• Why, when, and how did this most successful of all immigrant groups come to the US?
• Do immigrants from South Asia see their experience of American liberty as economics, or as social, religious, or personal fulfillment?
• Is this segment of society in the US a precursor of things to come? Are South Asians living in the US on the rising cusp of an educated, successful, mobile workforce, a movement into economic globalization, beyond the traditional concept of nationhood?

Some came from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal or Bangladesh, and others of Indian origin came via Fiji, Uganda, Trinidad, South Africa and UK. In brief, the South Asian Diaspora in the US now includes a more normal spectrum of immigrants.

After close-to half a century of immigration from South Asia, some patterns are beginning to emerge. Assimilation and acculturation issues are common to every group that came to the US, but some of the quirks of British colonial history in India manifest themselves in some interesting variations of South Asian experiences of Living in America. Add globalization, through the lens of South Asians in the US, and a possible new trend in identity emerges.

The reason people have migrated since time immemorial is to seek a better life for themselves and their children. Historically, Indians have not been as ready to travel overseas as Europeans. Indians had generally stayed within the geographic landmass of the Indian sub-continent. With some exceptions, caste-bound Indians were raised to have a fear of the unknown beyond the oceans, embodied as a taboo of crossing "Kala Pani" (trans. Dark Waters).

Mahatma Gandhi recounts in his Autobiography how his family was concerned about his observing dietary strictures while he studied law in Britain. Similarly, the brilliant mathematician Ramanujan?s family had fears about his being enticed to living at Oxford, which he, tragically, did not outlive.

In each case, the objection was not merely to distance from family and known support systems, but also to the change that would be encountered and might infiltrate Indian mores and norms. Some objections were as simple as to living in an egalitarian society where high-caste Brahmins would have to mingle with low-caste shudras etc.

Some of this Hindu attitude was also clearly a decadent decline of the once vigorous and meaningful socio-religious institutions in India, which had outlived their usefulness. Other fears were based, perhaps partially, in an understandable reaction to brutal and frequent invasions from the "outside" in India?s history. This led to an insular perception of any and all beyond the "Dark Waters" as barbarians, who were bent on carrying off the wealth of India as "loot" and would ultimately destroy Indian civilization. This was based in contact with outsiders in brutal and frequent overland destructive raids, common in India?s history, through mountain barriers such as the Khyber Pass.

In India?s past, most overseas travel or foreign trade was limited. It took the form of rare, long, tedious and expensive overland forays to places like Chakla Makan along the Silk Trade Route. Sea Routes were equally risky, either Eastward towards China, or Westward on Arab dhows plying Monsoon winds in the Arabian Sea, carrying Muslims on their life-time goal of a Hajj to Mecca. (Limited travel, of course, was the norm for most people in the world before European colonialism took hold.)

Portuguese, French and British colonialism changed this for Indians. Travel to and from Europe, while difficult and expensive, became more common and safer - evidence of survival were the Europeans themselves. European adventurism to all corners of the globe, and the riches accrued to those who risked travel to any corner from Europe was clear.

After losing their colony (the United States) in North America, the British simultaneously solidified their holdings and "factories" into an Empire in India, and many parts of the world. The need for surrogate labor to fuel the global British Empire grew. Indians, considered by the British to be more "educable" than other subjects of color, were educated to fill clerical positions. They were sent to the far reaches of the British Empire - thus an Indian Diaspora now.

Some people belonging to the historic India, such as Parsi merchants, Gurkha and Sikh soldiers, were more than ready to travel to the four corners of the world as employees of the global British Raj. Riches and success were seen to be accumulated by those who braved travel. To those who still subscribed to the old fears of "kala pani? evidence grew that their fears might be groundless.

As a result, while in the past travel had been frowned upon by traditional Indian society, colonial rule and the development of more reliable and frequent modes of transportation and trade brought about a rapid change to the Indian attitude towards foreign travel and commerce.

Simultaneously, the lesson of Americans gaining independence from British colonial rule was not lost on Indians fighting British colonial occupation of India.

