They got married really young. I don’t even think they were teenagers. Dad didn’t know what he was doing. He had woke up at 7 years old in his dad’s arms under the stars one day to find that his dad had died in his sleep. He went to work the next day. And he didn’t stop.
Dad was a drunk. He was abusive. Mum was treated badly by his family. She was a kid. But he put family first. His family wasn’t just his wife and kids. It was everyone. And it was his duty to make sure they stayed together and stayed well.
Amid civil unrest across India he found an opportunity to move to the UK to seek a better life for his children.
He was alone. And he found a lifelong friend in Prem and his family in Southall Broadway, West London. He was never to forget him. He worked 3 or 4 jobs to save for a house and feed his family.
When the band ended I took on caring duties for my dad. Dad had enabled generations of us to live a life of opportunity. It’s hard to know if he feels remorse for how mum was treated. He never acknowledges it. It’s probably too late for that now.
Heavyweight was written in the years after his Alzheimer’s diagnosis and his retreat into silence.
