1. Location of India in the world & map.-General location: India (The Republic of India) is a country situated in South Asia, in the Northeastern hemisphere. India shares borders with Pakistan to the west, China and Nepal to the north, Bhutan to the north-east, and Bangladesh an Burma (Myanmar) to the east. On a physical map you can see the Himalayas (the highest mountain chain on the planet) and also Indus river (the name India is derived from Indus) and Ganges river (considered a holy river by Hindus) to the north, the Arabian sea to the west, the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Indian Ocean to the south.
-Specific location: India extends between latitudes 8° 4' and 37° 6' north, longitudes 68° 7' and 97° 25' east.
2. Area of the country: India covers an area of 3,287,263 sq. km. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area.
3. Population of the country: India's population on 1 March 2001 (according to the last census in 2001) stood at 1,028 million people (532.1 million males and 496.4 million females). The estimated population in 2009 reaches 1,198 million people. It is the second-most populous country in the world. The population density of India in 2001 was 324 per sq km. Another interesting fact is that only 4 percent of the population is over 64 years old, mainly due to poverty.
4. Capital city: New Delhi, although the largest city is Bombay. New Delhi is situated within the metropolis of Delhi (in northern India) and serves as the seat of the Government of India.
5. English First/Official language? 22 national languages (Urdu, Tamil, Telugu, Punjabi,...) have been recognized by the Constitution of India, of which Hindi is the official one, and English has the status of a subsidiary official language (because unfortunately India has been under the control of the British Crown too much time), and it's important for political and commercial communication. Besides these, there are 844 different dialects that are practiced in various parts of the country.
6. Main characteristics of people in the country (physical & personality): When we think about India and Indians, we would say they are spiritual, religious, poor and we know a little about their appearance, clothing and their crowded cities or trains. We can also remember Gandhi, Mother Teresa and something about elephants, cows and curry.
It's not easy to describe people from a country as different of Spain as India in many ways. It is also difficult to talk about all the people in a country, generalizations are often wrong but taking this into account, here are some characteristics of the people in India.
India is a diverse country: people speak in different languages, dress differently, follow different religions, eat different food in accordance to the place of origin (Rajasthan, Kerala, Manipur,...), but most of them still have this thing in common: inspite of their poverty, Indians believe in sharing happiness and sorrow and when a festival or celebration (as Diwali, Durga puja, Holi...) takes place, the whole community or neighbourhood celebrates it. Many Indian festivals are religious in origin, although several are celebrated irrespective of creed. Anyway Hinduism is one of the more ancient religions practiced in India and the more practiced nowadays by the 80% of the population, so the majority traditions are associated with this religion. For example: In Hinduism, cow is regarded as a symbol of non-violence, mother goddess and bringer of good fortune and wealth. For this reason, cows are revered in Hindu culture and feeding a cow is seen as an act of worship.
Indian culture preserves established traditions while absorbing new customs, traditions, and ideas from invaders and modern influences. Traditional Indian (or best said Hindu) society is defined by the social hierarchy in which social classes are defined by thousands of hereditary groups: castes. There were originally four castes (described in ancient Hindu scriptures), and then the lowest group had no caste, and were (and still are) known as untouchables. These divisions are appreciated especially in matters of marriage and work. Usually people from one caste did not marry or make friends with people from another caste. Caste barriers have mostly broken down in large cities, though they persist in rural areas of the country, where 72% of India's population resides.
A majority of the people in India live in a joint family (consisting of many generations living under the same roof), the commanding position in a family is held by the eldest earning male member. In general, children must always show respect to their elders, by touching their feet or never calling them by their first name. They think in women as homemaker: it is the duty of a woman to take care of her home, specially in the country, in cities they still lag behind men in terms of income and job status. Another fact is that arranged marriages have been the tradition for centuries and even today a lot of people (specially in rural areas) have their marriages planned by their parents taking into account factors such as wealth, social standing, caste or even the compatibility of the couples' horoscopes. In India, the marriage is thought to be for life, and the divorce rate is extremely low (less than 1.1%).
Other important characteristics of their way of life are the following (we'll probably tell more about them in next posts):
Indian tradition forbids unnecessary touching or any form of physical contact, especially between a man and a woman, in public. You should better use the traditional Namaste, which is a common spoken greeting or salutation in India. Taken literally, it means "I bow to you". For this, you need to press your hands together with all fingers pointing towards the sky in front of your chest and say Namaste, while looking at the person you are saying it to.
Indian food is characterised by a lot of regional styles and the use of herbs and spices (like the famous curry). The main ingredients in the diet are rice and wheat. It's common to eat with hands (using always the right hand) because, as they say: "Food is divine and needs to be enjoyed with touch, smell and taste".
Traditional Indian clothes are the sari for women and the dhoti for men. But today, you can see, specially in cities, most of people dressed as we do. In India, you will find people wearing a color mark on their forehead. It's called the tilak. It has several meanings, such that the wearer belongs to a particular sect or social group. Indian girls also decorate their hands by the art of henna.
About culture, we can see how theatre in India often incorporates music, dance, and improvised or written dialogue. The Indian film industry is the largest in the world, whose most famous studios are Bollywood. Both are often based on Hindu mythology.
About sports, although field hockey is India's official national sport, cricket is by far the most popular sport, and cricket is one of the most repeated topics of conversation.
Finally, we can't forget of what you can always see in most of people in India: their poverty, represented by the slums in the cities as seen recently in the famous Slumdog Millionaire or in not so recent The city of Joy. Still today the gap between the haves and the have-nots is far from reducing, and poverty is still increasing because India’s population rate continue being higher than its economic growth.
And this is just an introduction! You can read it, or just watch this video:
pd: Good things are worth waiting for :-)
