Parvati and Padma Patil

[pitaprh]

Thank you to everyone for the clarification.  I agree that it is an 
American vs British difference.  In America we generally use oriental 
to refer to food or things (such as rugs).  It is amazing how we 
speak the same language but there are such differences.  I hope to 
get the British versions of the books some day so that I can read the 
differences. 
Thanks again!



> Just so we are clear, India IS in Asia. It's usually referred to as
> South Asian, as opposed to East Asian (China, Japan, Korea), or 
South
> East Asian (Cambodia, Viet Nam, and probably Laos, and Thailand).
> 
> I found it interesting to read another posters response that Asian
> usually means India (and I assume Pakistan & Bangladesh, and 
perhaps,
> Burma), and Oriental typically refers to South East and Eatern 
Asians
> in the UK.
> 
> bboy_mn