I Want to Go to India

I am seriously interested in India now. I have never been there, and I hope I have a chance to visit the wonderful country of India.

India and China share a lot of things in common, like rich history, huge population, buddhism, diversified people, different local dialect, and good food. They also face many similar problems.

When I had conference call with my friends in India, the beep and horn of buses and cars seldom stopped. I can imagine how busy the streets are, and what the big cities like New Deli and Mumbai are. Of cause my imagination will be far from the real India.

I should go to India one day. Seriously.

58 thoughts on “I Want to Go to India

  1. It seems your computer time is wrong, it run fast one hour.

    And I wish your dreams come true soon.

  2. yes Jian Shuo, you must go to India and experience all of the wonderful curry dishes there. super hot and spicey.

    I prefer the name Bombay to Mumbai. why did they change the name? too confusing.

  3. Do not set your expectation too high when you go. Always drink from the bottled water. The food will be your biggest problems. Indian food are heavily spiced which prevent the foods become spoiled too soon from the hot and humid weather there. By the third day, your stomach had enough of this and you will be thinking of come home so bad that you can’t wait for the next fright out.

  4. India is still a society of strict social hierarchy. Correct me if I were wrong, but as I heard, people’s ID cards have symbols on them clearly stating their social classes.

    Arranged marriage is popular, as in China some years ago.

  5. What’s the common part about buddhism between these two countries? India is 77.69% Hindu and 16.20% Muslim (according to wikipedia) while at China a majority of the population does not have a religion.

  6. en….

    India is the biggest competitor of China in my industry… Casting… Especially the iron casting…

    They own their advantage is the language, although i don’t think theirs are so good….

    Anyway, their pro-active attitude is quite appreciated! Although after the smapling, their customer service will be worse and worse…

    I’ll educate my local suppliers to be more frank and open so that we can occupy more market share of the casting industry :)

    I wanna my motherland to be rich and competitive!

    P.S. Pay attention to the water if you get the chance there… Try to buy the drink water in bottle.

  7. I’ve been to Mumbai for several times, and I don’t quite agree with your ideas of India. Firstly, yes, India has a rich history, but the thing is, those “history” does not belong to morden Indians. Secondly, according to what I know, most Indians believe in Hindu and Muslim rather than Buddhism. The third, Indians speak either Tamil or Hindi, and there’re not so many dialect as you thought. Lastly, as ILH mentioned, the food is too spicy and full of curry in it. It would be no problem if you could tolerate the dirtiness when you try the local delight there (you won’t stay in hotel all day, will you?!).

    So, do think it over before you go there. All the best!

  8. India, got over 125 languages, 38 if nto worng use different calligraphy, despite the mos tspoken are Hindi, and Hurdu for the muslim, buddhism is the 3 religion, but doesnt count more then 7% of the believers of the country, as in China buddhism is shared with only 2.5% of population, as the muslim chinese % is much higher of Buddhist believers.

    information on reliable datas is essential to understand how facts are really are despite how they are described by mass media, states agencies, or simply as spoken out by commoners, seem wikipedia is not available in ch, anyway a decent proxy can bypass the censor.

    reliable data is essential when we pass our knowledge to thousand of people as who doesnt havent a clue on such topic may beleive what red as true….

    food is spiced and spicy, but gorgeous and delicious, indians, as usual are gently and try always to smart, thinkign that they can do best :-), that why they very proud… :-)

    cast are gone already 20 yrs a go the first time i went there, but of course in rural areas, is still well felt such difference…

    India, its really worth to be visited, possbily avoiding mumbai and new delhi, and going to smaller placed with thousand of yrs of history…. forget the Indian silicon valley…. look of history places plenty of…

  9. 王建硕,

    your open-mindedness surprises me. That’s a really good thing. I’ve never been to India either and trying to focus on the good and positive, I hear it’s a spiritual place. I hope you have a good experience if you ever go there.

  10. you are welcome to India. I am from India. To clarify the queries expressed by other people about India here I am giving some explanation about our country.

    1) History and Religion

    Most of the people from other countries expressed their views on metro cities (Mumbai, delhi etc), I think most of the big cities in the world does not represent their countries culture. We have a very wonderful culture and kindness, you can observe this once you travel through the towns and villages by train or by bus.

