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GUV:So we’re saying 3 major themes in Meera Syal’s Anita & Me are family, friendship and identity huh?

ALL: Yes Guv.

GUV:Right - you, show me the evidence.

SHANE:Um, OK, it’s important to remember that in the 60’s slash 70’s, it was unusual for an Indian family to live in a small, white, workingclass, new town like Tollington.

PC BENNETT:Meena says “it was a source of embarrassment to me that our front garden was the odd one out.” At first, Meena rejects her Mama for making them feel different.

PC GREEN:Well, it’s hard for Meena to work out her place in the world. She loves her parents but she prefers to dress like the other children rather than wear the Indian saris and she prefers fishfingers to the freshly prepared Indian meals her Mama makes her.

PC BENNETT:Yeah, I spose. Her parents want Meena to appreciate her heritage, but all Meena knows is Tollington.

GUV:Just noise, unless you got evidence.

SHANE: “But gradually I got bored, and then jealous of this past that excluded me.” Her parents are really good friends, very close, and this too, alienates Meena.

PC GREEN:And Meena makes a point of speaking with the West Midlands lingo, which makes her sound different to her parents.

PC BENNETT:(doing W’Midlands accent) “Dead saucy he is but he’s gorra face like a cat’s arse so he ain’t getting any off of me…(trails off)

PC BENNETT: Good accent

GUV:Very good, yeah

SHANE: “Just because the English can’t speak English themselves, does not mean you have to talk like an urchin. You take the best from their culture, not the worst.”

PC BENNETT: Not gonna try the accent?

GUV: Best not.

PC GREEN: I can kinda see why wanting to belong to Anita’s gang was important. I keep thinking about what she said about the family gatherings - I got it in here. “when I looked at my elders, in these moments, they were all far, far away.” Excluded from these memories, Anita was in the present and that must have been exciting, fun.

SHANE:“I knew I was a freak.

PC GREEN: You’re not that much of a freak, mate.

SHANE:I’m reading a quote from Meena. “I knew I was a freak of some kind, too mouthy, clumsy and scabby to be a real Indian girl, too Indian to be a real Tollington wench”.

Meena notices it’s only ever white girls in the pictures and is told in reply to a letter to wear makeup to lighten her skin tone.

PC BENNETT:Then after the racist attack on the Indian man who works on the motorway, Meena says “I wondered if Tollington would ever truly be home again” - and actually, it wasn’t, not really.

GUV:She’s pulled in all sorts of directions before accepting who she is. I am satisfied. Move on.

Ok FAMILY. Go.

PC GREEN:S’hard not to compare Anita’s family to Meena’s. We can see as an outsider how amazing Meena’s are, even though it takes a while to realise it herself. But poor Anita.

SHANE:Anita and her sister Tracey are abandoned by their Mum, Deirdre. Meena says “all I knew is if Mama had run away leaving a note, I would now be rolling around in hysterics”.

PC BENNETT:Lets not forget Mrs Worrell and her disabled husband aren’t visited by their kids at all. And Mr & Mrs Christmas snuffed it without getting once seeing theirs.

PC GREEN:Whereas he Kumar’s have “family” come every week, and they’re not even blood related most of the time.

SHANE:But this in a way links in with ‘identity’. Meena feels left out. “You really must learn Punjabi, Meena. Look how left out you feel.”Guv drums her fingers on the word ‘friendship’.

GUV:Finally, friendship, yeah. What we got?

PC BENNETT: The title of the book. Meena’s friendship with Anita Rutter. “It had been the first time Anita had talked to me and I had wondered what I had done to deserve it.” It’s not equal.

PC GREEN:It’ not all bad, though. It gave Anita confidence “she made me feel taller” “ready to try anything”.

PC BENNETT:But at the fair, Anita doesn’t even bother introducing Meena and later on she steals from her.

SHANE:Meena was always doing stuff for Anita, not the other way round.

GUV:What does Meena do for Anita, apart from being her adoring fan?

SHANE:Well Anita’s Mum talks to her like an adult and even shares a sexual partner with her. Meena was sort of a window into a proper childhood.

PC BENNETT: Namina, Meena’s Gran, she’s a better friend to Meena than Anita ever was. She helps her appreciate her heritage, and later on helps her bond with her brother “I could not imagine how I ever resented him, could even remember why.”

GUV:Very good gang. Very good. All this talk of friendship got me thinking, curry!

Woah, not you guys - I’m going with my mates!

PC BENNETT: Got a lot of work to do.

PC GREEN: Yeah…