Cocooned Conclaves

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: representing regional diversities of South Asian culture. According to Wikipedia, the portion between Greenwood and Coxwell Avenues is commonly referred to as Little India or Gerrard India Bazaar or South Asian Bazaar.

There are numerous restaurants, cafés, videos/DVD stores, clothing shops, and electronic goods stores catering to the Indo-Canadian and Pakistani-Canadian communities located here. While no one has estimates of total business transacted, prosperity is evident.

The town of Springdale in Brampton, Ontario, Canada, is commonly referred to as “Singhdale” because of the many Sikhs that live here that has a lot of Indian restaurants, grocers and others catering to Asians and Indians. Gore Road in Brampton is a popular landmark for the Indian shops too. The Punjabi market or Little India is the commercial district in Vancouver for Indo-Canadian businesses. There are a number of Indian restaurants, sweet shops, grocers, Punjabi video stores as well as other businesses that cater primarily to an Indo-Canadian market.

The Sikh community thriving at Woolgoogla, halfway between Sydney and Brisbane monopolises the banana plantations in Australia and the annual Woolgoogla Curryfest is the brightest spot in the desi calendar. The community meets in Indian restaurants dotting the landscape. Sydney and Melbourne are also full of Indian stores, especially for spices, pickles, videos, music and food.

Penang, Malaysia, has its own Little India. Lela Kaur writes about it in her blog. “I have been going to Penang since 1986. My favourite location is Little India where I love shopping for Indian stuff. The food is fantastic… The masalas are a great buy. I just love the flavour of the place.”

Of course Little India, Singapore still goes strong as the centre for mingling for the large Indian community. But there’s another Little India at Sree Sagar in Singapore. Anchored by the Sri Veeramakaliamman temple, Tekka Market and Mustafa’s famous 24-hour mall, this maze of streets offers everything even remotely Indian.

In Trinidad, where 39.4% of the population is of Indian ancestry, the markets reflect this population’s ethnic demands. Trinidadian fast food, usually eaten with chutney, is mainly of Indian origin. For example, while saheena is like pakoras, ‘doubles’ is a variation of the channa bhatura, though more in the form of a chickpea sandwich, and their kachowrie is much like its Indian cousin. “Indian ‘trade’ fairs are held monthly and its Indian wares are very popular,” says Maniedeo Persad, the country’s High Commissioner to India.