 Mae'r ddweud. Mae'r ddweud, oedd y ddweud. Mira Sayar mae'r ddweud yn ffigur yng Nghymru. Mae'r ddweud yn ei ddweud i'r cymdeithio. Mae'r cymdeithio, radio a telefisiwn, ac mae'r ddweud i'r ffilm ac mae'r cymdeithio. Mae'r ddweud i'r ddweud i'r ddweud, mae'r ddweud i ddweud i'r ddweud i ddweud i'r ddweud, a'r cymdeithio i'r llunio beti amsau â fynd i'u drosio'r nyfsawol, a'r ddweud i'n eu ddweud, i ddweud i yr ddweud yng nghalaeth yn dengau i ddweud o hyblir cymdeithio ddaeth cymryd ac yn eu ddweud i'r ddweud. Mira wedi byw i'r ddweud i'r ddweud i'r ddweud, ddweud i'r ddweud i y ddweud i'r ddweud i'u bolthym, ddweud i'r ddweud i'r ffwyllt Farwyll, Ymgyrch i'r amnistio hi, a dyna unig yng Nghymru Cymru, mae'n projech yw'r ysgolwydau gwiaithio a'r iawn i gyfnod o'r fwyfyn yn y bydd. Mhira yw'r rhaglenu Llywodraeth Brydysgawr yw ddwylo yn ffilm sydd ar y bydd yma, ac mae'n ymddir yw'r rhaglenu Brydysgawr yw'r rhaglenu Brydysgawr yn ffilm. Ond mae'n rhaid i'r rhaglenu Brydysgawr, Gweithio Llywodraeth Gweithio, ac mae'n rhaid i'r rhaglenu Brydysgawr yn Ysgolwyd. The comedy was about the way the British Asians saw themselves, pretending to be British when they were the Coupers or the Coupours, characters in the extended Asian family and send-ups of the non-Asian British, all of whom were readily understandable to all, creating a voice for British Asians in contexts where they had not been heard before. The sketches have skipped into the Punjabi kangaroo, the competitive mothers, how big is his dunder, Mr Everything of Indian, and one of my favourites, Smita Smitten, Shobith Kitten, are still fresh today. Now I have to be very careful here myself because I can't try and do comedy when I'm in this kind of league at all myself, but I want to mention some of the catchphrases of the much-loved characters, a part of everyday life. And they put English, the mixture of Hindi in English, or perhaps Punjish, the mixture of Punjabi in English in the OED, including words such as chadith, underpants. I never thought I'd get to say that at graduation, and in the catchphrase, kiss my chuddies, which has become everyday speech. But it took people a while to realise that the granny in the commas at 42 was Mira. Her disruptive influence on her family was a source of great humour, not least because a series of celebrity guests looked a little unnerved by the unpredictability of the show. Mira's novels, Anita and Me, about growing up Punjabi in the black country and wanting to be English, is now taught at GCSE as a set text and has been adapted into a film, while her life isn't all ha ha he he, about life for 30 something women in London today, was made into a BBC drama with Mira acting in it. Mira's career, though, began in theatre, and her many critically acclaimed performances include Rafta Rafta at the National Theatre. She has broken so many barriers, notably the restrictions of playing a British Asian. It's astounding that even today there are few roles in mainstream theatre for British Asian actors. But Mira has also acted in roles which were not written for British Asians but which now seem as though they were. Shirley Valentine and Beatrice in the RFC's Much Ado About Nothing are both very much her roles. Mira is an ideal person to welcome to the Sowers community, where she will inspire our students and others to step beyond what the world expects of them to pursue their own dreams and ambitions. For all her talents and international acclaim, Mira has kept her feet firmly on the ground. She's been a great supporter of Sowers and has spoken on occasions to our students and to our alumni. She's an inspiration to us as someone who has refused to accept limits others have tried to impose on her. Perhaps some of you are too young to know that Mira grew up in a Britain where abusive and casual racism were commonplace, but now she's very much part of the new Britain and she commands respect from all whatever their backgrounds. She has changed forever the way people see British Asians and is a role model for them and for non-British Asian women. Whatever your colour is in Britain today she has become a model. Mira is what we could call in Hindi an Anmol Ratan, a priceless jewel or in English we might call her a national treasure. It is my privilege now Chairman to present to you Mira Thial for the award of Dilit and I invite her to address this assembly. Thank you very, very much. I'm very honoured to be here. Thank you Chairman, honoured guests, honoured staff, graduands and very proud parents and thank you very much Rachel for that flattering citation. It did feel a bit like this is your life but with that loads of people turning up that you never really want to see again. It's always a bit strange to hear your life and career encapsulated in one break next speech firstly because it makes you feel very old and extremely tired but mainly because it makes your life sound very neat as if there was some kind of plan or pattern to all the events described. When the truth of it is most of my life and career was really not planned at all, it still isn't. I've been lucky, I've been plucky, I don't mind getting my hands mucky when necessary but the rest of it has been the most interesting and ever changing journey and I realise as I get older and hopefully a little more wiser, I'm beginning to realise that really the journey is everything maybe because I was the first child of pioneering immigrants who had undergone the kind of epic events that you usually only read about in history books. My father for example went through the partition of India in 1947 and ended up in a refugee camp so because of all of that kind of background and history maybe I was born with some innate need to travel forward, explore boundaries, try and define who I was and what my place was in this country. Maybe it's because I grew up as a really goby outsider in a very small mining village or white we were literally the only Asians in the village and living up in that background made me question old attitudes and cozy conventions and always look for the humour in the most complicated or strange circumstances and you know I often wonder maybe if my parents hadn't emigrated what would I have done, what would my life have been, one of those sliding doors kind of moments. Probably I would have married a suitable boy back in India, someone sensible like a pharmacist or a businessman in import-export, produced a brace of strapping suns, taught happily in a local school, got fat and content and never had a moment thought about who I really was, where I really belonged because safe and settled people rarely do ask those questions which is why the best thing that my parents really could have done for me was to bring me here to a place where my identity became inextricably linked with my creativity where my differences made me find expression where the struggle never felt like pain because it was always at the end of the day material. As my poor parents and relatives well know, when you're a writer nothing is sacred, everything gets used and if you're not careful you too will end up in a sketch wearing a funny wig. So I do often go into schools and colleges and talk to students and I often get asked have I got any advice for those wanting to go into the creative arts or just wanting to make their mark in an increasingly competitive society and I say to them as I'm going to say to you there has never been any kind of grand master plan for world domination but there are maybe three things I might humbly throw into the pot. Firstly, and I am going to say it and it is a cliche but I believe it, follow your passion. I really don't think your job should be just something you clock in for each morning and long to escape each evening especially if you've got to do it for the next 45 years. Passion is the motor that will push you through the hard times and give you joy in the good times and most importantly give your journey meaning. A life without purpose goes very, very slowly. Secondly, humour will open more doors than ambitious aggression ever will. Goodness gracious me did more for race relations than a thousand political speeches and most importantly as Rachel said put chuddies in the Oxford English Dictionary which means that you can spell it in Scrabble. Now if that isn't a blow for multiculturalism I don't know what is and thirdly and most importantly I think along with the passion is compassion sharing what you have and what you learn however little gives you so much back. I have learnt so much from working with New Amazing Women's Project and because this is all a journey I know there will be so much more to discover in the future. The honour that you've given me today will certainly make my travels a lot more lightfooted and may I wish everyone graduating today a passionate journey into their futures and thank you for this huge honour. Finally I can tell my parents I'm a doctor.