Reeta Chakrabarti: ‘I love dancing in a really bad disco mum kind of way’

The journalist and debut novelist on standing out in the playground, her secret to a happy marriage, and the importance of facing your fears

My parents came to the UK in 1960 from Calcutta, as it was then, in India. My father was a doctor. In Birmingham, I was often the only Indian girl in my class. There are ways that you’re marked out in the playground. There was quite a lot of teasing. You had to navigate your way – you learn to be pleasing to people. That’s how I coped.

The UK in the 1970s was a harder place when it came to race. I was aware of the far-right, football hooliganism, racism on the streets. On occasion, somebody, usually a man, would scowl at me or make a face, unprovoked. I sort of understood – but sort of didn’t.