Another week, and we are making a return journey to South Asia, to celebrate #SouthAsianHeritageMonth - simply because last time we featured the event it was very flag based, and did not give any flavour of the wonderful, and colourful people who inhabit those zones. So this time we are going to look at those, and at their heritage. For it is not all about the place, it is more about the stories, cultures, and contributions of people whose roots began in one of the eight countries which form South Asia - Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.
Our first clue card, on Saturday the 11th of July gave us Robert Rosario, the first British Asian to play in the Premier League, when his team of the time, Coventry City, played Middlesborough, on the 15th of August 1992. Strangely Middlesborough also have the distinction of being the opposing side when Frank Soo, the first Chinese footballer, in the English Football League, ran out on to the field for Stoke City, in November 1933.
Our second clue, on Sunday the 12th of July gave us the Maldives, which was the region we did not have space to feature last time. It also gave us a little known variant of a familiar set, by Goodies ofWatford, but I`m having difficulty tracking them down. For some reason the card has their flag, and a badge, of Sarawak, which is not South Asian at all, its a Malaysian state on the island of Borneo.
Now this card will change before the newsletter as I have just been offered another one, more in keeping with the human theme of this week, but fear not the flag will remain in the pile and be reused
and lastly, on Monday the 13th of July we gave you this card showing the inhabitants of Afghanistan, and two of their important cities, Kandahar and Kaboul. There have been people in that region since Paleolithic times, and its location led to it becoming a major centre for all manner of trade, which is probably why the market place was shown as one of the scenes. Many people have tried to conquer the area, even before Alexander the Great, and it remains an area which is frequently fought over, possibly why the Afghan people are regarded as such tough opponents.
Now, as always, if anyone else would like to send us any information or scans from their collection which relates in any way to our theme of the week, please do - simply email us at webmaster@card-world.co.uk - and this is the same for any corrections, or for general cartophilic correspondence and chat.