I am Anand's father, from Baroda in India. It's in a state called Gujerat, where quite a lot of us came from ten, twenty, even thirty years ago. In the past, people from Gujerat have travelled to work in other countries and sent money home, so it's not a really poor part of India.
Like other people, I heard that there was work in the UK and I thought it would be worth having a look, at least. I had a degree when I came but English people didn't seem to think it counted for much and they laughed at the way I spoke English. I worked as a bus conductor for a while, while I was studying in night classes and doing exams for British qualifications.
I'm a computer engineer now and we can afford quite a nice house, but there was a time when there was only one area of the town we could afford to live, and even then some people wouldn't sell to an Indian family. That's against the law now. None of this will be worth while if Anand doesn't do well at school, so he has to work hard.