    Religion: Though majority of the population is hindus we believe buddhism & hinduism are brothers and we feel both are same. Recently we had a big celebration (It happens once in 25/60 tears) and is organised by his holiness Dalailama himself.

    2. Food & Weather:

    Each state of India has different food habits and these food habits follows the climatic conditions of that place. As expressed by some people some people take very spicy food and other people may not take that much spicy. But you can get different kinds of food (Chiense is famous here)in every city and many towns of India. And as China we do have KFC and McDonalds and some other famous food courts here.

    Weather is so pleasent in some places of India, as i live in Bangalore which is a software hub (We call as silicon valley of India) the weather through out the year is very good.

    One good thing about drinking water is, it is freely available. If you visit a good restaurent they will supply purified water for a free of cost (You dont get this in USA), and even if you are particular about mineral water it is effordable

    Infrastructure has to be developed more and now the primary focus of the government is on the same.

    I am not sure where “SSC” got the info like we have ID cards which indicates the class or some thing. We don’t have any ID cards it self, so no matter of distingushing the people by class or rank etc.

    Finally we dont have any censor ship or restiction on us. People have full liberty to express their opinion, as you are aware we are biggest democratic country in the world.

    Please let me know if you have any queries, and “Jian shuo” once again you are welcome to our country.

  11. Thank Rishi, your words really attracts me. I always associate India with a word “mystery”,not only the people wear in national clothe,but also the special custom,like their funeral and dinner.

    By the way,my grandma loves the Indian dance very much, especially the magic songs.

  12. Rishi

    that was a very good post about India and its cultures. yes indeed, the food is extremely hot. that is the character of authentic Indian curry. at first I almost caught on fire eating it at the Indian embassy but then grew accustomed to it over time and liked it very hot and spicey. at many Indian restaurants in Western countries, the curry is made too mild to satisfy Western taste.

    I always thought that India was basically split about 50% Hindu and 50% Muslim.

  13. Rishi

    that was a very good post about India and its cultures. yes indeed, the food is extremely hot. that is the character of authentic Indian curry. at first I almost caught on fire eating it at the Indian embassy but then grew accustomed to it over time and liked it very hot and spicey. at many Indian restaurants in Western countries, the curry is made too mild to satisfy Western taste.

    I always thought that India was basically split about 50% Hindu and 50% Muslim.

  14. India is really an interesting topic. If I did not have 1/3 of colleagues and 1/2 of my neighbors being Indians, I would not have developed a personal interest in this remote country. It is usually an enlightening chat when an Indian colleague comes back from home for weddings or family reunion.

    Social hierarchy and arranged marriage are two important traditions in the Indian cultures. Social hierarchy is represented by a very sophisticated “caste system” in which social classes defined. In modern India, the government officially documents castes and subcastes, primarily to determine those deserving reservation (positive discrimination in education by quotas) . (I did heard this from one of my colleagues who came out of this system.) Although India is a political democracy, in daily life, people typically know about others’ ranks and behaviors are formed based on this knowledge.

    Arranged marriage is another noticeable tradition that can be logically understood with social hierarchy. It remains the norm of marriage also for another important reason, religion, which discourages divorces, although the so-called “love marriage” does occur. The rational behind arranged marriage is as simple as marriages have always been among all cultures: since the stake is high, how an young person is able to make such an important decision.

    I learn about India based on publicly available knowledge as well as personal contacts with Indian people arround me. I am open to new knowledge, and believe in the positive impact of communications.

    An interest to a culture is rarely regarded as serious if it covers only food and water. To me, it is almost insulting to think of other people’s food as intorelable, and water as undrinkable. Aren’t the people living their happy lives?

  15. I am from Singapore and in our city-state, we are positioned to travel to both China and India.. and can make the comparisions/contrasts between 2 rising giants. Personally I have been to China (Beijing, Shanghai, ChengDu, Taipei, Hong Kong) and India (Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Agra) ….

