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  • Umm al-Quwain, United Arab Emirates | 2004<br />
Boys play volleyball at a waterpark popular with the local Indian community. Known for its luxury properties and guest workers from South Asia, the UAE has long been a trading hub and home to Indians, even before the oil boom and economic expansion of recent decades. Indians who live in the UAE form the core of the local middle class, owning shops and businesses and building their own schools and social organizations.
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  • Durban, South Africa | 2005<br />
A row of houses rises in the township of Phoenix on a former sugar estate near the site of Mohandas K. Gandhi’s Phoenix Settlement, a center of activism and spirituality first developed in 1904. The young London-trained lawyer fought for the rights of Indian laborers in the British colony and articulated his philosophies of non-violent resistance. It was in South Africa that he was first given the title Mahatma (“great soul”). In 1915 Gandhi returned to India to join and eventually lead its independence movement.
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  • Queens, New York | 2005<br />
Revelers celebrate Phagwah, the spring festival of colors, on the streets of Richmond Hill, New York’s largest Indo-Caribbean neighborhood. Commonly known as Holi in Hindi, Phagwah comes from Bhojpuri dialect of the north Indian regions to which many Indians from Guyana, Trinidad, and Suriname trace their heritage.
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  • Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: The 43-meter statue of Lord Murugan, built in 2006, sits at the base of Batu Caves, a mountaintop complex that houses a collection of temples and shrines first built by Indian laborers in the 1890s
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  • Brighton, United Kingdom | 2010<br />
Begun in 1787 and completed in 1823, the Royal Pavilion was the seaside residence for monarchs George IV, William IV, and Victoria. During World War I, it was converted into a military hospital for Indian soldiers wounded while fighting for the British Empire. Separate medical facilities within the structure were provided to accommodate the differing caste and religious sensibilities of Hindu, Sikh, and Muslim soldiers. Today the building and grounds serve as a museum.
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  • Chennai, India: Thought to be the first Indian American woman with Down syndrome in the United States to complete an arangetram (a public dance performance after years of formal study), Hema Ramaswamy, 24, traveled from her home in New Jersey to Chennai, India, to give a performance to an audience of special needs children. Afterwards, she posed for pictures at the Besant Nagar Beach.
    hemaramaswamy-chennai-1415-merchant.jpg
  • Chennai, India: Thought to be the first Indian American woman with Down syndrome in the United States to complete an arangetram (a public dance performance after years of formal study), Hema Ramaswamy, 24, traveled from her home in New Jersey to Chennai, India, to give a performance to an audience of special needs children. Afterwards, she posed for pictures at the Besant Nagar Beach.
    hemaramaswamy-chennai-1134-merchant.jpg
  • Chennai, India: Thought to be the first Indian American woman with Down syndrome in the United States to complete an arangetram (a public dance performance after years of formal study), Hema Ramaswamy, 24, traveled from her home in New Jersey to Chennai, India, to give a performance to an audience of special needs children. Afterwards, she posed for pictures at the Besant Nagar Beach.
    hemaramaswamy-chennai-1293-merchant.jpg
  • Chennai, India: Thought to be the first Indian American woman with Down syndrome in the United States to complete an arangetram (a public dance performance after years of formal study), Hema Ramaswamy, 24, traveled from her home in New Jersey to Chennai, India, to give a performance to an audience of special needs children. Afterwards, she posed for pictures at the Besant Nagar Beach.
    hemaramaswamy-chennai-1641-merchant.jpg
  • Chennai, India: Thought to be the first Indian American woman with Down syndrome in the United States to complete an arangetram (a public dance performance after years of formal study), Hema Ramaswamy, 24, traveled from her home in New Jersey to Chennai, India, to give a performance to an audience of special needs children. Afterwards, she posed for pictures at the Besant Nagar Beach.
    hemaramaswamy-chennai-1113-merchant.jpg
  • Chennai, India: Thought to be the first Indian American woman with Down syndrome in the United States to complete an arangetram (a public dance performance after years of formal study), Hema Ramaswamy, 24, traveled from her home in New Jersey to Chennai, India, to give a performance to an audience of special needs children. Afterwards, she posed for pictures at the Besant Nagar Beach.
