Throughout 2002, UK businesses have been gripped by the belief that the local Asian market is where the future lies for their products and services. Government statistics (ONS) indicate that approximately 3% (1.8 million) of the UK's population of 60 million are of South Asian (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal) descent. Living in concentrated groups in major urban areas like London, Birmingham and Leicester, and with an estimated disposable income of £15 billion per annum, it is easy to be seduced by the Asian market sector. So, in fashion parlance, has "brown become the new black"?

It is not hard to see the reason why Asians were this year's hottest market sector. Since almost the beginning of the year, the consumer has almost been run-over by the Bollywood bandwagon. The dedicated ladies from 'Tongues on Fire' presented their unique view of South Asian Women's cinema in March. Department store Selfridges ran its 23½ days of Bollywood in May. This was followed by 'ImagineAsia', the British Film Institute's celebration of South Asian film-making which took the form of a touring exhibition and film schedule. ImagineAsia brought to our attention works by great directors like Satyajit Ray and Shyam Benegal and created interest in classic movies like 'Mother India' and 'Mughal-e-Azam'. The Victoria & Albert Museum launched 'Cinema India - the Art of Bollywood' a poster exhibition and seminar series. Acclaimed digital artist Amrik Chhokran also her exhibited her 'Bollywood Dreams' collection of new-age works.

Feeling a little left out, the Edinburgh Film Festival managed to snare Bollywood heartthrob Shah Rukh Khan whilst the Birmingham Film Festival appealed to the older generation with their 'Brumful of Asha' tribute to the nightingale of the Bollwyood music industry, Asha Bhosle. Birmingham even attracted Mira Nair, whose 'Monsoon Wedding' was a major hit last year. This year, Gurinder Chadha picked up the baton with her hugely successful Brit-Asian flick 'Bend it Like Beckham'. Not to be outdone Robert Carlisle's production company launched 'The Guru', starring the wonder-kid among Asian actors, Jimi Mistry. Wading into the fray late in the year was an adaptation of Meera Syal's ace book 'Anita & Me'.

Away from the filmi (a Bollywood term for anything related to the movies) hysteria, Channel 4 geared up for the 'Indian Summer' to bolster the Test Series between England, India and Pakistan. But even before the summer, there was much excitement as Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber brought to the London Theatreland 'Bombay Dreams' - the first production drawing heavily on the Hindi film industry and featuring the music from Indian maestro A R Rahman.

Elsewhere, South Asian theatre battled along as it usually does with Tara Arts epic 'Journey to the West', Dolly Dhingra's hilarious 'Unsuitable Girls', Singh Tangos by Bettina Garcias, Tanika Gupta's 'Sanctuary', 'Taj' by the Big Picture Company and The Maharaja's Daughters.

Interest in South Asian dance increased, allowing an 'Indian Summer' of classical dance at the Sadler's Wells. Kathakali, a traditional dance from India toured extensively throughout the UK and the Greenwich Dance Agency showcased acts by leading practitioners like Vena Ramphal, Mavin Khoo and Shobana Jeyasingh. The contemporary stage saw a multimedia explosion of dance, martial arts and digital technology called 'Trans Avatar' by the Imlata Dance Co. Meanwhile, choreographer in residence at the Royal Festival Hall, Akram Khan teamed up with Nitin Sawhney and Anish Kapoor to present a full-length work entitled 'Kaash'. In between completing this, Anish Kapoor constructed what can only be described as the world's largest synthetic amaryllis at the Tate Modern - an exhibit of colossal proportions entitled 'Marsyas'.

West London's cultural flagship arts venue, Watermans, re-opened and immediately hosted a series of arts events, seminars and workshops. Hindu Youth UK, a collection on independent bodies representing this ancient culture' decided to finally unite and host a number of festivals to 'Get Connected'. Ugandan Asians marked that 30 years had passed since they were ousted from their former East African home with a get together of alumni from the country's leading Kololo secondary school.

The music scene this year was equally vibrant with Midlands-based club collective 'Shaanti' venturing out to London. The description of their experimental sound representing "sound clashes and cross cultural fusion" may be gobbledygook, but the sound rocks! And let's not forget that the year end sees Panjabi MC's single climbing up the mainstream pop charts.

The literary world, determined not be out done, saw Rohinton Mistry's book 'Family Matters' shortlisted for the Mann Booker Prize which was eventually won by Jan Martell's 'Life of Pi' based partly on Hindu spiritualism. The Betty Trask Prize, awarded for first novels, was this year won by Hari Kunzru's 'The Impressionist'. Kunzru also snared the accolade for having the largest book advance for a first novel. And let's not forget the hysteria caused by the adaptation of Zadie Smith's book 'White Teeth' which is based among the Bangladeshi community in multicultural London.

Multiculturalism was celebrated by no less than 4 four major awards ceremonies - Asian Women of Achievement, the EMMA (Ethnic Multicultural Media Awards), Carlton TV's Multicultural Achievement Awards and the BBC's Mega Mela Awards. Elsewhere, Nasa Khan won the first National Business Awards, as did Reuben Singh's company alldaypa. The TiE (The Indus Entrepreneurs) UK group held events throughout the year, attracting business stars like Dinesh Dhamija to advise young Asian hopefuls. In the latter half of the year, the group was awarded funds by the European Social Fund to help entrepreneurship, particularly among women, so we will undoubtedly see more targeted events from them next year.

The world of fashion and beauty continued glamorously as always - Asif Kisson was shortlisted in the Princes Trust/Elle Magazine young designer of the year, Kulvir Badh won the RCKC Fashion contest to have a chance of working with top Bollywood designer, Anamika Khanna. MELA 2002 (not to be confused with the BBC's Mega Mela) saw models Manpreet Uppal and Imran Akhtar strut their stuff down the catwalk to become of the Models of the Year. As beauty queen, Farheen Khan, so aptly said "its high time that Asians take the fashion industry seriously"! Quite.

On the news front, we tackled serious issues like the rising tide of Xenophobia in Europe when Jean Marie Le Pen won the first round of elections in France and when Pym Fortuyn was assassinated in the Netherlands. The Government kept up the momentum on asylum and immigration issues and highlighted many ethnic ones like forced marriages and hate crime campaigns alongside other equality issues of.....let me see…..o yes…..equal pay!

CRE chairman, Gurbux Singh, gave us all a new drama in August 2002 when he was forced to resign after a drunken verbal brawl with the "boys in blue". Indeed, the Police force was hardly out of the limelight this year with Gurpal Virdi winning his case against them for wrongful accusation in February of this year. Ironic that December saw the formation of the first Metropolitan Police Hindu Association with a remit to advise on Hindu culture and religion and take an active part in policy development in the service.

Despite the continued acts of Terrorism, this year has seen some major political improvements. The ceasefire between the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of the Tamil Eelam) and the Sri Lankan Government has resulted in the commencement of talks that have a real chance of bringing about peace in Sri Lanka after nearly two decades of conflict.

Now that is certainly worth celebrating.