Rajiv Posted July 4, 2009 Posted July 4, 2009 For those who are alien to them Indians in FIJI Hindus of South America A Good one for the mitually responsive crowd on ICF I never met Fiji-Indians ever in my life ( especially USA ) but they are all over here in B.C Their hindi is very unique for eg., tam kele kya = tum aaj kya kar rahe hain ( believe it or not, they are slanger than mumbai lingo ) Almost all the Indians at my workplace are Fiji-Indians ( 1 Mulsim and rest Hindus , Fiji Indians are predominantly Hindus ) But more importantly, majority are South Indians and most of them have changed their last name to "ending in kar" or "nand" or like "kumar", this is due to having long south indian names They are 4th gen, their grandfathers father were born there - thats like 1800 ( Hindus were considered weak labor in that era, I am still not sure how they made it but its amazing that they keep all traditions but simply have NO CLUE about India ) So does HINDUISM connect Indian? or is it politics? I mean I am with these guys everyday, the only common thing between them and me is that we both celebrate Diwali/Holi Similar case with Surinam Hindus Are these like Muslims? from various arabic countries but worship allah but in this case they are hindu Quite fascinating Chala kal = Lets talk tomm ( in fiji )
Texy Posted July 4, 2009 Posted July 4, 2009 I go to this temple in houston... named Hindu Worship Society.... the head priest used to be a guy who was born in Fiji and his wife also hindu born in Fiji. It's amazing how he was so knowledegable in the Vedas and knew all the chants in sanskrit but never been to India. I have also met Nepalese Hindus who are very devotional and religious but has nothing to do with India. People usually associate Hindus with India but fail to recognize hindus are worldwide and many of them never been to India. Pretty much a lot of gujjus who are born and brought up in African countries..never been to India but follows all the traditions and culture and celebrates Holi/ Diwali just like we do.
Anonymous Posted July 6, 2009 Posted July 6, 2009 For those who are alien to them Indians in FIJI Hindus of South America A Good one for the mitually responsive crowd on ICF I never met Fiji-Indians ever in my life ( especially USA ) but they are all over here in B.C Their hindi is very unique for eg., tam kele kya = tum aaj kya kar rahe hain ( believe it or not, they are slanger than mumbai lingo ) Almost all the Indians at my workplace are Fiji-Indians ( 1 Mulsim and rest Hindus , Fiji Indians are predominantly Hindus ) But more importantly, majority are South Indians and most of them have changed their last name to "ending in kar" or "nand" or like "kumar", this is due to having long south indian names They are 4th gen, their grandfathers father were born there - thats like 1800 ( Hindus were considered weak labor in that era, I am still not sure how they made it but its amazing that they keep all traditions but simply have NO CLUE about India ) So does HINDUISM connect Indian? or is it politics? I mean I am with these guys everyday, the only common thing between them and me is that we both celebrate Diwali/Holi Similar case with Surinam Hindus Are these like Muslims? from various arabic countries but worship allah but in this case they are hindu Quite fascinating Chala kal = Lets talk tomm ( in fiji ) Apart from hinduism the biggest coonecting factor must be bollywood, Kollywood or tollywood, whatever, etc.. There is so much influence that these people seem to derive from films...
flamy Posted July 6, 2009 Posted July 6, 2009 Very interesting! And I do believe Hinduism keeps us together... as a nation of such diversity..
umpire Posted July 6, 2009 Posted July 6, 2009 ^Hinduism itself is diverse, so how is it keeping us together
flamy Posted July 6, 2009 Posted July 6, 2009 'm pretty sure everyone recognizes the same ram, shiva and krishna.
veer Posted July 6, 2009 Posted July 6, 2009 dont forget hindus from mauritius.. many in that country are hindus but never been India and practice religion like vrat, walking on burning coal etc..
Kohum Posted July 6, 2009 Posted July 6, 2009 The first Indian restaurant I ate at, after coming to US was by a FIJI Hindu person. My office canteen had Indian menu for a while, which was cooked and served by a FIJI Hindu. But still some of the info in OP is new to me.
ViruRulez Posted July 6, 2009 Posted July 6, 2009 I dont know much about Indians in South America but whenever I speak to friends etc. from South America like Brazil, Mexico, Argentina etc. about Indians they think Indians to be Red Indians.. and I have to tell them that there is a different nation named India I think that there are a lot lesser Indians in South America compared to North America, Europe, Middle East or any other country in the world
maggot_brain Posted July 6, 2009 Posted July 6, 2009 'm pretty sure everyone recognizes the same ram' date=' shiva and krishna.[/quote'] I recognise them only for the fanciful creations they are.
Texy Posted July 7, 2009 Posted July 7, 2009 I recognise them only for the fanciful creations they are. in bangla there is a word called "aatel" that kinda applies to you...
Desi Cartman Posted July 7, 2009 Posted July 7, 2009 There are many Fijians in Australia especially after the coup a lot of Fiji Indians migrated to Aus. My first landlord in Aus was a fiji -Indian - gujju. A manager at KFC was also a fiji Indian and his hindi was more like how hindi is spoken in Bihar. I found same thing in Mauritius , the hindi they use is not courrupt like ours. I heard on the radio in Mauritius a 6 year old girl say " mein pehli KAKSHA mein hoon" .. How many kids in Delhi would ever use the word Kaksha these days :dontknow: PS: they do not think they are Indians or have anything to do with India except that their forefathers came from India.
maggot_brain Posted July 7, 2009 Posted July 7, 2009 in bangla there is a word called "aatel" that kinda applies to you... HOW DARE YOU use a word from an Indian language that is not Hindi? Mods please ban this guy immediately.
Macj Posted July 7, 2009 Posted July 7, 2009 You forgot other significant populations of Indian descent around the world. There are Indians all over the erstwhile British West Indies also in French Guiana and like you mentioned the Dutch speaking Suriname. There are also close to 1 million Indians in South Africa descendants of indentured laborers, and another 300,000 mostly professionals in British African colonies where my ancestors are from. In most of the places Hinduism is the major religion but the Hinduism is far from mainstream, primarily because most of these Indians were from the lowest echelons of society in the 1800s when India was still nominally ruled by the Mughals and importantly not many Hindu priests came over with them. Thus some among these people took over priestly responsibilities and learned the Vedas from the few priests that did come over. Even their language is an offshoot of the dialect of Hindustani spoken in the 1850s. Only in Belize has there been significant miscegenation between the African and Indian populations, in almost all of the other places Indians almost completely separate themselves from Blacks.
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