  16. Yes SSC,

    You are correct about the caste system and the arranged marriages. We do mention the caste and religion on our applications (to get entry to the college etc) and as you said it is for the purpose of reservation. We have some seats reserved for some castes (Which were considered as below poverty line) and for women (To encourage girls to study and get a good jobs). The reservation was introduced 50 years back and it is extended every 5 years by polititians for political gains (fear of loosing votes). And marriage system is mostly arranged marriages only, and the % of people getting divorced is very less when compared to some other countries. That is a positive point, and I think that is one of the reason here the people feel arranged marriages are a good option. Here the people are more flexible to take or work in a new technology that is one of the reason to be good in software development. Our political system has to be developed a lot, we should learn from other countries. All you people I “Thank you” for showing interest in our country.

  17. Rishi

    The Philippines bans divorce but that doesn’t automatically make marriages better there.

  18. in general, india has poor infrastructure but it works admist chaos

    in china, it is well planned but more government involvement whereas india is bottoms up

    whether this or that, both giants are growing rapidly – the highest 2 in the world

    in singapore, we have the mix of both thus our media is constantly monitoring the rise of the 2 giants, and alongside singapore rises with them …

    Both will remain as they are with different characteristics…and both are beautiful in their ways..

  19. Visiting India is like visiting the different regions of China – it is diverse, every region has it’s own speciality and character and it’s special cultural diversity. The people of the north west are, in the main, taller, fairer and stronger – due to waves of invading forces from across the middle east. The people of north east are slightly shorter and, in the main, have more mongoliod features. The people of south are, in the main, shorter and darker due to their dravidian ancester and the people in the mid region are a mixture of all the region.

    Indians speak a variety of languages with Hindi being the national language. However, the effect of India’s colonisation by the British has left behind a legacy of English language and this is spoken by a large proportion of the population and almost by all who have been to school. It is also the language of industry and commerce. Don’t be surprised if the rickshaw puller speaks to you in English – it happened to me in Delhi when the rickshaw “wala” happened to be a student who had fallen on bad times and had taken to earning a living ferrying passengers. There are also innumerable regional scripts which can be a challenge to decipher. However, there are always commercial hoardings in English advertising multi-national brands. Increasingly, this is encroaching villaage life. Don’t be surprised to see Coca Cola being advertised in the remotest village.

    Yes, you do have to be careful with drinking water. Also, personal hygiene is not as evident as you might expect. Although it is a democracy and people have freedoms associated with it, there is corruption and some areas of the country are best avoided due to lack of law and order. As a first time visitor, you will have enough to see and experience even if you kept to destinations favoured by tourists like Agra, Jaipur, Delhi, Goa and Kerala. Once you gain experience from these places you will then be beter equipped with exploring the hinterland.

    Every region has some speciality and attractions.

  20. I went to India in March. We experienced the good, the bad, and the ugly (Trust me, China is no better).

    Indians are very friendly. The country is beautiful. The food is delicious. I love spicy food. My parents ate Chinese food their entire life, so they don’t like Indian curry at all. But I love them. Maybe b/c American food is a mixture of all different cultures. If you have problems with the indian version of curry (very different from Chinese curry), you can get very good Chinese food. If you are in the south india, you will love the sea food there.

    Indian also has its bad side: the tourist guide that takes you to the shops they get kick backs, the cabbies that says “meter not working. flat rate. 200 ruppies.” etc..etc..etc… But that’s pretty much the same where you have income inequalities, you will see that. Shanghai has those cabbies. I have never incountered them, but I speak Shanghainese. I am sure I’ll get the tourist rate when I goto some other cities.

    The ugly. India has 1/4 of the world’s poor. I have NEVER seen the poverty and the extent of the poverty in China, city or rural. I use to live in HeFei in Anhui. Anhui is a poor province. There are some really poor areas. We visited those places as youth groups. India’s poor population enables almost every middle class family to have a maid, a cook, etc. 100 ruppies a day is average salary. Call center staff gets 30,000-50,000 ruppies a month. that’s an insane amount for the poor people. Sometimes you think why India is so rich and so poor at the same time. They have some of the richest people in the world. and the largets poverty population in the world. thats ugly. I hope China’s strive to privatization won’t push China into that case.

    anyway.. India is beautiful.

