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Growing up British

Nobody in this album is standing in front of a wonder of the world. There is a great deal of car-washing. This is the part we actually lived in.

35 photographs.

Prince Philip (close range). Bermuda — Bermuda, March 1994. The Queen and the Duke were on the island for forty-four hours, and on the way in from the Civil Air Terminal they stopped, unscheduled, to talk to the crowd at the gate. That is how Mataji and Papaji ended up close enough to shake his hand.

Queen Elizabeth II (close range). Bermuda — The Queen in Bermuda, March 1994. The man in the plumed hat is the Governor, Lord Waddington, who four years earlier had been Margaret Thatcher’s Home Secretary. The aircraft is a VC10, which flew the Royal Family and prime ministers until the RAF gave up the type in 2013.

Three people. Heathrow Airport — Heathrow. Somebody is going away again.

Mataji and Papaji. A driveway in England — A driveway in England, the winter of 1993 into 1994. Mataji has hit Papaji in the chest, and his other hand is already down in the snow on the boot of the car, gathering more.

Sunil, cleaning a hubcap. An English back garden — Cleaning a hubcap in the back garden.

Papaji holding the Daily Telegraph. A front room in England — Papaji in the front room on Saturday 13 October 1984. The front page is turned out to the room and he is looking off, past the edge of it. It says IRA DEFIED BY THATCHER. They had bombed her hotel in Brighton the morning before.

Sunil and a man on the telephone, behind the counter of a children's and babywear shop. A shop in Slough — Behind the counter of the family shop in Slough. One of them is on the phone. One of them is not. The till takes Switch, which was Britain’s own debit card for exactly fourteen years.

Ravi, leaning on the family's yellow VW Type 3 Variant, holding a sponge. A street in South London — The whole car is under soap. Ravi is leaning on it, having a rest.

Sunil as a teenager, hand resting on his father's brass plate. The surgery is Papaji's. Crystal Palace Road, East Dulwich — My father’s surgery in East Dulwich, 1981 or 1982, just after I came back from Rajasthan. The brass plate gives the hours, and then: NO SUNDAY SURGERIES. You could not, in those days, be ill on a Sunday.

Four people. A street in London — The trunks are on the roof. I couldn’t tell you whether we are arriving or leaving.

At the Agarwals' house: Papaji, Papaji's mother (the lady in the big white sari), Mataji (in the sari, beside Papaji), and Mrs Agarwal (in the cardigan, holding the child). The Agarwals’ house, London — My grandmother has the sofa to herself. Everybody else has arranged themselves around her.

The rest of it

Mataji and all four children: Veena (eldest, anorak), Anil and Sunil (blazers), Ravi (toddler). Sunil is far right. An English park — Mataji in an English park, spring 1968, with all four of us. Veena has Ravi by the hand. Anil and I are in the Dulwich College blazers.

Mataji in a cardigan, not a sari. Gorey, Jersey — Mataji at Gorey, on Jersey, in a cardigan. Walter Raleigh was governor here, and when they told him to pull the castle down and use the stone for a new one, he said it were a pity to cast it down. So they didn’t, and there it still is behind her.

Mataji and children in tilaks. An English back garden — Mataji and all four of us in the back garden, with the tilaks on.

Man and boy at a Mercedes W123. Dulwich College, London — Beside the green Mercedes at Dulwich College. It has been there since 1619, and it started as a school for twelve poor scholars, paid for by an actor.

Sunil, grinning. South London — South London, squinting into the sun, thrilled about something I could not now tell you.

Three at departures, one holding a camera. Heathrow Airport — That’s me with the camera round my neck. I’m in the shot, so I didn’t take this one. Somebody else has the tickets.

Papaji on a mobile phone. An English rose garden — Papaji on the mobile, among the roses, holding it like a man who has just been given it.

Papaji and Ravi in a pram. England — Papaji, and Ravi in the pram.

Two women in saris and a man. A terraced street in England — Two saris on a terraced street, 1983 or 1984.

Mataji and me. An English back garden — Mataji and me in the back garden.

Papaji reading, snow outside. A London terrace — Papaji reading, with snow on the roofs outside and no intention of going out into it.

Papaji in an armchair. A front room in England — Papaji in the green armchair.

Sunil. England — Somewhere in England. I am about eighteen.

Sunil. Location unknown, a formal park — Tulip beds, in spring, and a suit I was very pleased with.

Mataji. Location unknown — Mataji with a sparkler, at Diwali. It moves with the moon, so it falls somewhere between the middle of October and the middle of November, and never twice on the same day.

Mataji, young. Location unknown, a garden — Mataji in the garden, with a steel tumbler. There is one in every Indian house on earth.

Mataji. Location unknown, parkland — Mataji and the Mercedes estate. It was the first estate car Mercedes ever built themselves.

Sunil and a friend. Location unknown, a function room — Champagne, and a jumper somebody was very proud of in about 1987.

Sunil and Papaji. A park in England — Papaji and me in a park in England. I am about twenty.

Sunil and a family member. London — A sitting room in London, and family in it.

Sunil. Location unknown, probably an English garden — A red tilak, and a collar and tie, in an English garden. Both things are true at once.

Sunil. Location unknown, an interior — Me in a jumper with a bold geometric position of its own.

Mataji. Location unknown — Mataji picking strawberries, somewhere in England.

Papaji at the wheel, an adult woman in the back, and the back of another adult head. England — The green Mercedes, in England. Mercedes offered sixty-five different colours on that car, among them citrus green, mango green and cactus green. Papaji chose this one.