Wearing My Sari In London Is No Longer Just A Matter Of Personal Style—It’s Political, Too

I had a vision in mind for a Diwali ball in London, a night of unrivaled, unapologetic south Asian glamour. It’s been going for three years. Year one, I wore a white Falguni & Shane Peacock sari with intricate pearl and beadwork, a dash of their trademark feathers at the end of my pallu. Year two, I wore an icy blue and silver sequined number by Manish Malhotra, couturier to Bollywood’s biggest stars. Last year, it was Tarun Tahiliani, a designer known for dressing the old money sophisticates. Over my blush-pink sari, he added an additional dupatta. I paired the saris with Cartier jewelry.

What a great time to be an Indian in London, I thought, giddy from the high of putting together one of the most fashionable (and fun!) nights in London. But then, a few weeks ago on September 14, barely a month before Diwali, more than 100,000 people participated in an anti-immigration march in London, one in a series that have been going since April this year. Recent weeks have seen a spate of hate crimes against Indians in Ireland—including one on a six-year-old girl, who was punched in the face and hit in the genitals and told to “go back to India.” In August of last year, British Asians and Muslims were targeted in racist attacks, triggered by the fatal stabbing of three young girls in Southport, after false speculation that the culprit was a Muslim asylum seeker.

These instances undoubtedly weigh heaviest on British Asians who have grown up here; their memories of overt racism in the ’70s and ’80s come flooding back, belying the progress they were certain had been made in recent decades. For me, it comes as a rude shock. It is not the London I thought I knew. On and around days of attacks and protests, I avoid the Tube or being out on the street; I take cabs home, I cancel social plans at bars or pubs. Why take the chance? I ask myself. It is not a sentiment I am comfortable with. It is not a sentiment any of us should have to feel comfortable with. As anti-immigration rhetoric sweeps countries around the world, the question is, how should we react? How should we act?