Valiant efforts of the Gaddar movement (launched by immigrants from India in the San Francisco Bay Area promoting India?s independence from the British, despite the inequality faced by these people in the US) had the effect of also highlighting American ideals of liberty and freedom for people in India.

Use of English as a common language in India (a tool of subjugation to British rule), and the development of newspapers in vernaculars for the masses, facilitated and spread the word about freedom (however selective, and limited to theory may have been the experiment in Liberty was in the US).

Independence for India in 1947, and the bloody partition of the country on the basis of religion, acted as a further impetus in Indians abandoning the traditional concept that only their homeland which could provide a safe haven for them, and that leaving India should thus remain a taboo.

1965 marked the abolition of quotas in US immigration laws based in race and national origin. Development of "Jumbo-jets" and cheaper air travel of the late 1960?s provided an easier means of travel.

Bloody demands for separatist homelands for several religious and ethnic groups in the region, modeled after the British-created Pakistan for Muslims only, created upheaval in India and Sri Lanka. This led to political refugees coming to the US starting in the 1980?s. For these immigrants to the US, living in America has meant not only economic stability but also political and religious freedom, denied to them in their homelands.

This is a brief outline of the history of the South Asian Diaspora - the why, how, and when of this relatively small and new immigrant group in the US. From this humble history, how did this group of South Asians in the US, in less than forty years, to move to their present incredible success to being called "the Golden Diaspora" and the "Model Minority?"

One of the basic reasons for the success of South Asians is their ability to speak, read and communicate in English - a "residue" of the British Empire in India. Monolingual students are the exception, not norm, on the Indian subcontinent. There is also a clear advantage to an immigrant who learned math and science in English (as is the case in many former British colonies).

A second advantage that people from India have is an academic advantage. Mastery of subject matter, especially in the areas of math and science, is rigorous, putting graduates of some Indian educational institutions at least on par, if not above graduates from universities in the US. A resurgence of pride in math and science from ancient India encourages students at modern educational institutions in India to embrace math and the sciences not as foreign concepts, but as indigenous and traditional disciplines.

Another plus is skill and experience in handling challenges. Life on the Indian subcontinent is often so beset with daily obstacles, that people used to survival in the face of greater and daily adversity, simply thrive on fewer obstacles!

Added to this, people from the Indian subcontinent were quick to grasp the notion of global trade. Trade is as ancient and fully developed in parts of India as any place in the world, but the concept of globalization, as seen in its precursor, the British Empire, was a new dimension. A combination of the old and the new becomes a sure recipe for success.

One example of this is the Silicon Valley entrepreneurs of Indian origin in the San Francisco Bay Area, who could not get banks to loan them money. They then formed their own venture capital conglomerates, and their success is legend in the business world. A second example is the Gujarati hotel and motel owners in the US, who formed their own insurance companies, when denied service as clients by existing insurance companies. These are two of several examples of the savvy and hard work of people from South Asia and its Diaspora combined with American opportunities.

But why the US, and not the UK? After having served as Allied soldiers in World War I and World War II, a great number of Indians, particularly from the Punjab, did go to Britain. The encounter with British class structures, with its gradations based in race and class, even for war veterans, plus the second and third class treatment of Indians in India by British colonials, were decidedly but another form of constraint. This was no different than the decadent old caste system in India. Once this was clear, and after World War II, when the rising clout of the US as the real land of opportunity became apparent, the US became the preferred destination.

There are some distinct groups among South Asians living in the US. Each of these has successfully turned India?s colonial history to its advantage economically, whether in linguistic ability, education, professional or entrepreneurial skills.

The first and earliest group is the Punjabi and largely Sikh agricultural workers who came to the US nearly a century ago. Many of them settled in farms all along the Central Valley of California. Small in numbers, and denied the opportunity to bring their families, they fared not much better than other Asians in the US at the time. Bias against visible minorities was rampant, and sanctioned by the US government at that time.

