I thought I’d share an (edited) list that was going around via email about reasons for loving India. And take a look below at these crazy photos from India, also circulating on email. If anyone wants to add to the list of reasons to love India, please feel free!
41 Reasons to Love India:
1. The bystanders are always happy to give directions even if they have no idea where you want to go.
2. There’s always time to accept an offer of tea
3. The musicians who play in the bands at weddings, even the most elaborate weddings, all seem to be playing different tunes at the same time.
4. If you need change you can always get it even if you're not buying anything from that store.
5. Men walk down the street holding hands.
6. Nobody is afraid to sing.
7. After eating a banana in your car, you can throw the peel out the window for the cows, pigs and goats.
8. The sun always shines.
9. A pedicure in a luxury hotel beauty salon costs 75 rupees ($3) and a good haircut costs about the same.
10. Giving is considered an honour.
11. There’s always room for one more person on a seat in a train.
12. If the bus is full they hang out the door or sit on the roof.
13. There’s always time to visit friends.
14. If it doesn't get done today, tomorrow is okay too or the tomorrow after that.
15. On your birthday you give presents to other people (usually sweets).
16. Food is always shared no matter how poor someone is.
17. What is impossible one minute (not possible madam) becomes possible if you stand around and look anxious long enough.
18. You can't take a train from one city to another without being invited to someone's cousin's wedding or someone's home for dinner.
19. Every day you see green parrots, mynah birds, peacocks and hoopoes.
20. Grown men have nicknames like Googooji and Tinky.
21. Monkeys, camels, elephants, maharajahs, palaces and forts.
22. Polo matches.
23. Toe rings, bangles, ankle bracelets, nose pins.
24. Sandals everyday, all year.
25. Kite day.
26. When it comes to spelling, close is good enough.
27. Bougainvillea, jasmine, queen of the night.
28. Designs in powdered colour in the middle of the road.
29. If a woman has to stand on a bus with her baby, someone sitting will hold the baby.
30. It’s not fashionable to be thin, only poor people are thin.
31. If you’re stopped for a minor traffic violation, 20 rupees (bribe) handed over to the policeman will end the matter.
32. In the evening at dusk the owlets come out of their trees where they sleep all day and perch on the sprinkler heads on the lawn.
33. Festivals - Diwali, Festival of Light - Holi, Festival of Colour.
34. The transport trucks are decorated with silver and gold Christmas garlands and painted with birds and flowers and on the back they say HORN PLEASE and THANK YOU TATA.
35. Bombay (Bollywood) produces more than 700 musicals each year, most singing is lip-synced sung by a 70-year-old woman named Lata Mangeskar.
36. Rajasthani village men wear turbans in bright orange, hot pink or lime green.
37. Item from the "helpful hints" column of Femina magazine, a leading women's magazine: For an animated centerpiece at your next dinner party, mix water and vinegar in the ratio of 3:1 in a tall glass. Add a teaspoon of soda bicarb and several moth balls. The balls will rise and fall automatically for a long long time.
38. First cousins are considered so much a part of the family they’re referred to as cousin-sisters and cousin-brothers.
39. When a new refrigerator is brought at a restaurant, it’s often decorated with garlands of marigolds, sweet balls and sacred symbols. A candle is lit in front of it and pujas (prayers) are performed by the resident Brahmin priest to ensure its success.
40. Everything can be repaired—from broken rubber sandals to computer printers.
41. A sense of the sacred is never far away.
      |      |
RSS Feed
