RELIGIONS

India is one of the most religious nations in the world. It is known as the birth place for Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism. Today, Hinduism and Buddhism are the world's third and fourth largest religions with over 2 billion followers.

Hinduism
Caste system is one of the oldest aspects in Hinduism that form the basis of social system in India. Hinduism followers believe that there is a three-in-one god known as Brahma (the creator), Vishnu (the preserver) and Shiva (the destroyer). They also believe in Karma. It is a law good begets good and bad begets bad. Every action either good or bad will return to each person in the present life, or in one yet to come. Hinduism also believes in reincarnation where each person experiences as series of physical births, death and rebirths. Nirvana is the goal of Hinduism which is the release of soul from the endless cycle of rebirths.

Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion based on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama which taught about the method of understanding oneself and the world in different way. Buddhism does not believe in the existence of God. Instead of teaching doctrines to be memorized and believed, the Buddha taught the way to realize truth for ourselves. The foundation of Buddhism is the Four Noble Truths which are: 1. The truth of suffering 2. The truth of the cause of suffering 3. The truth of the end of suffering 4. The truth of the path that frees us from suffering

Jainism
Jainism is an ancient religion from India that teaches the way to liberation and bliss is to live a life of harmless and renunciation. The aim of Jain life is to achieve liberation of the soul. The triple gems of Jainism - right vision or view (Samyak Darshana), right knowledge (Samyak Gyana) and right conduct (Samyak Charitra) provide the path for attaining liberation from the cycles of birth and death.

Sikhism
The goal of every Sikh is to build a close and loving relationship. They believe in a single, Formless God, with many names, which can be known through meditation. They also believe in reincarnation like Buddhism. They reject the Caste system of Hindu religion as they believe that everyone have the equal status in the eyes of the God.

FESTIVAL
India, being a multi-cultural and multi-religious society, celebrates holidays and festivals of various religions such as Diwali, Ganesh Chaturthi, Holi, Onam, Pushkar Camel Fair and others.

Divali
Divali is known as "Festival of Light" which is a five day festival that represents the start of the Hindu New Year. During the celebration, the Indians will light all the fireworks, small day lamps and candles. This light are said to represent the victory of good over evil and brightness over darkness. It is a very warm and atmospheric festival and it is observed with much joy and happiness.

Ganesh Chaturthi
This eleven day festival honors the birth of the beloved Hindu elephant-headed God, Lord Ganesha. Huge, elaborately crafted statutes of Ganesha are installed in many homes and podiums at the beginning of the celebration. At the end of the celebration, the statutes are paraded through the streets, accompanied y much singing and dancing, and the submerged in the ocean.

Holi
Like Diwali, Holi is also a festival that celebrates the victory of goods over evils as well as the abundance of spring harvest season. It is commonly referred as the "Festival of Colors" During the celebration, people will throw colored powder and water all over each other, have parties and dances under water sprinkles.

Onam
Onam is a traditional ten day harvest festival that marks the homecoming of the mythical King Mahabali. It is a festival rich in culture and heritage. People will decorate the ground in front of their houses with flowers arranges in beautiful patterns to welcome the King. This festival also celebrated with new clothes, feasts served on banan leaves, dancing, sports, games, and snake boat races.

Pushkar Camel Fair

This festival is celebrated in India's state of Rajasthan. It involves an astonishing 50,000 camels in this tiny dessert town. For five days, all the camels are dressed up, paraded, shaved, entered into the beauty contests, raced and traded.

Family Value
Like most Asian countries, Indians are very conservative about their family values. Young Indians should always touch the feet of his elders as a form of respect for the elders. They are restrained from speaking in a high or rude tone to those who are older to them. Elders in India are refer as 'aap' and they are the ones always give advice to the young when it comes to making important decision such as marriage and career. However, there may be some variations too, depending upon different families. For instance, in some houses, girls are not allowed to wear skirts after they reach certain age, while in others, they can wear anything, as long as it is decent and not bodyrevealing. The common of the values that the Indian parents believe in imparting to their children do not appeal to the outside world. Indians are taught how to live peacefully and respecting each other's rights. They are withholding the value of 'Atithi Devo Bhava' which is treating guest as God. Therefore, they are taught to being hospitable to everyone who comes to their home, irrespective of his caste, creed, financial position or status.

