Anything you ever wanted to know about...

[JohnMF]

Oh, and I've just thought of a question for you...

Been watching the cricket? :greenpbl:

 

[Mansi]

ok so here goes the real deal :

Q. What does that red dot on women's forehead mean?
A. Well, in ancient times, Indian men used to practice archery skills by target practicing by aiming at their wife's red dot.
In fact, that is one of the reasons why they had many wives. You see,
once they mastered the art of archery and hit the target....

The red dot signifies a married woman, more so now a fashion accessory called a bindi

Q. You're from India? I have read so much about the country.
All the wonderful places, the forests, the snake charmers, the elephants. Do you still use elephants for transportation?
A. Absolutely. In fact we used to have our own elephant in our house.
But later, we started participating in elephant-ride sharing schemes with our neighbors, to save the air. You see elephants have an "emissions" problem.....

NO! no one uses elephants for transportation... unless its a tiny village with no roads.... but i dont know of anyone who does.. and that is pretty much just cr^p

Q. Does India have cars?
A. No. We ride elephants to work. The government is trying to encourage ride-sharing schemes.

YES

Q. Does India have TV?
A. No. We only have cable.

Yep

Q. Are all Indians vegetarian?
A. Yes. Even tigers are vegetarian in India.

NO, a lot of people are non vegetarian

Q. Are you a Hindi?
A. Yes. I am spoken everyday in Northern India.

Q. Do you speak Hindu?
A. Yes, I also speak Jewish, Islam, Buddhism, Jainism and Christianity.

I 'am' hindu and i 'speak' hindi

Q. Is it true that everyone there is very corrupt?
A. Yes, in fact, I had to bribe my parents so that they would let me go to school.

No, but it does exist yes.

Q. India is very hot, isn't it?
A. It is so hot there that all the water boils spontaneously. That is why tea is such a popular drink in India.

It does get very hot during the summer months.

Q. Are there any business companies in India?
A. No. All Indians live on the Gandhian principles of self-sufficiency.
We all make our own clothes and grow our own food. That is why you see
all these thin skinny Indians -- it is a lot of hard work

YES

Q. Indians cannot eat beef, huh?
A. Cows provide milk which is a very essential part of Indian diet.
So eating cows is forbidden. However in order to decrease the population of the country, the government is trying to encourage everyone to eat human meat.

There's notthing that stops anyone from eating beef. It is just against the sentiments of people. People DO eat beef. However a lot of restaurants dont serve beef, even mcdonalds

Q. India is such a religious place. Do you meditate regularly?
A. Yes, sometimes I meditate for weeks without food and drink. But it is difficult to keep my job, because I have to miss work when I meditate like that. But the bosses there do the same thing. That is why things are so inefficient there.

i dont

Q. I saw on TV that people there walk on burning coals. Why do they do that?
A. We don't have shoes. So we burn the bottom of our feet to make it hard so that we can walk.

i have no clue

Q. Why do you sometimes wear Indian clothes to work?
A. I prefer it to coming naked.

Is that even a question? everyone wears clothes

Daniel thanks for those amusing answers
i think people may have taken them seriously

 

[Mansi]

Don't worry Mansi, i wasn't confused. It was just my rather poor attempt at wit

its not just you...
but a friend had a client in the states who banged the phone down on him and said 'i don't want to deal with you, you snake charmer man' :shock:
so some people still don't know the real truth and are hidden behind those perceptions :mrgreen:

 

[Mansi]

Oh, and I've just thought of a question for you...

Been watching the cricket? :greenpbl:

used to be a keen follower ... check into it now and then... mostly dont have time to do so...

and yes i know India LOST the series to England in their own country.. so don't rub it in :lmao: :mrgreen:

 

[Alpha]

Kya hal hai?

Is UP as boring as everyone says it is? Even the people that I know from Delhi say that UP is boring, not to mention bombayites lol. Your photos do make it look really interesting, and I do really want to visit UP, though I don't know that I'd want to live there. BTW, is Agra in UP? Sorry, I'm a bit of an indiophile.

