India
Republic of India Bharatiya Ganarajya Southern Asia AREA 1.3M mi2; 3.3M km2 ARABLE 53% POP 1.4B (1.1K/mi2; 429/km2) GOV’T Federal parliamentary republic CAPITAL New Delhi (33.8M) GDP/CAPITA $9,200 UNEMPLOYMENT 4% IN POVERTY widespread (% NA) LIFE EXP 68 years MEDIAN AGE 30 yrs INFANT MORT 30/1K live births (49th) LITERACY 74% INTERNET USERS 43% LANGUAGES Hindi, English (most used in politics and commerce), Bengali, Marathi, Telugu, Tamil, Gujarati, Urdu, Kannada, Odia, Malayalam, Punjabi (among 22 official languages) RELIGIONS Hindu 80%, Muslim 14%, Christian 2%, Sikh 2%, other/unspecified 2% HEALTH 3% of GDP EDUCATION 4.5% of GDP (100th) MILITARY 2.3% of GDP (50th) PCVs 1961–1976 CURRENT: 0, TTD: 4,325 |  India The courtyard of Barsana’s Radha Rani Temple is transformed each spring into a joyous party in living color. Devout dancers sway and sing while revelers fling colorful powders and colored water with abandon. This is the Hindu celebration of Holi, the Festival of Colors, which honors the divine love of Krishna and Radha: Krishna, the blue avatar of the deity Vishnu, was in love with Radha, a girl from Barsana, and he playfully threw colored powders on her—an act that became a symbol of their divine love. Today, Holi is celebrated worldwide to honor love and forgiveness— and to welcome the arrival of spring. Charles Eilers ©2019 | Nigeria & Ethiopia 1966-1969 | Teacher Training |
Adult Books
By Aravind Adiga
2008
Summary:
Booker Prize winner, 2008
This novel provides a darkly humorous perspective on India's class struggle in a globalized world as told as a retrospective narration from a Hindi boy who moves from his village (where his father drives a rickshaw) to Bangladore (vibrant city, the hub of technology manufacturing and innovation for India). He becomes an entrepreneur with strong opinions about religious clashes, caste, loyalty, corruption, and poverty in India. He imagines himself as a solicitous servant who might become a cold-blooded killer. The story is told through a series of fiercely satirical letters to a visiting Chinese diplomat. This fictional account captures the complexity of contemporary and politics and aspirations in contemporary India.
Kids' Books
By Dev Kothari
Publisher: London: Walker Books; 2024.
Format: 219 pgs.
ISBN: 978-1-53623-364-3
Age Range: 10-14 yrs.
Summary:
When her beloved brother Kay-Kay, the golden child of the family, vanishes without a trace in modern-day India, Lena undertakes a search of her own, determined to unearth his secrets and bring him home.
Films
Film:Lion
Genre: Drama
Director: Garth Davis
Languages: English, Bengali
Release Date: 2016
Run Time: 118 minutes
Synopsis:
In 1986, Saroo was a five-year-old child in India of a poor but happy rural family. On a trip with his brother, Saroo soon finds himself alone and trapped in a moving decommissioned passenger train that takes him to Calcutta, 1000 miles away from home. Now totally lost in an alien urban environment and too young to identify either himself or his home to the authorities, Saroo struggles to survive as a street child until he is sent to an orphanage. Soon, Saroo is selected to be adopted by the Brierley family in Tasmania, where he grows up in a loving, prosperous home. However, for all his material good fortune, Saroo finds himself plagued by his memories of his lost family in his adulthood and tries to search for them even as his guilt drives him to hide this quest from his adoptive parents and his girlfriend. Only when he has an epiphany does he realize not only the answers he needs, but also the steadfast love that he has always had with all his loved ones in both worlds.—Kenneth Chisholm (kchishol@rogers.com)
