Bonus Episode: Santosh Behl (Gants Hill WIN)

In our bonus episodes, we speak to women from our Women's Interfaith Network (WIN) community to share their stories and give their own unique perspectives on keeping faith. 

In our fifth bonus episode, Santosh Behl from our Gants Hill WIN group shares the enduring impact of the Summer 2024 riots on her community as well as reflecting on her journey with interfaith work.

Find out more about WIN's grassroots women's groups and our wide-ranging projects.
Read our origin story here.

Keeping Faith: A How-To Guide is part of Women’s Interfaith Network's 2024 Keeping Faith Programme. Read more about the programme here and be the first to hear about upcoming events and ways to get involved by signing up to our newsletter. Views expressed on this podcast are the speaker’s own and may not reflect the views of Women’s Interfaith Network.

Hosted by Maeve Carlin

Produced by Maeve Carlin and Adam Brichto

Edited by Adam Brichto

Executive Produced by Lady Gilda Levy

Theme music composed by Jamie Payne

Logo and Artwork designed by Jasey Finesilver

Support from Tara Corry

Transcript

Maeve Carlin: I’m your host Maeve Carlin. And today, in our fifth bonus episode, we’re speaking to Santosh Behl from our Gants Hill WIN group, who shares how interfaith work has opened her eyes to different ways of life and the lasting impact of the riots on her community.

In each bonus episode, we’ll be speaking to women from our Women’s Interfaith Network community, sharing their stories and giving their own unique perspectives on keeping faith. We hope these bonus episodes will help unpack what this word interfaith, that you’ll hear so much throughout the series really means to us, what it looks like on the ground, and learn more about the women who make women’s interfaith network what it is. In the mean time, we’ve been working on bringing you more inspiring and uplifting full length episodes so make sure you’re subscribed wherever you’re listening to find out as soon as they’re released. But for now, let’s jump into our conversation with Santosh Behl.

Maeve Carlin: Well, Santosh, thank you so much for coming on the podcast. 

Santosh Behl: You're welcome. 

Maeve Carlin: Can you tell us how and why you first got involved with WIN? 

Santosh Behl: I think it was quite a long time ago, maybe 2007. You know, our chairperson at the moment, Dr Kapur, she went to a meeting with a friend. This was the WIN meeting. We didn't know anything about it at that moment. And then she was quite interested in what went on there. When she come and told us about it. 

So I was very impressed by what Lady Gilda was doing. So I joined in and gradually other people joined in as well. Our numbers started increasing and at first we were with another group and as our numbers increased Lady Gilda suggested we form our own group and that's when our Gants Hill group was formed and I think that was in 2009.

Maeve Carlin: Wow. 

Santosh Behl: And now our group is so large. 

Maeve Carlin: Yes, it is. 

Santosh Behl: Yeah. And because a lot of people are interested in what Lady Gilda is doing, and thanks to her, we are where we are. 

Maeve Carlin: And for people that don't know Dr. Kapur, who is the chair of the Gants Hill WIN Group, she is a formidable woman and a force, really brings people together, doesn't she?

Santosh Behl: Oh yeah, she's good at that. 

Maeve Carlin: So, most of the people who listen to this podcast won't be WIN members themselves, so can you give us a snapshot of what a WIN group is like, who's involved, what kind of activities do you do together? 

Santosh Behl: You know, WIN has taught us how to mix with other religious people and by mixing up with other communities.

You know, we learn a lot from them and we can also show them what our religion is like. And WIN has taught us to mix with other women of other religion by which we come to understand their culture and their religion. And in the same way, we show them what our culture means, what our religion means. And, uh, that has created a better understanding between different religions.

And, you know, we do a lot of activities in our group because we hold meetings every approximately two to three months. And, uh, in those meetings, we have done kits with different people to show. what their religion means to them, what our religion means to us. And also to make them understand Hindu religion, there are hundreds of festivities.

So we explain to them why we celebrate these festivities and how we celebrate them. And that has created a lot of understanding between different religion. And also at times we have had People come in to give us talk about different medical problems and different social issues as well. Dr. Kapur is very knowledgeable and being a doctor, she herself has given us lots of talks and so in that way people Learn more about these things than normally they wouldn't bother to find out.

