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Everybody knows that India is a huge country with an enormous population (there are around 1.2 billion people in India!). They also know that it has noisy, crowded cities, hot, spicy food, and some wonderful, historical sites, such as the Taj Mahal, a beautiful, white palace which a sultan built because he wanted to remember his wife, a princess who died when she was still a young woman.
There are, however, lots of surprising things about India, too. I’ve just returned from my first trip to the country, and in this blog, I want to write about some of the things I found out. Did you know, for example, that India is a great place to go if you love music festivals? And I don’t mean traditional music. More than half of India’s population is under twenty-five and they love pop and rock music. That’s why there are so many festivals, a few of which take place in unusual locations such as in deserts or on the sides of mountains. Major Indian cities are becoming popular places for international stars to play, and there is so much local musical talent that there is always a live concert on somewhere.
I was also amazed to find out that there are between one and two thousand ‘marriage detectives’ in the country. A lot of marriages are arranged by families in India, and it’s important to them to find out as much as they can about the person who their son or daughter is going to marry, so sometimes families hire a detective who checks that their son or daughter’s future husband or wife is telling the truth about their family, their job and how much money they have.
Indians also have a surprising view of beauty. One of my Indian friends told me that I had put on weight when I met her for coffee on my second day in the country. I was surprised, but she wasn’t being rude. In India, people think that gaining weight is a sign of looking healthy and more beautiful. In fact, if you are very slim, Indian people worry about you! I think it’s good that Indians aren’t always worried about being thin, like many Europeans are. However, these days, a lot of young people are overweight because people there are really keen on fast food.
In India, it seems as if everyone reads newspapers. In Europe, young people prefer going online to find out about the world. In India, however, the opposite is true. More and more people are learning to read and they are then getting well-paid jobs which mean they can afford to buy newspapers. As a result, newspapers have never been more popular. I was really surprised! In my next blog, I’ll share more fascinating facts about India. What do you know about the country?
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