Setting

Physical setting

The short story “Paki” by Guaram Malkani takes place in London, in the UK. More specifically, Jas and the gang live in the London borough of Hounslow: “In pinds like Hounslow an Southall, they feared us desis even more than they feared black kids”. Jas even mentions that he and the gang study at Hounslow Thameside College of Higher Education. 

Hounslow is a very diverse borough of West London and has a high number of people who are Black, Asian, and minority Ethnic. In particular, Hounslow has a large community of British Asians. This is also relevant to the story “Paki” where Hardjit and probably the rest of the desi gang as well are British teenagers of South Asian descent.
The time setting is not explicitly mentioned, but given the references in the text (MTV Base, P Diddy, DMX, Rishi Rich) and the fact that the story was published in 2005, we can assume that the story takes place sometime in the very early 2000s. A more specific time clue is the fact that Jas mentions Hardjit’s “Nike Air Force Ones (the pair he’d bought even before Nelly released a track bout what wikid trainers they were”. The song he is referring to was released in November 2002, which places the story sometime shor...