Indian businesses and services in Minneapolis, United States

The Twin Cities' Indian and South Asian community is spread through the suburbs rather than gathered in one district, so there is no Little India to point to. Many families work for the region's large corporate employers, its hospitals and the University of Minnesota, and they have settled widely: western and north-western suburbs such as Plymouth, Maple Grove and Eden Prairie have noticeable concentrations, as do parts of the southern and eastern metro. Indian grocery stores and restaurants are scattered accordingly, most of them in suburban shopping centres.

The Hindu Temple of Minnesota in Maple Grove, one of the largest Hindu temples in the United States, is built in a traditional style that brings several regional traditions under one roof. There are also gurdwaras, Jain and Swaminarayan centres and mosques with South Asian congregations in the metro, and student associations at the university run events of their own.

Winter shapes community life here. Diwali usually falls in October or November, when the weather is already turning cold, so celebrations move indoors, into temple halls, school gyms and hotel ballrooms. Navratri garba nights are held in large rented halls, and Holi is usually marked in spring once the weather allows. A car is the easiest way to reach the suburbs, although the light rail lines serve parts of Minneapolis, St Paul and Bloomington.