Bolywood Holyrood

A quick recap

Our paths first crossed in the 18th century and ever since then there has been a slow if steady trickle of people from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh into Scotland, the majority migrating in the latter half of the 20th century. Concentrated mainly around the conurbations, and especially Glasgow, ethnic minorities today account for only 2% of Scotland's population (about 100,000 people). In spite of which, they make a huge contribution to the country's culture, education and business.

A culture enriched

Where else but Edinburgh would a group from Bangladesh, India and Pakistan have laid out the foundations for what has become the most significant multicultural festival in Scotland. Now in its tenth year, the Edinburgh Mela (from the Sanskrit word meaning 'gathering') regularly attracts up to 40,000 people with its dazzling array of musicians, dancers and artists, crafts, fashion, food, bazaar, children's activities and sports. The traffic isn't all one-way though. In a kind of cultural exchange, the Indian city of Jaipur stages its own equivalent of the 'Edinburgh Festival'. The two-week Jaipur Heritage International Festival features a 'hub' venue, like Edinburgh's, street theatre and a series of literary readings.

From the world's greatest arts festival to its most successful film industry, Bollywood currently produces up to 1000 movies a year. Scotland, you may be surprised to hear, has already featured in some of its best. Shot at Loch Lomond and Tantallon Castle in 1999, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai features Bollywood legend Shah Rukh Khan (dubbed 'the Indian Tom Cruise') in one of his biggest hit movies. Other Scottish Bollywood blockbusters include the psychological thriller Cape Karma, shot in the beautiful scenery surrounding Loch View Farm, near Comrie; Pyaar, Ishq aur Mohabbat (Love, love, love), and Nina's Heavenly Delights, which tells the story of a female Asian chef who falls in love after returning home to her family's Glasgow curry house from the bright lights of London. Scotland has been quick to embrace the Bollywood phenomenon and now uses it to sell everything from banks to lager.

A focal point of a different kind is provided by Glasgow's Central Mosque which sits on a prime site on the banks of the River Clyde. Opened in 1984 the Mosque, which is bigger than London's Regent Park Mosque, can hold up to 2,500 for prayers, serving not just Glasgow's Muslim community, but the many foreign students studying at the city's universities.

Learning with and from each other

Scotland's academic institutions have always attracted large numbers of overseas students. But none more so than Glasgow College of Nautical Studies, which runs HNDs in Marine Engineering and Nautical Science in partnership with the Academy of Maritime Education and Training (AMET) in Madras. The 12-year partnership, which sees Merchant Navy personnel train for a year in Madras and the rest of their time in Glasgow, is the envy of many institutions both in India and the UK. The Indian national poet Rabindranath Tagore, who shared many of our own Patrick Geddes' ideals and helped to plan an international university with him, is sure to have approved.

Other educational collaborations include the University of Strathclyde's scholarships for Pakistan nationals, created to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Foundation of the State of Pakistan; the package of support recently awarded to a group of six graduates from Indian universities now studying at the Alba Centre's Institute for System Level Integration, which will allow them to stay at ISLI for another year to develop their exciting prototype; and Maheshwur Dayal's postgraduate studies at the University of Dundee which have led to the development of a solar powered Automatic Teller Machine (ATM) for use in remote, under-developed regions.

Commercial successes

Other Asian high flyers, this time in the world of business, suggest that Scots may not have a monopoly on the term entrepreneur. Take Shaheen Unis, the Managing Director of Edinburgh-based ethnic food manufacturer, Mrs Unis Spicy Foods. Ranked 19th in the Sunday Herald Lloyds TSB Scotland 2003 list of the top 100 influential women in business, Pakistan-born Shaheen has grown her business from a one-woman outfit, making pakora in her kitchen at home, into a company with an annual turnover of 500,000, supplying to wholesalers, take-aways and hotels across the country. Yet she still finds time to help charitable organisations, to contribute to consultations on ethnic minorities issues with local government and to be a Director of the Edinburgh Mela.

Her opposite number in the West is Glasgow's 'Curry King' Charan Gill, the mastermind behind the hugely successful Glasgow-based Harlequin Leisure Group and the largest Indian restaurant chain in the UK. The recipient of an MBE for his outstanding contribution to the food and catering industry, Charan Gill now employs over 450 staff. A far cry from his first job in Scotland as a turner and fitter at Yarrow's Shipyards on the Clyde.

Other leading lights include Maq Rasul, the Glasgow businessman behind Global Video; Mr Mohammad Sarwar, a former Glasgow city councillor who made his fortune operating no-frills grocery stores and the first British-Pakistani Member of Parliament; and Mushtaq Ahmad, Scotland's first Asian Provost.

Back on the Indian Subcontinent, meanwhile, Edinburgh-based Cairn Energy struck gold, or at least the next best thing in northern Rajasthan in 2004. The huge oil find, is one of the most significant in India's history. The first oil flowed in 2009 and the Mangala Processing Terminal has a peak plateau production of 175,000 barrels of oil per day. This will contibute more than 20% to India's domestic oil production. Surely there's fuel for another film there?