Food
Culture & Crafts
Education
Food
North Indian
From DC to Dakota, Warwick to what-have-you, Indian spices are letting off steam everywhere in the whole wide world. And you come to India and realise......hey, there’s nothing authentic about it! Every kitchen, every man, woman, cook, chef does it different. A meal in the north would typically constitute chapattis or rice with dal (lentil curry) and a dish of vegetables or meat. Pappads (wafers fried or toasted to a crisp), yoghurt and pickle are usual accompaniments. The chapatti is a round flat unleavened bread of which you tear bits to scoop the curry. Variations of the chapatti are paratha, poorie, bhatoora, and Tandoori naans.
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South Indian
Idli, dosa, vada, sambar, uppama! In the south, too, a meal centres on a base of rice, or as in the South –Indian case, semolina preparation. The idli is a steamed rice cake and the crisp salty pancake often stuffed with potatoes is the dosa. Eaten alongside is the South-Indian dal - "sambhar", sour, hot, souped -up with vegetables. The Brahmins are vegetarian, but the rest consume sour-hot fish, mutton, and chicken with gusto. In Kerala seafood is simmered in coconut milk and delicately flavoured with curry leaves. Most Indians eat three meals, each one full-fledged.
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Snacks
Savoury snacks like pakoras pep the evening cuppa. Anything coated in batter (of chickpea, flour et al) and deep-fried will pass for pakora. Also, readily available on the roadside are snacks like bhel puri (spiced up puffed rice) and paapri chaat (wafers and boiled potato doused in curd and sauces). Vegetarians will feel like they’ve come home, specially in the south. But no matter where you are, in a plush restaurant or a roadside ‘dhaba’, in Kunnur or Kullu, you can be sure of sumptuous vegetarian meals. All along the coast and extensively in the northeast fish is consumed almost as a staple. Both fresh water and sea fish are popular. Indians love their sweets. There is great regional variety and among the most popular types is the Bengali "mishti".
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Beverages and Drinks
There’s also a huge variety in drinks. Besides ‘chai’ (tea) and coffee, sweetened/salty churned yoghurt called lassi, the ubiquitous ‘neemboo-pani’ or lemon-water, fruit juice in tetra packs and aerated drinks are readily available in India. IMFL expands into Indian made Foreign Liquor and spans the entire range from beer to whiskey. Some examples of local brews are ‘chaang’ in Arunachal, toddy in the South and Goa’s famous ‘feni’.
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Culture & Crafts
Music
Much of India’s classical music is devotional and a lot of that, devoted to the flute playing god, Krishna. The North Indian Hindustani and South Indian Carnatic streams are distinct and both have a complex ‘raga’ framework. Ghazals in Urdu reflect on life and are light on the ear. Every region has a distinctive folk tradition too. Instruments that would typically accompany Indian music are the stringed veena, sitar, and the Indian drum: tabla or mridangam in the south.
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Dance
The legacy of dance in India is tremendous. On temple walls, on an urban stage, in impromptu bursts by a mellow evening fire, men and women twinkle their toes in expression of joy. The classical dances of India are numerous. Characterised by stylised movements and elaborate costumes, these dances communicate age-old tales of love, longing and rage. Kathakali of Kerala, Bharatnatyam of Tamil Nadu, Kuchipudi of Andhra Pradesh, Manipuri and Odissi from Orissa are the prominent dance forms in this country that sways to an altogether novel beat. The robust bhangra of Punjabi men, the graceful whirling of Rajasthani women, the gentle sway of northeastern dancers, vigorous tribal dances, every corner has developed it’s own unique form.
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Theatre
There is a robust theatrical tradition. The Yakshagana, nautanki and puppetry are ancient folk forms that live on till date. This tribe of wandering performers is on the decline but there still are occasional performances on the rudimentary stages of the rural areas. Rustic and coarse the flavour might be, but the techniques are surprisingly sophisticated. There is a growing body of contemporary work both in English and in the vernacular.
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Art
The earliest specimens of Indian painting are the ones on the walls of the Ajanta Caves dating back to 2nd century BC. The typical ‘figures in profile’ art of India came to be when the Jain manuscripts were being illustrated. The Mughals had a huge impact on Indian art. The miniature, which had been only on palm leaves in the northeast, came into prominence. The influence of Persian art brought placid garden scenes, illustrations from myths, legends and history into Indian art. Later schools include the Bengal School of Tagore and the Company School of European influence. More recently the opulent paintings of Raja Ravi Varma, the paintings of M.F. Hussain, Jamini Roy and Ganesh Pyne among others rule the art scene.
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Crafts
Word craft, handicrafts, architecture and sculpture all contribute to this rich and varied domain. Indian literature, both in English and in the vernacular, is ever more popular around the world. Handicrafts are as varied as the country itself. The Mughal and colonial structures and the temple architecture across the length and breadth of the country are testaments to the lands exciting past. Sculptures adorn temple walls, stupas, street junctions and ancient caves. The oldest schools are the Gandhara and the Mathura.
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Movies
The Hindi movie industry is the most prolific in the world, based in Bombay. Hence Bollywood, this spool-spitting machine takes on the onerous responsibility of fuelling India’s prime passion. There is sheer joy in the easy stereotypes of muscle-flexing machismo, leering villainy and leading ladies of Hindi filmdom, but not all Hindi films are a simmering brew of action, romance, and song and dance. There is a parallel stream of "art" cinema though it’s not nearly half as popular as the "commercial" stream. Giving competition to the Bollywood masala film is the equally spicy south Indian fare. Regional cinema is fairly popular in its local context and with serious cinemagoers.
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Sports
Cricket! Oh for the love of a six-er! India grinds to a halt when the country’s eleven don their colours. In cricket-crazy Calcutta, old folk gather to trash the ‘new fangled’ limited-overs format; in front of a million TV sets, four million pray for victory (often knowing they’re praying for a miracle!) tirelessly. It’s a mad-mad-mad world and in India cricket stars adorn the doors of innumerable cupboards. Hockey, football and now the ATP tour too have a decent following.
Education
52% of India is literate: 65.5% males and 37.7% females. Kerala is the model state as far as education levels are concerned boasting figures of almost 99% literacy. Higher education in India has a formidable reputation. Whether in engineering or medicine, business management or social science education, India universities are at par with the best in the world.
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