Incredible India
Largest and most populous Democracy in the World
12th Largest Economy in nominal dollars
Population: 1.15 billion, 1.7% growth rate
70% Rural with severe cases of Urban Agglomeration
Basic Facts:
Society: Family and Customs Regional Diversity Languages Religion Festivals Cuisine Performing Arts Sports Literature Indian Film Industry
Our Culture
Strict social hierarchy
Patriarchy
Caste system
Integration of religion
Traditional Indian Families: Large joint families Mostly rural
Modern Nuclear Families
Society
Respect for Elders
Respect one another
Being Helpful
Treat guests as Gods
Customs
Regional Diversity
1576 mother tongues!!! 29 languages > 1 million speakers 60 languages > 100,000 speakers 122 languages > 10,000 speakers
Two major groups:◦ Indo-European or Indo-Aryan languages◦ Dravidian Languages
Northern Indian: Gujarati, Hindi, Marathi, Punjabi, Sindhi, Bengali and Oriya
Southern Indian: Tamil ,Kannada, Malayalam, and Telugu
Languages
Major Religions: Hinduism – 80.4% Islam – 13.4% Buddhism Jainism Sikhism Christianity
Plays a central and definitive role in the lives of most people
Religion
National Holidays: Independence Day – 15th August Republic Day – 26th January Gandhi Jayanti – 2nd October
Harvest Festivals: Sankranti Pongal Onam
Religious Festivals: Diwali Ganesh Chaturthi Holi Navratri Rakshabandhan Dussehra Durga Puja Buddh Purnima Christmas Eid and Ramadan
Festivals & Holidays
Combination of Middle East, Central Asia and Mediterranean
Major types of cuisine: North Indian: Mughlai, Punjabi, Kashmiri Western Cuisine: Gujarati, Maharashtrian, Rajasthani, Goan Eastern Cuisine: Bengali Southern Cuisine North Eastern
Cuisine
Theater: Kutiyattam – oldest Folk Theater Puppet Theater Modern Theater
Dance: Folk: Bhangra, Dandiya, Garba, Ghoomar Classical: Bharatnatyam, Kathak, Kuchipudi, Oddisi
Music: Hindustani and Carnatic Folk Music:
Bauls, Bhangra, Bhavageete, Dandiya, Lavani Popular (Filmi) music Qawwali, Rabindra Sangeet, Rajasthani
Modern Music: Indi-pop music, Rock and Metal music, Dance Music
Performing Arts
Cricket – Most Popular Indian Cricket Team (BCCI) Indian Cricket League (ICL)
Field Hockey – National Sport Indian Hockey Team Premier Hockey League (PHL)
Football (Soccer) – Popular in the East
Sports
Classical Literature: Sanskrit Tamil Sangam Pali Canon
Epics: Mahabharata and Ramayana
Regional literature – as many languages
Contemporary Indian writers:◦ Salman Rushdie, Vikram Seth, Shashi Tharoor, Vikram
Chandra, Amitav Ghosh, Jhumpa Lahiri
Literature
Bollywood – Mumbai based film industry
Tollywood – Kolkata based film industry
Kollywood?
Bengali, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu
Indian Film Industry
"It is poverty porn at its worst. The Mumbai marauders are supposed to have done their deed to hurt India, to challenge its success, to expose its soft underbelly. But this movie has done the job better”
Is it truth alone triumphs or lies alone triumph?
Curiosity about India’s success and growing gap between the extremes
If those involved in the movie would offer their profits from the film to that movement, they would elevate themselves from exploiters to benefactors.
◦ V.S. Naipaul (India: A Wounded Civilization)◦ Vikas Swarup (Q & A)◦ Aravind Adiga (The White Tiger)
Exploiting Slumdogs
Thank You