Why wasn’t more done by the “Remain” camp to make sure the vote went in their favour? Was it arrogance? Or just being coconut in a sense of safety by choosing to only listen to the voices on social media?

REFERENDUM DAY dawned and as far as London days go, it was a pleasant mid-20s. We Londoners love to complain about the weather irrespective of whether it is hot or cold, but June 23 didn't throw up any clues on how the day one of the biggest decision the country had ever made in decades if not century, would ultimately pan out.

Over coffee, I decided to quiz my five-year-old on whether he understood what was about to go down.

• Me: Ro, Do you know, I am going to vote in a referendum today.
• Ro: I know. If the UK leaves EU, everyone is going to lose their jobs but if they stay in, everyone can have jobs.
• Me: HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT! Ro: Ms N told us.
• Me: Yes it is an important day.
• Ro: You know Mumma, I am really worried. I am worried for my Baba.
• Me: What? Why?
• Ro: You will be fine. But all that Baba does is work, so if the UK leaves the EU, he will lose his job and if he loses his job, he will die. I don't want my Baba to die!

 He obviously had more than a little clue.

In the run up, debates had raged, friendships were broken and newsprint and airwaves were full of opinion pieces.

On the day, people were urged to do the right thing and vote.

And most did! As many as 72.2 per cent went into polling booths, I being one of them. A total of 48.1 per cent voted for the UK to remain in the European Union, I was one of them. 

News channels, political pundits and even those who had campaigned for the UK to leave the EU, including the ex-Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, felt that “Remain” would weigh in and we would all go back to our day jobs. Instead, we woke up to a political and socio-economic seismic change that would mean our intimate bonhomie with the Hollands and Merkels was at a bitter end. 

Some results apart from the naughts next to the “Leave” box were immediately obvious. 

The swansong of the “out” campaign had been that the £350 million that the UK sends to the EU every month could somehow be diverted to bolster the National Health Service that provides free medical care to ALL UK residents. This turned out to be a blatant lie. Just one amongst dozens of others. 

It all turned out to be what in India we call “fear psychosis”. An almost Victorian term, it colludes to a poisoned atmosphere of smoke and mirrors, where there are more untruths than the truth. A big fat lie — as the Brits would call it. 

And then a political blood bath ensued for the top spot — keys to 10 Downing Street, eventually culminating with Theresa May becoming PM — even though she was in favour of the UK remaining in the EU. 

And what of the Great Indian Diaspora? What was the consensus there? Well, like all things Indian and South Asian, our tempers ran high — if you were “in”, you were blind to how the Polish were taking over “our” jobs, and if you were “out”, you were basically just racist. 

The mud-slinging was legendary and so vehement were the discussions, you would think we weren't the diaspora or naturalised citizens, but ones born on these isles.

Some even went as far as proclaiming it to be the UK’s “Independence Day”! Forgetting the fact that the UK had volunteered to be a part of the EU, unlike the situation in India, where the Dutch and the Brits had just rocked up one fine morning and decided to make us their slaves for the next 200 years.

They were overwhelmed, not unlike David Cameron, whose utter and abject lack of strategy and foresight cost not the country but also his hard-fought prime ministership, won just over a year back.

His voice broke with emotion when he announced to the World that he was stepping down because he and the people of the country didn't think alike, but this disaster could have very easily been avoided with sound PR spin and solid strategy.

Since summer last year, all the way to spring now, we were served up images of Syrian refugees in their thousands streaming into Greece and Germany and proclaiming that their final destination was going to be the UK. We saw UK being completely sidelined when it came to getting Fraulien Merkel to stem the flow of migration in any way. We read about the uphill battles the legal system in the country faced while trying to deport those wanted for terrorism by other countries.

Residents in states and districts of the UK that are completely funded by EU money like Cornwall had no idea that swanky sports centres and roads were being built using cash sent through from the EU development fund -- would it not have made sense for the government to push communication about these out more?

Shouldn’t Jeremy Corbyn, Leader of the Labour party (main opposition party) have postponed his holiday to concentrate on campaigning for the country to remain?

Why wasn’t more done by the “Remain” camp to make sure the vote went in their favour? Was it arrogance? Or just being coconut in a sense of safety by choosing to only listen to the voices on social media?

Hindsight is always 20:20… But has Brexit changed anything?

Casual workers from the EU like my son’s Spanish ex-nanny are worried they will lose their jobs at restaurants and shops and will have to go back to Spain with its already beleaguered economy, racist attacks have increased and a lot of those 51.9 per cent who voted “Leave” have realised they were conned.

How has it gone down in my household?

The day after the referendum, my son woke up and asked: “So, Mumma, are we in the EU or out of the EU?

Me: We are out.

Ro: Is my Baba dead?