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Lal,
as he is known, was born in Dandi, a small fishing village, approximately
50km north of Bombay, in the state of Gujarat, where the great Mahatma
Gandhi is said to have made salt out of seawater to confront the
then colonial British rulers.
Following
his marriage to Sushila he, like many other Indians, moved to Mombasa
in Kenya, to work as a manager on the Kenyan railway. It was there
that his first son Vijay and daughter Nayantara were born.
Shortly
after, he moved to a post in import-export in Dar-E-Salaam before
taking up a post in Nairobi, Kenya, where his third son Pradeep
was born.
Being
a British passport holder, Lalit came to the UK in 1963. He lived
and worked in Cheltenham for the then Dowty Seals Ltd (Ashchurch
division). By
late 1966 he had saved up sufficient funds to bring his wife and
young children to join him in the UK.
Lalit became the President and founding member of the Indian
Association in 1970 and was instrumental in the purchase of
the building and forming of what subsequently became the Hindu
Community Centre. .
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Untold Stories |
The
early years were difficult and burdensome as both parents worked
hard, often having two or three different jobs in order to make
ends meet, to buy their first home and to further the education
of their children.
Lalit
became the President and founding member of the Indian Association
in 1970 and was instrumental in the purchase of the building and
forming of what subsequently became the Hindu Community Centre.
His
role involved management and funding, forging links at local, county
and national government level and in the early 1980s, representing
and chairing a conference in Geneva on Asian and ethnic issues.
He
was involved in the assimilation, communications and correspondence
in relation to expelled Ugandan Asians in Cheltenham and Gloucester
in the late 1970s.
Lalit
was involved in the finance and logistics, to help bring the statues
of deities (Hindi Gods), over from India to the Hindu Temple, for
the purposes of worship.
He
also appeared on ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½1's Sunday morning Asian programme Apna He Gher
Samajehai and on radio at ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Pebble Mill in Birmingham to comment
on and represent Hindu community issues and views.
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Lalit
helped bring the statues of Hindu dieties from India to the
temple in Cheltenham
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Recently
he has appeared on ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Radio Gloucestershire to work with presenter
Manny Masih to educate and convey to a younger audience Hindu music
from the perspective of an older generation - "songs of purity,
meaning and substance". He is concerned that these may be lost,
in the new age.
Lalit
is proud of his children. His eldest, following a career in design,
has moved successfully sideways into computing and IT. His daughter
is a manager for the London Underground. After studying at Cambridge
University (where he obtained a 2:1 degree) and Guildford Law College,
his youngest son went on to become a partner/lawyer in the City
of London.
Lalit
now enjoys his retirement by living for five months of the year
at his birthplace, in India and the rest in Cheltenham.
He
has travelled extensively throughout India and the rest of the world
and is a respected pillar of the Asian community in Gloucestershire
having links with local councils and other official departments,
as well as overseas communities throughout the world.
»
See 'The Hindu Community'
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