Sydney Diwali gatherings over the years featured an eclectic group of Indians with different socio/religious backgrounds. In the Indian metropolis, the festival often transcends religious, class and caste divides and is often celebrated in an integrated fashion.
As the number of Indians here increases, one would expect that this festival along with others will find its way into the Australian festival calendar. But with the increase in Indian migrant numbers, there also arises the Indian need to create different social clusters. The once integrated Indian community is now splintering into multiple socio/economic groups, each individually tethered together on caste, language and religious similarities.
In India, an increase in population in cities like Mumbai have driven both revival of Indian socio/religious classes and at times also has fueled religious fundamentalism. While in other nations, the Indian diaspora have integrated themselves and created new practices that take subtle nuances from the Indian multi-cultural society.
We have good examples in Fiji and Trinid. Fiji Indians have little notion of their particular regional origins in India. They have developed their own vencular that is a combination of Indian and Fiji dialects.
The Australian Indian migration is relatively new. The new wave of Indian diaspora here is still a couple of decades young. Whilst we succumb to the need to revive our heritage and protect our cultural identity, in this new land of opportunities lets also look at ways to integrate and reinvent ourselves. Our next generation will face far more challenges in forging their own identities - to give them a head start lets give them the valuable lesson of multiculturalism.
As Diwali approaches, I personally like the idea of meeting new Indians and savouring the celebration from a different cultural perspective. But that's just me.