    hemaramaswamy-chennai-1563-merchant.jpg
  • Chennai, India: Thought to be the first Indian American woman with Down syndrome in the United States to complete an arangetram (a public dance performance after years of formal study), Hema Ramaswamy, 24, traveled from her home in New Jersey to Chennai, India, to give a performance to an audience of special needs children. Afterwards, she posed for pictures at the Besant Nagar Beach.
    hemaramaswamy-chennai-1449-merchant.jpg
  • Sharjah, UAE: The MSV Shree Mahalaxmi, a Indian-flagged dhow, with a crew from Gujarat
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  • Tanjong Malim, Malaysia: A Hindu activist addresses a rally for the PAS, the Pan Malaysian Islamic Party. An opposition party, the PAS gained support from Indians and Chinese, most of whom are not Muslims, after the violent crackdown on the protest organized by HINDRAF. Non-Muslims see the PAS as one of several alternatives to the Barisan Nasional (National Front or BN), which has ruled Malaysia since independence and promotes Malay-first policies that discriminate against minorities
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  • Mentakab, Malaysia: A British-educated labor lawyer in private practice, A. Sivanesan speaks in temples throughout peninsular Malaysia to raise money for the families of five Hindu activists who were jailed under the Internal Security Act and to encourage Indians and other minorities to stand up for their rights. He later won a seat in parliament as a member of the Democratic Action Party (DAP), Malaysia’s largest secular minority party.
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  • San Jose, <br />
California: Daniel Clifton, a senior at Mount Madonna School, performs the role of Ram in a stage production of the Ramayana. Associated with a yoga center inspired by a silent monk and guru from India, the school has been performing the Ramayana annually since 1979.
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  • Wailea Settlement, Suva, Fiji: Sambhu Lal, 69, worked for thirty-three years at the Labasa sugar mill, while his family cut sugarcane. Their lease expired in 2004 and was not renewed, forcing them to move to Suva, where his son now works in a sawmill. He brought his house from Labasa to Suva and reassembled it on leased land in a slum area popular with displaced farmers
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  • Fremont, California | 2014<br />
Sikhs celebrate Diwali, the festival of lights, at the Fremont Gurdwara.
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  • Wailea Settlment, Near Suva, Fiji | 2011<br />
Sambhu Lal, 69, worked for thirty-three years at the Labasa sugar mill while his family cut sugar cane. Their land lease expired in 2004 and was not renewed, forcing them to move to the outskirts of Suva, where his son now works in a sawmill. He transported his house by truck and boat from Labasa and reassembled it on leased land in a squatter settlement popular with displaced cane farmers.
    indiaworld-3434-merchant.jpg
  • Nairobi, Kenya | 2007<br />
Kamran Fazal with his terriers, India and Hugo, at his home in 2007. He was born with a rare genetic disease called Spondylometaphyseal dysplasia Kozlowski type, which affects the growth of the spine. He died in 2011 at age 19, due to surgical complications, as he was preparing to attend university in Spain.
    indiaworld-6328-merchant.jpg
  • Kawakawa, near Labasa, Fiji | 2011<br />
Descendants of indentured laborers who came from India in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Roop Narayan and Basant Kumar cut sugar cane as members of Gang 12 of the Labasa Mill. Colonial-era laws prevent Indo-Fijians from owning land, so they must lease their holdings from native Fijian landlords and work as tenant farmers.
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  • Kawakawa, near Labasa, Fiji: Premila Wati Kumar places money into a basket on her cousin's head, as part of a women's celebration during her son's wedding
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  • Labasa, Fiji: A worker at the Labasa sugar mill monitors the progress of the cane juice as it is crystallized into raw sugar
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  • Kawakawa, near Labasa, Fiji: Bhawna says goodbye to her relatives before she leaves her home to go with Arvendra after their wedding
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  • Kawakawa, near Labasa, Fiji: Sudhesh Lal, field officer for the Fiji Sugar Corporation, makes the morning rounds, meeting the sirdars -- the overseers of the cane gangs -- to announce the daily quota of cane each gang may sell to the mill, to record the serial numbers of the cane trucks so that the gangs may be properly credited, and to issue forms so that the gangs can order more supplies from the mill
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  • Wailea Settlement, Suva, Fiji: Sambhu Lal, 69, worked for thirty-three years at the Labasa sugar mill, while his family cut sugarcane. Their lease expired in 2004 and was not renewed, forcing them to move to Suva, where his son now works in a sawmill. He brought his house from Labasa to Suva and reassembled it on leased land in a slum area popular with displaced farmers
    indiaworld-3434-merchant.jpg
  • Kawakawa, near Labasa, Fiji: Arvendra Kumar returns home for his wedding and shares an emotional moment with his mother, Premila Wati. Arvendra works in Latoka as a branch manager for an insurance company based in Suva.
