Roots

 As South Asian Heritage Month rolls around, I find myself reflecting on where I come from, not just geographically, but spiritually and culturally.

My identity is rooted in multiple places, layered through generations. My dad’s side of the family has ties to Kenya, my grandfather was born there, part of the large South Asian diaspora lived across East Africa. My mum’s side traces back to India, though she herself was born in Uganda. My dad was born in India, and yet here I am, born and raised elsewhere, never having visited Kenya or Uganda, but still carrying their stories within me.

It’s a heritage that doesn’t sit within one neat box, and I’m proud of that.

There’s something deeply powerful about knowing your family has moved across continents, not just for survival, but for opportunity, for education, for a better future. That movement carries with it stories of courage, resilience, and strength. My grandparents’ generation worked hard to lay foundations for the lives we now lead, building communities, holding on to language, recipes, rituals, and values, while adapting to their new environments.

Even without setting foot in Kenya or Uganda, I’ve felt their presence in the background of my childhood. In the food on our table, the Gujarati phrases dropped into casual conversation, the Bollywood music blaring on our Saturday morning resets, the framed sepia photographs of relatives I’ve never met but somehow know.

There’s something beautiful in the way South Asian identity stretches across borders. We are not just one story, one version of history, or one place on the map. We are global. Diasporic. Interwoven. And while that can feel confusing at times, especially when you’re not “from” where your family came from, it’s also empowering. Because you realise your identity isn’t about being pinned to a postcode, it’s about the people, the culture, and the values you carry with you.

I’ve learned that you don’t need to have lived somewhere to feel connected to it. Sometimes it’s in your name. In your grandparents cooking. In the way your family tells stories. That connection lives within you, quietly powerful and always present.