Desis United?

As FOBs, we tend not to spend too much time about what it means to be desi in the West. Our psychic identities are firmly rooted in the "homeland," which removes an entire level of complication from our lives. (Having seen some of this complication up close and personal, I'd say this is a huge blessing.) Especially here at HOMOfobia, we share such a close personal and political bond that questions about "who we are" rarely come up.

But every once in a while, I come across a story that reminds me of how fractured the desi diaspora really is. There are, of course, countless tensions and questions that accompany the often-forced and arbitrary transformation of regional and national communities into a geographically-dispersed "diaspora." But increasingly I've been seeing another variation on the theme, which highlights the perceived dissonance of one community with the rest of the diaspora. Here's one such story from the UK, which discusses the increasing economic success of "Asians" in Britain (as South Asians are referred to in the UK). The article talks about the changing class character of the Asian community, which is apparently becoming more prosperous and leaving behind its working-class origins. But then something right at the end of the article caught my eye:

But sections of Britain’s thriving ‘new Asian economy’ complained to TOI on Monday that it might have been better for the new Barclays Bank report to have categorically classified the growth as "Indian rather than Asian because it may be misleading to lump all Asians together".

Tushar Patel, who has a chain of pharmaceuticals, said, "There is such a wide difference between ‘Asian’ groups - Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi - that it would be better to be more specific about who is doing well”. [emphasis added]

Maybe I'm just being naive, but is it really so hard to maintain some kind of solidarity with other desis?