Meet the Mancunian - Talking integration with Nidhi Sinha

Transcript - Nidhi Sinha

Intro

Welcome to the 10th episode of the Meet the Mancunian podcast: social impact stories from Manchester, Season Four. I'm Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe, your friendly host. On the streets and nooks of Manchester, my inspiring Mancunian guests tackle their causes with grit and passion. They are leaders, worker bees, and community hosts, and they share their stories to inspire you all through the season.

Relax, grab a brew and listen in to the Meet the Mancunian podcast on Apple, Google, Spotify of any of your favourite podcasting platforms. You can also check out all the episodes on my new website, www.meetthemancunian.co.uk.

I wanted to take a moment to introduce the podcast's new expanded name. As I mentioned last week, it's now the Meet the Mancunian podcast: social impact stories from Manchester. I’ve added social impact stories to make it easy for listeners to know what the podcast is about and what some of my new listeners may not know is that Mancunians are people from Manchester, UK and now back to episode 10 of the season.

Passionate about integration, we hear from Nidhi Sinha, Trustee, We Stand Together.

Episode 10

Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: In this episode, I'm delighted to introduce my guest, Nidhi Sinha, Trustee, We Stand Together. Thank you, Nidhi, for joining me today. It's a Saturday afternoon. It's a lovely day. It's not too cold outside. Hope you are having a nice weekend.

Nidhi Sinha: Yes. Thank you.

Thank you for inviting me to, to come onto your podcast.

Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Looking forward to hearing all about the good work that you're doing, but first maybe tell us about your passion for integration. How did you get that and what quite do you define integration as because everyone's got a unique take, isn't it?

Nidhi Sinha: They have, yes. It's a very good question. I first started my journey, I would say about five years ago, maybe six now. My late father’s death brought about quite an unstable foundation for me, and it's only then I realised the impact that we all have growing up of our parents, because my father was a community relations officer.

Nidhi Sinha: And in his role as a little child, growing up as a little girl here in Manchester, I was taken to all different communities. You know, handing bouquets of flowers to the Lord Mayor and going to the Chinese community, visiting the Jewish community. I didn't know what I was doing, I was just hanging around my father, and I think that's what brings the unique style of what I do. Because as you know, within the Indian community, most parents are doctors, lawyers, and accountants there are very few community leaders. And so my father was, you know, a pinnacle of faith and bringing people together, especially the Indian community, to participate in integrating within Manchester.

So when he passed away, it is crazy how your foundations shake at that time. And I felt that, you know, there was a need for a female Asian voice out there. And that's where my journey began. I'm now the coordinator of Sangha, which is a community-led organisation helping to integrate the South Asian community into the different stratas of life within Manchester. 

Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: So that must have been a very difficult time as well, I'm sure losing your dad and then having to re-evaluate what you're going to do for the next, for the next many years.

As you just introduced your role with Sangha Manchester and then you are also working as a trustee for We Stand Together. So tell us about how you got involved with these organisations. What, you know, what led to them?

Nidhi Sinha: That's a, a great question and I'm really glad you asked that because it gives other people opportunities to also get involved in community life and become a community activist. I became heavily involved with Manchester and the different community projects because there's a plethora of projects within Manchester. For example, there's a challenging hate forum, which the Dean chairs at Manchester Cathedral, the Faith Network for Manchester, the Manchester Climate Change Board, We Stand Together. I also volunteered myself as a chaplain at St. Peter's House for Manchester University students. So I just put myself out there and I did a lot of voluntary work for about three years. Before I got a full-time job and still continue to lead with passion in community aspects.

Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Thank you for sharing that. it's always interesting and it's also interesting that we are actually talking to each other at the end of Trustee Week this week, isn't it? Because I'm also a trustee with an animal charity Tree of Life for Animals for the last two years.

Nidhi Sinha: Wonderful.

Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: And they're actually Rajathan-based [India], but I'm on the UK board, so they're a lovely non-profit.

Nidhi Sinha: Well, I'd like to hear a bit more about that and how we can integrate that into some projects within Manchester.

Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Yeah. Absolutely. Would love to talk to you about that.

So tell us about what We Stand Together does and what you know Sangha Manchester does?

Nidhi Sinha: Sure. So We Stand Together is an organisation that allows all the different community groups to get together and work together in order to bring about change. Changing mindsets, challenging hate. We have many forums that go on throughout different years that, you know, we create lots of discussions. Just difficult dialogue actually. And I think our challenge is to bring people who wouldn't necessarily come to the table to get there. And that's the challenge that we face because usually you see the usual suspects in a lot of these meetings. But we are rolling out to different schools and you know, trying to get as many people involved as we can.

Sangha came to life I'd say about four or five years ago as a small organisation. Again, being Indian, myself and Asian, an Asian female. I noticed as I was growing up how insular the Indian community is. I can only talk about Indians because I'm Indian, how insular they were. And they just, and they still won't really integrate. I don't think they're not interested because, really they're so, we're so self-sufficient and so there's no need for them to go out.

And, you know, Sangha’s main role, I would say is to bring awareness to the community. Awareness of things like modern slavery. Awareness of homelessness, awareness of you know, Black Lives Matter and you know, all the different topics. You know, female empowerment. We’re very, very passionate about empowering women especially Asian women into the life of the city of Manchester.

And I think that, you know, Indians. Because we're so self-sufficient, there's no need to go out there. And that's how we kind of keep ourselves to ourselves. But if we are so self-sufficient, my challenge is to give, we all talk about seva [service] and you know, it's in every scripture and one of our scriptures is to give and to be mindful of how you are living, and so it'd be good to do what you can, not necessarily monetarily, but you know, give your time to the homeless and to modern slavery and to all these different projects that kind of helps Manchester grow and get stronger.

Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: And I think that's a real need for also that diverse perspective, isn't there?

Absolutely. And I think, you know, you've called out a couple of times about having a female Asian voice, sort of female Indian, Asian voice. If you want to add more and more descriptors, but you know, it's, again, different perspectives make for a better, better product, better organisation, better service to the community.

Nidhi Sinha: Absolutely. I think the more diversity we have, the better. And I can't reiterate how much, how important it is as an Asian woman. You know, I think for me, coming from a Hindu faith, it's brought a lot of diversity to the community and the work allows, others who think they are open to, they have their own views, but until they work with someone who's Asian and Asian woman, it's only them, they, they are able to reassess what they actually believe. And when they get to know me then they can maybe change what they think. So it does bring a minority perspective, definitely to the group and to the community.

Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Thanks for sharing that. And there must be many challenges on this journey. You talked about one of the challenges being potentially the community itself, being more self-sufficient and not outward-looking, but are there other challenges that you think you're facing, and if you can share with listeners how you're coping with them?

Nidhi Sinha: I'll be very honest, as I've not brought this up before though it's always in my mind. One of, I'd say, I can give you two challenges. One of the challenges I face is with my own senior uncles within the community, I would say instead of, encouraging me and saying you're doing some great work out there. How can we help? What do you want from us? It's not at all like that. It's very much the opposite. Probably because I'm out there, I'm trying to change things and they don't like it because they're not the ones in the forefront. I think the ego speaks a lot, and I'm not interested in ego or power.

I just want to try and change things. But within our community, I see a lot of that. And there's a long way to go because even though we have Asian women, especially the Indian women I know are all very professional. They're all consultants, doctors. But where is, how are they empowered? They still don't see that there's a big difference between academic education and awareness. And being aware of who you are and the different problems within changes your outlook completely.

The other challenge that I faced I can give you an example. When I was at St. Peter's house as a chaplain, we were all meeting up. All the faith leaders were meeting up for a discussion and we were meeting in the foyer. And a rabbi came through to join our group and he didn't even acknowledge me.

He met everybody else and said, hello he's an orthodox rabbi. And I felt, it felt so awkward. I felt upset and cross. But I think with resilience and being, you have to be resilient and thick-skinned. And actually, it wasn't only me who noticed that my son happened to be there because he had inset day and so I had to bring him along with me.

