25 Random Stuff About India

Okay, so it struck me that I haven't really given a good introduction to the culture and lifestyle of India much. People need to understand that India is more than just “culture and colors”. Its richness cannot be described in just those two words. The thing is, there are lots of almost unrelated stuff that all collectively make India the country it is. Therefore, I have compiled a list!

1. India HAD 28 states and 7 union territories. NOW, it has 29 states and 8 union territories. Two years ago, Andhra Pradesh (A.P.) broke up into A.P. and Telangana. Hyderabad is the joint capital for the next ten years until the new A.P. can form its own capital.
   
2. India has about a million festivals. I mean, there's ALWAYS something to celebrate, at least once or twice a month. Especially since India accommodates every religion in the world. We all celebrate Hindu, Christian AND Muslim festivals. More holidays from school! Yay!
3. The culture, food and lifestyle are usually generally categorized as North Indian and South Indian. South Indian (i.e., of the states Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh) culture and festivals are all somewhat similar, while North Indian (basically everything else) culture and festivals are all somewhat similar.
4. EVERY STATE has their own language and set of cultures, traditions and festivals. Don't even get me started on food.
5. North Indians all speak either Hindi or a language similar to Hindi because its roots were originally in Hindi.
6. South Indians speak Tamil in Tamil Nadu, Malayalam in Kerala, Telugu in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, and Kannada in Karnataka.
7. Of course, these languages I mentioned are not limited to being spoken within that state.
8. India has 14 officially recognized languages. And then about a hundred more because regional dialects change ever so slightly and end up becoming different languages.
9. No one actually speaks Sanskrit, okay? Although kids still learn that in school, which is sometimes mandatory.
10. India is not all jungle or rural areas. We have cities too. We have busy areas and not-so-busy areas. No, we don't have pet elephants.

    

    A picture of a part of Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu

11. HOLI IS THE FESTIVAL WHERE PEOPLE THROW COLORS. No, it is not to be confused with Diwali or anything else. Holi is a North Indian festival that is usually celebrated in February or March and is always around annual exam time for school children in India. You'll hear more about this when the time comes.
    

    
12. Hindi is a language. Hindu is a religion. Please don't mix them up.
13. In the olden days, Indian society was divided into Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Shudhras.
14. Today, Hindus are just classified as Brahmins and Non-Brahmins, in general.
15. Brahmins are staunch vegetarians and extremely religious. They were the families of priests in the olden days. It is said that each Brahmin family is a descendant of a sage.
16. Non-brahmins are usually non-vegetarians. They have different versions of Hindu traditions.
17. IF YOU'RE VEGAN, I'M SORRY BUT YOU JUST CANNOT EAT ANY INDIAN SWEETS! We use milk and ghee, along with other milk products and ingredients, in every sweet we make.
    

    

    
    
18. Ghee is melted butter. It's actually something VERY common in India and I assumed everyone all over the world knew that melted butter is called ghee. I guess I was wrong. Well, now you know!
    

    
19. The national bird of India is a peacock.
    

    

    
20. The national flower of India is a lotus.
    

    
21. The national game is HOCKEY.

    

    Indian Women's Hockey Team, which qualified for the Rio Olympics in 2016, but sadly lost at a crushing defeat to Australia's team.

22. INDIANS ARE CRAZY ABOUT CRICKET - DO NOT MESS WITH THEM ABOUT THAT OR YOU’LL DIE AN EARLY DEATH.
23. Also, Indians go CRAZY at weddings. They have different types of weddings all over the country. The ceremonies usually last 3-4 days and there's LOADS of fun!
24. Contrary to popular belief, most Indians do NOT speak like Raj from Big Bang Theory. Some Indians may have rather comical accents, but most of us are clear speakers. 
    
25. A large proportion of the Indian population understand and can speak English to an extent. This tends to take many people by surprise, but the English language is quite common and in some cities, prevalent. In fact, there are many English-medium schools where the primary language the children must speak in at school is English.

That's it for now. Remember, these are just a handful of things everyone should know about India. This isn't even the beginning, believe me. But, for now, I hope you enjoyed reading this!

Garba and Raas

Garba and Raas

Ranj is back with another article!

On Saturday, November 5^th, I attended an event called USSA presents Garba and Raas at the SDFC (Sun Devil Fitness Complex) on the ASU Tempe campus. This was more of a North Indian event, specifically a Gujarati event (meaning a festival that originated from the state Gujarat in India). Keep in mind that I am a South Indian so this was a new experience for me.

Garba and Raas (or Dandiya) are two forms of Gujarati dances.

