Beware of generalizing "South Asian" as a homogenous identity
What can calling ourselves South Asian do for us? For one, it puts us together into this shared history and culture that we value, especially when we move abroad for our own pursuits. It creates a space for us where, even in a foreign country, we can still retain our sense of belonging to our homeland.
However, I would agree with what Parikshit said, in that we would also put ourselves at the risk of self-homogenizing the entire region. This boils down to what constitutes a South Asian identity.
Some people may say it would be a colonized history. The problem is that there are areas that were never colonized, like Bhutan and Nepal. Even within Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan, not all regions were a colony under the British. Even areas like Afghanistan and Myanmar have somewhat shared a colonial history, but would a South Asian consider this a part of their identity? And what about Mauritius and the Maldives? They are part of the Indian Ocean with relative proximity to the South Asian landmass, but would they share similar cultures?
We could move beyond this history and base it on the traditions that we all share. The issue lies again on what is propagated as a South Asian tradition and how it neglects the subtleties of what is actually practiced in South Asia. Take Diwali and Holi for example, the two quintessential festivals enjoyed by many of us diaspora. The issue with this is that these festivals are celebrated in North India, around 300 million people or so. What this means is that even in India, a country 1.2 billion strong, you cannot assume someone celebrates either Diwali or Holi — for example, Parikshit never celebrated any of these before coming to Grinnell.
Not even food or beverages can be part of the homogenous identity. For the case of biryani, it is mostly local to areas like Bangladesh, Pakistan, and North India. Sri Lanka, the Northeast, the islands and even areas of South India hold vastly different styles of cuisine, one that do not even consider biryani in their palate. Even something as ubiquitously loved as masala chai cannot be considered a universal beverage since Kashmir and Ladakh have their own variants of chai, using salts and butter local to the Himalayas, containing flavor profiles so different that it cannot be compared to the spice-rich teas of the greater subcontinent.
