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 13 July 2008, so information about his personal family information may have been changed.
8.20 Alhaj Mohammed Ali Anjab
8.20.1 Life in Bangladesh:
Alhaj Mohammed Ali Anjab was born in the village of Daud Pur, Bishwanath, Sylhet. His father’s name is late Mubashar Ali. Mr Annjab has 4 brothers and 2 sisters. He completed his primary education in “Dirth Pur Khayakhir Primary School”. After passing, Mr Annjab enrolled in “Ramsundar High School” where he studied there for a while.
8.20.2 Journey to the UK & Immigration:
His father came to Britain in and around in 1937 and just before the Second World War his father (In 1944 or 1945) returned back to Bangladesh. In 1958 his father came to Britain for the second time with a “Medical Voucher” and returned to Bangladesh [East Pakistan] in 1964.
In 1965, his youngest brother came to Britain with his father. He was inspired as his father and his brother already resided in the UK, so, in 1969, he came to Britain with a “Boy Voucher”. It was also his father’s wishes that he should come to Britain.
The travel to Britain started from Dhaka Tejgaon Airport where he flew to Karachi Airport before departing to Heathrow Airport. There was a short wait in between the flights. His father and his brother were waiting to greet him at the Heathrow Airport. At that time, the weather condition was very severe as it was extremely cold and it was snowing.
8.20.3 Life in the UK:
At that time, for six weeks the roads were covered in deep snow and he never saw it like this ever again in Britain. His father lived in Halifax and he stayed with his father. The house compromised of two living rooms and three bedrooms. Around 14 people occupied the house; this included him, his father and brother. The Coal was used for heating purposes.
As his father was the owner of house, sometimes he was responsible to make sure there is a sufficient amount of coal in stock and he used to put the heating on by using the Coal. During that time most of the kitchens were situated in the cellar and they used to do the cooking in the cold weather. Just before his father left UK, he sold his house and he moved to Oldham.
There was a halal grocery shop owned by a Bangladeshi and a Pakistani and they used to sell chickens, sheep’s and other grocery items. Mr Annjab lived with his father for five to six months.
8.20.4 Employment:
His father used to work at “John Atkinson Textile Mill” in Halifax. When his brother reached the age of 15 years old, he also started the work one week before to his arrival. He didn’t have to search for work as it was prepared by his father and his brother. He got a job placement in the factory. This was the first job of his life. The factory work didn’t seem pleasing at first to him. The work was very hard and sometimes, he did not like to go to work. After working for 5/6 months, he got used to it.
In the first week, he received wages of £18.36, which he still remembers now, as it was his first wages in the UK. He used to give all his wages to his father as it was a social tradition which he followed.
Whilst living with his father and brother, he was not responsible for doing the shopping and cooking. His father and brother used to manage all this. At that time factory workers used to cook food by themselves.
Inside the factory there was heating facility and he could do the work just wearing a shirt. He worked day-shifts at the factory and used to get a 45 minute break to have lunch. Food would be prepared from home to have for lunch. Some people used to buy food from the canteen.
He worked there for nine months and then in 1969, he moved to Oldham where a relative used to live. In the area of Shaw, he got a job in “Lily Mill” and started work for 8 hours shift. There was a night shift between 10pm to 6am and he decided to change his day shift to night shift.
Workers would have shift rotations but the night shift was up to the workers preference. He worked there till April 1970 before moving onto another factory which was well known in North West. This factory was called “Null Spinning Company”.
There was a shortage of workers, due to this, the employer used to request the workers to do overtime (4 hours). So, altogether, the shift was 12 hours and he said it was very hard to do the job by standing all the time. He did not have any previous experience but had to work in the factory. He said “for the need to have money in my pocket, I considered to work hard to achieve this goal”.
At that time it was not difficult to get a job. If anybody wanted to do work it was easily available. Availability of workers was high. Sometimes factory supervisor would ask workers to bring any relatives or friends who were willing to work due to labour shortages.