One courageous immigrant, a US Army veteran of World War I, Bhagat Singh Thind, valiantly fought a legal battle to overturn an INS ruling which denied him citizenship on the basis of his race. In 1923, the US Supreme Court upheld the ban on citizenship for Asians, and rescinded his individual citizenship, based in the fact that he was "not a free, white male" (US v. Bhagat Singh Thind). Times and attitudes changed, and in 1936, he finally gained his citizenship.

In 1957, from California's Imperial Valley, Judge Dalip Singh Saund became the first Asian-American to be elected to the US Congress. To date, he is the only South Asian American ever to attain this office.

The second distinct group which came in the late 1960? and early 70?s - often referred to as the "brain drain" from a newly independent India - was comprised essentially of professionals, lured to the US by a prospect of lucrative careers. Despite their invisibility on the TV shows set in hospitals, in the real world, there is hardly a hospital in any major US city where Indian doctors cannot be found. This early wave of immigrants became prestigious professionals, and included engineers, academics, scientists and Nobel Laureates.

While dependents and "sponsorship" of relatives of the above two groups, as well as immigration based on the old selective criteria, continued, a third distinct segment of people from the subcontinent came to the US in the 1980?s: blue collar workers (US response to charges of "brain drain" and elitism) and political refugees. Some of them have found a niche, and an economic foothold, while others have fallen through the cracks. Their plight is, unfortunately, often shrugged off by successful South Asians in the US.

The fourth distinct group is the current group that fuels the US computer industry?s success. Coming at a time of unprecedented economic prosperity, and increased air travel, this group is distinct in that it is "temporary" (at least on paper). They are green card and "H-1, B" visa holders from South Asia, here for only one reason - economic opportunity or financial liberty. Apart from the fact that their income is higher because their employment happens to be located in the US, nothing else has really changed for them. This group of immigrants from South Asia sees and lives their life no differently than it would have been in India, apart from economics.

The first three groups fall into the old patterns of immigration, acculturation and assimilation. However, the last group of "imported labor" is what is perhaps most unique and remarkable as a trend. It begs the question: is the era of global ethnicity and multi-national affiliations already here? Is everyone going to belong to a Diaspora?

It is notable that the many US citizens are working in Europe, the former USSR and Asia. Is it a reverse pattern of immigration? Or is it a freedom to work anywhere in the world?

In other words, if everyone is from somewhere else, is multiple cultural identity going to become a norm in the US (similar to what we see happening among South Asians living in the US)?

To illustrate this point further, take one hypothetical example from the Indian Diaspora, of a Silicon Valley businessman. He lives in the US as a "green card" holder. His passport identifies him from South Africa. He identifies himself as "Indian" in terms of culture and ethnicity and language spoken at home. His wife is of Indian origin, but was raised in Trinidad, and went to college in Canada?

His brother, on the other hand, migrated in his youth from South Africa to Uganda to the UK, to Canada, and finally to the US. This second brother married a woman whose father was Indian and mother a French-Canadian?

These successful families, who identify themselves in multiple terms, are equally at home in, and "belong" to, three or four continents! In the space of two generations this family has lived in more places than many people travel in a lifetime. Their identity is multi-national to the point of being mind-boggling.

Can the nationality of the children of these two brothers fit into any one box/category on current US census forms? What is their "ethnicity?" Has ethnicity become divorced from nationality?

Is this the model for the future? Is this the face of globalization, South Asian style, prior to the coinage of the term "globalization" or even a "global village?" If this is the shape of things to come, are economics going to dictate public identity, while ethnicity is relegated to the personal, private, realm?

Equally interesting is the concept of Indian employees of US computer industry, working in India, via a modem - telecommuting in the extreme - globally! Is this a sign of things to come? Is this how the Information Age technology will equalize the playing field for all?

Have the concept of nationality, boundaries, citizenship and immigration, visas, quotas and permits simply been made obsolete by the realities of economic globalization? Is the term ?national? going to be replaced with multi-national and global, and will the term ?national? recede to arcane obscurity in textbooks or live on only as the name of an airport?