And the head of the chaplaincy after said, Nidhi, I saw what happened. Are you okay? Do you want to discuss it? And I said I said, no. I think what I'd like to do is bring it up in the next meeting. So I didn't want to compromise my core values of equality and inclusion and justice.

So I brought it up in the next meeting and we had a full topic [on how to welcome one another because often faith leaders don't know themselves how a Muslim would greet a Hindu or how a Hindu would greet a Jewish person and a Christian. How do we greet each other if we ourselves aren't able to do that?

How do we expect the outer circle to communicate with one another? And they really appreciated that and they took to it. But initially, it was very difficult because he blatantly ignored me because I was a woman.

Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: And I think this is the thing, right? Whenever difficult conversations, changing stereotypes and perceptions, or just ensuring a level thing field, it is sometimes hard for those who go ahead - those torch bearers, let's call it.

I've seen it in my own professional life. You know, when I started working there was a lot of times when you were just thought of as very glamorous. And that's why, it wasn't your hard work. It wasn't anything else. It was, you were being recognised. You were, I was getting promoted every year, but all of this is supposed to be because I had a pretty face and you'd be. Really? Yeah. Is that all you can see? Yeah. And, you know, having to work hard to... wasn't even counted. It was just like, oh, it's so easy for you and this is, this is the thing you sometimes face.

I know times have changed a lot and everywhere you know, women are taking that centre stage. But very often you do get talked down too. And I think it's, you're doing absolutely right thing. Everybody's got their own method of coping with it.

I would've probably reached out to him and said, hello. Yes. Well that would've been my way to do it.

Nidhi Sinha: I didn’t get an opportunity to do that because, as soon as he ignored me kind of walked past. And also I think, you know, there are different ways of greeting, so you're not allowed to touch or help shake hands or so.

Purposely, there was no eye contact there. And so I don't mind having eye contact, you know, that's good enough, eye contact and saying hello, but there was no eye contact at all. So that could have been quite awkward. But yeah, I think there's there's a lot of work still to be done out there, and it would be great to see more Asian women in community work because there's just not enough.

It's very, very male-orientated. I'm also a member of The Faith Leaders at Bishop's Court with the Bishop, and again, one of my passions is to try to get more female priests. That's a big passion of mine to try to change.

Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Yeah. There's always, there's always some really good stuff to be done, isn't there?

And keep your passion going. We need, we need more passionate people out there. Mm-hmm. I do have one guest that I will introduce you to. She runs Mirror Me Write. I don't know if you know her. Ayesha Ansari Choudhury.

Nidhi Sinha: No.

Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: She runs an inclusive bookstore, online bookstore, and she works with schools to get into their curriculum in Manchester because in Manchester and was basically the concept is that her children couldn't find, representative books that included people, like themselves.

And so she started this concept and I think it's a lockdown project, if I remember right. And yeah, I interviewed her in one of the earlier seasons and she was very passionate, lovely person. And well that's amazing. And I'm happy to, happy to do a little introduction for you.

Nidhi Sinha: That would be great. I mean, that's similar to my ethos of, you know, trying to change mindsets.

During your work doing community projects, you don't realize how many people you touch along the way. And I didn't realize until my daughter who's now in at university and the amount of work she's doing now to change things I feel very proud of her because, she's obviously seen the stuff that I'm doing over the years and, works very hard for inclusion and women's rights and climate change.

So she's out there too. Yeah, and occasionally I get women coming to me going, oh, that was really good. That was brilliant, what you've just done. I'm like, really? You just think and I said, well, as long as you can, you can do the same. And I hope to see you there next time. So it's about encouraging one another and collaborating, making friendships, and I think that's so solely how you start changing mindsets.

Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: That’s true. And I think the bonds that women can build are very, very strong ones. Yes. So it, it is, it is really good.

It brings us very well to a question I have, which is what impact would you say you made through your work? And you can take either We Stand Together or Sangha Manchester, whichever you like, and talk about it, please.