    Agra, Jaipur, Goa are my favorite. Taj Mahal is the MOST beautiful building I have ever seen. (sorry.. I admit its better than the Forbidden city, etc).

  21. Can someone tell me where the Indian resturants are at in Shanghai? Any vegetarian resturants?

  22. I have never been to India, but I have been to Bangladesh before and met some Indian friends there. Bangalese and Indian seem the same look, the same healthy skin, beautiful eyes. both of them like spicy food and curry and reject pork.

    but there is a big different religion between them. Bangalese idolize crow, you can see crow any where. Although cattle is the idol of Indian, but it is the object of butchers.

    I really want to know more about these two countries.

  23. India is a secular democracy which never recognized caste system since its founding. The former social hierarchy is mentioned by the government only in order to implement affirmative action, to correct the social gap. I seriously doubt Indian ID card could carry such information for a different purpose.

    China invaded India with no good reason in early 60s. Today, ‘teach India a lesson’ emotion still runs deep in wangjianshuo’s generation in China. If they do, they will get a lesson.

  24. India is a fascinating place to visit, I have spent about 8 weeks there last year for business, in Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata and Delhi. The country is rich in sites, sounds, smells, and colors. I heartily suggest that you travel there as the country is in an interesting transition phase, similar to China about 10 years ago — the boom is on and the growth can’t be stopped.

    It is fun to travel in the cities, be stuck in traffic and see the 10 year old boy travel faster on his elephant than I do in my hired car. I would skip Mumbai, and concentrate on the Kerala region in the South, Delhi if you want to be in a city, and Jaipur and some other cities like Rishikesh, and the northern regions. I know it isn’t safe, but if you can find a way to Kashmir, it is a really pretty place.

    Regarding the religious issue, post partition, the country has about an 18% Muslim population. English is the language of commerce, it is an easy country to navigate so expect limited problems on the communication front if you are an English speaker.

    Things to avoid: tap water, street food and all touts trying to sell you stuff on the street. I wouldn’t hesitate to travel there if you want an all out assault on your senses. The streets of the major cities make China’s traffic look tame.

  25. Good job Rishi on clarifying the details about India.

    By the way, Alex: there is a punjabi restaurant and Mumbai dharbar in Pudong – ThumbSquare. There is also an Indian restaurant (Indian Kitchen) near Jinqiao Carrefour in Pudong.

  26. I would NOT go to India. Why? Cause I just do not wanna poison myself with coke or pepsi containing a large dose of pesticides. Think about it, Coke or pepsi can get the best water resources in India. Even they can not guarantee clean water purely free of pesticides for their products, who else can? Most likely, if I dined out in a restaurant in India, I would have to drink or eat contaminated water through drinks or food. I just feel sad for the local Indians.

  27. I just came back from India a few weeks ago. I think the biggest achievement that Indian has accomplished is their democracy system, which had its problems but being running for many years. The biggest failure since its independency is to have inherited their caste system from its rich history. Ironically, its democratic system will allow and pass laws with discrimination, justified by its caste system, against its own people. And I doubt if this kind of problem can be fixed by itself.

  28. It is a puzzle to me why the Indian people have not given up the caste system. As the official base of affirmative action, its impact has nowadays a tendancy of extending beyond the originally intended college entrance program, which, as I heard, could be abused in real life. While there is little disagreement in giving balanced benefits to the bottom class, it is the middle class people who are taking big advantages of the system.

    Then, why do the Indian people not give up the caste system, I wonder? Not religion, but a central word I heard was “the blood line”, something that people care the most, and that is closely related to the still prevailing “arranged marriage” in social life. I am not totally sure that I understand this, though it seems to be the only valid reason.

  29. I LOVE INDIA! Yes I will admit, I am Indian. I have been to Mumbai, New delhi, agra, all of rajasthan and Bangalore. Mumbai is fun if you wanna go clubbing, shopping at the malls, and watch a bollywood movie(Indian movie), and shoot some pool/ go bowling. In New delhi you can visit some historical monuments such as the kutub minar, humayun tomb, red fort, and gandhis memorial. There is also a new Akshardam temple there( Hindu temple) which is amazing! In Rajasthan there are many palaces and forts from jaipur to jodhpur to jaisalmer. VERY beautiful. In agra there is the Taj Mahal. Bangalore is just another city. Same stuff to do as in Mumbai, but not that great. Bangalore is the home to India’s silicon valley.

