[Alouette]

I remember hearing stories of how some Indian Jews had a hard time in Israel as this story mentions.

When we lived in Israel we had a Sephardic friend who was originally from Bombay. There was, and probably still is, a large community of normative Jews in India who for centuries did not accept the "bene Israel" as being authentically Jewish because they practiced some weird religion that combined bits and pieces of Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and whatnot.

I also had an Indian Hindu co-worker tell me that she thought she was Jewish.

[Ciexyz]

Most interesting.

[swarthyguy]

"I also had an Indian Hindu co-worker tell me that she thought she was Jewish."

Whoa! An IndianAmericanPrincess/JAP combo! Hope she married someone really rich.

"because they practiced some weird religion...and whatnot"

Weirdness, like faith, is in the eyes of the beholder, eh?
I guess that whatnot was the last straw. The islam was the SUfi version, i bet; the sufi singing groups are renowned all over India and is performed by Catholics even.