How Much for Oriental Vibes?
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The official legal framework through which these Bengali peddlers were entering the United States was a framework of exclusionary immigration laws against Asian immigrants, including Bengalis. Many of them entered legally, but under the status of labourers. Of course, they were there to sell their merchandise, textiles and carpets, however they were also seeking to create a transnational community, reconnect with kin and fellow villagers. Despite this, though, simply as immigrants, they were not accepted into the US. Exclusionary acts such as the Asiatic Barred Zone Act prohibited them from entering the US as immigrants, or even travelers. Given this, many men got jobs on steamships, working the ships and eventually ending up in the US. As labourers they were accepted but as simply immigrants seeking a better life than the one their homeland could provide, they were not accepted. According to Bald, their entrance into the United States was contingent on the openings of the US labour market demands and shifting migrant labour policies given the economy of the time.
Despite these exclusionary acts against immigration, though, Bengali Muslims were determined to make it to America nonetheless. They played on American fads of oriental fashion and culture to promote their merchandise brought from their village back-home. Bengalis used these fads to their advantage. Mysterious, exotic portrayals of the Eastern Orient were something the Bengalis played into, for example, in America, women used Oriental goods in the interiors of their homes to create a sense of worldliness and sophistication with their other-wordly commodities. In addition to this, the “New American Woman” would display oriental goods as a way to escape the traditional expectations of Victorian women who shall not seek knowledge apart from what is given to them, and so to possess eastern commodities is to possess knowledge (by western portrayals) of a world unknown to most. Americans, for many different reasons, were “entranced” by oriental (vibes) and aesthetics. Thus in turn created great demand for Oriental textiles such as the ones brought by the Chikondars.
According to Bald in his fifth chapter of Bengali Harlem, East Harlem might have been attractive to Indians because it allowed them to disappear amongst the densely populated demographics of immigrants. In these neighbourhoods, they were able to hide, not only physically in such a dense area but also hide their Indian identity. In their residences in East Harlem, they were surrounded by Peurto Ricans, Cubans and Dominicans which allowed them to pass as the ethnicities of their residential counterparts. Sometimes, they would marry them and create mixed identities and in some cases legally change their identities. Where Indians were mere labourers, working for the economy of the United States, barred from becoming official US nationals, East Harlem allowed them to shift/change/hide their identity and in a way, ease their hardship.
In the context of food, many Indian Muslims appreciated New York for its Jewish communities and Kosher food. In the absence of Halal Muslim restaurants, butchers and food, Indian Muslims found ways to uphold their customs while also interacting with other groups of immigrants, especially in the Lower East Side. Additionally, the restaurant industry among Indian immigrants in New York helped upwardly mobilize members of the Indian community, especially the ex-seamen. The Bengal Garden, led by Habib Ullah and his wife Victoria, although open for only a few years, created a path that other Indians looking to open restaurants could take in order to succeed in the restaurant business. Indian ex-seamen trusted Habib and knew that his advice could be uniquely catered to Indians looking to open Indian restaurants with Indian flavours, and oftentimes, deal with anglo-american palates that were unwilling to try Indian food. The Bengal Garden, and specifically Habib Ullah, was a trail blazer that opened doors for the rest of the ex-seamen/Indian community in the restaurant business, which in turn, provided the community with more money (given that their restaurants were successful), resources and thus upward financial mobilization. Restaurants were also places of communal gathering for South Asians where people could speak a familiar language and eat familiar foods.