Indian Culture
India is a country in Asia, and is placed on the Indian subcontinent. Because India is mostly surrounded by water, it makes the country a peninsula. In the north India shares a border with Pakistan, China (Tibet), Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar and Bangladesh. In the south the island and country Sri Lanka is placed right beside the South west border of India in the Indian ocean.
The capital of India is New Delhi, however Bombay is the city with the highest population. India is divided in 29 states, six unionritoria and one national metropolitan territory.
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India counts around 1.3 billion inhabitants and is after China the biggest country based on inhabitants. The main languages of India are Hindi and English, but besides this there are hundreds of other local languages and dialects. In Bangalore the local language is Kanada.
Religion
India is the cradle of a lot of different religions. Officially India does not have a state religion but the majority of the population is Hindu, around 80%. Besides Hinduism, India has a large number of Muslims, Christians and Buddhists.
Men and women
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The way men and women interact is quite different than back home. You notice that men and women rarely walk hand in hand on the streets. Physical contact between men and woman is limited as much as possible. This mostly has to do with all the rules regarding women within Hinduism and the Islam. In airports there are different security checks for men and women and the trains have separate women wagons. (luckily it is not a must to sit in those).
On the other hand it is completely normal to see two men or women holding hands on the streets, it shows friendship between two people.
Gab between poor and rich
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In India the gap between the super rich, and the poor is quite extreme. Extreme in a way that the poor are begging next to the building that gives a high class party on top of the roof of that building. It is hard to explain, something you should experience yourself, and see how you deal with it. But it is important to know that the gab is there, so that you will not be completely surprised.