I’m currently taking a Social Studies class, and I have to write a research paper on the country of my choice, and I chose India. I need two primary sources, so I was hoping to discuss life in India with an Indian doper or two (or three or more.) I need somebody who lives in India or has lived a significant part of their life in India.
Thank you
I am Indian living in India . Ask away. 
I know at least 2 dopers of Indian origin here **acsenray **and **dervorin **( there are many more )who answer questions on India. Hope they also share their thoughts .
Since we are almost 10.5 hours apart , I may not be able to answer all queries immediately ,but will try to do it next morning .
I am not Indian but I have studied Indian languages and culture extensively (joint degree in Indology & history of religion) as well as travelled and lived there for a few years (if I add the periods up, that is). I’ll be happy to contribute if I can and if your assignment allows it.
Isn’t the mod Xash from India?
Yes !
Indian, would you consider yourself to be a typical Indian? If not, would you answer the following questions first as yourself, and then as you think that a typical Indian would? (Or, whatever way you feel would be more appropriate. For example, if you consider yourself to be a typical urban Indian, you could answer as yourself and then how a typical rural Indian would, or whatever.)
[Just got called to work. Be back later.]
Hey, I’m not just of Indian origin, I actually am Indian. I just happen to be living in London at the moment! 
I’ve lived the first 24 years of my life in India, so I think I qualify.
Happy to answer any questions you might have, Rucksinator, although of course it may take some time.
What do you do for a living?
What is your religion?
Do you consider yourself devout?
What caste do you belong to?
How do you treat people from different castes?
Do you know what caste Xash is in?
If not, would it affect how you think of him?
Could you eat a chicken sandwich from McDonalds? [I’m talking about a typical American McDonalds, that also serves hamburgers. I don’t know if there are McDonalds in India, but I would assume that their menu would be very different if there were.]
India ia a sort of confederation of many nations with varying cultures, and for everything the opposite is also true . There are people earning 50 cents a dayand there is a billionaire building USD 2 billion home in Mumbai.
There is abject poverty and there are pockets of prosperity. Here is the latest on a study of various indian states.
There are caste based killings and discrimination and there are cosmopolitan cities where young indians marry people of their choice. There are 14 officially recognized languages plus more than a 1000 other spoken languages. From the rice eaters of south India to the meat eaters of north eastern India, you will find varying food habits.
India has a culture of peaceful assimilation of immigrants . There are jewsand zorashtrians.
Christianity reached India 2 millenia ago,before even romans converted.
This is just for starters.
[quote=“Rucksinator, post:6, topic:548143”]
Indian, would you consider yourself to be a typical Indian?
No comparing with a rural uneduacted Indian.
If not, would you answer the following questions first as yourself, and then as you think that a typical Indian would?
Hmm let us see.
(Or, whatever way you feel would be more appropriate. For example, if you consider yourself to be a typical urban Indian, you could answer as yourself and then how a typical rural Indian would, or whatever.)
I grew up in a rural area , but had good eduction and is an urbanite now . A person in rural Kerala ( state with highest literacy) will answer things slightly differently than a rural indian from U.P or Bihar. So there can be no generalisations.
But a rural indian from U.P will answer mostly opposite to what I answered on culture specific things.
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QUOTE=Rucksinator;12734171]
What do you do for a living?
I own a business.
What is your religion?
Christian. See here.
Do you consider yourself devout?
Not much
What caste do you belong to?
No castes within Syrian christianity , but a denomination called Mar Thoma Church.
How do you treat people from different castes?
Caste is not a basis for good or bad treatment for me.
Do you know what caste Xash is in?
No!
If not, would it affect how you think of him?
No. Xash lives in U.S and it shows he is smart enough to get there, Why should it matter ?
Could you eat a chicken sandwich from McDonalds? [I’m talking about a typical American McDonalds, that also serves hamburgers. I don’t know if there are McDonalds in India, but I would assume that their menu would be very different if there were.]
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Yes , I have eaten chicken sandwich in McDonalds.
indian, thank you for the links. The one about Saint Thomas looks very interesting.
However, at the risk of sounding rude, I have done a lot of research into the “facts” about India. I know the GDP, the official languages, the official religions and their official percentages; imports, exports, and the number of radios per 1000 people (120). I have read most all of what encyclopedias have to say.