  30. Be careful while visiting our country.Security is big issue for foreigeners specially chinese nationals. we do not enjoy good relations with china as we had a war in 1962. so when you plan to come in india keep these things in minds do not travel in train as it is really very risky.

  31. Caste System:

    A tourist would not have to deal with the Caste system at all. Yes, casteism exists as it has been for the thousands of years. Well, if you analyze it deeply, it is a form of racism. Something like cantonese vs the northerners …. Well, casteism is much more nasty.

    Food:

    Food in general is spicier than Beijing style food. When I say spicier, it does not mean “hot”. It is definitely worth trying out various cuisines while in India. Make sure, you eat in clean places. The road side stalls frequented by the well-heeled tend to be a little bit more hygienic than the avg road side stall.

    Street food : Dosa, Idli, Vada-Pav, Chaat, Kababs, pav-bhaji, kulfi and much much more are things to die for.

    Water: Stick to bottled water.

    Historical monuments.

    You will find old historical monuments all over India. Other than the very famous ones already listed in this blog, you could consider the following also.

    Mahabalipuram : Temples 50 KM south of chennai. Amazing stone work. Built in about 1400 years ago by the Pallava dynasty

    Halebid/Belur : Temples 250 KM from Bangalore : Amazing carvings. Very detailed. Built about 900 years ago by the Hoysala kings.

    Hampi/Badami : Temples 300 KM from Bangalore. A world heritage site. It is a ruin.

    Ajanta/Ellora : Buddhist caves in Maharastra. Very old.

    Konark : Beautiful temples in Orrisa.

    Other than historical places, there are many national parks where one could go on Elephant safaris etc… If you are lucky you may spot a tiger …

    General Info:

    Travelling between cities have gotten a lot better in the recent past. Within cities, it is still a problem. Inadequate infrastructure and very high population has caused things to go out of control. As a tourist, landing at Mumbai or Bangalore airport will cause a lot of anxiety.

    Somehow, admist all this chaos, things move on.

  32. Yes, India is a real trip! I am just back and highly recommend a visit. Will be in China/Shanghai in April for the 2nd time. Take a look at my 3 India photo albums.

  33. INDIA – FACTS

    (India’s Contributions to Mankind and World Progress)

    IN THE ANCIENT WORLD

    India had never invaded or occupied any country in the last 1000 years of known human history.

    India is the birthplace of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism. Worshipping and practicing a religion known to human kind was also conceptualised in India.

    Indians invented the numerical system and used in day-to-day life even before the Romans and Greeks did.

    The number ‘Zero’ was invented and used by Mathematician Aryabhatta. Without the ‘Zero’, on which ultimately rests the binary code, based on which all computer softwares including the Internet and advanced technologies were made.

    The world’s first formal university was established in the ancient city of Takshila in 700 BC. More than 10,500 students from all over the world studied more than 60 subjects. In the 4th century BC, the University of Nalanda was built and it was one of the greatest achievements of ancient India in the field of education.

    One of the world’s old and ancient Indian language, Sanskrit is the most suitable language for developing various computer software programmes.

    India’s ancient and still in use medical system, Ayurveda is one of the world’s first formal medical system known to humans. This ancient knowledge system of medicine has gained global acceptance especially for alternative ways of preventive, curative and rejuvenate processes making life a more pleasurable experience. Also, Indians established the earliest school of medicine based on Ayurveda and natural medicine.

    The art of navigation was developed and used in the river Sindh 5000 years ago in India. The word “Navigation” is derived from the Sanskrit word ‘NAVGATIH’.

    The value of ‘Pi’ was first calculated by Mathematician Budhayana, and he explained the concept of what is now known as ‘Pythagorean Theorem’ today. In 1999, British scholars have officially published that Budhayan’s works date back to the 6th Century, which is long before the European mathematicians.

