Learn the top five things you need to know about Indian society
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Maya: Hi and welcome back to All About Hindi, lesson 8. Top Five Things You Need to Know About Indian Society. I am Maya. |
| Manasi: Namaste dosto. Mera naam Manasi hai. Hi everybody, my name is Manasi. |
| Maya: In this lesson, we are going to tell you more about life in India. |
| Manasi: There are so many aspects to Indian society. It’s just hard to know where to begin. |
| Maya: Well since the title of this lesson is top five things you need to know about Indian society, I picked five topics. |
| Manasi: Which are |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Maya: India’s city life, family life, India’s work culture, politics and general trends. |
| Manasi: Wow! We are all set then right? |
| Maya: Right. Why don’t we start with city life? |
| Manasi: India is divided into 28 states and 7 union territories and New Delhi is the capital city. |
| Maya: According to the 2004 census of India, there were an estimated 15, 279,000 people living in the city of Delhi. That’s a huge number and it explains why Delhi is so crowded. |
| Manasi: And Maya, did you know that Delhi’s official name is National Capital Territory of Delhi. |
| Maya: Oh I see! Because of the migration of people from across the country, Delhi has grown to be a multicultural cosmopolitan metropolis. |
| Manasi: Yeah that’s true. Delhi has expanded in terms of population very fast due to the success of education, work, infrastructure, services and tourism there. |
| Maya: Manasi, can you tell us more about the climate in Delhi? |
| Manasi: Delhi features an atypical version of a humid subtropical climate with long, very hot summers and brief mild winters. |
| Maya: How about transportation in Delhi? |
| Manasi: The Delhi Metro is a mass rapid transit system built and operated by Delhi Metro Rail Corporation. |
| Maya: It serves many parts of Delhi as well as the satellite city of Noida and neighboring Uttar Pradesh right? |
| Manasi: Yes. In Delhi, Auto Rickshaws are a popular means of public transportation. |
| Maya: As they charge a lower fare than taxis. |
| Manasi: India’s next major city is Mumbai. |
| Maya: Ah it is really famous. |
| Manasi: Yes. Mumbai is the capital city of the state of Maharashtra and it is also the financial capital of India. |
| Maya: Also it is the second most populous city in the world. |
| Manasi: That’s right. Another major city is Bangalore. |
| Maya: Are you talking about the Silicon Valley of India? |
| Manasi: Exactly. Numerous public sector industries software, telecommunication and aerospace industries are located in Bangalore. |
| Maya: Can you tell us more about the family life in a big city like Delhi? |
| Manasi: Well there are a few interesting things to note. One is that you won’t see as many big families in Delhi as compared to other cities. |
| Maya: It’s very common for three generations the children, parents and their grandparents to live together in the same household. However, a trend towards nuclear families can be seen in Delhi. |
| Manasi: Also something that is kind of surprising is how long children live with their parents. Well into their adult years, sometimes even until they get married. |
| Maya: Wow, that’s quite a big difference I think compared to the US. In the US, there would come a time when most parents would say, okay you’ve been here long enough, time for you to go out and live on your own. I can’t really imagine any Indian parent saying that. |
| Manasi: Oh no and speaking about marriage, marriage is thought to be for life and the divorce rate is extremely low. |
| Maya: It used to be like that. You should be married by the time you are 25 or else it’s too late. |
| Manasi: Well some people think like that however things are changing especially in big cities. |
| Maya: Why is that? |
| Manasi: Umm well, there are a lot of different factors that contribute to it. People are less willing to settle and are choosier about their partners. A lot of young women these days value their career and in some cases getting married will hinder advances in their career. So there are a lot of other things too. |
| Maya: But it looks like parents will still encourage their children to marry once they reach a certain age. |
| Manasi: That’s true. Some parents might even have a matchmaking service help with a search for a partner. |
| Maya: Umm that’s interesting. Well let’s now talk about Indian work culture. Is there any unique facets of Indian culture? |
| Manasi: Yes Indian stretchable time has been known to drive some up the wall. |
| Maya: Right. A business meeting beginning half an hour after the scheduled time is not uncommon. |
| Manasi: Exactly. Late coming while not encouraged is not punishable either. |
| Maya: How about work life balance? Do you have very long working hours? |
| Manasi: Well luckily for the Indian white collared jobs, work life balance is quite good. |
| Maya: Well that sounds good. |
| Manasi: Well one more thing you should keep in mind is that kisses, hugs and familiar touches are very uncommon in Indian culture. |
| Maya: What about meals at the workplace? |
| Manasi: We have the Tiffin system where in stay at home moms prepare food, package it and send it to the workplace and it is very popular. |
| Maya: That’s really great. The system allows you to savor a home cooked meal at a relatively low price. |
| Manasi: Yes that’s true however multinationals have cafeterias which offer vegetarian and non-vegetarian food at a very subsidized rate. |
| Maya: Right. Let’s now go into politics for a moment. The president of India is the head of state. |
| Manasi: That’s correct. |
| Maya: But what is the role of the prime minister? |
| Manasi: Well that’s a good question. The prime minister is the head of government and exercises most executive powers. |
| Maya: I see. How old do people have to be in India to vote? |
| Manasi: 18 is the age that people can vote. |
| Maya: So that doesn’t change much from other countries. Finally, let’s talk about general trends in India. |
| Manasi: There are some generational trends that I want to talk about. Indian society is changing quickly in a lot of ways. |
| Maya: So a lot of people probably aren’t doing things the way their grandparents or even parents did before them. |
| Manasi: Yes like the lifelong employment system. The older generation was really loyal to the company they worked for. They would work a lot of overtime most of which was unpaid and just for the good of the company. |
| Maya: The younger generation on the other hand doesn’t seem to really have the same mindset. |
| Manasi: And that’s correct. I think the attitudes are changing. |
| Maya: These days, it doesn’t seem like changing jobs is really a big deal anymore. If there is something that they are not satisfied with, they will find a new company to work for. |
| Manasi: That’s right. You might be able to say that they have a more of their own interest in mind. |
| Maya: But members of the older generation might see this as being selfish but it will be interesting to see how the generations continue to change. |
| Manasi: Well that’s a glimpse into the Indian society of today. |
| Maya: We hope you’ve learned a lot. We certainly covered a lot of information. |
| Manasi: That’s right and you will get to learn much more in the next all about Hindi series. Listeners, do you know the powerful secret behind rapid progress? |
| Maya: Using the entire system… |
| Manasi: Lesson notes are an important part of this system. |
| Maya: They include a transcript and translation of the conversation. |
| Manasi: Key lesson vocabulary |
| Maya: And detailed grammar explanations. |
| Manasi: Lesson notes accompany every audio or video lessons |
| Maya: Use them on the site or mobile device or print them out. |
| Manasi: Using the lesson notes with audio and video media will rapidly increase your learning speed. |
Outro |
| Maya: Go to hindipod101.com and download the lesson notes for this lesson right now. See you next time. |
| Manasi: Phir milenge. Goodbye. |
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