Spanish | Indian (BHF Cardiac Nurse)
My Father was born in New Delhi India to a military family with a mixed Persian heritage, he himself joined the British Navy. He was stationed in New Zealand when his navy ship was invited to join the Queen’s coronation parade in London. He loved London so on finishing his navy service he decided to set up in London. My Mother was born in Galicia, Spain. She spent many years at the conservatory and was a music teacher but moved to London where she trained as a nurse at St George’s hospital back when it was in Hyde Park Corner. They met in Bayswater café in London's Swinging sixties through a common love of Abba, Los Paraguayos, Demis Roussos and Nana Mouskouri. It was probably quite difficult having a mixed ethnicity relationship back then, but they were such a stylish looking couple!
As children our family home was often full of guests and family members from both sides along with my Dad’s many friends. My Dad had a lot of interesting contacts from unusual backgrounds and on my Mum’s side we had lots of cousins at university who spent long summers with us. We were exposed to many cultures including those of my own school friends who were just as mixed as myself. My best friends at school were Russian/South African and Turkish/Italian. I experienced Spanish culture from quite a young age and have a large extended family there. I am very at home with the Spanish lifestyle and culture, having spent many a holiday and extended living periods there. Galicia has a very unique and different vibe to it; it has a Celtic origin which I love. I also lived for a while in the foothills of the Himalayas where my Dad’s family moved to after partition. I experienced a remote tribal mountain culture which was really quite unique.
I am lucky to have lived and understood both my parents’ cultures despite it being sometimes challenging integrating cultures into my identity. I have learned to straddle more than one identity and enjoy being unique and not being easy to label or pigeonhole. That is the beauty of being a mixture, you can see and experience from multiple perspectives. It’s a unique and special privilege that can be a great advantage, yet I can see how it can be challenging to be fully accepted. I’ve learned that accepting myself is more important than whether others do.
In terms of relationships, I seem to like interesting mixes of cultures, but really it’s all about connection. Interracial relationships are beautiful, but boy people were brave back then. As they would have had so much disapproval.
I'm lucky I can blend in with many cultures. I may have been less confident about my identity as a child, but I love being unique and I'm happy and grateful for my unique ethnicities. There are many positives around my identity, I feel unique and lucky to have been able to straddle two very different heritages; seen the similarities, harnessed the best parts and learnt from the worst. Any challenges I have faced I have tried not to think of them as ethnically based, even though they may have been, and I have just kept going or moved on to new challenges. I do think my outlook on my mixed identity has changed as I’ve gotten older, as you visit your native countries and learn about the heritage you can love it more and so love your unique identity even more.
My first experience with the BHF was many years ago when it funded my first ever clinical research role, which I am very grateful for. My career has been mainly focused on academic clinical research in the cardiovascular field so the BHF has been there along the way in finding, research studies, training courses etc. I joined the BHF as a Cardiac Nurse knowing that this is an organisation that I respect and with a mission I am committed to. Of course an organisation’s reputation outlasts its members, so with the 60-year anniversary next year I think it’s good to think about the legacy that we as members wish to leave for the next 60 years in a uniquely unsettled global economic and health crisis. Ethnicity and heart and circulatory conditions have been major underlying themes to the coronavirus pandemic and that along with addressing inequalities in health care is an area that the British Heart Foundation can make a big difference in.
Being mixed has never been an issue at my workplace, I feel comfortable to be myself. It would be nice to have an inclusion team and office where issues can be raised outside of the traditional HR team, so people feel able to speak about problems they are having in confidence and feel supported. It would be nice to also have a mixers night just as a fun thing, we are a bit unique and don't often get special permission to hang out, but everyone would be welcome though, perhaps also have inclusion events and opportunities.
I have two sons and have worked with young people as a teacher and also as a nurse. I have found that being friendly, kind and honest works well with young people. I think it’s good to learn as much as possible about your ethnicities, seek it out, talk and read about it and find the best and most interesting parts to you. There’s no need to feel like you have to identify with one more than another. Enjoy a many faceted identity and be proud and happy of how unique you are.
I am happy with what I have been gifted but if I could be reborn it would be in 500 BC Central Asia as Tomyris.