India is not only Kolkata

India is the 7^th largest country which has the second largest population in the world. The country is filled with the greenery of hills and mountains, peaceful beauty of ocean, steamy hot sun burn desert and fizzy cozy white snow. Each and every place is so distinguished with its beauty, culture, lifestyle and language. So, it is not worthwhile to compare one part of the country with another. For its diversified character it’s being called incredible India.

Here in Bangladesh most of the people have a very limited idea about India. Though every year huge number of people travel to India, their perception about India is very one sided. On the name of India they think of only Kolkata. They think the whole India is just the same like Kolkata. The people on the other side of the border are Bengalis and their language, culture and geography is almost similar to us Bangladeshis. Even once Bangladesh was a part of India so we have our relatives staying in India.  So, most of the people in Bangladesh go to west Bengal, in the name of visiting India. The way they behave, the way they talk, the nature of Kolkata people is all we know about India. Even now-a-days people watch Kolkata Bengali series a lot which provides them only a specific idea about India. They don’t even think out of the box.

In my perception people should know more about the country which will increase their level of knowledge about a particular country. Here, I want to mention some points to help you know that Kolkata is a part of India, just one state capital. There are more to know about India. 

Geographically India- India is a country which is a combination of 29 states among which 9 states are bigger than Bangladesh. Moreover, the biggest state In India is Rajasthan which is more than two times bigger than Bangladesh. So, with this estimate we can imagine how different India will be geographically.  One part of it is entirely different than others. Like a part of India Rajasthan; is desert. The camel rides in the desert is a perfect adventure there.  Moreover, if you want to have a walk in the beach and amazing bonfire, Goa, Pondicherry, Kanyakumari , Kerela etc beaches are there to give you the chillness of the beach . Furthermore, Kashmir, Shimla, Manali can give you a wild ride in the snow. Even the hilly greenery of Kerela, Tamil nadu, Kashmir, Madhapradesh will show you how we can touch the sky by from the ground. That’s why people say, if you have seen India, you have seen the entire world.

Here, in the graph below you can get an idea on state wise top 10 geographical area of India:

Language in India: Some people in Bangladesh think India is a country where people talk in Bengali or in Hindi. So, if we know these two languages, it’s more than enough. Yes, these two languages will help you a lot while traveling to India, but that’s not all about India. In Hindustan times it is reported that, India has a total of 780 spoken language but 250 were lost in last 50 years. Moreover there are 86 scripts being used according to PLSI chairperson G.N. Devy. This shows the diversity around the country. While traveling through India I also came to know that there almost every people know more than two languages in spite of their mother tongue.

Culturally India- India is a country of diversified culture. Each states of India have a different food habits. Like north Indian prefers pow vaji, samosa, matar paneer, rajma where south Indian prefers dhosa, idli, sambar, rasam. Panjabi’s can not go a day without meat where Rajasthani’s stay far from meat . So each and every place is a new place to invent. Without exploring it, there is no way to understand what India is.

Moreover, people in different part of India celebrate different festivals. Like, North India celebrates Holi  the biggest and colorfully, where Holi is nothing but a simple puja in South India. Though the young generation now-a-days celebrate Holi but south Indian Holi has no comparison with North Indian Holi. South Indians especially for Karnataka people Dasara is the biggest festival, where on the same time the west Bengal people celebrates Durga puja. Moreover, the Karnataka people are more concern about the cleanliness and hardly can you find beggars there, but if you go to west Bengal it’s full of dirt and dust around and beggars everywhere. Moreover, if you go to a beach in Goa, it’s totally different than a beach in Pondicherry. Goa is a party place where Pondicherry is far calm.

Indian Lifestyle- If I talk about the lifestyle of people that is also different from one place to another. The city life is different than the village life; the life of the hill station is different than the people in the desert. If you think alcohol is available all over India, than you should know In a country like India, they also have a dry state (alcohol free) where alcohol is totally prohibited. Moreover, People in Goa walk late night in the street where in Delhi, people; especially girls are scared to go out late night. They have a lifestyle where some people wear shari and mini skirt as well. Some girls don’t drink alcohol and some are smoking openly.

So, this is India, a country with diversified culture. Before going to India my perception was also like every other person in Bangladesh. But after visiting different places in India I have changed my way of thinking towards India. So, if I can change my idea by exploring the country, I think my article will help you to think out of the box at least for once.