India really is a fascinating country! They call it incredible India for a reason, and here are 10 fun facts that emphasize just how incredible India truly is.
Weather
1. It’s soooo dusty here and water is so precious that most people dust their cars instead of wash them.
2. The monsoon season is from July to September and it can rain inches in just a couple of hours. Delhi typically gets about 75% of its annual rainfall during the monsoons. Other parts of India get 90% of their rain during that time.
Indian man hiding under his bucket during the monsoons
3. India doesn’t use street addresses. They use the street names and landmarks (for example my apartment is on Golf Course Road across from IBUS hotel). It’s a terribly inefficient “system”, especially when famous landmarks change or go out of business.
Language
4. India is the #2 country for number of English speaking people. It’s a good thing because there are over 30,000 native India languages within the country. Hindi is their other common language but it’s ancient and they don’t have Hindi words for many modern things, such as phone, computer and office. So they use the English words for these things which means that even when speaking Hindi there are often many English words intertwined in the sentence.
Senior Citizens
5. It is illegal for an adult child in India to neglect their elderly parents after retirement.
Pollution
6. Parts of India are so polluted that studies show breathing the air there (Mumbai for example) is the equivalent of smoking 100 cigarettes per day. YUCK! No wonder so many people smoke.
7. India has more mobile phones than toilets. I believe this. I saw a native woman high up in the hills of the Himalaya mountains in the little town of Malana talking on a cell phone. This town didn’t even have a street, or a public toilet, but it had cell phones and dish TV.
Diet
8. About 30% of Indians are Veg. That’s the word they use to describe vegetarians. That makes it the worlds most vegetarian friendly country. However, they eat more meat per capita than any other nation, so I guess those that do eat meat eat a lot of it.
9. Indians don’t drink much water. You know how everyone in America walks around with their water bottle all day in an effort to be more healthy, well you rarely see that in India. I hardly even see it at the gym. FYI, the Hindi word for water is Panee. No, not panty!!
Prahiad Jani
10. There is an 80 some year old Holy man in India that claims that he hasn’t eaten, drank or used the toilet in over 70 years. In fact, scientists have studied him for weeks where he could not leave his observation room and he was under constant surveillance, only to be baffled by this mystery. Prahiad Jani says he was blessed by a goddess at a young age and continues to show his devotion by practicing yoga and meditation daily.
