By Devi Chandran, Sameeksha Sampath, Shriya Katukuri & Diya Ramesh
WHMSPress
West Hills MS
1st Place
Division MS, News Writing
Diversity Coverage
“Namaskar”, or Hello, from India! This is just one of the many ways to greet people in India. What you just heard was a word in the Indian language Hindi.
Today, you are going to learn about the Indian culture. You will learn about many different aspects of the Indian culture and see how it is similar or different, compared to your own culture.
One main aspects of Indian culture is the food. What do you think of when someone says “ pickle”? You would probably think of a cucumber in salty solution.
Indian culture thinks of pickle differently. It envisions a mango chopped up into bite-size pieces. Then, the mango is put in a super hot spicy red sauce. Pickles are commonly eaten with plain rice or coconut rice. However, there is not just one kind of pickle. There may be over a hundred flavors of pickles, such as fish, shrimp, gooseberry and mango.
One of the desserts that is eaten in India is the sweet laddoo. Laddoos are round balls that are made of sugar and other ingredients, depending on the type. Usually, laddoos are orange or yellow.
Sixth-grader Manasvi Tewari is of Indian descent. Like many Indians, although living in the United States, Manasvi still eats Indian food. Her favorite Indian foods are rajma and roti. Rajma is a sauce with red kidney beans, and roti is an unleavened bread, similar to a flatbread.
A nother Indian-American West Hills student is sixth-grader Niranjan Anantharaman. He also eats some Indian food.
He says, “My favorite food is dosa, because it pairs with so many things, and it can be made from scratch, or you can buy it from the store.”
Dosa is a South Indian food made from a rice batter that has been cooked on a stove, similar to a pancake. Niranjan likes to eat dosa with yogurt or sambhar, a South Indian stew made with lentils and vegetables.
Another aspect of the Indian culture is music. Indian music is very popular. In India, there are three main types of music, Bollywood, Carnatic and Hindustani music, and many other regional styles. Bollywood music is a very modern style of music. It is upbeat, catchy, and very fun to dance to. Carnatic and Hindustani music are more classical styles of music.
Dance is another big part of the Indian culture. One of the Indian dance styles is Bharatanatyam, a classical dance that many Indian children do. Other styles are Kathak and Kuchipudi.
Dances that are in the hip-hop style are called Bollywood. This type is less traditional and is used in connection with many Indian movies or songs.
Language is another one of the important aspects of the Indian culture. There are hundreds of languages or dialects spoken in India with Hindi spoken by 53 percent of the population.
In the United States, not all Indian-Americans speak an Indian language. For example, Niranjan, whose parents were raised in the U.S., does not speak an Indian language. There are also people who understand an Indian language, but cannot speak it, like 7th-grader Pooja Kannappan.
She says, “My parents speak Tamil frequently at home, and I understand Tamil, but I can’t speak it fluently.” Tamil is a South Indian language.
Many other Indian-Americans speak an Indian language fluently. For example, Manasvi speaks Hindi.
Throughout the year, different Indian holidays are celebrated. Because a lot of holidays are religious, not every Indian will celebrate every holiday.
One of the most commonly celebrated Indian holiday is Diwali, which celebrates different things, based on the part of India that the person who is celebrating it is from. Most Hindu holidays celebrate the victory of good over evil. Hindus are people who practice the religion of Hinduism, which is one of the main religions, that is practiced in India, along with Islam, Christianity, Sikhism, Jainism and Buddhism, among others.
Although Diwali was originally a Hindu holiday, many Indians who practice different religions now celebrate it. Diwali is the festival of lights, and people dress in nice clothes, make sweets, snacks, and other tasty foods, and light fireworks. Like many Indian-Americans, both Niranjan, Pooja, and Manasvi enjoy Diwali.
Niranjan says, “My favorite holiday is probably Diwali. It really has a great meaning and mythological background.” He also likes the time of year that Diwali takes place, usually in or around October.
Manasvi likes Diwali, because she likes to set off fireworks. Pooja also enjoys Diwali, because it is like an Indian version of the Fourth of July. There are also many other Indian holidays, including Holi and Pongal.
Indian clothing is different from clothing in other parts of the world. One outfit is a sari, which is often worn for fancy occasions. There is also something called a churidar. It is a more casual outfit, most commonly made of cotton. In fact most outfits are made of cotton because much of India is humid and hot.