What I now need to understand is what life is like for a real Indian living in India. (Specifically, what I need to write about is how an average Indian perceives the United States.)
I found the following threads very insightful:
Cleanliness Requirements of Caste System
Why is Indian culture so insular?
I learned a lot from them that I wouldn’t have from a World Book article. There is a huge difference between memorizing a country’s GDP and personally witnessing how they make it.
Knowing how many McDonald’s restaurants there are in country XXX doesn’t help me. I need to know how you would personally feel about walking past a McDonalds, going into a McDonalds with a hungry American friend, ordering a chicken sandwich, or working there.
That kind of stuff.
[Note to self: Refresh before hitting ‘Submit’]
Many of my questions were based on the assumption that you were Hindu (Hindi?). Therefore, many of them missed the mark.
Since you are not, these questions are for you specifically (and the 2.3% that are Christians):
Do you eat beef?
Do you work with a lot of Hindus? Or mostly only other Christians? How much personal interaction do you have with Hindus?
You said that you had a good education. Was that education from the Indian government? Or from private schools? Christian schools? Did you attend this (these) schools only with other Christians or with Hindus as well?
[quote=“Rucksinator, post:13, topic:548143”]
[Note to self: Refresh before hitting ‘Submit’]
Many of my questions were based on the assumption that you were Hindu (Hindi?). Therefore, many of them missed the mark.
I guessed so .
Since you are not, these questions are for you specifically (and the 2.3% that are Christians):
**Do you eat beef? **Yes , But now very rarely , to curtail my horizontal growth.
Do you work with a lot of Hindus? Yes , A lot of them .
**Or mostly only other Christians? How much personal interaction do you have with Hindus? **
I was born and bred in state of Kerala. I had Hindu neighbours. I had Hindus,Christians and Muslims for classmates.There is no religion based divisions in people to people interaction there ,probably because christians have been around for 2000 years and is very much a part of social fabric. There are some churches where hindus come and offfer prayers.
I have eaten from Hindu , Jain,Sikh households. I have attended Muslim weddings and eaten there.I have stayed for nights in the houses of Hindu and Jain friends. My business partner is a Hindu.
When I moved to Mumbai and state of Gujarat I find that there are a lot of misconception about Christians among orthodox Hindus , because they think christianity is a recent arrival along with British . Except state of Kerala , Indian christianity is probably 5 centuries old.
You said that you had a good education. Was that education from the Indian government? Or from private schools? Christian schools? Did you attend this (these) schools only with other Christians or with Hindus as well?
I studied in rural school owned by a Hindu though there were catholic schools nearby. Government pays the salary of teachers in these type of schools. These schools had Hindu,Muslim and Christian students. No religion based discrimination.
Kerala is an exception, and what I wrote may not hold true for other states.
Somewhere in my reading of threads about India, I wheel-clicked on a link to this article. I don’t know where I found it. It’s about Indian widows getting left to die by their families because their husbands died and they are too old to reproduce. To my “Western” mind, this seems at odds with the Indian culture of close families that I’ve been reading about. Can anyone comment on this?
*Many of my questions were based on the assumption that you were **Hindu (Hindi?). ***
Hindu = religion. Hindi= Language spoken predominantly in northen India.
Just so I’m clear: Were these Christian churches, Hindu churches, or are there “general-purpose” churches where people from whatever religion can come and pray?
By “no … discrimination” do you mean just that students from all religions were welcome to attend, or that the school didn’t teach any one particular religion? (Here in the US, the “separation of church and state” issue has become so tight that teachers are afraid to mention their religion. I’m wondering if your situation was similar to this, or more similar to a situation of a Jewish child sent to a Christian school… openly taught Christianity but not “discriminated” against.)
India has 1 billion plus people . It is poverty that forces people to do this. But that doesn’t mean all across India it is done . Indian goverment is trying many new schemes in rural employment which will eliminate poverty .
As I said before , you cannot generalise India, it has both extremes. But incidents like these makes great news.
*just that students from all religions were welcome to attend, or that the school didn’t teach any one particular religion? *
This is absuloutely correct in both aspects . All subjects to be taught were decided by the state education board. Teachers follow that .
To clarify further, there are religious schools run by muslims ( where religion is taught ) , but these fall outside the purview of government sponsored eduction . Then there are christian schools where one has to study to become a priest , but again outside of goverment control.