Nidhi Sinha: Well, I think that giving a voice as an Asian female, an Indian, Asian female has changed the views of people. I think that's important. I spoke earlier about how just being out there in the community allows others to reassess their views. About Asian women. I work at the cathedral as well, so you can imagine having a brown face at the cathedral in different departments is not very common.

And so I think it's very important just to be out there representing yourself and representing your community. That way, what happens is conversations take place, conversations you never thought would happen through becoming friends, through making friendships, and that's how mindsets and people change the way they feel, the way they do things. And hopefully, that then becomes a ripple effect on others.

Only the other day I spoke to somebody about how someone perceived me working at the Cathedral, and it's bizarre really because you know, here we have an Asian Prime Minister who is overtly a different religion running the country.

So it's okay for him to do that, yet I'm being questioned as to why am I of a different religion, probably a different race working in a cathedral that many probably still think it should be white. So, you have to be bold and courageous and resilient. and I think it's about, you know, carrying on the work you do, but we do need more Asian people out there in different communities and different organisations to be represented.

Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Thank you.

How can interested people reach out to you and learn more? Where can they find you? Where can they find Sangha and where can they find We Stand Together.

Nidhi Sinha: So we're on Twitter. So it's at s a n g h a m c r  -m for Manchester. So, You can tweet us on that. I'm also on tweet myself at Nidhi Manchester. You can often see lot of the projects that we do on there. We Stand Together, also have their own website, and we also have what we do within, We Stand Together is the trustees have a rota to write articles once every month on topics that are passionate to them and link up to what We Stand Together are doing. And so you can read articles, online articles on the website and on the Manchester Evening News. So we feature monthly on the Manchester Evening News, which is really good because it gets out there. The community-led organisations and I think really without these voluntary sector organisations, Manchester would not be what it is today.

And we're just growing stronger and greater because of all the community-led organisations like ourselves. So there's lots of places you can find us.

Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Thank you for sharing them and I'll be linking that in my Show notes. Can I just check, I couldn't find a website for Sangha Manchester. Is there a website?

Nidhi Sinha: No, we don't have a website.So just the Twitter feed is, we're just present on Twitter at the moment and as we grow and as we get more volunteers and people, so again, if, if anyone's interested to, you know, I'm passionate about trying to integrate the Asian community, please do reach out to me and we can you know, we can always find different projects.

One of the biggest projects we did lately was an NHS project. Trying to get the voices of Asian women within the maternity unit. And we wanted to understand the cultural differences so that their experience would be but getting the women was so challenging. Even after giving them money, it was hard.

But we also work on a lot of mental health issues as well, and that was very powerful. So we do get people eventually coming through and then realising how it benefited the community.

Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: I hope some of my listeners do come forward as volunteers.

What advice would you have for people looking to start something similar in another part of the world or another part of the UK? If they think they want to go into integration. How should they start?

Nidhi Sinha: Yeah. I think that, one, a good place to start is to volunteer with other organisations like I did. And that really allows you to get to know what's going on within the city, and then reach out a bit further out.

So I think voluntary work is always a very good way of starting, and that's how you get to know some of the dignitaries. I think we underestimate the work that our dignitaries within Manchester do. People think that they're just a title, but they're really not. They do an awful lot of work and they put a lot of hours in to make Manchester or make different cities, different dignitaries within different cities what it is today.

And it connects, you know, we're all connected. We're all interdependent. So I think. I think it's all linking with the networks and that's, again, that's how you become networked with different people. Networking is essential within community work and you know, for me, developing the citizens towards integrating the various strata and society, as I said.

Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Thank you for sharing them.

They're all great tips and I think volunteering in any form is always, it's good for the soul, and it's good for the community. Absolutely. And of course, it helps the cause. So I always encourage that.

It's an opportunity now for you to talk about anything that I didn't ask you before I go into my signature questions.

Nidhi Sinha: I did have a few things that I wanted to say and talk about.

Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Please.

