Introduction
India, or Hindustan, was named by the Greeks after the Indus Valley civilization flourished around the river Indus. Its dominant civilization was Hindu and Buddhist; but around the 11th century, it was attacked from the Islamic north. The most famous of its conquerors were the Mughals, who established their empire in the16th century. In the age of exploration, the first Europeans to arrive were the Portuguese who developed an empire in Goa. In the early 17th century, the Dutch displaced the Portuguese. The English East India Company established its presence from the 1610s, followed by the French arrival in the1660s. Around the 1720s, the power of the Mughal Empire started to decline. During the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars, the opportunity was seized in 1818 by the British East India Company who had gained supremacy. After the Indian rebellion against the Britishers in 1857, the sovereignty was passed to the British crown. In the 19th century, India was undoubtedly Britain’s most important colony. The Second World War expedited the devolution. British India was partitioned into the separate states of Pakistan and India hastily and without enough planning on how to conduct the division.
India became independent on the 15th of August 1947. India currently has 28 states, and almost each state has its own language. The national languages are Hindi and English. The suffix “-stan” has its roots from Persia, Latin, Greek, Russian, Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia, Dutch, Scandinavia, and central and south Asia.
Country Information
Geographic Facts
Here are three geographic facts about India:
1. It fronts the Bay of Bengal on the southeast and the Arabian Sea on the southwest. India covers has a coastline of 1,222,559 sq mi (3,166,414 sq km) and has a population of 1,198,003,000 (2009 est.). India is the second most populous country in the world, after China. It is slightly bigger than one-third the size of the US land.
2. India’s defining geological processes commenced seventy-five million years ago when the Indian subcontinent and southern supercontinent began a northeastward drift lasting fifty million years. This resulted in the formation of the Indian Ocean. The subcontinent’s subsequent collision with the Eurasian plate and subduction under it, gave rise to the Himalayas, the planet’s highest mountains, in northern India.
3. India’s climate is strongly influenced by the Himalayas and the Thar Desert; they both drive the monsoons. The Himalayas prevent cold Central Asian Katabatic windfrom blowing in, keeping the bulk of the Indian subcontinent warmer than most locations at similar latitudes. India has mountains, Jungles, beaches, deserts and urban cities.
3“Serious “facts
Here are three serious facts about India.
1. The currency of India is the Rupee. India is a federal state with a parliamentary form of government. India is a secular democratic country with a republic constitution. It is governed under the 1949 constitution. The president of India, who is the head of state, is elected for a five-year term by the elected members of the federal and state parliaments; there are no term limits. Theoretically the president possesses full executive power, but that power actually is exercised by the Prime Minister.
2. Only a few years before Babur’s triumph, Vasco da Gama had landed at Calicut (1498) and the Portuguese had conquered Goa (1510). It was a British colony from 1757 to 1947. Christopher Columbus discovered America by accident when he was trying to find a route to India.
3. India has been suffering from terrorism and territory capture attempts since 1957. The Indus valley civilization was a highly sophisticated culture; its chief urban centers were Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa. Ancient India had kings and its populace migrated from Greece, Middle East Asia, and other European countries. About 22 percent of the population of India is classified as undernourished by the World Bank.
3 “Fun” Facts
Here are three fun facts about India:
1. The national symbols of India are the Royal Bengal Tiger, Peacock, Dolphin, Lotus (flower), the Mango, Banyan (tree), and field hockey (sport). It has the 3rd largest number of armed forces personnel in the world.
2. The University of Oxford, England student Indira Gandhi was India’s first Lady Prime Minister. Recently, Sonia Gandhi was elected as the Indian Prime Minister; she was born and raised in Italy.
3. Indians eat different foods based on region and religion. One can get the benefit of so many different varieties of food in the same country. One can see the differences in the cuisine influenced by different cultures and spices. India is the world’s largest producer of licit opium for the pharmaceutical Industry.
Potpourri Item
Things are not like the way they were shown in the movie “Slumdog Millionaire.” I know this because I was born and raised in India and have travelled to different parts of the country. For example, not all of the cities in the US are like Camden, Bronx, Brooklyn, New Orleans, Compton and Inglewood.
People in India do not literally worship cows; they are considered sacred because they provide nourishment. Also, because Hinduism believes one does not have the right to kill any animal created by god; it is considered going against god’s will.
Food Information
Recipe
Ingredientsfor the Dhokla
2 cups cream of wheat [soji] or Semolina
2 tbsp gram/chickpea flour [besan]
1 cup fresh yogurt
1 teaspoon ginger paste
2 green chilies, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
3 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tbsp eno [fruit salts]
1 tsp mustard seeds
2 tbsp oil
freshly chopped coriander leaves(optional for garnishing)
Scraped coconut(optional for garnishing)
Cooking Directions
Take chickpea flour in a bowl. Add yogurt and approximately one cup of warm water and mix and avoid lumps. Add salt and mix it again. Leave it aside to ferment for three to four hours. When gram flour mixture has fermented, add turmeric powder and green chilli-ginger paste. Heat the steamer. Grease a metal dish (thali). In a small bowl take lemon juice, soda bicarbonate, one teaspoon of oil and mix all of them. Add it to the batter and whisk it briskly. Pour the batter into the greased metal plate (thali) and place it in the steamer. Cover with the lid and steam for ten minutes. When it cools down to warm, cut into squares and keep in a serving bowl/plate. Heat the remaining oil in a small pan and Add mustard seeds. When the seeds begin to crackle, remove and pour over the dhoklas.You may also serve with garnished chopped coriander leaves and scraped coconut for added flavor.
Sources of recipe- Bharti Patel, and www.sanjeevkapoor.com
My Kitchen Story
My aunt had soaked the pulses in the water for two days before she made the Cream of wheat homemade. But one can just buy a ready-made flour. The process of making Indian spices is intense and time consuming, so I decided to buy some Masala(spice packets). While I was helping my aunt with the batter mix, I had to answer my boss’ call and got the flour on my face. When I was pulling the Dhokla out of the steamer, I burned my hands because I wasn’t careful enough. After we sampled the Dhoklas, my uncle made a joke; “It isn’t enough that they are charging you for tuition and you are not guaranteed a job. Now, they order you to bring food for the class. What a tyranny!”
Contact Info: To contact the author of “A Taste of India: A Recipe for Dhokla, Please email him at nvneeraj9@yahoo.com.
BIOGRAPHY
David C. Wyld (dwyld.kwu@gmail.com) is the Robert Maurin Professor of Management at Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond, Louisiana. He is a management consultant, researcher/writer, and executive educator. His blog, Wyld About Business, can be viewed at http://wyld-business.blogspot.com/. He also serves as the Director of the Reverse Auction Research Center (http://reverseauctionresearch.blogspot.com/), a hub of research and news in the expanding world of competitive bidding. Dr. Wyld also maintains compilations of his student’s publications regarding management concepts (http://toptenmanagement.blogspot.com/), book reviews (http://wyld-about-books.blogspot.com/) and international foods (http://wyld-about-food.blogspot.com/).
Written by David Wyld
Professor of Management, Southeastern Louisiana University
