India Local Customs

 
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Most Viewed Local Customs in India

101.

RELIGION   Goa

RELIGION, Goa

 24 Reviews   It is well known that cows are sacred to Hindus, but knowing this didn’t really prepare me for some of the (to Western eyes) unusual sights we came across. Not only do cows wander freely on town and... 

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102.

LITTLE THINGS TO KNOW   Mumbai

LITTLE THINGS TO KNOW, Mumbai

 18 Reviews  Mumbai's Passport Office, being the only one in the region, caters to the residents from Greater Mumbai, over and above districts of Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, Aurangabad and Beed in Maharashtra. Apart... 

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103.

Daily life   Delhi

Daily life, Delhi

 22 Reviews  Indians love their motorbikes... I think is more of them than cars. In the morning whole family (4 ppl) will straddle motorbike to take them to their daly work or school. In the chaos which is Delhi... 

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104.

The People, the flavour   Hyderabad

The People, the flavour, Hyderabad

 5 Reviews  Diwali is known as the 'festival of lights' because houses, shops and public places are decorated with small earthenware oil lamps called diyas. These lamps, which are traditionally fueled by mustard... 

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105.

MISCELLANEOUS   Goa

MISCELLANEOUS, Goa

 32 Reviews  Raksha bandhan (the bond of protection in Hindi) or Rakhi is a Hindu festival which celebrates the relationship between brothers and sisters. Sisters tie a rakhi (a holy thread) around their brothers'... 

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106.

RELIGION   Mumbai

RELIGION, Mumbai

 12 Reviews  Although Bombay has one of the largest concentration of followers of the Jain religion in India, this community constitutes only a small minority of around 4% in the city. Jain temples are scattered... 

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107.

General Informations   Delhi

General Informations, Delhi

 17 Reviews  Playing some music with friends at university... Local bands are often on view at college/ university annual festivals. The season begins towards the end of summer, and goes on for a while. That... 

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108.

While travelling in Hyderabad...   Hyderabad

While travelling in Hyderabad..., Hyderabad

 5 Reviews  Most travellers dont realize that Hyderabad is a very conservative city due to the presence of Islam. I knew that it had deep roots with Islam but I had no idea that certain parts of the city were as... 

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109.

BEACHES   Goa

BEACHES, Goa

 3 Reviews  Fascinating watching the local fishermen at Coco Beach. The effort that is put into fishing appears tremendous. Starting with wading out with the long fishing net to create a loop, then with as many... 

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110.

CULTURE   Mumbai

CULTURE, Mumbai

 18 Reviews  Durga Puja also referred to as Durgotsava is an annual Hindu festival in India that celebrates worship of the Hindu goddess Durga. It refers to all the six days observed as Mahalaya, Shashthi, Maha... 

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111.

Weddings   Delhi

Weddings, Delhi

 4 Reviews  Well Marriage in India is a very important part of the whole family of the groom and bride. Mostly they live as a Joint Family (Extended Family) and majority of marriages are arranged. So a marriage... 

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112.

ON THE STREETS   Mumbai

ON THE STREETS, Mumbai

 13 Reviews   (Here's an email we received from Bandra, Bombay) Hey! there, It's parade and festival time in the Queen of Suburbs, BANDRA!! We're hving the 3rd edition of the 'Celebrate Bandra' festival which... 

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113.

Birla Temple   Delhi

Birla Temple, Delhi

 1 Review  The Birla Temple (Lakshmi Narayan Temple) : This temple was build by G. D. Birla in 1938. This beautiful temple is located in the west of Connaught Place. The temple is dedicated to the goddess of... 

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114.

MISCELLANEOUS   Mumbai

MISCELLANEOUS, Mumbai

 15 Reviews  Whilst visiting the Haji Ali Mosque in northern Mumbai, I noticed loads of people clambering on top of the rocks that lie at the end of the causeway that connects on the mosque to the mainland. I've... 

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115.

National Museum   Delhi

National Museum, Delhi

 1 Review  National Museum - Located on Janpath, National museum is one of the treasure houses of the our glorious past. The museum has a large collection of excavated items many of which date back to 2nd and... 

