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Secret Desi History

Fragments from South Asian America — from the Berkeley South Asian Radical History Walking Tour

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San Francisco

Anirvan Chatterjee in Secret Desi History

The Strangest Christmas Party

A Sikh American Christmas story from 1911

Anirvan Chatterjee in Secret Desi History

Berkeley’s first Desi fortune teller was weirder than you think

Boor Singh took on cops, dog breeders…

Anirvan Chatterjee in Secret Desi History

A lonely South Asian in 1850 San Francisco

Was he the first South Asian in Northern California?

Anirvan Chatterjee in Secret Desi History

3 East Indians seeking work in 1900s San Francisco

Anirvan Chatterjee in Secret Desi History

8 Indian chutney ads from 19th century San Francisco

“Bombay chutney 50¢ · 10 varieties, hot and sweet”

San Francisco after the gold rush was a hub of trade. And with that trade came goods from around the world, including from India…

Anirvan Chatterjee in Secret Desi History

How to tie a turban in 1892 San Francisco

“a series of rapid, graceful motions that defy analysis”

An 1892 San Francisco paper featured this lovely description of how a Desi man (presumably Sikh) ties a turban: