Asia - Rooted 3

Bangladesh
Jahan Ahmed is 10 years old, was born and lives in Hull and is football-mad. On Rooted he visits Bangladesh, the country his family roots lie in. On his trip, Jahan explores the capital Dhaka for the first time and then travels to the province of Sylhet where he stays in a village with a new friend Manjoor. Here he finds out that school is much stricter than back home, that the beds are much, much harder and that it rains a lot. He also learns to play a new game, paddy-field football.

Dharamsala
Ten-year Mingjur lives an idyllic live on a farm in Cornwall, but on this trip she travels to the Tibetan Community of Dharamsala (Northern India). Here she receives a traditional welcome from her uncles, who are Buddhist priests, visits the Tibetan Children’s centre, home to 1,800 Tibetan children, and learns how to milk a cow. The highlight of her trip is meeting the Buddhist spiritual leader Karmapa, who tells her to try and remember her Tibetan traditions when in England.

North India
Munmeet Sandhu is twelve-years old, a native Glaswegian and passionate about his religion (Sikhism) and his main hobby, Bhangra music. He travels to the Punjab to help out at a Sikh temple and get involved in village life. He tries to milk a cow for the first time, but isn’t too successful. He’s much better at taking part in the singing and dancing at the local festival to celebrate the harvest.

West India
12-year old Jessica Todiwala travels from her home in Essex to West India to discover more about her family and religious roots. Here she learns how to make chappati, or Indian bread, and gets an insight in to traditional village life. Jessica is a Parsee, a follower of the Zoroastrian religion, and for the first time she visits a Parsee Fire temple to worship. There are no fire temples in Britain, so it’s a really special experience.

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