Bellevue's Asian Indian Community Grows, Retains Culture

For many Bellevue area residents, spicing up foods with curry and watching Bollywood films are activities as much a part of everyday life as are shopping at the Redmond Town Mall and looking online for news from India.

A growing number of Asian Indians are making Bellevue their home, according to the 2010 US Census.  An estimated 8,963 Indians live in the city or about 7.3 percent of the total population.  And, several nearby communities have large Asian Indian populations, including Redmond (6,281) and Sammamish (3,271).

While they live thousands of miles and oceans away from their native land, area Indians often stay connected to their culture and traditions with the help of the media.  By watching everything from IBN-TV, a partnership between IBN and CNN, to reading NOTCH, a new Indian entertainment and lifestyle digital magazine, they can keep informed on the array of developments at ‘home.’

A Nielsen survey earlier this year of Indians living outside India, found that Indian food, Bollywood and Indian festivals were the top three lifestyle activities that help keep them connected with their native culture.                 

The Bellevue-based India Association of Western Washington (IAWW) also holds a variety of programs year-round for people of all ages, and everyone is welcome (www.iaww.org)

Among media outlets popular with the local Indian community are NOTCH (www.notchmag.com) , the Seattle Indian community portal (www.seattleindian.com) and IBN (www.ibnlive.in.com/us/)

To learn more about the Indian population in the Seattle metro area and nationwide, visit www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-11.pdf