Unique India

Sometimes you begin to realize all the expressiveness and improbability of the visited country or place, returning from it and sorting through the photos. While traveling in India, I met many different people. And now, having collected all the photos accumulated over 1.5 months in a separate folder and reviewing them carefully, I was literally stunned. So many unique faces, vivid images, and stories in this country. Old people, women, men, children.. Office workers, beggars, clergymen.

In general, 1.4 billion inhabitants of the planet in a brief retelling. Bengalis, Tamils, Karnataks and Maharats, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, and others.

I always thought that one of the main attractions of any country is people. Several dozen different ethnic people live in India. And little is known about all these peoples outside of India and ethnographic communities.

Tamils are the fifth largest ethnic group in India, living mainly in the south. There are about 60 million Tamils in India. There are also Tamils in Sri Lanka (they staged a civil war in the north of the island in the 80s, which ended only 10 years ago). They have their own language, which is the official state of Tamil Nadu, and their own alphabet. Many people don't speak Hindi.

Here is a romantic image: a young Tamil woman - a switchman works on the Nilgiri narrow-gauge railway and regulates the movement of steam locomotives:

Marathas live in central and western India, the state of Maharashtra (center - Mumbai), Marathas are the fourth ethnic group in India, there are about 70 million of them.

Nagpur, a masala merchant:

Nagpur Station, Maharashtra. Here, too, Hindi is not very common. But the letters used in Marahta are the same as in Hindi:

Marathas live not only in Maharashtra but also in neighboring states, for example, in Madhya Pradesh.

In the state of Madhya Pradesh, somewhere between Gwalior and Sheopur, peoples generally live whose women completely cover their faces with veils. This is present literally in several villages. If you drive a little further you will find nothing like that:

Muslims in India are about 14%. Not so much, it would seem. But if we consider in absolute terms, it is almost 200 million. They are relatively evenly distributed throughout the country, although some places like Hyderabad will still have an increased concentration.

The main language of Indian Muslims is Urdu, which is the official language in neighboring Pakistan. It's funny that in terms of their number, non-Muslim India ranks 2nd in the world, second only to Indonesia.

The Bengalis are one of the largest divided peoples in the world. 250 million, of which 83 live in India and 170 in Bangladesh. Some of them are Hindus by religion, some are Muslims.

When India was partitioned, Muslim Bengalis found themselves in another country, which later separated from the new metropolis. The remaining Bengalis continued to live in India, but there are enough family ties between the Bengalis of India and Bangladesh.

Bengali woman from Calcutta:

By the way, Bengali is the second most spoken language in India after Hindi.

A large diaspora of Tibetans lives in Delhi and in the northern mountainous states such as Himachal Pradesh or Jammu and Kashmir. The Nepalese live in the northern regions of Dajjiling and Sikkim. Buddhism is more prevalent here:

And, of course, the Sikhs. These are very special people. The Sikhs have their own religion, quite young, having nothing in common with Hinduism, temples, and traditions.

Sikhs can always be identified by their characteristic turbans.

The center of Sikhism is located in the state of Punjab, and the main shrine is in the capital - Amritsar. I have not been there, but there are a lot of Sikhs and their temples all over the country. They have quite interesting services, prayers, and they also feed everyone.

It is sometimes very difficult for us to understand them, their religion, mentality. Their caste system, a combination of tolerance for unsanitary conditions, their love for everything bright and beautiful. But, here they are.

Women try to dress very brightly. Multi-colored saris are the most popular outfit for the beautiful half of humanity. Even peasant women from distant villages will have rings on their hands, earrings.

At the same time, in all this beauty, they can calmly lie down right on the bench:

Hindus don't bother themselves with simple things. Here, let's say, what do you need for sleep? A bed, a blanket, silence, darkness ... For an Indian to sleep, only one thing is enough - the Hindu himself, who wants to sleep.

Absolutely any horizontal surface is suitable for sitting.

A man, bathing in the Ganges:

Indians love to be photographed. That's the fact.

Children and teenagers are especially different. At one godforsaken station, a whole delegation gathered around me and followed me back and forth. No aggression, no begging, just a pure curiosity. And if they see a camera in your hands, you won’t leave alive until you take a picture of everyone ...

Often in other countries, if you want to take pictures of people you have to ask their permission. Here, in India, is the opposite problem. They ask you to shoot them even if you try to tell them that you don't need so many pics. But they see the camera and, "Photo me, photo me, mister" will never end.

Flowers of Life (Varanasi):

These ones have not yet grown to the age when they can demand something from "mister". But soon, soon...:

Sometimes you can see amazing people. Right in the heart of the capital.

You can shoot everywhere and everyone. Interesting situations can be found both in a remote village and on the main streets of the capital.

And in the center of Delhi, among the elite banks, expensive cars and skyscrapers, there is a place for an ox-driver.

A beautiful Indians:

This is a vibrant country. Unusual, colorful, not yet understood by everyone, but such a diverse India.