Part 3: Growing Apart
Racism Comes Into the Open
In the first half of the novel, the racism Meena encounters is mostly subtle — whispered comments, awkward silences, the feeling of being watched. But as the story progresses, Syal strips away this veneer of politeness. The racism becomes explicit, public, and threatening. The turning point is Sam Lowbridge’s outburst at the village fete, where he shouts “This is our patch” and attacks the idea of the money raised going to people he calls outsiders.
This moment is devastating for Meena because it shatters her illusion of belonging. She has spent the novel trying to fit in, trying to be accepted as one of Tollington’s children. Sam’s speech makes it brutally clear that, in the eyes of people like him, she will never belong. The phrase “This is our patch” deliberately excludes Meena and her family — it draws a line between “us” and “them” based entirely on race.
Sam Lowbridge’s outburst at the village fete — “This is our patch” — is the novel’s most explicit moment of racism. It echoes Enoch Powell’s inflammatory rhetoric and forces Meena to confront the reality that her race makes her an outsider in the community she calls home.
The Mines Closing
Tollington’s economic decline is a crucial backdrop to the rising racial tension. The coal mines and factories that sustained the Black Country for generations are closing, and the community feels abandoned. Jobs are disappearing, prospects are shrinking, and there is a pervasive sense of resentment that needs a target.
Syal is careful to show that racism does not exist in a vacuum. Characters like Sam Lowbridge are products of economic deprivation — their anger at losing their livelihoods gets redirected towards immigrant families who are seen as competition for scarce resources. This does not excuse racism, but it explains the social conditions that allow it to flourish. The novel asks the reader to understand how structural inequality breeds prejudice.
Scapegoating is a key concept in the novel. When communities face hardship, they often look for someone to blame. In Tollington, immigrant families become the scapegoat for problems caused by deindustrialisation and government neglect. Sam’s anger is real — his community is genuinely suffering — but it is misdirected at the Kumars rather than at the economic forces that are actually destroying Tollington.
This pattern — economic hardship breeding racial resentment — was widespread across industrial England in the 1960s and 1970s. Syal uses Tollington as a case study to show how ordinary people can be radicalised by poverty and political rhetoric. The closing of the mines is not just a plot detail; it is the engine driving the novel’s racial conflict.
Meena’s Broken Leg
A major turning point in the novel is Meena’s broken leg. She finds out at the stables that Anita is going out with Sam, tries to ride away, is thrown from the horse, and spends a long time in hospital. This enforced stillness is transformative. For the first time, Meena is removed from the social pressures of Tollington — from Anita, from the need to perform, from the constant effort of fitting in. The long stay in hospital creates a liminal space in which Meena can think, reflect, and begin to see her life more clearly.
During her recovery, Meena starts to question the friendship with Anita and to recognise the racism she has been ignoring or minimising. The injury functions as a metaphor for the painful process of growing up — the shedding of childhood innocence and the development of a more mature, honest understanding of the world.
Meena’s broken leg is both a literal event and a metaphor. It removes her from Anita’s influence, forces reflection, and marks the beginning of her emotional and psychological maturation. After it, Meena begins to see Tollington — and herself — more honestly.
Nanima’s Visit
The arrival of Nanima (Meena’s maternal grandmother), who comes from India to help with the new baby Sunil, is one of the novel’s most emotionally significant moments. Nanima does not speak English, but she communicates through touch, food, stories, and the sheer force of her presence. She represents everything Meena has been running from — her Indian heritage, her family history, the Punjabi language, the deep roots of a culture that stretches back generations.
Nanima arrives before the accident and is still in England while Meena recovers, so the two changes work together. For the first time, Meena begins to see her heritage not as an embarrassment but as a source of strength and identity. Nanima’s stories about Partition — the traumatic division of India and Pakistan in 1947 — give Meena a sense of her family’s history and resilience that she has never had before.
The middle section of the novel sees Meena in full identity crisis. She has tried to be English and been rejected. She has neglected her Indian heritage and now feels disconnected from it. She is caught between Sam’s “This is our patch” (which excludes her) and her family’s quiet insistence that they belong here too. Meena admits she is “too mouthy, clumsy and scabby to be a real Indian girl, too Indian to be a real Tollington wench.”
This line captures the essence of the novel’s exploration of cultural duality. Meena’s confusion is not simply about choosing between two cultures — it is about finding a way to be both. Nanima’s visit begins to show her that this is possible: that she can be Indian and English, that belonging does not require the erasure of one identity for the sake of another.