Comments on: Desi Spotting in Brazil

By: Mani

Mani — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 22:35:25 +0000

Im going to be workin in brazil for year. I will be at campinas and I did find a brazilan sikh gurdwara in sp…..lookin fwd to the trip

By: Dr. Rajeev Singh

Dr. Rajeev Singh — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 23:11:00 +0000

great one……..do u have some information about the Indian community in Fortaleza….

By: Praca

Praca — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 01:06:44 +0000

Grreat news!

By: ku

ku — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 20:13:25 +0000

i hate racial talk. i really do because it is stupid. however, i must say that belonging to this race or that race does not always have something to do with your skin color. if a german person lives for 10 years in the african sahara walks and works under direct sun light everyday his or her skin color will surely get darker. so, does that mean he or she is not german or european anymore?!!! italians, greeks , spanish are much darker than germans, swedish and english people and their skin color of those greek, spanish and italians ( but not necessarily their facial features ) matches the skin color of most middle easterners but they are still being considered “whites”. Arabs are classified in the u.s , canada and all Latin amercia as whites. those who are being called whites even those who live in northern Europe do not have matching skin color. some are pink, some are beige , some are yellow but i have never seen a skin color that i could call white. the snow is white, the pages of my book are white but the skin color of all my friends of north European origin is pink, beige or yellow!! exposure to lots of hot direct sun light changes the lightest skin to darker and maybe very dark but that does not changes the race of the person. My full blooded swedish friend spent one year in mauritania and came back darker than my self and i am dark south indian but he still considered white. this is why arabs italians spanish greeks jews are darker than germans swedish and english but they all are considered whites. but again there is no such a thing as white skin. there is pink, beige and pink among those who are being called whites !!

By: anil

anil — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 13:47:27 +0000

I bumped into this thread just now. I recently returned from there. Let me add/update on desis in Brazil.

The restaurant Natraj in Rio was only open for dinner, when I previously visited Rio (not this trip). There are a few families in Rio of indian descent (1st generation) – mostly professionals and academics. I understand that they came via Portugal (Goan roots) You will find many sindhis in Manaus (A must visit city for the adventurous) The sindhis in manaus from guyana, hongkong and africa. If you bump into desis in Sao Paulo, they might be working in the consulate or are on temporary assignment working for outsourcing/insourcing company, or a tourist.

When I was there, a TV novella about an indian family was in the top 5 rated shows – Caminos Das Indias.

Here is the link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caminho_das_%C3%8Dndias. In Sao Paulo, you can get bootleg VCD of the songs from this soap opera. There are many magazine cover stories about India now a days in Brazil, and ofcourse many magazine stands in Ave. Paulista have books on Kamasutra and Khajurao. There are a few indian restauants in Sao Paulo, only one that I know of is run by desis – the food there is unmemorable, there is tremendous amount of interest in the food, thanks to Caminos…

I have heard that there are a few expat nuclear scientists who I cannot attest, as I have not bumped into them. A good majority of people of indian diaspora are from the former british colonies. You can get good spices in many shops, though not necessarily imported from India. You are likely to also find some chutney music courtsey Trinidadians and UK musical fusion. Brazil is a very big country – The Amazon jungle and ecosystem is bigger than India itself. I am planning to be there again very soon. Enjoy the country.

By: deemz

deemz — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 16:12:26 +0000

I don't know what it is but I'm obsessed with Brazil at the moment (the beaches, the bundas on the beaches, the vibrancy of the culture, etc).

I am seriously considering taking a year off from work to volunteer/travel in the Bahia region. The Brazilian culture is just fascinating to me. Primarily, it's the significant pan-African influence of the culture that attracts me. I recently started studying capoeria and absolutely love it. It'd be interesting to see how that fits in with yoga, as I never really thought about it until reading this post.

Thanks for the insights Brazilian travelers and former residents, please keep them coming.

By: cookiebrown

cookiebrown — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 04:59:48 +0000

Brazil's Idol Is a Blonde, and Some Ask 'Why?'

Uncle Cookiebrown asks "why not?"...

By: Latin Lover

Latin Lover — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 20:07:42 +0000

Forget Desi spotting, what about sizzlin hot Brazilian guys..... how many of those do you spot?
Any pics?

By: Quashball

Quashball — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 09:03:22 +0000

I wonder if there is a Latino blog somewhere with 107 people talking about how amazing it is to find tacos in South Africa. Or, an East African blog marveling at the Ethiopian guy who sells coffee in Sitka. Navel-gazing, ad hoc, bubble-gum cultural anthropology…

By: maanav

maanav — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 05:54:21 +0000

my parents and two older sisters lived in rio during the late 70′s and were part of a community of desis that lived there at the time. my middle sister was actually born there…i almost was, my mother was 7 months pregs with me when they moved to the states. all this is to say that brasil, and most latin america, has been explored by southies