Nidhi Sinha: I think, again, one of my passions is to try to change the, the way that religion is viewed if you like. As a Hindu myself, every time I go to the temple, I don't go to the temple that often. I just feel like there's quite a lot of politics and you know, changing, trying to change the mindset of people thinking that women are equally, should be equally as accepted as men, but it's never the case when you go into temples.

It just isn't. If you go and see who's on the board of trustees, for example, it's always male-led. You might get one female in there. But also the priests are all male, it's all, it's a very, very patriarchal society. And my spirituality comes from yoga. I'm passionate about yoga. I'm a yoga teacher. I've been teaching for over 10 years. And that's where I learned about my own scriptures through yoga. So I think it's important that we know. being a Hindu, you don't necessarily have to go to a temple. You know, it can be. That's, that's the beauty of being a Hindu. You can kind of worship in different ways.

So, so I think that that's important. And I think we all need to work together to try to, to acknowledge female priests because we can have female priests. It’s very challenging to get them out there, but that's one of my passions, as well as lots of other things that are going on within Manchester.

I'm sure I'll think about a few others after. And I'm going to say, oh, I wish I mentioned that and I wish I mentioned the other thing. But I'm working with two beautiful people. One is Rabbi Ashworth Stein, who if you haven't already interviewed, it's worth interviewing her. She's amazing. And she's the, our first rabbi in Manchester. First female rabbi in Manchester. and I was almost in tears when I went to her inauguration when she was being ordained there. And because on the platform you had the senior rabbis giving her advice and giving her encouragement and saying, you're going to be brilliant at this. Take this. This is your synagogue now. It was amazing.

And I just thought, wouldn't it be nice if our Hindu men could also empower? Hindu or Indian Asian, generally Asian, Asian men could empower Asian women. But I think they also need to be taught how to do it. And I think that's again, very, very important, to educate them to be aware of being able to empower their Asian women.

So that was really good. And, and I also work with another lovely Reverend, Reverend Grace Thomas. So the three of us being Hindu, Christian, and Jewish. We work together to try and change things within Manchester, and she's very passionate about what she does. She's really into climate change and we work in unison together. We have a lot of discussions you can imagine and different experiences that we've had working within the community.

Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Thank you for sharing that. And they sound like wonderful people like yourself.

Nidhi Sinha: Thank you.

Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: I'm now going move to the signature questions that I ask all my guests.

Describe the Mancunian spirit in a word or a phrase.

Nidhi Sinha: That's a great question. Mancunian spirit. I'll have to think of this one. Mancunian spirit, I think in a word or a phrase. I think it's being friendly. We are such friendly, passionate people that, allows us to do the work that we do to collaborate and partnership with not just people of Manchester. You know, going wider. That's the first thing that comes to mind is how friendly we are as Mancunians and how giving we can be.

Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Totally. I've experienced that myself through all the friendships and introductions that I've been offered for my podcast. I've really enjoyed it.

Nidhi Sinha: And, sorry. The other thing, I just wanted to add to that is I studied and I lived in London for over 10 years and I'd have to say that was one of the loneliest places I've ever been.

One of my friends said, oh, you must have made loads of friends. You know, because I'm so friendly and, and I said, no, I've just got maybe one friend. And they said, that's impossible. I said, it's just so lonely out there and you know, you can just talk to people at a bus stop here and you do not feel threatened and you feel safe, and then you become friends with them.

And so it, it's like this is the friendliest North West City I know.

Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Thank you for sharing that. I know, big cities can be very isolating. And I think Manchester's got that charm because it's not quite a really big city, but it is bigger than most. So it's got a very nice homey feel.

Nidhi Sinha: At the moment it's like that, but there are lots of buildings being put up, so it's getting quite close to the London lifestyle.

Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Can you share a Mancunian, who inspires you and why? It can be a person in the past or somebody who's alive now.

Nidhi Sinha: I would say Dean Rogers really is very inspiring in the way he works with others and the way he partners with other communities and his ethos, his philosophy. Incredible. Absolutely phenomenal, and I've learned a lot from him in working together rather than having your own views, it's all about working and collaborating and making friendships. And he's taught me a lot within the journey of community.

Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Thank you for sharing that. And I think you're going to help me interview him for potentially this season or the next, so I'm looking forward to that.

Nidhi Sinha: Absolutely.

Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: What's the most important life lesson that you've learned so far? 

Nidhi Sinha: Oh. Smile more and talk less.

Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: That's a good one.

Nidhi Sinha: And I think life lesson is to, I think people are different. It's really about listening to people rather than talking. We're all very good at talking, and I think if we listen more, it's also often what people don't say that you need to pick up on.

Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: That is really powerful because I think it's hard to be a good listener. We are always listening to answer, rather than listening to just reflect and give people a chance to frame their thoughts and share their views.

Nidhi Sinha: Well, you've hit the name on the head there. Reflection, I think within what I've learned also is within the Christian faith, reflection is a really, really big thing.

Whereas within the Hindu community or aspects, I've never been taught to reflect. And so I think reflection is a really, really big, a big ideology within Christianity. . You know, when they have evening prayer and morning prayer, for example, there's always bouts of silence. They have a reading and then they'll be silent.

And it's almost like you have to teach yourself what you're meant to do in that silence. I [know you're meant to be reflecting on the passage, but how do you do that? How can you be self-critical of it? I think reflection is a really big part of what we should be doing.

Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Very, very true. And again, a hard skill to develop.

And one that takes because our minds are so busy. So they're always a million things you could be thinking about, but just to take that moment and to be present and to be present, to focus yourself. It is hard.

If you could have one superpower, what would it be? Sorry if I'm asking you too many tough questions, but these are the Meet the Mancunian signature questions.

Nidhi Sinha: Wow. You know, I think I was thinking about this the other day, but now it's gone. You know, you think about these things deeply and then in the flash of a moment, it's kind of gone. Super power. Wow.

Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Go for something fun if you like.

Nidhi Sinha: Well, you know, do a lot of yoga and I think for me, yoga is my superpower anyway.

It gives me a lot of energy. It gives me, that is my time for reflection and it is magical. It's a magical lesson. Each time you practice, there's a lesson that comes out of it. So it is hard to describe just one superpower. I would take all of the superpowers within yoga, which is to be, it gives you strength, it gives you flexibility, it gives you clear thinking, and it gives you passion, and drive to do the things that you're good at.

And a superpower would be all of that is to bring out the best in anybody, that is the superpower. Because I think we're all extraordinary people, but we need to bring it out of us ourselves. Or it may be to just take one person to bring out that superpower within you.

Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Thank you so much for sharing that.

That's a very unique one and I like it very much. And of course yoga, comes from back home, so that's also a nice little one.

Thank you so much, Nidhi. This has been wonderful. I've really enjoyed our conversation today, and thank you for taking the time.

Nidhi Sinha: Thank you very much. It's been really lovely to meet you, and especially being an Asian female has been really empowering for me to see you doing this. And it's great that you're bringing this to the table and helping the community see that. So thank you very much, Deepa.

Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Thanks.

Outro

Nidhi, I really enjoyed learning about supporting integration today.

Dear listener, thank you so much for listening to the 10th episode of the Meet the Mancunian podcast, Season 4. I hope this episode of the podcast itself encourages you to follow your passions, inspired by the amazing Mancunian guests who feature here.

Tune in every Tuesday for a new episode or log on to www.meetthemancunian.co.uk to listen to all the episodes and learn more about my podcasting story.

Next week on Tuesday 31st January 2023, the Meet the Mancunian podcast talks to Alex Wistanley about disability awareness.

Season Four ends on Tuesday, Seventh February 2023. I'll be taking a two-month break then for some travel and finishing up at my day job. Season Five of the Meet The Mancunian podcast returns on Tuesday 11th April 2023 with a new series of inspiring guests. I'm already recording for Season Five, so I think you'll enjoy it.

Please leave a review or a voice message on my website, www.meetthemancunian.co.uk. It takes only a few minutes. I look forward to hearing from you.

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