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Orginally posted by ugot_mail

Biomed, East Indians for us here in Mumbai are the Kholis (christians).

Bon appetite

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Since I've heard that narrow definition before, wanted to clear it up for the benefit of readers
c) Koli Christians
The Kolis are not essentially a fishing caste. However, some of them, who migrated to the coastal areas, took to fishing as an occupation. There are indications that their conversion to Christianity took place a little later than that of the other groups. Though the Kolis are included under the East Indian 'umbrella',

i) they rarely refer to themselves as 'East Indians'

ii) the women do not wear the traditional East Indian sari

iii) they usually have different surnames from the other East Indians as most of them have retained their pre-conversion surnames. In spite of the above, some writers mistakenly use the words 'koli' and 'East Indian' interchangeably !
http://www.goldenbandra.com/EI/EIBackground.htm

The(east indian) community is largely based on a variety of sub communities, or rather the amalgamation of five basic cultural groups. ‘Samvedi Christians’ , ‘Koli Christians’ , ‘Vadval Christians’, Sutars, ‘Salsette Christians’. Do a google search on each..its facinating to see the evolution of these communities.

Being Catholic I have always been facinated that Hinduism is one of the very few religions (cultures actually), that since ancient times, has demonstrated religious tolerance when the rest of the world was actively practising religious chauvanism. Inspite of this...it is still one of the major religions(900 million?) of the world!

Another link for biomed.
http://www.deliciousindia.com/Partners/Michael/eastindians.htm