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Manjari Singh
Manjari Singh, born in 1977, Bihar (India), is a prominent figure among Edinburgh’s South Asian communities and is the Climate Action Fund Project Officer for Networking Key Services (NKS)
Skip to mediaPart of the South Asian Britain oral history collection
About
Manjari Singh has played an integral role in bringing together communities of South Asians in Edinburgh, organizing large-scale events such as the city’s Diwali celebrations. She talks about her arranged marriage to a British South Asian and their traditional Indian wedding. She describes her experience of moving to Edinburgh, from India, on marriage.
Manjari’s love of social events emerged in Edinburgh, as she created online group chats of South Asian women in her local community. She organizes events for them, feeling strongly about women needing a space to socialize away from their families. She also shares how her outgoing personality has helped her in other endeavours, such as her climate activism project with Networking Key Services (NKS), an Edinburgh South Asian women’s organization. Manjari has ambitions to run as a local councillor for the Labour Party.
The full interviews recorded for 'Remaking Britain', for the South Asian Britain: Connecting Histories digital resource, are available at the British Library under collection reference C2047.
Listen to Manjari talking about setting up South Asian community groups in Edinburgh.
Interview conducted by Maya Parmar, 27 September 2024.
MP: And so when you were putting together this group of people, how did you do it? Was it literally like you said, you'd be at the bus stop and you’d talk to somebody, and then you'd get their number? How would you create that kind of network?
MS: So, I used to like...I used to go and I find people and I used to take number. First, I was not...I didn't had any phone number or anything. So when we had...when I created a lot of friends, I knew a lot of them. So then in summertime, what used to...I used to take my daughters to very nice places, like let's go to farm, where they will have good fun. In summer times, mostly children are, like, not going to India or long holiday, they can...they will be bored in the house instead, watching television and all. So I used to take my daughters and a few friends together, we'll plan a trip, a day trip to anywhere nearby. So then people will know that Manjari‘s gone to this place, I will post somewhere. And they used to say, 'Oh my God, Manjari, you’re been...you have been so many nice places. So if I would have known, I would have come with...together.' So I said, 'Okay, what to do? I can't email everyone. I can't phone in the morning that you come, you come. It will be like wastage of time.' So suddenly, because I...from 2009, with this group, I started doing a Christmas party with, like, only Indians. So, that time I created that kind of group, like a WhatsApp group. Then I thought, okay...that was called, like, Desi Christmas Party. So that time was there, they see. So I said, 'Okay, now I'm going to create a Desi school group where all the parents will be there and plan to...any outings we’ll do, we’ll let everybody know, all the connection, and then we'll...we can plan like that way.' So it was like twenty people coming. And then I have to plan who is coming with whom, because some people don't have the cars and all. I make plans like, you can go with this, somebody can pick you up, somebody will bring you. So that was...that started happening. And then I created a big group of, like, it's called the Edinburgh Desi Ladies. And now it has more than 700 ladies. And they are, like, well-connected to each other. It's like a private group, it's not like a public group. I come to know with somebody who’s coming from India, somebody's friend they met, and they will ask me, 'Manjari, can you add her?'
MP: And is this on...again, is this on WhatsApp, or where is the group?
MS: It's all WhatsApp.
MP: Okay.
MS: So I will be knowing, I will talk to the person on the phone when they provide me number, I will save their number, and then I will add them. And then I will...in first conversation, I will come to know which area they are staying in and which background they are from, like if they are South Indian or they are from, like, you know, which part of India they are from. So I will know who is who. So, I will then, somebody is from the same place, I will make them connect with them. So it will...like, somebody from...like, I have so many people from Maharashtra, so I created a group for all Marathi. I knew lots of Bengali so I made a group of Bengali. So now, what they’re...they...because there are so many groups now, they are started celebrating big festivals within them.
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Entry credit
Zareena Pundole
