. He really loved the time he spent in his village; there would be festivals in the village celebrating different cultural activities.
8.50.2 Journey to the UK & Immigration:
He came to the UK on the 17th June in 1970; this was because his father was in the UK at the time (he migrated there in the early 60’s). It was his parents who had pushed him to migrate to the UK due to the fact that they wanted him to have a better live and a better education, he was influenced from his uncle also, they all told him that going to Britain would be best for him.
His father applied for a settlement and had to go to the interview twice at the British high commission Dhaka, finally he had gotten a settlement visa then flew from Dhaka by British Airways and arrived at Heathrow airport very early in the morning, he travelled with his parents, his siblings and some other parts of his family.
Before he flew to Britain he wasn’t very happy about it, he didn’t want to come to Britain because he had no experience of what Britain was like but he had no choice. When he arrived at Heathrow airport he was very surprised to see tall, nice and attractive people, especially the ladies with short skirts, he nearly got caught out having a look now and again also.
He went to the clearance officer and he was asked “What is your name? What is your date of Birth?” he answered in English without any difficulty, he was also asked “where are you coming from?” His Father’s cousin was in the airport to receive them and he had taken them to Birmingham, he was amazed by what he had seen on the way, the cars and the buildings amazed him.
There was a house which belonged to his father and this where he stayed; it was 197 Mancel Road, small heath, Birmingham. When he arrived in Birmingham it was a very tight fit at the house, wasn’t nearly enough space for him, he was very tired once you arrived, he had something to eat and then went to sleep.
8.50.3 Life in the UK:
Whilst he was in small heath, the following day he went to the park and said that the weather was very nice, it was just like home. There was a small lake there and on the other side of the lake there are gardens. One time when he looked over he witnessed a an couple getting very close and kissing, so he used to climb a tree and watch, he had never seen anything like this, his mother would ask him if he enjoyed his day, he said it was very nice.
He wasn’t settled in Britain, after a few months he was upset and wanted to return to Bangladesh but his father wouldn’t let him. The majority of houses didn’t have central heating; all houses had toilets, usually outside though. The people were very nice and helpful; the elderly people were also nice.
There was a limited amount of Asian people and they would be stared at, the British would see the Asian community as new comer. The Asian children would be pushed around and bullied by the British and Jamaican children; they would always have a problem if they went to a new place.
The road service was very good, the public transport was excellent also, he used to travel by buses all the time, not many people owned cars so the roads were very quiet, there weren’t many motorways either, public transport was the main form of transport at the time.
Trains were also very good as well. He also witnessed that many Asian people would usually be working 7 days a week with a very low paid job, the British people would never do this job so it was left for the Asian people, There would be a very limited social life for these workers, going to the cinema and visiting each other’s houses were the only social activities.
8.50.4 Education in the UK:
In September 1970 he attended a language institute in Spark Hill, he stayed there for a year, and he was there full time. After that in 1971 he went to a Technical College in Birmingham, he had to study GCSE’s in English and Maths; he completed these within a year.
Then he started BTEC in Business which was a full course in 1972, and then in 1973 he did a HND in Business. Then his education was stopped. Then in 1990 he wanted to complete a level one and two in accountancy but he stopped it because of a family and business commitment, he said that one day he will certainly finish his education.
8.50.5 Employment & Business:
His first job was at a vegetable shop in small heath in 1973, he started as a shop keeper and manager. He worked there for 3 months and his weekly wages were £5. It wasn’t enough for him though, his shifts was 9am till 5pm and worked Monday to Friday. He decided to leave that job and started looking for a new job, he applied for jobs in Birmingham City Council, he tried and tried yet he couldn’t a job from there.
He worked for an agency that was cooperating with the City Council in 1973, his job was to let out the properties and collect the rent, his salary was £290 monthly which was good wages. After 6 months he decided he wanted his own business, he had an idea to start a restaurant, and he started to work at a restaurant called “Royal Bengal Restaurant” in Walsall as a waiter. He started working there since 1974.
On his days off he used to work without pay in the kitchens to learn how to cook and to help chef, with this he would be learning the skills for it. Then in 1975 he opened his first restaurant in Bromsgrove in Worcestershire called “Bay of Bengal”, he invested £9000 to start the restaurant, he was a sold trader, it was a very good profitable business.
