OUT OF INDIA

Ever since the 17th century, people from the Indian subcontinent have been arriving in London, and settling there. Some of the earliest arrivals were seamen, who had been recruited to work for the East India Company. Others were servants of Europeans, who had been brought 'home to England' by their employers. Later on, scholars and wealthier people from India came to see, study, and maybe settle, in London. These included well-known figures such as Mahatma Gandhi, Mohamed Ali Jinnah, and Jawarhalal Nehru, all of whom returned to their homeland eventually. The Parsi Dadabhai Naoroji, who was born in Bombay in 1824, became elected as the first British Indian Member of Parliament in 1892.
When Idi Amin expelled the Asians from Uganda in the early 1970s, many of them settled in London and other parts of the UK. Whatever their history, folk from India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan, have established thriving communities in London and elsewhere. Parts of London could almost be India, but for the relatively dismal weather!

This blog article presents pictures that I took a few years ago mainly in London's Southall, but also elsewhere in London

Mc Don-HALAL-ds. In southall

Jalebi junction. Southall

Spicy in Southall

Cooking a l'indienne, Southall

Nagina

Now only a memory, The Himalaya Cinema in Southall used to screen 'Bollywood' Movies

Himalaya Cinema: poster

Himalaya Cinema, Southall

Future leaders of modern India ate at this restaurant in the Strand, India Club Restaurant. It still exists, and looks much as it might have done in the late 1940s.
(143 Strand, London WC2R 1JA)

Brick Lane today is the centre of a large Bangladeshi community. Neither the Moslem Bangladeshis nor their predecessors the Eastern European Jews would have approved of the food mentioned in this street sign:

Thirsty? Why not have a 'pinta' at a Punjabi pub?

In need of spiritual guidance?

Four tongues, one faith. Southall

Jain Temple, Southall

Rhapsody in blue

Shopping

DVD seller in Southall

Neck-lace shop in Southall

Chappals in Southall

Purely Cosmetic. Southall

The British in India

I hope that you have enjoyed these few glimpses of the colourful world that immigrants from the Indian subcontinent have introduced to brighten our life in London