INDIA TRAVEL INFORMATION

Indian cuisine is distinguished by its sophisticated use of spices, herbs, and the influence of the longstanding and widespread practice of vegetarianism within sections of the Hindu community in Indian society.

Food is an integral part of India's culture, with cuisines differ according to community, region, and state. Indian cuisine is characterized by a great variety of foods, spices, and cooking techniques. Furthermore, each religion, region, and caste has left its own influence on Indian food. Many recipes first emerged, when India was predominantly inhabited by Vedic Hindus. Later, Christians, British, Buddhists, Portuguese, Muslims from Turkey, Arabia, Mughal, and Persia and many other settlers had their influence as well. Vegetarianism came to prominence and significance during the rule of Ashoka, one of the greatest of Indian rulers who was a promoter of Buddhism. In India, food, culture, religion, and regional festivals are all closely related. Indian meat and fish cuisine is mostly influenced by the Muslim population.

Though India is often and justly described as a land of many religions and innumerable languages, it might as well be described as a land of festivals as well. As in any old civilization, most of these festivals have religious associations, as is the case with Holi, Dusshera, Krishna Janmashtmi, Ram Navami, Hanuman Jayanti, Ganesh Chaturthi, Muharram, Shivratri, and Diwali or Deepavali, Christmas, Good Friday, Easter; many are also, in a country which is still predominantly rural, associated with the harvesting of the crop, as is true of Pongal-Sankranti in South India, or otherwise commemorative of the sacred ties with the land that Indian villagers have. Still others, such as Karwa Chauth, the observance of which is strictly restricted to Hindu married women, are not festivals as such though there may be something of a festive air attached to these occasions. Some festivals are observed throughout the country, or in a greater part of it; others, such as the famed snake shaped boat race of Kerala, have peculiarly regional associations.

India has a hot tropical weather with variations occurring region to region. While the coolest months are from November to mid-March, hottest are from April to June. From mid-July to September one can experience Monsoon rains. Winters in India are severe cold in mountains, very cold in the Northern plains and pleasant in the central parts of India, with plenty of sunny days. Most of the North India remains dry, hot and dusty, and unpleasant during the summer months. For a tourist, India provides ample opportunities to participate in diverse activities in different parts of the country. While in winter Rajasthan is dry and cold and the skies a translucent blue. There is little rain and the monsoon laden winds often pass Rajasthan by leaving the prickly thorny bushes, acacia trees and other native vegetation to pick up whatever little dew the night bring with it. Pumps and tube wells lift water for agricultural irrigation but farmers often get only a few distribution of water, particularly in the more arid areas of Jodhpur, Bikaner and Jaisalmer, is systematically organized. You can explore India in all the seasons, but you will have to be selective about the destinations and the climate they choose to visit.

India has a very rich history of handicrafts that has evolved over the centuries. The entire wealth of timeless Indian handicrafts have survived through ages. The legacy of Indian culture promises everything- beauty, dignity, distinctiveness, form and style.Woodcraft is a distinctive craft born of the needs of the local people and inspired by the rich variety of beautiful wood available in India. The brilliant craftsmen of India have shown an exceptional skill in engraving, chisellining and ornamenting of gold, silver, platinum and iron articles of everyday and decorative use.

India has utilized the bamboo wood in the wisest possible manner. Through ages Bamboo bridges are linking the innumerable villages together. Beautiful glass items of superb quality made to lure you with their artistic excellence are available in abundance and come in exquisite shapes in a variety of rich colours embossed with gold or many fascinating coloured designs. Clay craft is the earliest of man's creations and marks his coming of age. It's called lyric of handicrafts because of its universal appeal. India has and boasts of many such have a variety of earthen objects like earthen lamps, earthen drums, flower vases and musical instruments made of traditional items and coloured with natural vegetable dyes.

The rupee is the official currency of India. The issuance of the currency is controlled by the Reserve Bank of India. The most commonly used symbol for the rupee is Rs. The ISO 4217 code for the Indian rupee is INR.

The modern rupee is subdivided into 100 paise .As is standard in Indian English, large values of Indian rupees are counted in terms of thousands, Lakh (100 thousand, in digits 1,00,000 ), crore (100 Lakhs, in digits 1,00,00,000) and Aarwb (100 crore, in digits 1,00,00,00,000). The use of million or billion, as is standard in American or British English, is far less common.

A four thousand years of continuous culture and heritage history has meant that a number of Indian customs and traditions have come down from generation to generation to the present day lives of the Indians, almost without a change for thousand of years. These customs invariably invoke curiosity and anxiety in the minds of visiting foreigners tempting them to wonder what they mean. Given below are some of these traditions and customs of India which have remained an integral part of Indian traditions for more than a thousand years. Namaskaar or Namaste, with both the hands folded upto the chest level is the most popular form of greeting in India. It is a general salutation that is used to greet or welcome somebody and also for bidding farewell to the person to say till we meet again.

Tilak, a mark with the red coloured vermillion on the person's forehead, is a ritual and an auspicious mark. It can be put in many forms as a sign of blessing, greeting or auspiciousness. The Tilak or Teeka, as it is popularly known as among the local Indians, is usually made out of a red vermilion paste (kumkum) which is a mixture of turmeric, alum, iodine, camphor, sandal wood etc. Aarti is performed as an act of veneration and love. These Aartis is also performed to ward off evil effects and the malefic influence of the 'evil eye'. Flower garlands are generally offered as a mark of respect and honour. They are weaved in thread tied in the end with the help of a knot. A Bindi or a 'dot' is an auspicious mark worn by young girls and married women.

Many Indian women wear a pin or nose ring on their nose studded with semi-precious stones, called a nose pin. Mangalsutra is a necklace made of black beads, worn only by married women as a mark of being married. It is the Indian equivalent of the western wedding ring. The mangalsutra is tied by the bridegroom around his bride's neck at the time of marriage while the Hindu priest chants the holy Hindu mantras.

IST is the time observed throughout India, with a time offset of UTC+5:30 . India does not observe daylight saving time, (DST) or other seasonal adjustments, although DST was used briefly during the Sino-Indian War of 1962 and the Indo-Pakistani Wars of 1965 and 1971. In military and aviation time, IST is designated E* ("Echo-Star").

Indian Standard Time is calculated on the basis of 82.5° E longitde, which is just west of the town of Mirzapur, near Allahabad in the state of Uttar Pradesh. The longitude difference between Mirzapur and the United Kingdom's Royal Observatory at Greenwich translates to an exact time difference of 5 hours 30 minutes. Local time is calculated from a clock tower at the Allahabad Observatory ( 25.15° N 82.5° E ) though the official time-keeping devices are entrusted to the National Physical Laboratory, in New Delhi.