The term 'diaspora' refers to a dispersion of a people from their
original homeland. It was originally used to refer to the dispersion of
the Jews from Palestine, following the Babylonians' conquest of the
Judean Kingdom in the 6th century BC. Until fairly recently, it was
used to refer to Jews living outside of modern day Israel. Now it is
used more widely for all the movements of peoples away from their
homelands, such as Chinese, Filipino, Nigerian and Iranian, to name
just a few. So when we talk about the South Asian diaspora, we
mean people of South Asian descent who are not living in their original
homeland – Indians in Durban, Pakistanis in New York, Sri Lankans in
Oslo, and so on. Some people of the South Asian diaspora may never have
set foot in their original 'homeland'.
We live in a world of different religious beliefs. And in our global
village we all live side by side – if not physically, then certainly
through the media, the internet, air travel, and international
terrorism. How do these different beliefs relate to each other? Are
they 'leaves on the tree', or 'different paths to the mountaintop',
ultimately leading in the same direction? Or are they fundamentally
different? In this discussion there are at least two very different ways of looking at truth.
There are benefits and pressures of having more than one culture. On
the one hand, young diaspora Asians have the best of both worlds. Their
life experience can be seen as richer and more diverse than those who
have knowledge of only one culture. They can have bhangra and rock,
chapatis and chips, Bollywood and Hollywood. On the other hand,
they have to balance the demands of living in cultures which sometimes
conflict with each other. Some feel they don’t fully belong to any
culture, never fully accepted in either world. 
‘The word “love” doesn’t mean you are happy with the person. If it
means losing my family, which is more important to me, then I wouldn’t
marry someone who was not Gujarati’ (A young Gujarati). Marriage
continues to be an important institution for South Asians. For many
South Asian parents, their main goal in life is to see their children
educated and married, so the pressure to find a partner and settle
down, which is felt the world over, can seem particularly intense for
young Asians of ‘marriageable’ age. At family gatherings, they
can be faced with aunties and uncles enquiring about the current status
of the marital quest, perhaps suggesting names of potential suitors.
The hunt for a suitable marriage partner has provided a wealth of
material for Asian filmmakers and writers alike.
Government statistics show that on average, South Asian students in the UK are more likely to achieve 5 GCSE grades A* - C than all other ethnic groups, except Chinese. A significant proportion goes on to university, with British Indians more likely to have a first degree . . .
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