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Capital: New Delhi

Divisions: 29 States and 7 Union Territories

Major Cities: Mumbai, Dehli, Bangalore, Hyderabad, and Ahmedabad.

Geography: Most of the country is Rural.  As a peninsula country, India is bordered by water on the east, south, and west.  The Himalaya Mountain range forms its northern border.  India shares its land borders with Afghanistan and Pakistan to the northwest, China to the north, Bhutan and Nepal to the northeast, and Myanmar and Bangladesh to the east.

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Official Languages: Hindi, English, and 22 "scheduled" languages

Language Families: Influences from the surrounding area include Indo-Iranian languages prevalent in the northwest and Dravidian languages more prevalent in the southeast. Although most of the country speaks Indo-Iranian and Dravidian languages, this rural multicultural nation also hosts languages from the Sino-Tibetan and Austroasiatic families as well as other isolated languages.

Multi-Lingual: “There are probably hundreds of major and minor languages and many hundreds of recognized dialects in India…”

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Hinduism: 82% of the population practices Hinduism.

Hindu Gods: There are many gods that members are dedicated to. There are different temples that members can attend to based on the god(s) they worship, such as Shiva, Rama, and Krishna. Featured in the picture above, is the demi-god Ganesh "the remover of obstacles".

Caste System: Based on Hinduism, the Caste system sorts people pre-determined social groups ("jantis") at birth.  Jantis are segregated based on marriage, diets, and even occupations (Champakalakshmi et. al., 2021). The main groups include Brahmans (priests), Kshatriyas (warriors), Vaishyas (originally peasants but later merchants), and Shudras (artisans and labourers). (Champakalakshmi et. al., 2021).  Legislation has tried to alleviate the bias and stereotypes associated with the caste system with some success in major cities.

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Ajanta Caves: a monument that dates back to about 2nd century BC. Caves consist of paintings and sculptures related to Buddhist religious art, and includes the Jataka tales about the birth of Buddha.

Charkha: a “spinning wheel” represents the physical embodiment of Gandhi's constructive program. It is a symbol power symbol because it represented the seek for independence and self sufficiency through nonviolent acts.

Clothing: Fashion changes base don the village, town, and city since it represents where people are from. A common piece of clothing for women to wear during celebrations are brightly colored saris.

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Diet: Meals are predominantly vegetarian - making use of the country’s vegetables, grains, fruits, and spices.

Cuisine: Rice is a staple of many Indian diets in the east and south while flat wheat bread is more common in the north and northwest.  Curry is a traditional spice mixture including a foundation of onion, ginger and garlic flavored with additional spices such as cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, and more.

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Sitar: guitar like instrument commonly used.

Ghanti Bell: in Hindu mythology the handle of the bell has a figure named Hanuman on it; Hanuman was a mythical monkey general who led an army to help Rama rescue his wife. The bell is used by priests while praying at a temple, or it can also be used at home while in prayer

Bollywood: Bollywood movies have helped the growth of popular music throughout India and throughout other countries as well .

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Holi: known as the festival of colors, or the festival of love. As seen in the picture above, people wear white clothing and throw brightly colored powder or colored water at one another.

Vasantpanchami: is a celebration in honor of Sarasvati, the goddess of learning, during February

Dussehra: is a reenactment celebration of the story of Ramayana. This story is an epic tale in Hindu mythology where Rama searchers and rescues his kidnapped wife.

Diwali: is the celebration of lights. This is when lights and lamps are lit and people exchange gifts with one another.

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Foundation: Unlike other aspects of Indian culture, however, the value placed on education is not rooted in religion or history, but rather on the idea that education can bring economic growth and continued prosperity to the country.

Educational Framework: The framework is designed around “the promotion of democracy; secularism, given the multi-religious character of the country; the elimination of poverty through economic and technological development; the creation of a socialistic pattern of society; and national integration.” (Prabhu, 2006).

Curriculum: In order to sustain the multi-linguistic culture, language education includes instruction in the three languages including, the mother-tongue, Hindi, and English. For those areas where Hindi is the mother-tongue, another dialect would be selected.

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In speaking with a friend, P. Gowda, he provided insight on what shocked him when he came to America for the first time when he was 19 years old.

Two of the biggest things that shocked him where the portion sizes of food and the overall wastefulness in America.

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Nonverbal communication: teachers use hand gestures and eye contact to gain students attention and maintain behaviors.
Expectations: teachers set clear classroom rules and routines for students to follow.

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Students: give their teachers the utmost respect

Teachers: teachers require respect from their students. They are a more authoritarian figure for students throughout most of school. In the last 2 years, 11th and 12th grade, teachers are more cooperative with students.

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Education: is offered to everyone for free up to age 14. Less female students attend school due to gender stereotypes (that women can work locally or at home).

Schooling: is broken down into Primary Education, Middle Level, Lower Secondary, and Higher Secondary (ranging from 1st to 12th grade.

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Banks, J. A. (Ed.). (2012). Encyclopedia of diversity in education. ProQuest Ebook Central

https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.ezproxy2.library.drexel.edu

Champakalakshmi, R. , Allchin, . Frank Raymond , Dikshit, . K.R. , Thapar, . Romila , Calkins, .

Philip B. , Schwartzberg, . Joseph E. , Srivastava, . A.L. , Spear, . T.G. Percival, Wolpert, Stanley A. , Subrahmanyam, . Sanjay and Alam, . Muzaffar (2021, October 14). India. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/place/India

Das, A. K., Kuyini, A. B., &amp; Desai, I. P. (2013). Inclusive Education in India: Are the Teachers Prepared? International Journal of Special Education, 28(1), 27–36.

Indian cuisine. Indian cuisine - New World Encyclopedia. (n.d.). Retrieved October 18, 2021, from https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Indian_cuisine.

Prabhu, J. (2006). Educational Institutions and Philosophies, Traditional and Modern. In S.

Wolpert (Ed.), Encyclopedia of India (Vol. 2, pp. 23-28). Charles Scribner's Sons. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX3446500204/OVIC?u=drexel_main&sid=bookmark-OVIC&xid=fa6d2736

Roda, A. (2009). Musical Instruments of the Indian Subcontinent. Metmuseum.org. Retrieved October 20, 2021, from https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/indi/hd_indi.htm.