Here's my travel plan:

I'm gonna head to Delhi first (maybe we could meet up?), try to make a trip to northern UP and check out the scenery south of the Himalayas. I think i'm gonna steer clear of Calcutta. Next, i'll head down to Agra and then cut over to Jaipur and Udaipur, then head south to Maharastra, and meet up with friends in Bombay. They have a farm out near Pune, so I'm not sure if we'll go there next, or down to Goa. I also have friends in Bangalore, so I think i'll catch a flight from Goa or Mumbai down there. I also really want to head south, probably to Kerala, but I don't speak any tamil or telegu, achaa? Is there anywhere else you'd recommend?

 

[Mansi]

Kya hal hai?

haal theek hai... aur aap kaise ho?

OMG Max.. do you know some hindi or what!!? where did that come from? :mrgreen:
i have never travelled around UP other then to agra and nor do i have any pictures from there so i don't know what you saw and thought was from UP.
Sounds like long travels! when are you planning to be in india? If i am in delhi we most certainly can meet i have 3 trips planned out so im going to be in and out of here for a while.
Up north try dharamsala/McLeodgunj... an overnight train + 3hours busride from delhi... A lot of monastries and great photo ops.. sweet landscapes etc. Im headed there this summer as well.
If you are travelling around Rajasthan to places like Jaipur and Udaipur it may be nice to include maybe one or two more cities/towns since you're pretty much almost there.
Goa is my ideal place, rustic and charming sea side... You may enjoy being in bombay and pune as well.
It's ok to head over to kerela's backwaters even if you don't know telugu/tamil, English works :thumbsup:
The places look fine.. you may want to take a look at few of the offbeat places if you're into that kind of thing.
Also, take a look towards bhutan/tibet if you have the time... i hear they;re stunning.
PM me if you require any other info
hope some of this helps... plus im sure your friends in india have good advice for you

 

[Mansi]

Max... also it depends on what you really want from your trip to India...
want to just have fun, party and click some pics?
or serious photog.. hence photo locales?
or just a cultural bling blang sighseeing trip? or then a mix of all?
just choose the destinations well... thats pretty important.

like they say 'there's something here for every kind of photographer'

 

[Alpha]

me achaa ho. shukria! aapse delhi pasand hai?

My ex girlfriend was indian. Her dad was punjabi :-| and her mom's family was from delhi. She didn't really speak much hindi at all. I became sort of an indiophile, but that didn't really have much to do with her. I studied India a lot in school, and started to teach myself hindi. I have a lot of friends from India (mostly bombay, though my friends from bangalore speak hindi). I've been dying to go there for a long time. Delhi seems cool despite what people say, though i have heard really bad things about the cops there. Also, I've heard that Goa is beautiful, but that you have to know where to go, because some parts are really touristy. I dunno I'm still learning hindi, and am hoping to be fluent within the next few years. It's hard when most of my friends speak that bastardized mumbai hindi

 

[Alpha]

I want to have a real immersion trip. I'm really serious about the culture, not just a touristy trip. I wouldn't be taking the time to learn the language and study the culture and the history and politics and everything if i wanted to stay in expensive hotels and stuff. I know more about india than even some of my friends who live there haha.

 

[Unimaxium]

Have you ever seen the movie Born into Brothels? Amazing documentary. But it probably goes along with that whole "media for projecting such an image of a coutry which has such deep and rich cultural heritage" thing you were talking about. ;-)

 

[jocose]

Time to list the India FAQ's

Questions asked to Indians abroad:

Q. What does that red dot on women's forehead mean?
A. Well, in ancient times, Indian men used to practice archery skills by target practicing by aiming at their wife's red dot.
In fact, that is one of the reasons why they had many wives. You see,
once they mastered the art of archery and hit the target....

