Â鶹ԼÅÄ

This social history series follows wedding guru, entrepreneur and second-generation Indian immigrant Onkar Singh Purewal as he meets Asians from all over Wales. He is exploring how immigration from the Indian subcontinent has transformed Welsh health, culture and the economy, and how Wales has changed those who have arrived over the past eight decades and made this place their home.

In this episode, Onkar reveals how the first wave of Indian immigration into Wales was driven by the founding of the NHS in 1948. A severe shortage of medical labour meant that Britain looked to her former colonies. Within months, thousands of Indian medics arrived in Wales, particularly filling positions in the less desirable poorer towns and valleys.

We hear from Dr Ganesh Subrahmanyam, now 92, who was one of the very first doctors to arrive in Wales in 1956 from Mysore in southern India. He shares his experiences of being one of the first people of colour many locals had seen in his hometown of Merthyr and the work he did within the community – including his experiences during the Aberfan disaster.

Today, there is a new generation of home-grown Indian medics still working in Wales. In 2003, an incredible 73 per cent of GPs in the Rhondda Valleys were Asian. Onkar meets Dr Rini Chatterjee in Merthyr Tydfil and finds out why so many people of Asian heritage pursue a career in medicine. He also discovers the similarities between Welsh and Indian communities, and Dr Rini’s love for the local people.

Onkar joins Dr Kausik Mukherjee for a shift at a hospital where he works as one of the nation’s leading radiologists and finds out the immense role played by Indian medics during the pandemic, and why Dr Kausik now calls Cardiff his home.

Onkar travels to a yoga retreat in Carmarthenshire to find some inner peace and check how flexible he is! In the process, he hears the story of Jnandev and Deepika (formerly Sally), who fell in love whilst training to be yoga teachers and set up their ashram in the heart of the Welsh countryside. There, they help stressed-out people from all over the country to relax, get fit and cope with daily life.

Finally, in Anglesey we meet Haroon Danis, a third-generation Bangladeshi Welshman with a thriving skincare business. He reveals how being the only Asian in the village was the making of him and helped him excel in later life. Onkar gets treated to his first ever facial in one of Haroon’s clinics as he explores how this reinvention of healthcare for a modern generation has impacted people in Wales.