Thursday, November 11, 2010

Jaipur - The city where art and history never sleep

Jaipur is one of the most visited cities in India. Travelers choose this location because of it's unique beauty. Jaipur, also known as Pink City, is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Rajasthan. It was built as the first planned city of India and it once served as the capital for the royalty; it is now the capital city of Rajasthan.

Jaipur was founded in 1727 by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II who ruled from 1699–1744; it took about 4 years to complete the major palaces and roads. The king changed the capital from it's original position because of the increase in population and growing scarcity of water. The King ordered the building of the city under the architectural guidance of Vidyadar Bhattacharya. The city was built following the classical basis of principles of Vastu Shastra and similar classical treatise. Jaipur is considered by many urbanologists to be one of the best planned cities.

Travelers have a wide variety of places that be chosen for visiting. Among those are City Palace, Jantar Mantar, Albert Hall, Statue Circle, Moti Doongri, Hawa Mahal, Water Palace, Jaigarh Fort, Naharagarh Fort, Jal Mahal, Govind Dev Ji Temple, Panchayati Hall, Ram Niwas Garden, Sisodia Rani Garden and Palace, Vidyadhar Garden, Rambagh Palace etc.

Your Safety Tips While Spending Time In India

Staying in India has not been problem for anyone but there are some tips that everybody must know in order to be in good health and to enjoy the trip even more. India is an entirely different world—a magical place full of sights to see and things to do, but also a world of crowds, traffic, bargaining, pollution, and confusion. There’s much in India that you have to see.

Stay Healthy: Always carry a water bottle with you. Either boil your own water, or make sure to buy bottled water from a reliable distributor (Bisleri, Yes!, etc.). If you eat on the street, consume only fresh fruit or food that is boiled or fried. Food that hasn’t been cooked at high temperatures could make you sick also. So be prepared in advance.

Be Safe: Always keep your passport and other documents papers close to you. Don't leave your important documents in your luggage. Also keep 2 passport size photographs in a safe place. You can find beggars on streets in India but don't give them money, it's better to buy a meal and give them.

Transportation: Remember India is the second most populous country in the world. If you want to travel by bus to local Bazaars (markets) u can't get a seat easily; buses are fully crowded. Better to arrange your own personal Auto-rikshaw. Transportation is cheap in India.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Culture of India

India is a country where everybody can find a variety of cultures in a place. The languages, religions, dances, music, architecture and customs differ from place to place within the same country. The Indian tradition dates back to 8,000 B.C.

There are sevral languages spoken in India but the national language is Hindi. These are the few languages which are spoken in India in diffrent cities & states : Assamese· Bengali· Bodo· Chhattisgarhi · Dogri · Garo · Gujarati · Standard Hindi · Kannada · Kashmiri · Khasi · Kokborok · Konkani · Maithili · Malayalam · Manipuri · Marathi · Mizo · Nepali · Oriya · Punjabi · Sanskrit · Santali · Sindhi · Telugu · Tamil · Urdu.

India is the birth place of four of the world's major religious traditions, named Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism. According to the recent census ,Hinduism accounted for 80.5% of the population of India. Islam(13.5%), Christianity (1.3%) and Sikhism (2.9%) are the other major religions followed by the people of India.

Dance in India consists of a variety of forms, from the ancient classical or temple dance to folk and modern styles. In India you can find more than a 100 kinds of folk dance.

Music consists of different jenres and meanings. Even if we go with the states in India every state has its own foundation of music. The popular music/songs are from Hindustani music, Carnatic music, Bauls, Bhangra, Dandiya, Ganasangeet, Uttarakhandi music, Haryanavi music, Qawwali, Rajasthani. The rock, hip-hop, pop & classical music in India has an interesting take over the world and interesting notes.

The architecture of India is amongst the most beautiful styles in the world. There are architectural monuments in India; one example is the Taj Mahal, which is one of the great wonders of the world. Every state and city is know worldwide for the beautiful architecture.

Customs in India: Traditional Indian clothing for women are the saris or the salwar kameez and also Ghaghra Cholis (Lehengas). For men, traditional clothes are the Dhoti, Lungi or Kurta. Saris are graceful elegant clothing ones made out of silk are the most elegant and lots of people love them and have cupboards full of highly pretty silk saris. In southern India the men wear long, white sheets of cloth called dhoti in north Indian languages like Hindi and Bengali and veshti in Tamil. Over the dhoti, men wear shirts, t-shirts, or anything else. Women wear a sari, a long sheet of colourful cloth with patterns. This is draped over a simple or fancy blouse. This is worn by young ladies and woman. Little girls wear a pavada. A pavada is a long skirt worn under a blouse. Both are often daily patterned. Bindi is part of the women's make-up.