The colors of India

THE FAMILY

For generations, India has had a prevailing tradition of the joint family system. It is when extended members of a family – parents, children, the children’s spouses, and their offspring – live together. Usually, the oldest male member is the head of the joint Indian family system. He mostly makes all important decisions and rules, and other family members are likely to abide by them. With the current economy, lifestyle, and cost of living in most of the cities being high, the population is leaving behind the joint family model and adapting to the nuclear family model. Earlier, living in a joint family was with the purpose of creating love and concern for the family members. Rise in the trends of nuclear family settings has led to a change in the traditional family headship structure and older males are no longer the heads of the family owing to the fact that they mostly live alone during old age.

MARRIAGE

Arranged marriages have long been the norm in Indian society. Even today, the majority of Indians have their marriages planned by their parents and other respected family members. In the past, the age of marriage was young. The average age of marriage for women in India has increased to 21 years. In most marriages, the bride’s family provides a dowry to the bridegroom. Historically, in most families the inheritance of family estates passed down the male line. Since 1956, Indian laws treat males and females as equal in matters of inheritance without a legal will. Indians are increasingly using a legal will for inheritance and property succession.

Weddings are festive occasions in India with extensive decorations, colors, music, dance, costumes and rituals that depend on the religion of the bride and the groom, as well as their preferences.

FOOD

Indian food is as diverse as India. Indian cuisines use numerous ingredients, deploy a wide range of food preparation styles, cooking techniques, and culinary presentations. From salads to sauces, from vegetarian to meat, from spices to sensuous, from bread to desserts, Indian cuisine is invariably complex. India is known for its love of food and spices. Indian cuisine varies from region to region, reflecting the local produce, cultural diversity, and varied demographics of the country. The diversity of Indian cuisine is characterized by the differing use of many spices and herbs, a wide assortment of recipes and cooking techniques. Though a significant portion of Indian food is vegetarian, many Indian dishes also include meats like chicken, mutton, beef (both cow and buffalo), pork and fish, egg and other seafood.

GREETINGS

The main greeting is the Namaste, even though there are many others. All these are commonly spoken greetings when people meet and are forms of farewell when they depart. In Indian culture, the word is spoken at the beginning of written or verbal communication. However, the same hands folded gesture may be made wordlessly or said without the folded hand gesture. The word is derived from Sanskrit (namah): to bow and respect; and (te): “to you”. Taken literally, it means “I bow to you”.

THE CULTURE

Indian culture, often labeled as a combination of several cultures, has been influenced by a history that is several millennia old, beginning with the Indus Valley Civilization and other early cultural areas. Many elements of Indian culture, such as Indian religions, mathematics, philosophy, cuisine, languages, dance, music, and movies have had a profound impact across the world.

FESTIVALS

India, being a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic and multi-religious society, celebrates holidays and festivals of various religions. The three national holidays in India, the Independence Day, the Republic Day and the Gandhi Jayanti, are celebrated with zeal and enthusiasm across India. In addition, many Indian states and regions have local festivals depending on prevalent religious and linguistic demographics.

THE RELIGION

India is the birthplace of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, and other religions. They are collectively known as Indian religions. Indian religions are a major form of world religions along with Abrahamic ones. Today, Hinduism and Buddhism are the world’s third and fourth-largest religions respectively.

Glossary:

prevailing: predominante;

joint: unita; legata;

the offspring: la prole;

likely: probabile;

to abide by:  aderire, seguire;

owing to: dovuto a;

the dowry: la dote;

the bridegroom: lo sposo;

diverse: vario/a

to deploy: (in questo contesto) utilizzare;

sensuous: (in questo contesto solo) non speziato;

produce: ortaggi;

the demographics: la demografica;

mutton: montone;

folded: piegate, ripiegate;

bow: inchinarsi;

labeled: etichettati;

millennia: di migliaia di anni;

zeal: zelo;

Abrahamic: (detto di religioni) Abramiche, monoteistiche;

respectively: rispettivamente.

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