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Reviews from VirtualTourist Members

Coins into the river

by Rupanworld

India may be a country with world famous scientists and a major proportion of the population proudly announcing themselves to be progressive minded, if you happen to travel by train, and the train passes by any holi Indian river, you will still see people praying and throwing coins into the waters of the river. That's a wastage and I have always hated it. But that's India, it will perhaps take another millenium to change it. I don't know what the belief behind this is. Perhaps your wishes come true. Crazy!!

A common scene on the roads

by Rupanworld

while on an Indian trip, one can really come across such ascene often. Its common. People try to get on to the roof of crowded buses with all their belongings even though the writing at the back of the bus (in Bengali) says that such a thing is illegal.

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Joint families

by Rupanworld

this tradition, though dying out now, was the commonest thing once. All brothers with their own families used to live together as one single unit under one common roof and eat together, and this too for all generations. So it was not uncommon to live in a family with your greatgrandparents, your grandparents and his three brothers and all of their children along with their families, which meant you might as well share your bed with your third cousin. And there were families of the normal sizes of 30 - 50 members, not much at all. Actually, though a dying tradition, there are noticeably many families that still have it, or atleast every Indian knows 5 families which are joint families. So you can really understand from that statistics how prevalent is this custom in India.

Addressing elders

by Rupanworld

In India, people do not call the elders by their names but some kind of 'Uncles' or 'Aunts' so long as the relationship is not official or very formal like in offices, schools, organisations etc. This means that whe anybody addresses somebody elder to him or her (even by a few months) who may be a neighbour, a relative's friend or relative's relative or just an acquaintance, one uses a particular mode of addressing and does not call the person by his or her name. And ofcourse, if its a question of your own relatives, there are various names for various relations. We never call people by their names, except in case of colleagues who are not very close or your bosses or teachers/professors.

Photo enthusiasts

by Rupanworld

On a tour to India it is very common to come across people who want to be photographed by your camera. The psychology is perhaps that they take pride in being photographed by the camera of a person who has come from abroad, or at least some other state, a matter of great achievement. It shows the simplicity of the common Indian people. Everybody has a dream to travel but not all are fortunate, so what's wrong if your photo travels the world :)

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Community feasts

by Rupanworld

Even today when there is some marriage ceremony, puja or other special ocassion, especially in Indian villages, there is cooking done on mud ovens, with huge pots and people from the family, their friends, neighbours, everybody join the cooking. It's fun and a celebration in itself.

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Bridal wear

by Rupanworld

Indian women generally wear red / reddish coloured saree/ ghagra during their marriage. Ofcourse this is changing and one now finds brides wearing every colour apart from red. But still red dominates.

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Indian cuisine

by Rupanworld

Indian people, according to me are great lovers of food. If the food is not tasty, it is no food at all. Consequently, the Indian kitchen is a very important place in the house and housewives take pride in their kitchen. They love cooking a variety of dishes everyday and feeding the loved ones just to see smile in their face after eating that. And that's ofcourse not just housewifes, generally most Indian women and many men too, especially those who have lived alone while studying/working love cooking

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Rice - staple food

by Rupanworld

Rice is the staple food in India, although ofcourse there are regions which are more into eating rotis than rice. But then rice is ofcourse one of the main food items in India and one finds a lot of experiment being done with rice as well.

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Sacred fire

by Rupanworld

for the hindu people in India, the fire is something sacred and important events like marriages take place with fire as the witness of the event. Fire is said to remove all your sins. Remember Hindus are cremmated in fire after death.

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Top 3 Hotels in India

Neemrana Fort-Palace  State of Rajasthan

 2 Reviews and 235 Opinions  This is such a lovely place, whether for a couple celebrating their love or for a singleton,... 

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Taj Lands End  Mumbai

 4 Reviews and 521 Opinions  22,000 square feet of meeting space connected by pre-function areas suitable for exhibitions ... 

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Leela  Goa

 5 Reviews and 461 Opinions  hallo was meeting adam pyotr mancic in the surfclub arambol. best friend at this time. every night... 

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Questions and Answers

mosaka profile photo

Q:  Hello folks, I am thinking to travel to India from July 28-Aug 28 2012. It includes both north and south India. I heard about... 

anilpradhanshillong profile photo

A: 1. If you limit your travels to the plains of India during Jul 28-Aug 28, 2012, you'll experience high humidity, heat and quite a few showers. As it is, South India is... 

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