Q. You're from India? I have read so much about the country.
All the wonderful places, the forests, the snake charmers, the elephants. Do you still use elephants for transportation?
A. Absolutely. In fact we used to have our own elephant in our house.
But later, we started participating in elephant-ride sharing schemes with our neighbors, to save the air. You see elephants have an "emissions" problem.....

Q. Does India have cars?
A. No. We ride elephants to work. The government is trying to encourage ride-sharing schemes.

Q. Does India have TV?
A. No. We only have cable.

Q. Are all Indians vegetarian?
A. Yes. Even tigers are vegetarian in India.

Q. How come you speak English so well?
A. You see when the British were ruling India, they employed Indians as
servants. It took too long for the Indians to learn English. So the British isolated an "English-language" gene and infused their servants' babies with it and since then all babies born are born speaking English.

Q. Are you a Hindi?
A. Yes. I am spoken everyday in Northern India.

Q. Do you speak Hindu?
A. Yes, I also speak Jewish, Islam, Buddhism, Jainism and Christianity.

Q. Is it true that everyone there is very corrupt?
A. Yes, in fact, I had to bribe my parents so that they would let me go to school.

Q. India is very hot, isn't it?
A. It is so hot there that all the water boils spontaneously. That is why tea is such a popular drink in India.

Q. Are there any business companies in India?
A. No. All Indians live on the Gandhian principles of self-sufficiency.
We all make our own clothes and grow our own food. That is why you see
all these thin skinny Indians -- it is a lot of hard work.

Q. Indians cannot eat beef, huh?
A. Cows provide milk which is a very essential part of Indian diet.
So eating cows is forbidden. However in order to decrease the population of the country, the government is trying to encourage everyone to eat human meat.

Q. India is such a religious place. Do you meditate regularly?
A. Yes, sometimes I meditate for weeks without food and drink. But it is difficult to keep my job, because I have to miss work when I meditate like that. But the bosses there do the same thing. That is why things are so inefficient there.

Q. I saw on TV that people there walk on burning coals. Why do they do that?
A. We don't have shoes. So we burn the bottom of our feet to make it hard so that we can walk.

Q. Why do you sometimes wear Indian clothes to work?
A. I prefer it to coming naked.

I worked on a cruise ship years ago, and these sound very much like the same types of questions we (the crew) would get from passengers...and the same type of answers we'd give as well :lmao:

Mansi, you know I want to go to India as well, so thanks for the thread.

Bace, what's your friend's business? Can you pass him my name? I'd love to work in India. PM me!


OK, Mansi...what kinds of permits would I need to work in India? Is it like the stupid EU where I have to have to be born in, raised in, and offer my first born to the great and mighty EU? Or can Americans easily get work visas?

 

[Alpha]

As far as i know, it's very very difficult to work in india, unless you know people in private companies who can do things under the radar. Trying to get an official permit through the government is nearly impossible. The government doesnt respond well to bribes from foreginers, only indians. Also, the Indian bureaucracy is unimaginably slow. If you tried to apply for a work permit as an outsider, it would take years for it to be granted, if at all.

 

[Alpha]

Have you ever seen the movie Born into Brothels? Amazing documentary. But it probably goes along with that whole "media for projecting such an image of a coutry which has such deep and rich cultural heritage" thing you were talking about. ;-)

Another wonderful movie to check out is Salaam Bombay, directed by Mira Nair, who also directed Monsoon Wedding and Kama Sutra. I love her movies :heart:

 

[danalec99]

As far as i know, it's very very difficult to work in india, unless you know people in private companies who can do things under the radar. Trying to get an official permit through the government is nearly impossible. The government doesnt respond well to bribes from foreginers, only indians. Also, the Indian bureaucracy is unimaginably slow. If you tried to apply for a work permit as an outsider, it would take years for it to be granted, if at all.

Don't worry. The company you are planning to work will take care of the red tapes.

 

[Alpha]

Yeah, private corporations will generally take care of the mess. If you try to go on your own, you're in for some serious run-around.