I always remember an encounter I saw in Ongar, Essex, quite a few years ago - a family of local Romany Gypsies were making their way along the pavement, and they ran into a young Asian family; young children on both sides, and both children and adults dressed in ways that distinguished them from the people around.

It was pretty clear that neither had ever met anyone like that before - Asian families tend to live in towns, and this was even more so, all those years ago. But they seemed to be getting on well together, admiring each others finery and children. I remember thinking how strange it was how two sets of people, originating from the Indian sub-continent at such widely different times, had run into each other on the other side of the world, on a spring morning in Essex.