You Need To Know About So Colorful Indian Culture

Indian culture is a complex phenomenon. In its broadest sense, it includes everything a society does. It can also be limited to a particular social class or genre. Still it's always near to impossible to define what exactly a popular culture constitutes. Contrary to what may appear from outside; to Indians, there is no such thing as Indian culture in sense of a uniform manner of doing something. There is little common between the Punjabi culture with its emphasis on having fun and the Bengali culture with its emphasis on intellectualism.

In the south, a person from Kerala finds the food from Andhra too spicy for their tongue. The seven states in the northeast are home to thousands of tribes and regions, each boasting of a rich history and unique culture. So the term 'culture of India' has little meaning, unless it's used an amalgamation of a score of different cultures within the country. Nonetheless, it is thought that the Indian culture stems from its ancient history from the amalgamation of the Aryan nomads that migrated from the Central Asia through Afghanistan and settled in India with the natives of the valley of the Indus River of Dravidian descent.

Food of India

Curry is probably the most popular Indian cuisine in the west. But its connoisseurs mostly live in the south. Curry is not as special for Indians from other parts of the country, as it is to the people in the south. A Punjabi, who loves their chapattis and a dish made from spinach, often cringes at the sight of dhokla, which is another popular dish in the south specially Gujarat. The cuisine of the omnivorous people in the north east is yet to spread to the rest of the country. The Bengalis love fish and rice, but Gujaratis prefer to stay mainly vegetarian. In Bihar, people are particularly fond of a dish called "litti chokha" stuffed with "sattu". The South Indian "masala dosa" is cherished all over India. The point I want to emphasize is that there is no uniform Indian cuisine; there is much variety to be found here.

Indian Cinema

Nothing mirrors a society better than its literature or cinema. It may seem to foreigners that Indian cinema is all about Bollywood and Bollywood is all about Hindi films. Nothing could be far from truth. Of the more than 1,200 films annually produced in India, a little over 200 are in Hindi. Tamil, which also accounts for around 200 films a year, gives a tough competition to Hindi cinema. There is vibrant culture of cinema in other Indian languages too. And it's not only about Indian languages. Each year, several dozen movies come out in English.

Indians love movies, a source of popular entertainment. They love to go out with their friends or family and could easily watch a Hindi movie for 3 hours. Life in India would be quite boring without these the colourful movies.

Festivals of India

India is often dubbed as the land of festivals. Rarely there is a week when there isn't a festival to celebrate. With the exception of a Diwali and a couple of others, India doesn't even have national festivals. Onam is a popular festival in Kerala, very few people in the north are even aware of it. Similarly, Chhath puja is celebrated by only a few outside Bihar. My grandparents are ardent Chhath enthusiasts and every year, it's an occasion where the whole family from all over India would gather.

Ganesh Chaturthi, another popular festival, has yet to cross Maharastra's borders. Gurupurabs are a public holiday in Punjab, rarely a person from West Bengal is even aware of their existence.

The Durga Puja is one of my favourites It is a festival of good versus evil. In Bihar my home state, we celebrate this festival with great devotion and enthusiasm.

Clothes of India

The clothing in India varies from region to region depending on climate and ethnicity. Both South and North Indian women wear the saree that is draped around the body in various formats. The salwar kameez is also very popular in India especially in Northern India. In general unmarried girls wear the salwar kameez while married women wear the saree. However today, the distinctions are less and no such format exists these days. The traditional clothes of men include the kurta pajama, the dhoti, sherwani.

National symbols of India

The national anthem of India is the "Jana-gana-mana" composed by poet Rabindranath Tagore. More than 60 years of Independence from the British, we Indians still take pride in singing the national anthem. The national animal of India is none other than the king of the jungle, the tiger. Ever since the launch of the "Project Tiger" in 1973 by the government of India, tiger population has showed a gradual increase in numbers. Currently there is a ban on tiger tourism in major tiger habitats. The national bird of India is the peacock. The peacock has religious significance and supposed to represent grace, joy, beauty and love. The lotus is the national flower, mango the national fruit, while the banyan tree is the national tree.

The culture of India is more than 3000 years old that has enumerated from several civilizations, religions, philosophies, invasions and influence. To conclude, the culture of India is a broad term which doesn't refer to some Indian way of doing things or looking at the world. As shown above, it's a sum total of the numerous cultures that are found in this part of the world.

The Special Characteristics of Chinese Culture

China is known for its extensive history. Its vastness often leads to people misunderstanding it or grasping only very little of what it actually is. In truth, Chinese culture is an amalgamation of oldness, modernity, artistry and science. It does not represent only one thing but is multifaceted, and those who claim that Chinese culture is one dimensional have unfortunately seen only a part of it and not the whole. It is not that a Chinese person has an accurate understanding, that they know more than a foreigner. Fact is, clarity is elusive both for insiders and outsiders, who can be students studying abroad or just travelers on a China tour.

Chinese people inherently have an attachment towards land or "earth'' and are comfortable with a life which may not involve a lot of mobility. Farming is often a choice of living and this consequently instills them with a lot of patience. The fact that farming has no instantaneous factor adhered to it, demands the virtue of patience which in turn has resulted in a powerful attribute that most Chinese people have. This however, does not go on to mean that Chinese people are less dynamic than the others.
China has always been in the radar for its unique style of cooking and also the most varied. As diverse as China is, every province/region has its own special way of satisfying the food palette. With this diverseness comes a lot of richness to the kind of food that is served throughout China. For students who have come to study abroad in China or any tourist, China will prove to be a place of immensely soul satisfying food. However, there are a few staples like noodles and tea, both of which are consumed on a daily basis by millions of people. Also it is not unknown that Chinese people eat with chopsticks. Chopsticks again can be of plastic, bamboo or wood. Apart from the regular disposable ones, there are also ones which are beautifully designed and can be given as gifts to people.
Tea is a common drink which is served to guests and is usually considered a drink with which people relax. Drinks apart, dumplings are very popular in China which are simple and very delicious. They can have any kind of fillings, meat or vegetables and are consumed by a lot of people on a daily basis. Another version of dumplings is Balza which has a slightly thicker flour cover, bun-like and is more filling. Another essential in the Chinese diet is rice, which is consumed with almost every meal.
Obviously, China is also about a lot of traveling and a few must-see destinations. The Great Wall of China, the Forbidden City, and the Terracotta Army are few of the places that no visitor should miss.