Awadhi Community in Birmingham

Where they come from

Awadh is a historic region of Uttar Pradesh in northern India, centred on the city of Lucknow. Its language, Awadhi, is the language of the Ramcharitmanas, the retelling of the Ramayana by the poet Tulsidas. People with Awadhi roots in Birmingham include professionals, academics and students.

The community in numbers

At the 2021 Census, out of a city population of 1,144,919, 1,475 residents gave Hindi as their main language. Main language figures leave out the many bilingual residents who use English day to day, so the number who speak the language at home is higher still. The census records Hindi as one language, so it does not separate out people by the Indian state their families come from. Awadhi is not counted separately either.

Working for Birmingham

Awadhi families in Birmingham work in medicine, engineering, teaching, law and business, and many have come through postgraduate study at the city's universities. They add to the depth of Birmingham's Indian professional community and to the life of its hospitals and campuses.

Much of the work that keeps Birmingham moving happens out of sight: the night shift on a hospital ward, the early start on a building site, the plumber who fixes a boiler on a winter evening, the teaching assistant who helps a child learn to read. People from every community in the city do these jobs, and Awadhi residents are part of that everyday effort to make Birmingham a better place to live.

Culture and community life

Lucknow's refined manners and its slow-cooked Awadhi cuisine, including kebabs and biryani cooked in the dum style, are famous throughout India. Festivals such as Diwali, Holi and Eid are marked with food and poetry, and the region's love of Urdu and Hindi verse is kept alive at family gatherings.

In a city where scores of languages are spoken, the Awadhi community adds another voice to the conversation. Its members, old and new, are helping to make Birmingham the confident, outward-looking city it wants to be.