Roots

Name: Azuric

Sex: Male

Age: 18

Nationality: British

Ethnicity: Er...how long have you got?

Wiki basically defines 'Ethnicity' as membership to a group that shares cultural practices, religion, language, cuisine and/or traditions.

Hmmm should be easy enough to identify mine...

First ideas point to 'British Asian', (ideas can point?!) but that's just a term used to denote 'a person of South Asian ancestry or origin, who was born in or is an immigrant to the United Kingdom'. Not an ethnicity.

So maybe 'Indian'?

I 'am' Gujarati (as in of origin of the state of Gujarat in northern India) and speak Gujarati (one of the 82-ish languages of India).

But hang-on, what connection do i actually have to India?

Wasn't born there, never even been there, (though I'd love to!) Parents weren't born there either. Infact only one set of grandparents and ancestors were. So of origin yes, but ethnicity, not fully.

Parents were both 'East-African Asian', born in Uganda. A land of paradise according to their tales of child/teen-hood that often become the subject of conversation over Sunday lunches - Mum used to have a pet chimpanzee called Juley! Rescued from someone dragging him down the road by rope round his neck.

Dad once told me, "When Asians first came here, people thought we grew up in mud huts", the actual truth being that Asians were forced to flee Uganda as a result of the dictator Idi Amin, leaving their opulent bungalows, servants and upper-class lifestyles behind. Mum and Dad were already in the UK when Amin ordered the exile of Asians on August 4, 1972. The rest of their families came here as refugees, with nothing but the clothes in their suitcases, Amin's guards stripped the refugees of all valuables at Entebbe airport. However they did bring with them something far more important, that no one could take from them - their culture.

When i say i speak Gujarati, it is not at all like the Gujarati spoken in India. Into the language that we speak today, have crept numerous Swahili words and phrases (Swahili is the language spoken in Uganda), as well as English - this being the product of an Indo-Anglo-African ethnic blend.

And its not just the language, but cuisine too, Cassava and Matoke dishes are just some of mums specialties, both Ugandan staple foods.

Ancestors, grandparents, and parents done, that leaves me...

British born and lived in England all my life, no stranger to the various cultures of the UK.

Thats one of the things i love most about the UK - the ethnic mix. People of such diverse backgrounds, a truly multicultural society, and its capital, lovely London - possibly the most cosmo city in the world.

Migration throughout history from India, to the 3rd shore (the UK), has been a long journey, full of interesting, exciting, and even dangerous experiences. One on which the previous generations have obtained and passed down many cultural riches along the way.

And its those experiences and riches that make me who i am...

All British, all Asian,

fully Gujarati, fully Hindu,

Indo-Aryan,

of East African Parentage