My mother thought the girls in our family had run wild. In truth, they were just taking a puff of a cigarette in the park or meeting up with friends, including boys. Ordinary teenage stuff. But in our close-knit Pakistani community there were always “aunties” who’d say, “I saw your daughter smoking,” which distressed my mother because this could ruin a girl’s reputation.
She was determined this wouldn’t happen to me. I was a lively, outdoorsy kid, left to run free and skateboard with my cousins. I loved my school, a local state primary, where I was obsessed with everything scientific, especially space, making rockets from cardboard boxes.
But my mother sought to protect me from the secular culture she thought could ruin my education