    Well known mathematical systems Algebra, trigonometry and calculus was used in India. Quadratic equations were created by Mathematician Sridharacharya in the 11th Century. The largest numbers the Greeks and the Romans used were 106 whereas Indians used numbers as big as 1053.

    The earliest water reservoir for irrigation was built in Saurashtra region in India. According to the Saka King Rudradaman I, a beautiful lake called Sudarshana was constructed on the hills of Raivataka in Chandragupta Maurya’s time.

    The world famous board game Chess was invented in India.

    Over 2,800 years ago, in India, Physician Sushruta, who is now regarded as ‘Father of Surgery’ had successfully performed cataract removal, artificial limb replacement, caesarean operations, cosmetic and tumour surgeries. He is author of the book ‘Sushruta Samhita’, in which he describes over 120 surgical instruments, 300 surgical procedures and classifies surgery into 8 categories. He may be world’s first surgeon to master the art of anaesthesia, human anatomy, genetics and immunity.

    The place value system, the decimal system was developed in India dating back to at least 100 BC.

    The game Polo was originated played in Manipur, India.

    Over 5000 years ago, when many cultures in the world were only nomadic forest dwellers, Indians had established formal civilised Harappan culture in Sindhu Valley, which is called Indus Valley Civilization today. It is home to the world’s first planned cities, where every house had its own bathroom and toilet.

    The solar year was calculated as 365.25875684 days by Astrologer Bhaskaracharya in the 5th century. He calculated the time taken by the earth to orbit the sun hundreds of years before the astronomer Smart.

    The game of snakes & ladders was created by the 13th century poet saint Gyandev. It was originally called ‘Mokshapat.’ The ladders in the game represented virtues and the snakes indicated vices.

    India is the birthplace of well known Yoga and Meditation. It has been developed and practised in India for more than 7,000 years.

    Between 4th and 6th century AD, KamaSutra is an ancient Indian text on human sexual behavior, widely considered to be the standard work on love in Sanskrit literature was composed by Vatsyayana.

    India was one of the first civilizations to successfully extract Iron from ore and quickly learnt how to cast huge structures with it – some of them surviving. Indians went on to invent the method to make steel.

    Over 3500 years ago, whilst rest of the world were lumbering around in animal skins and itchy wool, the Indians were cultivating a plant and weaving it into a material that would revolutionise human life. That most important invention the Indians have given to the world is cotton and weaving. They also pioneered the art of printing and dyeing of cotton cloth in a staggering array of colours and invented the spinning wheel – Mechanisation of this simple device by Hargreaves and Arkwright led to the industrial revolution and turned Britain into a rich country.

    IN TODAY’S MODERN WORLD

    Hotmail is world’s leading web based email program was created and developed by Mr.Sabeer Bhatia.

    Pentium Processor chip (needs no introduction as 95% of the today’s computers run on it) was created and developed by Mr.Vinod Dham.

    The number of companies listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), is more than 7,000, and is second only to New York Stock Exchange.

    With 850 movies per year, India’s film industry overshadows Hollywood.

    India consumes a fifth of the world’s gold output. There may be 150 tonnes of gold bought by Indians for personal use in the last 50 years.

    Growing at 8.5% GDP per year now, in 25 years, India’s GDP on a Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) basis will be at the same level of the USA is at today.

    Six Indian women have had won Miss Universe/Miss World titles over the past 10 years. No other country has won more than twice.

    Bank deposits in India is nearly 50% of its GDP, among the highest in the world.

    Indian Railways is the largest single rail network in the world. Indian Railways is the largest employer in the world, with a staff of 1.6 million.

    India has the second-largest army in the world, nearly 1.6 million active service staff.

    India is the world’s premier centre for diamond cutting and polishing. Nine out of every 10 diamond stones sold in the world pass through India.

    India is home to the world’s largest number of pharmaceutical companies.

    India’s Hero Honda company is the world’s largest motorcycle manufacturer with production of 1.7m units.

    India is now the global manufacturing hub for international carmakers Hyundai, Ford, Toyota, Honda and Nissan.

    Other than US and Japan, India is the only country to have built a super computer indigenously.