Language
India is a multilingual subcontinent, and many Indians are bilingual or even trilingual. The mixed and complex use of different languages in everyday conversations is typical of Indian communication. In India, 22 languages are recognised as official languages. The largest language is Hindi; the second largest Bengali. English is the second official language of 100 million speakers, but also the language of law and government. Indian languages have corresponding distinct alphabets. Indian English is mainly spoken by the educated class, and it has served as a bridge to the Western world and as a link across different languages spoken in. Traditionally, Indian communication style follows the HC culture discourse. In most Indian languages for example, Hindi and Marathi, people use respectful forms while talking to an elderly person. High respect for elders is also seen in younger sisters and brothers never calling their elder sibling by their first name, but by the words tai (eldest sister), mai (second eldest sister) and bhau (eldest brother).

High Context Culture

Traditionally, India represents a high context culture. It is characterised by the same courtesy, patience, harmony and pragmatism that characterises Japanese culture. Indians are very family-oriented and loyal to their group and to their employer. Indian society is a hierarchical system in which all obligations and duties arise from being a member of the family, a member of a work group, an employee or an employer. People in India dislike direct confrontation and for the most part avoid expressing a clear "no."

Meeting and Greeting

Handshake is an acceptable gesture, particularly in most urban centres. Indians may like to combine that with the Namaste (which literally means I bow to you) therefore, they will do a Namaste and then shake hands if the non-verbal cue indicates so. In urban India, it is perfectly fine to shake hands with women as well, unless the non-verbal cue says otherwise. However, a male-male hug is prohibited in India , nor a kiss on the cheek of a woman even if one knows the woman very well. Indian normally exchanges business cards at the first meeting. Cards should be handled with respect, for example cards are not chucked across the table. Dinner appointments for business purposes are rare. Official dinners are mostly hosted as large gatherings, and are mainly meant for socialising and getting to know each other. Business over lunch is quite popular, breakfast meeting can often happen without the breakfast. Indians are born multi-taskers and are likely allows for some distractions or disturbances during the meeting, such as a few phone calls.

Indian Head Wobble

The head wobble is the non-verbal equivalent of that multipurpose and omnipresent Hindi word accha. It can mean anything from "good" to "I understand. The most common use of the head wobble is to respond in the affirmative which means yes. The head wobble is also often used as a sign that what's being said is understood. For example, if you tell them you will meet them at a certain place at 5 o'clock and they wobble their head at you, it means that it is fine and they will be there. Sometimes, it is also use as an alternative to "thank you", although is not commonly said in India. Indian also wobble their head to acknowledge someone's presence which it is

particularly useful if they see someone you know across the street but can't shout out to them. Head wobble can also be a gesture of kindness or benevolence, for example, if someone sits down next to you on the train.

Namaste
Namaste or namaskar is the Indian way of greeting each other. Wherever they are on the street, in the house, in public transport, on vacation or on the phone when Hindus meet people they know or strangers with whom they want to initiate a conversation, namaste is the customary courtesy greeting to begin with and often to end with. It is not a superficial gesture or a mere word, and is for all people - young and old, friends and strangers. Namaste and its common variants namaskar, namaskaara or namaskaram, is one of the five forms of formal traditional greeting mentioned in the Vedas. This is normally understood as prostration but it actually refers to paying homage or showing respect to one another, as is the practice today, when we greet each other. In Sanskrit the word is namah + te = namaste which means I bow to you - my greetings, salutations or prostration to you. The word namaha can also be literally interpreted as "na ma" (not mine). It has a spiritual significance of negating or reducing one's ego in the presence of another. Namaste could also be just a casual or formal greeting, a cultural convention or an act of worship. However, there is much more to it than meets the eye. The real meeting between people is the meeting of their minds. When we greet one another with namaste, it means, may our minds meet, indicated by the folded palms placed before the chest. The bowing down of the head is a gracious form of extending friendship in love, respect and humility.

Long Term Orientation

India is a long term oriented societies. It has a Long Term Orientation (LTO) dimension rank of 61, with the world average at 48. This indicates that India prescribes to the values of long-term commitments and respects for tradition. The characteristics of a long term oriented society include persistence and perseverance, ordering relationships by status, thrift and having a sense of shame. The long term orientation dimension is closely associated to the teachings of Confucius and can be interpreted as dealing with societys search for virtue, the degree to which a society displays a pragmatic future-oriented perspective rather than a conventional historical short-term point of view. In India, the concept of karma dominates religious and philosophical thought. Time is not linear, and thus not as important as to western societies which typically score low on this dimension. India has a great tolerance for religious views from all over the world Hinduism is often considered a philosophy more than even a religion; an amalgamation of ideas, views, practices and esoteric beliefs. In India there is an acceptance that there are many truths and often depends on the seeker. Societies that have a high score on LTO, typically forgive lack of punctuality, a changing game-plan based on changing reality and a general comfort with discovering the fated path as one goes along rather than playing to an exact plan.

References
http://geert-hofstede.com/india.html