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Sidis in India:
Sidis are also known as Habsi, Sheedi, and Siddhi. This groups mainly inhabit in India and Pakistan. Members of this community are descended from Bantu People of the African Great Lakes. Sidis work as merchants, sailors, slaves and mercenaries. Main population center of Sidis are Karnataka, Gujarat, and Hyderabad. Siddis mainly are Sufi Muslims but some of them are Hindu and other belong to the Catholic Church.

First Sidis arrived in India at Bharuch Port in 628 AD. The group after that are believed to have been soldiers in the army of Muhammad bin Quasim. They were also known as Zanjis. Sidis are numerically a minority. Their presence in India for over 500 years, their self-perception, makes them Bantu/Indian.    

Sidis in Gujarat:
Once upon a time it was said that five hundred Habsis lived in Ahmedabad. This was the time when city would have been much smaller than it is now. According to their estimates, about 300-350 Sidis live in Ahmedabad. They are minority in excess of 4 million inhabitants. Most people in Ahmedabad identify Sidis as the people of Suarashtra. This people in Ahmedabad have a reputation for the occupation of ‘Painters’. They are in demand mostly before Diwali, when Hindus want to Paint their house. Sidis are also involved in other occupation, trade, income-generating activities i.e. drivers, computer trainer, security guard, mechanic, musician, boxer, dancer, street hawker, and meat shop owner. The sidis are the largest community in Ahmedabad which is a collection of some twenty households in locality of Patthar Kuwa near the SV College. Sidi household is situated in Kahunpur, slums next to Sabarmati River by Nehru Bridge. They are also scattered in Sarkhej, Gomtipur, Vatva and Sardarnagar.

The Sidis are known in Moslem localities, as visiting Fakir. The Sidi house in Patthar Kuwa encloses a peaceful courtyard, shaded by neem trees, imli tree and gorukh tree. They have performed dhamal music and dances in the courtyard. At the base of one of neem trees, there is another chilla, that of Sidi Muktah.