    indiaworld-3714-merchant.jpg
  • Suva, Fiji | 2011<br />
Roneel Chand (center) repairs shoes at a stall in downtown Suva, while his family grows cash crops on leased land in nearby Navua. He is the primary earner in his family, making, he says, up to FJD 100 (USD 50) a day repairing shoes.
    indiaworld-3030-merchant.jpg
  • Sharjah, United Arab Emirates: Sailors reposition their dhows along the corniche
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  • Leicester, United Kingdom | 2009<br />
Manjula Sood, the Lord Mayor of Leicester, meets with her constituents. In 2008, she became the first Asian woman Lord Mayor of a British town. The office is ceremonial, but as Leicester’s first citizen and chair of the city council, the Lord Mayor is the public face of Britain’s most ethnically diverse city.
    indiaworld-9663-merchant.jpg
  • Maracas Bay, Trinidad | 2009<br />
After preparing and selling the day’s catch, fishermen gamble at wapee, based on the English card game all fours.
    indiaworld-9820-merchant.jpg
  • Nairobi, Kenya | 2007<br />
Former captain of Kenya’s national cricket squad, which competed in the 1999 and 2003 World Cups, Aasif Karim poses with wife Nanzeen, daughters Fatema and Zainab, and sons Irfan and Imran. Kenya won two matches in 2003, and Aasif was named Man of the Match for his performance against Australia, even though his side lost. Now he is the managing director of an insurance brokerage in Nairobi and also works as a property developer.
    indiaworld-0616-merchant.jpg
  • Shopping at the City Park Traders Market, a development project of the Aga Khan Foundation. Nairobi, Kenya
    indiaworld-0407-merchant.jpg
  • Durban, South Africa: Watching the sand sculptors
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  • Barack Obama brings his presidential campaign to a fundraiser on the Upper East Side. Manhattan, New York
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  • Manhattan: New Yorkers gather in Union Square for a vigil in support of the victims of the shooting at the Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin.
    indiaworld-4527-merchant.jpg
  • Manhattan, New York | 2007<br />
As part of its Incredible India campaign, India’s Ministry of Tourism built a replica of the Taj Mahal in Bryant Park to celebrates India’s 60th anniversary of independence.
    indiaworld-3786-merchant.jpg
  • Sunnyvale, California: Runners participate in a 10K race to raise money for Silicon Valley and Bay Area–based not-for-profit organizations.
    indiaworld-3465-merchant.jpg
  • Kawakawa, near Labasa, Fiji: Preparing kava (crushed yaqoni root mixed with water, also called grog) to serve ar Arvendra's wedding
    indiaworld-8878-merchant.jpg
  • Easter kite flying along the seawall. Georgetown, Guyana.
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  • Pradip Malde, photographer and professor of fine arts at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, teaching class
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  • Woolgoolga, Australia | 2011<br />
Sikhs gather for a wedding at the Guru Nanak Temple. Woolgoolga is home to the largest Sikh community in Australia, many of whom are banana growers. Sikhs took up banana farming in Australia in the 1940s when mechanization came to the sugar cane industry in Queensland, where many of them had worked as laborers. Today, the Sikh community in Woolgoolga is prosperous, having diversified into blueberries, hydroponic vegetables, and other business ventures.
    indiaworld-2406-merchant.jpg
  • Ozone Park, New York: Radhika Drebaul and her brother Dennis Jaikaran perform a jhandi ceremony, the dedication of Hindu prayer flags in the Indo-Guyanese tradition, on the anniversary of their monter's death
    indiaworld-9058-merchant.jpg
  • Pleasanton, California | 2014<br />
Kids play in bubble riders as part of the Diwali festivities at the Alameda County Fairgrounds.
