Rich and Varied Heritage

India is always remembered as a land of diverseclassical dance forms can be traced to Natyasastra,
cultures. The geographic position, climate and theascribed to Sage Bharata who is believed to have
extent of exposure to foreign cultures have totallylived between the 1st and 2nd Century AD
influenced the traditions and culture of the different18 Indian languages with 1600 regional dialects are
regions at different periods. The greatness of Indianspoken and the linguistic lines are drawn by State
culture has been in adopting the best from all theboundaries Besides Hindi and English, the other popular
invaders and intermingling their customs and styles withlanguages are Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada,
the existing and this is visible in all aspects of culture.Kashmiri, Konkani, Sanskrit, Sindhi, Tamil, Malayalam,
Indian culture have always been attached to the greatMarathi, Punjabi, Oriya, Telugu and Urdu
river systems, the watersheds of the Indus andIndian Cuisine skill lies in the subtle blending of a variety
Ganges, the Deccan plateau and South India.of spices to make various delicious recipes. These
Secular India is home to Hinduism, Islam, Christianity,spices are used as home medicines too.
Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism and other innumerableA typical North-Indian meal would consist of wheat.
religious traditions. Hinduism is the dominant religiousRice is the staple diet in South Indian food. Coconut
faith followed by the majority of the population. Colorfuland oil are essential ingredients in all the meal. A meal
traditional festivals are almost 400 that have beenis rounded off with betel leaf which holds an
happening for centuries. Not a single day passes byassortment of digestive part.
without a festival in one region or the other. It is anWomen are the mirrors of culture of a society. Indian
occasion for men to put on a new traditional costumeswomen are becoming increasingly visible and
and jewelery.successful in the professional and public sphere.
Traditional wears like the silk saris, cholis haveWhether it is Barkha Dutt, Arundhati Roy, Kiran
fascinated many a traveler over the centuries. Men inMazumdar Shaw, they have all heralded the arrival of
villages are still more comfortable in traditional attire likeIndian women professionals.
kurtas, lungis, dhotis and pyjamas.Latest outsourcing of technological agility, quality,
Indian literature, Indian poetry, Indian epic poetryflexibility, cost control, time-to-market and competitive
Ramayana and Mahabharata, Painting, Sculpture,advantage have made India well known in the business
Architecture- everything is depicted and interpretedworld.
through religion and philosophy.India exports software to 95 countries around the
Well known classical styles of dancing on the Indianworld, outsource high quality brain-power 82% of the
stage are Bharatanatyam, Kathakali, Odissi, Kathak,US companies ranked India as their first choice for
and Manipuri. Folk dances also contribute to thesoftware outsourcing.
plethora of Indian dances. The common root of all