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Hello and welcome to the documentary here on the BBC World Service.

I'm Kavita Puri and this is three pounds in my pocket.

Over the next hour I'll be bringing you the untold stories

of an extraordinary group of people.

They're the pioneer generation from the Indian subcontinent

who came in the 1950s and 60s to find work in post-war Britain.

They arrived with just a few coins in their pockets,

three pounds to be precise.

That's less than $10 at the time.

But it was these men and women who led the way

for the three million people of South Asian descent

who live in Britain today.

I came to UK on 14th November 1959.

My father, Robbie Duck Puri,

still has the passport he came with on that day.

Government of India wouldn't give more than a few pounds

to each person.

They normally give three pounds.

It's not much is it to start a life?

...