Bend it like Beckham
Uploaded by short + black on Aug 05, 2007
I’m just like the rest of you; I was born right here in London; but my cultural and religious differences make me stand out in a white English community. Firstly, I was born to orthodox-Sikh parents who emigrated here from India. Thus, their values, attitudes and beliefs are vastly different to that of Pinky’s and mine. Mum and dad have always had us in their best interest, although their traditional Indian ways interfere with our social life which ends up with Pinky and I lying to them.
Unlike other cultures and religions, Indian culture is based mainly around respect; respect for elders. No matter how old you are, you always respect those you are older than you; and you would never think about dishonouring them. I obviously didn’t follow that rule properly as I played football without my parents’ proper consent. I would even constantly lie to them about getting a summer job, just so I could attend training sessions. They were so upset when they found out that I was going to play football professionally. After awhile dad warmed up to the idea, but it took a lot of persuading before mum would agree to let me play football as a career. In their minds they always had an image of me saving lives or putting criminals behind bars; I was also expected to dress like a proper Indian lady and be able to cook full Punjabi meals, both meat and vegetarian. I was also expected to marry a nice Indian boy who also had a good profession and was well respected among the Indian and Sikh community. None of my parents’ dreams came true, but they did get to see their daughter doing something that she enjoyed.
Playing a male dominant sport is hard as people don’t take you seriously. Many men or teenage boys see us as sex objects who are prancing around in shorts just for the fun of it. They don’t believe that we take the sport seriously, and look at our bodies, rather than our skills for entertainment. I used to just play football in the park with some of my other male friends, and considered my self to be pretty talented. One day after a friendly game with the boys, I was approached by Juliette who played professionally for the Hounslow Harriers, which was an all girls team. Jules said that I had what the...