... Anita and me and I ...

Adapted by Meera Syal from her book 'Anita and me' - the film tells the story of a young 12 year old Indian girl called Meena and her hero worship and friendship with 14 year old Anita - a thoroughly bad lot. The setting was based in a Black Country mining village in the seventies - where Meena's family are the obvious outsiders - dad was an accountant - where all of the locals were working class - in largely malfunctioning families.

Although the film has not been given good reviews in the 'high brow' press. I feel it is a very entertaining - not too heavy weight - but showing aspects of British working class life - and Asian life in Britain - although mostly tongue in cheek - the film looks some serious social problems, such as racism and domestic violence.

The film hit me hard as I was brought up in a Nottinghamshire mining village in the fifties - my family was also outsider the community - my father was a trainee engineer - National Coal Board manager working outside the village - whereas everyone else living around us - were related to someone working at the local pit. At that time all the housing in the main village was owned by the coal board.

The Meena character was quite determined and stood up to most of her problems - I found it harder to cope - not only was I an outsider - but because I was brought up elsewhere - having spent the first ten years of my life - living in the only council flat in a block of exclusive apartments, in post war London - there I was the poor kid - an outsider - but after a few years I was gradually accepted.

I was then effectively parachuted into a new world - from poor kid in a rich neighbourhood - to still being the poorest - my father was only a trainee - but also being seen as being posh - I spoke with a London accent - and the son of a manager - in a totally working class area.

I didn't understand the culture - so - I didn't argue with my parents enough - and ended up being the only kid in my year - with no football boots - in my first week at school. I was also the only kid in my year group who could not swim. So I was seen as being weak - useless at sports - and weird.

The education in the village was well behind that of London - why bother when the best the children from the village could do was to be a pit electrician - so I was made to go back to printing - rather then doing joined up writing - using pencil - when I was used to pen - I was then made to learn a completely different system of writing - and then penalised for writing in my preferred style.

My school reports throughout this period show a marked decline - I strongly remember being humiliated by a teacher - in front of the whole school - being told I was useless in the school play - I can also remember being hassled by the same teacher at other times - did she hate me for not being local - was it because she saw me from a different class - any way shes was a total credit to her profession - I don't think.

Eventually I developed my own persona with the other kids at school - by wheeling and dealing with American comics - and establishing myself as a bit of a comedian - but I never felt I belonged - but I survived - and being considered a little eccentric - was accepted. In fact in the junior school I had more hassle from teachers - than the kids at school.

My father then got promoted and we moved the Lancashire - where I was about two years behind the other kids - talking with a very strong Nottingham accent - I was then a complete outsider again. At thirteen I was transferred to a so called 'Grammar School' - a brand new school - but with all the clever kids being creamed off to more established grammar schools - so the school was really a 'secondary modern' with pretensions to being a grammar school.

My transfer was an experiment - ten kids - given intensive training for two terms - and then 'integrated' into the main school. So I was then an outsider again - when the integration happened I was a year older than the other kids in class. As we were an experimental group we were slung into the lower group at the school - and supposed to be grateful.

We had to sit alphabetically in class - which meant I sat next to Mackenzie - who every five minutes would stab me with a compass - or some other amusing thing - and I was sitting immediately in front of a guy called Norton - a complete thug.

The lower groups were being trained up for industry - so I had to drop subjects I liked - and was good at - such as history - and was forced to do metal work - and mechanical drawing - subjects I was useless at - but only the top groups were given choices. I also had to keep my head down at the school - bullying was rife - and not being a sportsman - had no real way to build up a network to protect myself.

These experiences have shaped my life - partially badly - in that I lack the confidence in myself to really achieve what I should be able to - but it did lead me into teaching - where I have helped quite a lot of students - with similar problems. I used to be good at helping middle range students.