Indian food

Food in India can be very special for a Norwegian. There are bacteria in the food there that we don’t really have any immune system against, which the Indian people does, therefore you can easily get sick or ill. Although the food might get your stomach to work a little more, the food itself is great, especially if you like spicy food. The Indian people that have come to Norway has brought with them some of the food traditions e.g. the chicken tandoori. Some other food that is mainly eaten in India is the Roti and the Parathas. They are wheat-pancakes and are mostly found in north-India. In the south there is a lot rice and coconut-oil in the food.

Climate and geography of India

The climate of India is very mixed, and contains many different climatic types. Some of the main climatic types are the desert in the west, the alpine tundra and glaciers in the north, the humid rain forest in the southwest and the tropical islands along the coast. India is a large country, and this is why we can find all these different types of climate in one country. India also has a monsoon period. Like many other countries in south Asia. The monsoon period is from June to September, and it supplies around 80 % of the annual rainfall in India.

As said India is a very large country, in fact it’s the 7^th largest country in the world, and it has the 2^nd largest population. The country has a varied topography, the southern part of India is almost totally flat, when compared to the Himalaya in north were we can find some of the world’s highest mountains. In India we can find one of the world’s most famous rivers, the Ganges. It’s is holy for the Hindus, and it’s also the longest river in India.

Religions in India

In India there are several different religions. The biggest one is Hinduism, with ca. 80% of the population. In second comes Islam with 13.5%, and then Christianity with 2.3%, and Sikhism with 1.9%. India is the birthplace of the religions Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism. The Indian religions and culture has brought e.g. meditation, vegetarianism and karma.
In India there has been a lot of violence because of religion, also politics has been strongly affected by the religions there. Since India became independent in 1947 there have been periods with conflicts between the Hindu side and the Islam side. Religious riots have killed thousands of Indians since then.

Tour in the national park Gir

Today I went on to the national park Gir. Sadly Håkon, Peter and Bjørn were ill from the food the night before. Despite the fact that I had to go alone I thought it could be a rather nice trip. Earlier I had read that I could meet all kinds of different animals there, especially the large cats, lion, tiger, leopard and panther. When the tourist guide showed up at the hotel I told him about the others and he totally understood, and asked me if I still wanted to do the trip, of course I said yes. A British couple had heard what we were talking about and asked if they could fill in for two of my friends, so then we became four in the group instead of five, something that might have been good because the car we were going to Gir with was a little small. Luckily the couple wanted to sit together so I got the front seat. When we came to Gir, we changed car to a jeep. Just before we entered the park the guide went to a storage building to get a gun with anesthetic darts. It looked a little scary but it’s better having one just in case then not having one if a wild animal were to attack. When we went into the park, everything appeared to be very quiet, and as the time went nothing really happened except, we saw some lions relaxing under a tree some hundred meters away. The guide tried to explain that this was not normally the case, but there was no guaranty that we would see the animals. I was very disappointed but I did get a pretty fine picture of that one lion:

Thank god for zoom

Safari in India

Dear diary, today I was on a safari tour in an amazing jungle, just outside the town Rajasthan. The safari tour stated at 8 O’clock in the morning. The weather was amazing when we set of into the jungle. We were riding on elephants, in a basket, or something like that. The view from the back of the Elephant was like nothing I have ever experienced before, and considering that there were tigers in the jungle, it also felt quite safe.

The safari tour lasted for about 4 hours, the best 4 hours I my life! I saw all sorts of animals, birds, plants, flowers and some other really weird things. But the highlight of the safari has to be when we saw a tiger, feeding on its prey. It was a large male tiger, and it had recently killed a Blackbuck Antelope. It was not shy at all, and I took many nice pictures. If I visit India again I’ll definitively go on a safari tour like this again!

Crazy traffic

In india there are no traffic ligths. And for people not used to that its just crazy.  One day i was crossing an intersection and i can tell you that was not a pleasent  experience. I almost had a hearth attack several times in a few minutes. And people around me just acted like nothing happened. Cars, bikes, motorcycles, busses and people walking were just crossing the intersection in high speed and accuracy. No system, no organizing, no control. I am so glad that we didnt rent a car because that would be a disaster. So this is the experience that made the biggest impression on me as a person. Because I was really afraid that i would get a car in my side or in the rear i had no control at all when i crossed.

Mahatma Gandhi

Mahatma Gandhi was an Indian freedom fighter and statesman, and is known for his fight to make India independent. He fought for civil rights in India, and his philosophy was based on total nonviolence. It was when he was in South-Africa and experienced the apartheid system that he developed his nonviolence resistance.

In 1915 he came back to India, and became strongly involved on Congress Party, and in 1921 he assumed the leadership in the party. He continued whit the fight for freedom until India became independent in 1947. Although most of the Indian people loved him, he had his opponents. Some Hindus were against Gandhi’s wish for peace between Hindus and Muslims, this I why he was killed on the 30 January, 1948. Gandhi was shot by Nathuram Godse while he was addressing a prayer meeting.

Taj Mahal

Taj Mahal is maybe the most famous building in India. It is very beutiful and looks like a dream palace. Taj Mahal is located in the city of Agra, north in India. The building took 21 years to build. The construction began around 1632 and was completed around 1653, employing thousands of artisans and craftsmen. It is built in all white marmor. It was built by Mughal Jahan, in the loving memory of his third wife. 

The flag of India

The flag of India

The flag as we know it today became official on the 22 of July 1947. Today’s flag has its origins from a flag used during the fight for independence against the colony power Great Britain. The only difference between that flag and today’s flag was that the old flag had a spinning wheel called charkha in the center instead of today’s blue wheel.

The flag of India is built up of three horizontal stripes in the colors deep saffron, white and India green. The deep saffron color represents courage, the white symbolizes the truth and the green symbolizes peace. The deep saffron color and the white color also represent Hindus and Muslims. In the middle of the flag is a 24-spoken wheel in a deep blue color, also called Ashoka Chakra. This wheel represents the Buddhism.