Maeve Carlin: Exactly. So it's a safe space where you can learn about each other, share things about yourself and also talk about things that really matter to you and have impact. 

Santosh Behl: Exactly. Exactly. 

Maeve Carlin: And if I know anything about your group, it's that the food will always be delicious. 

Santosh Behl: And there's always food. There's always food.

Maeve Carlin: Well, perhaps the most special thing about WIN is the friendships that have grown out of our groups. And you've been touching on that a little bit there. Can you share what you've learned from your fellow members, your friends that you found through WIN, and some of the highlights of your time together?

Santosh Behl: Religion and culture, both are a bit complicated and it's not always easy to explain, but then we make an effort so people can understand we have visited like church, masjid, temples, and unless you go into these places, you don't exactly, you can't visualize what it is in there.

It's And by going there and seeing the way they do the worship and all, it opens your eyes to other religions. 

Maeve Carlin: Yes, and I think when we put a face to something and a person, you know, oh, that's my friend and she practices this, it helps kind of take away that stereotyping element or maybe misconceptions we might have about people, doesn't it?

Santosh Behl: Yes, it does, yes. 

Maeve Carlin: So you've talked about how learning about different faiths has kind of been really eye opening for you. Can you give an example of something that You didn't know before that you've learnt through interfaith dialogue? 

Santosh Behl: That's a hard one to remember. My memory is like a sieve, you know, I forget things.Yeah, there are, there have been some instances, you know, where some people sort of didn't understand our festivities. And, uh, we had a Muslim lady who just laughed at it and didn't think. What we're doing was something that normal people do. So we had to explain to her and after a chat, you know, she understood. And she changed her views about our festivities. 

Maeve Carlin: And that's the thing, isn't it? You know, when you don't understand something, it's easy to make these false assumptions or not take something seriously. 

Santosh Behl: Exactly. 

Maeve Carlin: And then when you see how special and sacred it is For someone, you think, oh, that's how I feel about my festivals and it just brings us all closer, doesn't it?

Santosh Behl: Yeah, it does. 

Maeve Carlin: Well, it's been a hard year for interfaith in the UK, whether it's political upheaval, rising hate crime statistics, and even tragically far right riots on our streets. I'd love to hear how have you kept faith through it all? 

Santosh Behl: The past year has been hard for everyone. Everyone in UK, the riots have shaken the whole country. And it was very frightening for us all. So much so, we were even afraid to go out of our houses, which has never happened before. Even now, especially as elderly people, we are afraid to go out in the dark. Unless we have someone with us, even we are afraid for our children as well. You know, our children, our grandchildren, you know, until they get home, you are on the edge because with this knife crime and what happened over the last year, it has shaken us all quite a bit.

And through this all, you know, our prayers and our visit to our worshiping places has helped us quite a lot. And that has given us so much confidence. We Hindus are great believers in what God does, and we always think, oh, God will put it right. 

Maeve Carlin: Well, thank you so much for sharing that. I think it's really important that we talk about the impact that these things still have, it's not something that happens once and then we forget about it. We, you know, the impact stays with us and that's why bringing communities together and talking across faiths and having conversations like this is so important, so thank you for sharing that. So, to kind of sum this conversation up, because you've been so generous in making time to speak to us today, why do you think interfaith is so important in 2024?

Santosh Behl: Most of us are just inclined to go to our own worshipping places, but WIN has encouraged us to look into other religion, visiting mosques, churches, temples, so we get a better understanding of each other. And each other's religion. . I'd never been into a mosque before.

I'd been into church, but I'd never been into a mosque. And it was eye opening to see something that's happening in other religion. And that has helped us quite a lot. And, you know, the more we understand about each other's religion, the closer the community gets. And the closer the community gets, the happier and better understanding between the communities.

Maeve Carlin: Yes, understanding each other is what it's all about, isn't it? 

Santosh Behl: It is yes. 

Maeve Carlin: Well, thank you, Santosh, so much for speaking to us. 

Santosh Behl: Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak to you.

We hope you enjoyed our fifth bonus episode, learning more about the women behind the network. You can find out more about how to join or start a WIN group near you, as well as what’s next for our 20th anniversary Keeping Faith programme, via the links in our shownotes.