9 Words Podcasts: Togetherness

‘Punjabi Women’s Writing Group illustration’ - by Pickle Illustration

TOGETHERNESS – Punjabi Women’s Writing Group

In this podcast we learn about togetherness, in discussion with Santosh Kumari, Parveen Bhrigu and Kully Kohli, from the Punjabi Women’s Writing Group from Wolverhampton.  

“I thoroughly enjoyed talking to these three women about their work and outlook. We discuss culture, growing up, enduring obstacles and the future.” Bobby Tiwana

Extracts from the podcast

“We Are Together. The poems we wrote focussed on family, personal experiences and also the environment, the future.”

“We do write about feelings, emotions in our poetry whether it's to do with flowers or nature or dhal, chawal. We, we associate that with emotions. Now some of our emotions come out quite freely, some of emotions are quite controlled.”

“It's called ‘My Unsaid Words’ and that is pure emotions. How the words which I really want to say, it’s all stuck in my throat and it's making sort of a tsunami in my head because I can't say it, because it would then cause problems and breakdown relationships.”

“I always was a writer from a really young age, and I really wanted to get my words out because I couldn't speak very well. And when I got married, I had seven of us in one house. I was working full-time and my in-laws, my kids, my husband. When I sat down to write they said, “You’re wasting your time, why do you do that for?” 

“Togetherness gives you a sense of belonging, feels warm and not threatening. Togetherness is when people or a person isn't threatened by the way they’re living or what they’re doing. Togetherness gives you the freedom to express the person that you are so you can go as wide as you can with togetherness.”

“I certainly grew up in that era in that fear in that oppression in the, in a way I don't think my education… was compromised I believe, because the teachers in the school even they left us in one class those children who had come from India, Pakistan or wherever and we stayed in one class for 4 years.”

Download the transcript of the podcast here.

Togetherness Credits

Artist Punjabi Women’s Writing Group: Santosh Kumari, Parveen Bhrigu and Kully Kohli. 

Presented and produced by Bobby Tiwana

Sound design, engineering and editing by Duncan Grimley

Commissioned by Creative Black Country

Funded by Arts Council England

Supported by Wolverhampton Arts & Culture and Paycare.