    It is the second-largest cement-producing country in the world, producing more than 140m tonnes per year.

    Of the Fortune 500 companies, 420 outsource their software-related work to India.

    India is the largest democracy with nearly 750 millions voters. Surprisingly, India is the first country in the world to use Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) in national elections.

    India has the second-largest pool of scientists and engineers in the world.

    India has the third-largest investor base in the world.

    The Kumbh Mela festival, held every 12 years in the city of Allahabad, attracts 27 million people on the holy days in January, and 71 million over the course of the 6 weeks of the whole festival. This festival is the largest and oldest festival of any kind known to humans so far.

    Perhaps the most popular of all India’s culinary exports, the curry was recently named as the most popular dish in Britain. Curry derives it’s name from ‘kari’, the Tamil word for sabzi (or vegetable). In some parts of the world, going for a ‘curry and a beer’ are an intrinsic part of a good ‘night out’.

    The holy Indian city of Varanasi, also known as Benares, is the oldest, continuously inhabited city in the world today for more than 10,000 years.

    India is ranked the fifth country in the world in terms of satellite launches.

    There are over 70,500 bank branches in India – among the highest in the world. The State bank of India is the world’s largest Bank in terms of branches.

    India has the most number of post offices in the world.

    First democratic country to elect a woman Prime Minister.

    INTERESTING QUOTES ABOUT INDIA

    We owe a lot to India and Indians, who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made – Albert Einstein.

    India is the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend and the great grand mother of tradition – Mark Twain.

    If there is one place on the face of the earth where all dreams of living humans have found a home from the very earliest days when we began the dream of existence, it is India – French scholar Romain Rolland.

    Many of the developments in the science and technology that we consider today to have been made in Europe were in fact made in India centuries ago – Grant Duff, British Historian of India

    India was the motherland of our race and Sanskrit the mother of Europe’s languages. India was the mother of our philosophy, of much of our mathematics, of the ideals embodied in christianity… of self-government and democracy. In many ways, Mother India is the mother of us all – Will Durant, American Historian 1885-1981.

    LOVE INDIA…PROUD TO BE INDIAN

  34. India and China share trade and culture for thousands of years. I hope we can renew and strengthen this relationship with mutual respect and love.

    I am an Indian and I am going to get married to my Chinese girlfriend. I am looking for a job in Shanghai now.

    Happy to see this Blog. Nice work, Wangjianshuo.

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  36. Is it possible to catch up with you and have a chat. I am doing research comparing Mumbai and Shanghai. Your inputs would be great.

    Cheers

    Sandeep

  37. India is an amazing place. I went there in the summer of 2005 for tsunami relief. I was in Vailankanni which is an 8 hour drive from Chennai (Madras) I have never had a more eye-opening experience. It was hard to see the poverty all around us and not be able to help them out. But what a BEAUTIFUL country it is!!! It is so colorful and so full of culture. I highly recommend going.

  38. My sister son is get married to a gril from India what is the custom for the groom or the bride parents.

  39. Hallo everybody! I am an italian girl trust me, after have read the information you all wrote bout India i would want to visit this country. The problem is that i really don’t know how to get there, what i need to do before going and also, where to go once i get there. Could any of you help me?

    Thanks

    Laura

  40. Hi guys

    So many view and opinions about the country. I myself have lead half of my life in India and then other half in Australia. One thing is for sure it is not for faint hearted. If you want clean streets and comfortable places it is not for you better stick to clean and predictable places. India is anything but predictable so if you go be prepared to have the adventure. Yes the traffic is bad and chaotic but people are wonderful and hospitable. Food is sumptuos and cheap. Shopping is great. And depending on where you go the Landscape is breathtaking.

    My advice is to read up on it. Go with a good travel agency with a planned tour. I find lot of people who have implusivly gone over to India and look very unhappy and blame everybody except themselves. You only drink bottled water and eat in the good restaurnt that cater for tourist specially. Yes take lot of medication for tummy upsets etc. But believe me food is worth it. I can’t wait to go again. If you want to go to beached go to goa. Kerala I have heard is breathtaking and adventurous. Delhi is lot of people and traffic.

