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'Sometimes Megan winds me up'

Megan: Don't you think that sometimes Asian people make things worse for themselves by being different, covering their heads and all that.

Balvinder: How do you mean?

Megan: Well, if they're over here then they should follow our customs...

Balvinder: How can you say that?

Megan: Lots of people say it.

Balvinder: Lots of people say Chelsea's a good football team, but you don't have to agree. It's that idea of us foreigners being over here as if there's somewhere that's over there where we really belong. There isn't an over there to me. I was born in the same hospital John was - Britain is my home!!

Megan: So why don't some Asians act British - like us?

Balvinder: Hang on. You said us. But I was born here. Don't I count as one of us? Who is us if it doesn't include me?

Megan: Well, perhaps it only includes people if they have British customs?

Balvinder: Look, I didn't choose the way I was brought up and neither did you. You didn't choose your family's religion, or your family's language. Nobody told me when I was little I had to behave in a certain way or I wouldn't be British.

Megan: But you must admit that's how a lot of people see it.

Balvinder: What am I supposed to do about it? I was born here and I don't see why I can't be who I am. Why do I have to be any different? If I want to do things the way my family does them why have I got any less rights than anyone else?