Vali Jamal: Mixed marriages are now common in the Uganda Asian community but I could count just ten until 1972. The liaisons often occurred in Britain during the long years of studies in the cold climate, with no prospects of returning home except at the end of the degree. I asked Carolyn to write about her six-month stay in Kampala in 1967 so soon after her marriage to Bahadur Bandali Kassam.
Abbotsford, December 2012.
I was born in North Finchley, London, where I did my early schooling and later my family moved to Cambridge. After completing my A levels I went to St Andrews University in Scotland to read Science. I met Bahadur (BBK to his friends) when we shared lectures in Physiology. Our decision to get married was not well received by either family because mixed marriages never work” but we went ahead anyway. It was mixed in two ways, race and religion. We were married on July 1st 1967 at Cambridge, BBK graduated with his medical degree from St Andrews on July 4th and we left London for Kampala on July 7th – probably the most momentous week of our life together!
via Pages from Vali Jamal’s forthcoming book about Uganda Asians. It’s about Mrs Carolyn Bahadur Bandali Kassam and brings out how it was for a British lady to be part of the larger Uganda Asian community and Uganda society. Dr Jamal’s book should publish “at mid-year.”. Click here for all related Vali Jamal posts at Ismailimail.
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