When I was a very small boy, I asked my mother what will I be? Will I be a doctor, will I become a bus driver, or will I be one of those dole dossers?
My mother replied to me... Que sera sera whatever will be, will be ... we're gonna get kicked out of this country!
Twenty years later, and a few more football chants and poetry verses under my belt I look at the situation facing our community in Britain as being on a knife edge.
Indeed when I was a very small boy my parents were convinced that our time in this country was limited. Trying to grasp as much as we could in the 1960s and 1970s, our parents have firmly kept the belief that our days are numbered despite the community thriving and going from strength to strength.
In the heyday of our youth the prospect of being forcibly removed from this country seemed like a conspiracy theory derived from the lounges of terraced houses with bitter old men talking of doom.
It is much easier to come into this country these days as an economic migrant, or on a marriage Visa.
Racism is not as precise nor as targeted as it was in the 1970s. The ethnic communities have become financially secure, more literate and academically intellectual. Surely we are here to stay.
Integration has occurred to an extent, our religious beliefs and practices have been allowed and even encouraged.
Politically, there are councillors, prospective members of parliament, representatives in the House of Lords - and each year in the Queen's Honour's Lists there seem to be a proportionate number of awards to our folk.
Wherever one cares to look, we have come a long way in the last 40 years - and there's no turning back - literally.
Some of us have turned our back to the sub-continent. Some will visit periodically, while others are awaiting the departure of the old folk in the villages to lock up the houses and move lock, stock and barrel into the UK.
Indeed, the ones who have been left over in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh are searching for more avenues to get to their uncle's promised land.
So what have we got to worry about?
For the sake of sounding like those grumpy old men in smoke filled front rooms, I have a warning for all of us living on easy street.
Historically we're doomed. Politically we're teetering on the brink. And emotionally we've sold our souls to the highest bidder. What we have remaining with us will not get us far, not even to the peasant villages that most of us have come from.
But why is this fool going on about our so called perilous situation when we are the most comfortable that we've ever been, you ask yourself sitting on your brand new antiqued leather sofa.
I don't know if all the readers of Asian Image have recently been watching the news - but we are being targeted by the unseen forces like never before. Every week a group of so-called terrorists are picked up within the heart of our communities, where many are not charged and released - yet the stigma of the upheavals remain in the community. It really doesn't matter what you and I think, it's what the indigenous community comes to feel about us.
With the readers of Asian Image, we do not condone any acts of terrorism against OUR country, and thus far there never has been a terrorist act by an Asian or Islamic group in this country and long may it continue.
Even the most moderate Muslim appears to be potential terrorist.
The most widely read broadsheets and tabloids all carry subtle racist undertones that are accepted by their vast readerships. What is the difference between you, British born, bred, educated, taxpayer, law-abider, Lancashire accent, England supporting football fan - and an asylum seeker 'scrounging on the British taxpayer and taking the jobs'.
Employment is at an all time high and most of us can find jobs in most sectors. But ask the Asian graduate how easy it is to find a well paid job in his or her chosen profession, ask those hard working members of our community who have strived for years to get a promotion within their employment without a sideways look from middle and senior management.
Why are so many talented youngsters from our community still at the bottom rung of the employment ladder? The answer is institutional and cultural racism. Some employers have been brave enough to admit, and I congratulate them and I urge our community to support rather than castigate them - because this issue is endemic in the British workplace.
But we don't need jobs, we've got good business brains. Nice cars, money in the bank, good clothes, less debt - these are all norms of even the younger members of the community- what are you talking about columnist man?
I will say two words - IDI AMIN!
Just observe the historical parallels of the Ugandan dictator and combine them with the rise of the British National Party. For those of you too young, or ignorant of remembering the evil, malicious and horrific man who would make Saddam Hussein look like Orville the Duck, just ask some elderly members of your community about the tyranny that occurred in the mid 1970s.
As for the British National Party, I have a simple message for you. I don't mind repatriating with my people anywhere in the world. No problem whatsoever. Recently I heard a figure of £20,000 banded about for repatriation. I could earn that in around nine months. Let's talk about half a million pounds and I would be on the next British Airways flight out. Also, I would like to sell my property and keep the profit, thank you very much.
By the way - could you tell me how you would fund that transaction, and furthermore how you would cover the surplus of my £7000 tax and nation insurance payments each year. What about the people who would lose their jobs as the main employer in the area, who happens to be of Asian origin, also decides to repatriate.
Of course, the example of the above are very extreme and even the most cynical among us would agree they are unlikely to happen in our life time, but might push eventually come to shove?
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article