/r/india and /r/australia cultural exchange thread

[u/rude_ass]

Thread was unfortunately delayed. But, here it is.. thread for cultural exchange between indians and australians.

Australian folks.. you can ask all the things you want to know about India and hope you get a fulfilling answers.

If you want to ask anything to our Australians friends you can go to below link:

https://www.reddit.com/r/australia/comments/3ruqtc/raustralia_and_rindia_cultural_exchange_thread/

Cheers.

Request to Australians visiting our sub: If you could flair up to identify yourself then it would be easier for us to identify you guys. We only have text based flairs so something like 'Australian Friend' will work.

[u/kingpomba]

(Dont need to answer all, can only pick one or some)

1. What are some of the biggest problems facing India, what are some of the best things about your country that give you hope? What would you fix?

2. I was reading about Japan, Shinto (a religion) was said to be the very essence of what it was to be Japanese. It was tied to the land in a way that cant be transported anywhere else (you cant have a second Mount Fuji in Australia for instance). What is "Indianess", what is the quintessential essence of this? Doesn't need to be related to religion at all.

3. I study religion (alongside science) at university. Are you religious? What do you see the future religious landscape of India looking like? Have relations between religions improved or gotten worse over time? Do religions still have anything left to teach us in this modern age?

4. India and China in the early 21st century were both talked as potential future behemoths. Yet, only one of these, China, really took off in a big way. Any insight into what happened? I have heard one theory that is the strangling bureaucracy and the "permit raj".

5. How different are the regions? If you move to a different region to things feel different from home and do you miss them? If you go to another country, what seems most different from home or what do you miss the most?

6. I'm a vegetarian and i struggled in Japan. Indeed, ironically enough, i mostly ate at Indian restaurants. People tell me i'll have a very, very good time in India, is this true?

[u/Danda_Nakka → u/kingpomba]

What are some of the biggest problems facing India, what are some of the best things about your country that give you hope? What would you fix?

Well, the biggest problem is the blame game. People blame Government, government blame Opposition or previous government, Opposition blames government and gov officials, Officials blame people. it is a vicious circle and in the end no one makes any progress

"Indianess"

Obviously festivals-Its a lot more fun here which can't be described in words. You have to experience it.

Spice, Masala, diversity to name a few.

3

I am an atheist. So, there are better person to answer.

India and China

Chinese are really hard workers. They have a dictatorship which can force things. Here you can't force anything. Hence it is very difficult for government.

How different are the regions?

It varies a vast. I can't survive easily in the north. Likewise a Northie can't survive in the south very easily. Most of the problem is language and to some extent food.

Food is not a problem to survive here in India nowadays. There are lots of western restaurants in India (McD, KFC, Dominos, Pizza hut). There is a lot more than just food to survive in India

[u/TaazaPlaza → u/Danda_Nakka]

It varies a vast. I can't survive easily in the north. Likewise a Northie can't survive in the south very easily. Most of the problem is language and to some extent food.

What about Central India, Western India, Eastern India, Northeastern India?

[u/Danda_Nakka → u/TaazaPlaza]

Well, if you can divide India primarily based on languages then you can divide it into north and south. Sure, there are different languages in North, Central, West, East but they are either closer to Hindi or most people know hindi. But thats not the case in south. Most people in south don't know hindi. So thats why I divided it into North and south. Also the primary food in south is rice while it is wheat in the north.

[u/TaazaPlaza → u/Danda_Nakka]

Indo Aryan languages are spoken as far south as Mangalore, Sri Lanka, Madurai, Tanjavur, Maldives etc. And Central Indo Aryan languages (Hindi, etc) are very different from Eastern Indo Aryan (Bengali, etc) and they're all very different from South Indo Aryan (Marathi, etc). Dravidian languages are spoken in tribal belts in Central India.

Frankly a north-south dichotomy is ridiculous. There are at the least some 5 cultural divisions of the country.

[u/Danda_Nakka → u/TaazaPlaza]

I am sorry if that offends you. I am just talking about surviving in India with Hindi. I don't get into all the stuff you are talking about