Gateway of India

important to the social order in India during ancient times? The caste system is a system that Hindus are born into, married and die by. It divides people by birth from high to low caste, in which it fixes their jobs and place in society. Order is a vital for society, because it tells your place in that order, who performs the necessary rituals, and you fulfill your duty in each ever cast your born into. 2. How does this early ordering of society still affect India today? The caste system…

Identity is defined as “the condition of being oneself or itself, and not another” (Dictionary.com Unabridged). Identity is what separates one being from another, creating a sense of individuality. For one’s entire life, they fit within this definition; therefore, a person is born with an identity. As they develop, however, their identity changes based on personal choice. In other words, the identity of a person is not stagnant; it is a fluid description of a person based on various aspects of…

Although the British helped to modernized India, the British should apologize for the actions they took against the Indians during the Raj because the British killed and injured thousands of people, who were not fighting back, promote tensions between Hindu and Muslim that promoted violence, and did not care about what was best for the Indian population. A group of Indians were in an enclosed courtyard practicing peaceful protest, when a British military officer was told to shut the protest down…

In America, there is a theory that if one is born poor, he/she still can advance both with motivation and the use of all available resources; however, India still has a caste system (ironic, because they are a democracy) where few people rise and, sadly, most people move down. For example, traditions such as arranged marriages and limited female freedom continue to plague the nation. Consequently, many…

For the next 1,500 years, different parts of India were ruled by Middle kingdoms, among which the famous Gupta Empire stood out. This period witnessed an intellectual resurgence of the Hindu religion. It can be called the "Golden Age of India". During this time, aspects of culture and religion spread to a lot of Asia, while kingdoms in southern India had sea trade with the Roman Empire. During this time, the Indian cultural influence spread over large areas of Southeast Asia. This would lead…

A Curious Wealth of Poverty There is no place on earth quite like India. It is alive and bursting at the seams, its economy expanding at unprecedented rates. Potential is the national currency: GDP skyrocketing, international investment booming, and industry flourishing. Where dirt once dominated, there now stand skyscrapers, highways, luxury apartments. And yet, amidst all this wealth and prosperity, 363 million Indians are still living below the poverty line (Katyal), excluded from the…

For a long time, people thought King Asoka to be nothing more than a myth. With several writings concerning him, each relayed too fantastical an image to be convincing as truthful, keeping him in a legendary status. This all changed in 1837, well over a thousand years after his death, when a scholar James Prinsep managed to translate writings on a stone pillar in Delhi. After several other scholars raced to translate similar writings all over the Indian landscape, it became known that this King…

1.3 billion, 1.2 billion, 186 million. The respective populations of China, Qin Zhang’s country, India, Abdul Hussein’s country and Nigeria, my country. China has a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) output of $19.7 trillion and India has a GDP output of $7.9 trillion . These numbers indicate that these two countries have the strongest economies in Asia while Nigeria with a GDP output of $1 trillion holds the title of the strongest economy from the African continent. This zoomed out view allows us…

culture and didn’t change the way she viewed America. Bharati said that her sister, Mira, “After 36 years as a legal immigrant in this country, she clings passionately to her Indian citizenship” and she feels “some kind of irrational attachment to India” that she doesn’t have toward America (Bharati Mukherjee p.70-71). This indicates that she sustained her Indian heritage even though she went to a different country, America. However, Mira later tells Bharati that she obeyed all the rules, paid…

birth. Despite having such a simple premise, The Namesake shows the significance a name holds in both Indian and foreign, specifically American societies, and the varying impacts it has on both communities. Unlike names in American culture, names in India hold great importance since they are not just a verbal affiliation, but also a description of a person’s…