Many traditional Garbas are peformed around a centrally lit lamp or a picture/statue of the Goddess Shakti. Garba is performed in a circle of the belief that time is a continuous cycle. As the cycle of time revolves, from birth, to life, to death and again to rebirth, the only thing that is constant is the Goddess, that one unmoving symbol in the midst of all of this unending and infinite movement. The dance symbolizes that God, represented in feminine form in this case, is the only thing that remains unchanging in a constantly changing universe.

Raas or Dandiya Raas is a traditional folk dance form of Gujarat, India, and is associated with scenes of Holi, and Leela of Krishna and Radha at Vrindavan. Along with Garba, it is the featured dance of Navrathri evenings in Western India.

The main difference between Garba and Raas is that Raas is played with Dandiyas (pair of colorfully decorated sticks), while Garba consists of various hand and feet movements. Most of the Dandiya steps require even number of people while in Garba there is no such requirement on number of people.

For Dandiya, sometimes instead of sticks, people also use "Swords". The circular movements of Dandiya Raas are much more complex than that of Garba. As people play with sticks, it is important to be careful while playing Dandiya.

I've captured a few videos of Raas, or Dandiya, for you guys to see!

Diwali: The Festival of Lights

Diwali:

The Festival of Lights

Ranjani is back with another post!!!

Last week, I told you about two of the stories behind Diwali.

Saturday and Sunday were celebrated as Diwali, and there was joy and fun everywhere with family and friends. Technically, Saturday was celebrated as Diwali for South Indians while Sunday was celebrated as Diwali for North Indians.

Diwali is actually a 5 day festival in North India.
 Day 1: Dhanteras 
     On this day, people buy gold, new vessels, and other things related to the Goddess Lakshmi (goddess of wealth).
 Day 2: Choti (Small) Diwali or Naraka Chaturdasi 
     On this day, it's just a small pre-Diwali celebration, so they light a few diyas (lamps).
 Day 3: Diwali 
     The actual Diwali celebration take place on the third day, which happened on Sunday, October 30 this year.
 Day 4: Govardhan Pooja 
     On Govardhan Pooja, Lord Krishna is worshiped. Lord Krishna once lifted an entire mountain, Govardhan Parvat (mountain), and held it on his little finger to shelter the people of his village from a terrible storm caused by an upset Lord Indra. To celebrate this, people prepare sweets that are said to be Krishna's favorite.
 Day 5: Bhaidooj 
     Bhaidooj is a day to celebrate brothers. On this day, sisters put a tilak on their brother's forehead and pray for their long life. They feed their brother sweets and their brother in return give his sister gifts.

On Diwali, it is traditional to light diyas (lamps).

People also bust firecrackers and light fireworks on Diwali! There are a great many types of firecrackers and fireworks. I use the distinction firecrackers for the explosive types, typically burst during the day, and fireworks for the beautiful types that produce light and are usually lit at night. My faves are the sparklers, flower pots and rockets! Although, in recent years, many people have begun to avoid crackers due to the immense noise and air pollution, they remain a definite mark of Diwali.

This is a satellite picture taken by NASA from space of India on Diwali in 2011. The entire country is lit up with lights from the festival!

In the below video, you can see different kinds of firecrackers and fireworks one typically sees on Diwali in India. You see them in this order: 

1. Flower pot

2. Redford garlands, called walas, that typically come in strings of 100, 200, 500, 1000, 5000, and 10000. They are therefore called 100-wala, 200-wala, 500-wala, and so on.

3. Some kind of small explosive, categorized under atom bombs.

4. Chakkars, or Chakram in Tamil.

5. A rocket.

Shivakasi is a village in India that is entirely dependent on the sale of firecrackers and fireworks for Diwali. The village specializes in making firecrackers and fireworks all year long for Diwali. You can check out the 2016 list of fireworks!

On Diwali, it is also a custom to wear a new outfit. This, of course, is only supposed to be prohibited if someone has died in the family that year, although the rule is not enforced and it depends entirely on your family.

People spend time with relatives for this festival. Sweets of all varieties and snacks like ‘murukku’, ‘ribbon pakoda’ and ‘thattai’ are prepared (usually beginning from a few days in advance because it takes so much time to make all this stuff) and distributed among family, friends and neighbors on Diwali.

Sweets and snacks prepared for Diwali at my aunt's house for Diwali 2016

Thanks to my friend Bhargav, and some Whatsapp group chats with family and friends, I have acquired videos of the beautiful firecrackers and fireworks of Diwali. 

The above two videos are of Flower Pots.The second one is in slow motion! The one below is of other fireworks similar to flower pots. Notice that the firecrackers and fireworks are lit by sparklers in the video.  In India, they are also usually lit by incense sticks.

Here is a fireworks show on Diwali!

That's me in a half saree with a sparkler. My dad's standing behind me. Happy Diwali!