The Bengali migration to London goes back 400 years to lascar seamen hired by the East India Company, and lascars continued on merchant and navy ships well into the 20th century. Postcolonial events on the Indian subcontinent resulted in further migrations to London in the 1960s and 1970s. Despite the title – which the publisher imposed – neither the book nor the walk focuses on the street Brick Lane, but it\u2019s part of the walking route as we follow Nazneen\u2019s explorations of her new world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The clothing sweatshops Bengalis worked in was dying out in London, though women like Nazneen continued to do piecework-sewing in their homes. Meanwhile Bengalis founded and worked in restaurants serving modified Bengali dishes, many in Brick Lane – places now referred to as curry houses or ‘Indian’ and located all over London. Brick Lane itself is still the site of struggles over how it should develop and who should live there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n