    indiaworld-1974-merchant.jpg
  • (left) Pradip Malde, photographer and professor of fine arts at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee
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  • Stephen Alvarez, April Alvarez, and Pradip Malde at Stirling's Coffee House in Sewanee, Tennessee
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  • Manhattan, New York | 2008<br />
During his first presidential campaign, Senator Barack Obama attends a fundraiser organized by South Asians for Obama at a private home on the Upper East Side.
    indiaworld-5992-merchant.jpg
  • Brooklyn, New York | 2008<br />
Musician and composer Neel Murgai plays sitar for several groups, including Mission on Mars, an eclectic jazz-fusion combo, shown here at a club in Williamsburg, with Kaeshi Chai of Bellyqueen Dance Theater.
    indiaworld-4349-merchant.jpg
  • Kawakawa, near Labasa, Fiji: Descendants of indentured laborers who came from India in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Roop Narayan and Basant Kumar cut sugarcane as members of Gang 12. Colonial-era laws prevent Indo-Fijians from owning land, so they must lease their holdings from native Fijian landlords and work as tenant farmers.
    indiaworld-fiji-3693-merchant.jpg
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  • Kawakawa, near Labasa, Fiji: Cane cutter Basant and Premila Kumar's granddaughters, Ayushi and Shanaya, visiting from Suva, sleep under mosquito netting.
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  • Kawakawa, near Labasa, Fiji: Bansi Lal, 69, is the tractor driver for Gang 12, responsible for taking the loaded cane trucks to the tracks where a locomotive will transport them to the Labasa mill for processing
    indiaworld-5298-merchant.jpg
  • Kawakawa, near Labasa, Fiji. Roop Narayan, Suresh Singh, Sanju Prasad, and Sachin Kumar take an afternoon break from cane cutting to drink grog, which is crushed yaqoni root mixed with water. The result is a muddy, non-narcotic liquid with sedative properties
    indiaworld-4957-merchant.jpg
  • Kawakawa, near Labasa, Fiji: Descendants of indentured laborers who came from India in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Roop Narayan and Basant Kumar cut sugarcane as members of Gang 12. Colonial-era laws prevent Indo-Fijians from owning land, so they must lease their holdings from native Fijian landlords and work as tenant farmers.
    indiaworld-3693-merchant.jpg
  • Kawakawa, near Labasa, Fiji | 2012<br />
Kamal Deo performs the lengha dance at Arvendra and Bhawna’s wedding. Men performing wedding dances dressed as women is tradition in some Indo-Fijian communities. A cane cutter who lives with his wife and daughter, he earns more money as a wedding dancer with the nickname “Gorilla,” in demand throughout Fiji, than he does cutting cane.
    indiaworld-2319-merchant.jpg
  • Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. At a Hindu home for underprivileged boys
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  • Nairobi, Kenya: Kamran Fazal with his terriers, India and Hugo in 2007. He was born with a rare genetic disease called Spondylometaphyseal dysplasia Kozlowski type, which affects the growth of the spine. He died in 2011 at age 19, due to surgical complications, as he was preparing to attend university in Spain. His sister, Raeesa, said, "Despite his condition, life for Kamran was far from a challenge but more like a party. Laughter and love followed wherever he was"
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  • Southall, United Kingdom: The Central Jamia Masjid is unable to accommodate all of its worshippers for Friday prayers, as crowds block the surrounding streets and sidewalks
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  • Woolgoolga, Australia: Banana grower John Arkan is an elected member of the Coffs Harbor City Council. His grandfather came to this region on the mid-north coast of New South Wales in 1895. Sikhs took up banana farming in the 1940s when mechanization came to the sugarcane industry in Queensland, where many of them had worked as laborers. Today, the Sikh community in Woolgoolga is prosperous, having diversified into blueberries, hydroponic vegetables, and other business ventures.
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  • Durban beach, South Africa
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  • Easter kite flying along the seawall. Georgetown, Guyana
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  • Manhattan, New York | 2005<br />
Men dance at Desilicious, a South Asian LGBTQ event held monthly at nightclubs in New York.
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  • Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. Sailors reposition their dhows along the corniche
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  • (center) Pradip Malde, photographer and professor of fine arts at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee
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  • Pradip Malde, photographer and professor of fine arts at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee
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