Little Delhi

Southall is a taste of the East in London's Far West. You know you're getting close to the real deal when the signs for 'Live Punjabi Bhangra' start appearing on the bars, but nothing prepares you for the teeming bazaar of Southall Broadway and its dizzying mixture of sari centres, sweetmeat stores, and balti houses offering brain masala.

A tide of saried and dhotied humanity throng the pavements, pausing to contemplate the latest Hindi tapes and dancing Bhangra dolls. A chaotic mix of Missy Elliott and Bollywood soundtracks provide the musical backdrop.

It's thought there are around 600,000 people of Asian origin living in the London area, and the majority make a beeline for Southall at the weekends. "The first wave of Indians came to Southall in 1947, after Partition," says Mr Sikri, proprietor of Little India ("A Step Closer To Home!"), proudly contemplating his wares - statues of Ganesh, racks of incense, tandoori clay ovens, bars of sandalwood soap. "But when I came here in the Sixties, there were only a handful of Indian businesses here. Now it's like downtown Delhi!"

Mr Sura runs Bina, a musical instrument shop selling tablas and dholaks. "We are all living together here," he says, "Pakistani and Indian. We all have to love each other. That is what we do in Southall."