Cultural Encounters:
From the Sand to the Snow

June 13, 2007

Indian Culture

Since I have been here in Austria I have learned lots of things about different cultures through my international friends. This is one of the advantages of being in contact with people from other countries. Even though I have never been to India, I have come to know different things about this fascinating culture.

Hindi is the national language but there 27 other languages recognized by the government. The second language is English. The food is very different than what I am used too. Indians use curry in almost every meal. The main dish for the northern Indians is rotis and for the southern Indians is rice. I have noticed that when the Indians eat among themselves, they eat generally with their hands but if they are eating with people that are not from India or in a restaurant, they eat with silverware because they do not want to make people uncomfortable. I asked my friend once, why they most of the time mix natural yogurt (called curd) with the food. He told me that because they eat spicy food first and the yogurt is to help with the digestion of the spicy food. The women wear saris (the dress that I am wearing, but this is not a daily sari it is more for parties and night time).

India is a democratic country with multiple religions. It is the 2nd most populated country in the world and the 7th largest one. The most interesting thing for me about Indian culture is the marriage ritual. Some families still practice arranged marriages but nowadays according to Indians marriage between two people is a sacred relationship. Popular marriages are arranged and some are love marriages, some are forced marriages. For example, the parent researches the girl and they get to know the character of the woman and once the parents like the woman they talk to their son about her and if he agrees, the guy’s parents will talk to the woman’s parents. If everything is fine, they talk about the future groom (background, education, economic status, how much he earns and everything). If everything is ok for both of them, the marriage is done.