Remembering the past he said “At the beginning, sometimes I did not like to go to work and my father became annoyed with me and booked a ticket for me to go back to Bangladesh”. His friends and relatives became aware of this situation, and then they convinced his father not to send him back to Bangladesh, instead they advised his father to visit Bangladesh. Since then, his father never came back to Britain. In 1984, his father passed away.
In around 1972, he went to Bangladesh and upon his return he re-engaged with his previous job in the factory. Since then he visited Bangladesh several times to see his close family members, relatives and friends.
8.20.5 Housing:
When he moved to Oldham, he rented a single room for £2.00. In 1971, he bought a house in Glodwick, Oldham for £750.00. In 1975, he bought another house for £4500.00 with a mortgage. He was able to get a mortgage because he worked in a factory. The payment of the mortgage was £60.00 – £61.00 per month.
He then bought another house for £1800. All of the houses were terraced. When visiting Bangladesh he used to sell the houses to his friends and would buy houses again after returning. There was also difficulty to find the tenant and if he found any tenants no one was keen to take official responsibility.
Thereafter, the house prices gone up, from £12,000.00 to £20,000.00 then it was doubled and tripled.
8.20.6 Social & Family:
In 1980, he went to Bangladesh and got married and in 1981 he brought his wife to the UK. He is the father of five sons and three daughters who have been educated; his eldest son has graduated with BA Honours and is working in a training programme for one year. The eldest daughter has gotten married and has one son and two daughters. The second son has studied up to his a-levels and is working part time. His third son is in university and his daughter is undertaking a training programme from Oldham College.
He has twins whom are currently studying whilst his fourth son is about to take his GCSE exams. He has been a successful father for being able to educate all of his children.
Due to having studied back at home this aided him with an easier understanding of the English language. There was no language barriers whilst it England; he was able to communicate easily.
8.20.7 Independence of Bangladesh:
In the independence of Bangladesh, he was in the UK but he supported the independence movement and was involved in activities regarding this cause. The following people were involved in the same cause: Abdul Matin, Moffozzul Hussian, Muksod Ali, Mr Shomuj Miah and others from the greater Manchester area.
On March 25th 1971 Pakistani troops invaded Bangladesh [East Pakistan], the day after an action committee in Manchester was formed which was operated by Bangladeshi people. There were about 27/28 people from Oldham involved with this action committee.
Every Sunday, there were meetings organised by this committee and they used to take part in demonstrations in London Trafalgar Square to put demand for independence of Bangladesh. Two more leaders who should be included are Dr Kobir Ahmed and Abu Syed who leaded this movement in the UK.
There were so many people engaged with this movement but he was unable to remember the names of all the people. He acknowledged the contribution made by the British Bangladeshi. In the past, he used to remember his home country of Bangladesh. He had strong feelings for his birth place and therefore he supported the independence of Bangladesh from the bottom of his heart.
With the outcome of independence he said that the Bangladeshi people are no longer neglected by Pakistani. He feels proud to be of Bangladeshi nationality. According to his personal wishes and advice from his father he did not consider becoming a British citizen, which may face some problems.
8.20.8 Conclusion:
He said “compared with the other communities, the Bangladeshi children are still behind; due to parents who are not being educated enough to support their children with home work. Sometimes, it is quite impossible to provide support due to many other reasons”.
In his personal life he has been successful and is very happy with the achievements made by his children. His father’s contribution has lead to his personal success in life. He is very happy with his family and is having a peaceful life in the UK. He also said that no one can see the success in life.
He is very grateful to Allah and to his Father for his successes. He also said “the social and state policy is very good in Britain; there are many people from different racial backgrounds, living in harmony and peace and getting many opportunities”. Finally he said, “The people in Bangladesh, who have not got anything, if I make comparison with them, then I think I am better off that I came to Britain and I am fortunate for that”. Currently he is spending his life happily in Manchester with his children.