    I warn you again to plan the trip and then book with a good travel agent or a friend maybe who has ties with India. It is greeeeeeeeeeat fun. I love it so do my kids.

    ravi

  41. Hello

    I am from Iran . my name is Abdolbaset and I am a 27 years old man . I have master degree in “educational psychology” from Shahid Beheshti university in Tehran. my English language is good . now I live in Birjand city in Khorasan as a teacher of university and high school . I am very interested to continue my education for PhD in India at your college . so I want you to help me to come there . please send me the answer if it is possible for you and if its not please tell me how can I get to this purpose .

    Best regards

    Abdolbaset Bineshi phone number : 0098 915 961 3027

  42. The past no mater how glorious is still the past. China and India should enrich each other today and tommorrow. Isn’t that a nice dream?

  43. Hi every one my name is Vilho, Travel consultant by professional, I would like to devote some of my time giving information to people who want to study, volunteer in Namibia, getting visa and all other travel related information.

    Get hold of me on vilho@sunflowertt.com, if you don’t get a reply within 24 hours then try me on vmufita@gmail.com

    Hope to see you in Namibia

  44. I visited India – Bangalore- last week, and stayed there for 5 days. Before I visit there, I was so exited and actually dreaming. But the reality is far more than dreams. India is one of the country I never want to born. Coz I dont know whether I ll be among the richests or among the poorest. The diference is very high. There are a lot of children who sleep along the road way. I have a kid too. I cant bear it. the feeling hurts me even now. There are old aged people who are living in a hut. (like Gypsy) victized by rain, heat and flood. When ever you look somewhere, ur pocket may be empty. you should be more careful in the airport. If you dont lock your baggages, your valuble things will be missed. In the road way you should be careful with the cars, taxis and vehicles. no one slow down the vehicle till you cross the road. you can suffer a lot if you are sensitive to human.

    But all the country has it’s beauty and specialities. Heritage, culture and places are very beautiful and breath taking.

    I will go India again one day. But I know that I will not be able to bear my heart even then.

  45. hi everyone… well i am tafveez… I am from INDIA….i am a student… i am doin my masters in business administration (MBA). I would love to be of any help to anyone who is intrested in knowing about my country …… MY email id is ( tafveez@gmail.com )… you can even text me or call me on (+91 9906611022 )…

  46. hello jian …have u been to india i hope u been to india…we are poor but rich from heart…we are rich but poor at cruelty …our food is spicy it mix of sweet …we will serve food by heart not by hand …i suppose it would be the better reason our food is very tasty ….we have different relegions we do visit every religion god ..

  47. I am from India. From the north-eastern part of India. We do not consider ourselves Indians, and so India has deployed their military to keep us down. There are lot of similarities between us and Chinese. You should visit the north-eastern part of India. Special permit might be required. Indians call us chinkies as an insult though we are not Chinese. Indians are too ignorant to tell the difference. In general Indians do not like Chinese. The indian govt prints official documents telling us how we should eat and dress to be like Indians since our food habits are like the Chinese.

    Reading the comments by the Indian Rishi, I can tell its the typical Indian delusional response. He considers Buddhism to be a part of Hindu religion. I have heard Hindus claim Sikhism is also a part of Hinduism. This is insulting to the minority religions because they consider their religion to be distinct and different from Hinduism which is intolerant. Caste system is just one example of Hinduism. In general Hindus are very intolerant of everyone. Imagine the Jews claiming Christianity to be part of Hebrew religion because Christ was a Jew and the Old Testament is of Hebrew origin. Indians are unable to understand such a simple sentiment, and keep claiming all the minority religions to be part of their Hinduism. The right wing fundamentalism which is very popular in India uses the word “Hindutva” to claim all these non-sense.

    Go to India and you will see how filthy the whole place is. Even the capital New Delhi would not be able to compete with some second, third tier city like Kunming. India is a dump.

  48. India is a magical country and intrigues everyone. Venture out and explore the incredible, off the beaten tracks and virgin territories that India tourism has on offer and we promise you an enchanting tour with memories to cherish all your life. So whenever u plan to visit India, do get back to us! :-)

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