What is actually typical for India?

This video shows you some things that are typical of India. India is a very diverse country as you will see.

Opposites

Not only poor people live in India, but also some rich people. Some of the richest people in the world are Indian. And the Indian economy is growing. There are many modern companies that are very successful. Those who work in such a company earn enough money to be able to afford a certain luxury. In Mumbai – the city was formerly called Bombay – an apartment costs as much as in New York or London. There are bars, restaurants, theaters and cinemas, luxury shops and hotels. Anyone who has money lives well here.

But Mumbai is also home to the largest poor district in Asia. Here the people have no clean drinking water and live on the streets, let their children beg and find no toilets. India is both: a rich country that is growing and a poor country with the poorest of the poor who die because they get sick or starve. Some cows are likely to be better off in India than some people.

Point on the forehead

In India, many women wear a red dot in the middle of their foreheads. Why do they do that? This point – which, by the way, is called bindi – is what married women wear. It’s an old Indian tradition. Bindi means “drop” or “point”. This point has a protective function for the wife and her husband. Devout Hindu married women always wear this point.

At this point, one could always distinguish married women from unmarried women. But that’s not always true in modern times. Meanwhile, many other women find this point just as chic and paint it on their foreheads. Simply because it’s fashionable or you like it. This point can then also have a different color. You can also see something like that on the streets of India.

Clothes make the man

Indian clothing is very colorful and makes the whole country appear more colorful. Especially in the dry desert regions, the colorful clothing of women is always a nice eye-catcher. But every color has its meaning.

Most Indian women wear a sari. This garment is made of a colorful fabric that can be about 110 centimeters wide and up to nine meters long. The Indian women creatively wrap this fabric around their bodies. In the photos you can see how differently Indian women are dressed.

As you can see in the pictures above, the way of wrapping the saree can also differ. A sari can be made of cotton, silk or other fabrics. Often it is also decorated, embroidered with borders and equipped with rhinestones, pearls or mirrors. Such a sari is also practical, as you can pull the end over your head and at the same time get good sun protection. But sari is not just sari, the different colors and ways of wearing them also indicate the social position and origin of women.

What is a sari made of?

The sari consists of three parts, although it is made of one fabric. The shoulder piece is called Paluv, which can be very colorful and decorated. The middle part of the saree is often simple, but can also be decorated with bright colors. The lower part then has a border, also mostly artfully decorated. Women put on a petticoat under the sari and then they also wear a blouse called a choli. Incidentally, it is not that easy to put on such a saree when you consider that several meters of fabric have to be wrapped here.

Namaste

According to localtimezone, the Indians are very hospitable. Usually people in India greet each other with Namaste, which means something like “I bow to you”. Here you put your palms together and slightly lower your head. However, when you greet someone you do business with, like us, you just shake hands.

Cricket

The favorite sport of the Indians is the game of cricket, a game that originated in England. India was a British colony for many years. Today the Indians value this game almost more than the British who brought it to India. Cricket is not that easy to play because the rules are considered quite complicated.

Train travel in India

Many Indians travel by train. Anyone who is upset about the delays of the Deutsche Bundesbahn in Germany will have to be patient in India, because the delays of the trains here can be in the hour range. The Indian railway network is still a consequence of the English colonial rule.

Car classes

When traveling by train, it becomes clear that not every passenger is treated equally because there are many different classes of car. Depending on where you are traveling, the prices and the convenience of driving vary widely. We also have first and second grades, but the differences are not nearly as extreme as in India. There are very simple wagons there, in which poorer people usually travel. Here the doors are often open, there is a lot of hustle and bustle on the train and traders advertise their goods. There is no such thing as air conditioning. It gets hot and stuffy in the car and the different smells like to mix.

Luxury trains

At the same time, there are luxury trains that are often used by foreign tourists. So you can travel to India today like the Maharajas of yore. Few wishes remain unfulfilled here, you travel in a sleeping car and are taken care of in the restaurant. Such train journeys are popular with tourists to India, as this is a good opportunity to get to know the huge country or the Indian subcontinent.

Or would you prefer a car?

But meanwhile the road network in India has also improved. There are more and more cars and with them all the problems that car traffic brings with it. More and more Indians are switching from trains to cars. In India, more and more people want to own their own car. That’s why the road network is also being expanded. Motorways are being planned to connect large cities and there are already some well-developed roads. However, many roads – especially in the country – are still very poor. As a legacy of the English colonial rulers, there is still left-hand traffic in India today.

Family in india

The family is very important to the Indians. Grandmothers, mothers and sisters often raise children together. Family traditions are important. Even if the Indian state would rather have one-child families so that the population does not grow so rapidly, many Indians – especially in rural areas – have many children. However, families in the city are often not large families and are similar to our families. Many large families live in the country. Often up to three generations live under one roof. So grandma and grandpa, mom and dad and the children, maybe also aunts and uncles, cousins ​​and cousins.

When parents sell their children

While the children are cared for and loved on the one hand, there are parents who sell their children. That sounds very cruel, too, but the parents are often faced with such a major emergency that no other way out seems possible. If harvests fail due to natural disasters or a family member falls ill, the money is missing. Some even believe that selling the children might be better off than the family. However, this is almost never true.