Who do you think I am?

The edition of Who do you think you are? we were all waiting for last night. Meera Syal has been on my radar for some years, long before Goodness Gracious me I am sure. I am certain that I was intrigued that she had written a book when Anita and Me came out.

I sat through the programme last night with that that tingly feeling you get from a truly exceptional piece of music and just thinking about it has brought that feeling back. Both of Meera's grandfathers were involved in the Freedom movement protesting against British Rule in India. Her Mother's father, Phuman Singh, was involved in an episode when the British barred Sikhs from worshipping at the temple in Jaito. Many men marched from the Golden Temple at Amritsar (Possibly the best religious building in the world) and many were shot. Phuman Singh was imprisoned for eighteen months before the Raj relented and opened the temple for worship again. Eventually he received a Freedom Fighters medal for his part in the defiance.

As a postscript, we now have an idea where some of the elements of Granny in the Kumars come from. Meera visited her mother's old house in the Punjab, a bucolic mess of Buffaloes and people in a muddy yard. She was allowed to take a piece of the house for her mother who on receipt of it, took a deep sniff and said "It smells of India - Dung!"