After traveling abroad and entertaining foreigners at home, I have learned that there are so many myths about India. I guess that’s not very surprising as some images and ideas persist in people’s minds about Indians and the country in general. Last night, I started to think about these and below are a few that rushed to mind.

1) Religion

Not all Indians are Hindus, not all women wear the red dots and the cow is not the sacred animal for all Indians. Many regard India as the spiritual land because not only is it the birthplace of two of the greatest religions of the world, Hinduism and Buddhism, but it is also an incredibly secular country where many religions thrive side by side. Many find it interesting that there are as many Muslims in India as in the entire Islamic country of Pakistan. Sikhism is another widely practiced religion in India. Sikhism requires its followers to not cut their hair, hence the turbans and the long beards that many see around and confuse with Muslims. Sikhism began as bringing together the best aspects of Hinduism and Islam. Christianity and Judaism also form a part of the population of secular nation, India. So, if you go to the southern state of Kerala where Christianity is very popular, you will find beef dishes at many local restaurants. Don’t be surprised, this is India!

2) Arranged Marriages

Okay, this is a big one. Yes, it’s true that my grandparents got married to each other without ever seeing each other. And yes, it’s also true that families still play a large role in India weddings. But for everyone to expect people of my generation to get married without meeting their future spouse, is almost unheard of in the cities anymore. Although the tradition still follows in parts of rural India. The modern version of an arranged marriage is more like going on a blind date. The families want to set people up and arrange a dinner or tea for them. It goes from there…Also, dating among young people is very common in India…in fact, live-in relationships are also regular occurrence in metros such as Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad etc. although they are still frowned upon in society.

3) Indian food

Not all Indian food is spicy curries. An Indian meal is pretty hard to define as the cuisine varies from state to state. There are some simple breads and one-pot dishes that are not very spicy or hard to mark. Not all Indians are vegetarian. But it is much easier to find vegetarian restaurants in India. It is usually the case that people who are vegetarians come from vegetarian families and have an aversion to meat for religion reasons. Although, nowhere in Hindu scriptures is there any clear guidance on meat vs. no-meat. One thing is for sure though, it is much easier to be vegetarian in India than any where else…so many options available!

Many foreigners are also not aware that you can find all kinds of international cuisines in city restaurants. Sushi, pizzas, pastas, mexican, thai - are all here. A recent newspaper article in the Hindu Business Line mentioned that Indians are eating 3 millions pizzas a month!

4) Languages

Hindi is not the only local language. There are so many languages! Hindi is the national language, but there are 18 official languages spoken in India and hundreds of dialects. Most people are stunned by the diversity within our country. There are 28 states in India, each with it’s unique culture and generally a local dialect of one of the 18 languages. Hindi is mainly spoken in the North and the East. Other areas have different languages and dialects. Interestingly, you will find that more people in the South and West speak English than those that understand and speak Hindi. This is a legacy of the British rule as well as the fact that Indians start to learn English in schools pretty early on. So, despite the fact that there are so many languages spoken in this country, it is English that binds the country more than Hindi. In Delhi (northern India) where I live I can talk to anyone in Hindi. But when I go to Mumbai which is in western India, I have to talk in English because I don’t speak the local language and most people there do not speak Hindi.

5) Heat

Please don’t assume that all Indians like hot weather. I can’t tell you how many times foreigners assume that about me. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. During the pre-monsoon season, most Indians would do all they can to avoid going out in the afternoons. Many residential streets are empty during those hours. Also, despite all the progress we’ve made, power cuts are still common place…and summer months are brutal! I wait for the summer months to end and so do people around me.

Are you wondering why I have that picture at the top? It shows a busy night at the Elevate dance club in Delhi, which has one of the largest dance floors in Asia. I added this picture because it shows a different side of India than a temple or an Indian in colourful traditional dress. So India also has nightlife? We will talk about that some other time.

This entry was posted on Friday, September 7th, 2007 at 10:17 am and is filed under India. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.