In 1976, he bought the freehold, he sold the first restaurant and then in 1985 he bought another property in Hollywood, Birmingham and started another restaurant business called the “Red Fort”. There was another established restaurant called “Red Fort” in London and they didn’t want the restaurant in Birmingham to have the same name, after court action he changed the name to “Rajasthan”.
In 1986, he opened another restaurant called “International Balti House”. The business didn’t do well so he ended up shutting it down. In 1988, he sold the Rajasthan restaurant and went to London, Croydon because the business prospect in London was better. He bought another restaurant in London and called “Kaddirs Indian Cuisine”.
He stayed there until 1990 and he sold the restaurant and went to Ellesmere Port. He opened another restaurant called “Agrafort” and stayed there until 1996. Hold the restaurant and opened another one called “Village Indian” in Tattenhall, Cheshire, near Chester.
He ran that restaurant until 2007; he then opened another restaurant called “Red Fox”, then in 2009 he sold the “Village Indian”. The “Red Fox” is still running and from 1970 until present time he was also involved in the property business. He had chosen the restaurant because it was a popular business within Britain, although he didn’t have the business experience, his education and some working confidence to set up his own business.
8.50.6 Housing:
All the restaurants he had year by year he would always move, his first house was in Croydon, he bought it in 1998 and It cost him £95,000 and it was a 3 bedroom house. He sold his old house and then moved to Ellesmere Port, he bought a house in 1990 and it was a 3 bedroom semi-detached house, it cost him £49,000.
He sold his second house and bought another house in Ellesmere Port in 1996, it was a 4 bedroom detached house and it cost him £145,000. In 2006 he moved from Ellesmere Port to Neston, Cheshire and bought another new build house which was detached, it was a 5 bedroom house and cost him £350,000 which is where he is residing now.
8.50.7 Social & Family:
In 1981 he had gotten married to Hazera Begum Jilani in the same area that he was raised. On the same year his wife came to Britain, he has 4 daughters. The ages of them are 28, 27, 24, and 18. The oldest has done her Master’s Degree from the Birmingham University and is now working at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
His second daughter completed her masters in International banking and finance at Salford University; she is now married and is now working in London Docklands at an American Bank. His third daughter is a teacher working at a secondary school; she’s done a BSC at Manchester University. Also she has a PGCE. His fourth daughter is doing her A levels and is aiming to do a law degree.
When he was in Birmingham he was involved in the Bangladesh Welfare Association, he was the cultural secretary, and also he was the organising secretary Midland Catering Association in Birmingham. He did a lot of voluntary work, he helped at the Racial Equality Council, and he’d help out with the administration.
When he moved to Ellesmere Port in 1990 he was heavily involved with lots of charity work, he helped at the citizen advice bureau. He was actively involved with the Labour party since 1990. In 1994 he participated in the local election, he lost that one but in 1995 he was elected as a Councillor for Ellesmere Port and Ashton Council.
He stayed there until 2004 due to him losing the election by 3 votes; this was because of the Iraq war. In 2007 he stood is Neston and was elected again as a Councillor of Neston and has been the councillor since. He was one of the founding members of the Racial Equality Council in Cheshire also; from 1994 and still going he is the school governing body in high schools and primary schools in Ellesmere Port.
8.50.8 Independence of Bangladesh:
In 1971 he was a student in Birmingham and his involvement was attending varies meetings and was collecting donations from various people to support people in Bangladesh to winning the war. Also he was in a youth movement in Birmingham; he was the cultural secretary in Birmingham also. He organised many demonstrations himself also, such as organising coaches going to Hyde Park in London and Downing Street.
8.50.9 Conclusion:
The Community now has obviously improved in every section of the UK, especially in education; our children have a higher education. They’re working in all sectors of the country. He says he anticipated that his community would be the best, yet the other Indian and others have improved quite a lot more than Bangladeshis. He said, “in the future our community will do more and will be in a better position”.
He would like to see his culture and language be appreciated by more people and continue to educate our generation about these matters. Also he would like to see more young people come forward (especially woman) to involve themselves in politics, he wants to see more Bangladeshis become Members Parliament and councillors.