Hindi is the main language spoken in North India. Even though most people in Varanasi speak Hindi, there are countless languages spoken in India. More than 1,500 local languages were counted in the 2001 census! Some of the other main languages include Tamil, Marathi and Gujarati.
While we, in the United States, use the U.S. dollar, in India, they use rupees.
A bottle of water usually costs 20 rupees, or around 23 U.S. cents. Right now, rupees are worth less than U.S. dollars, so it takes about 100 rupees to equal 1 U.S. dollar.
When I was in Rajasthan, I tried food local to the region. One famous dish from Rajasthan is called pyazz kachori. This consists of fried discs of dough filled with a spicy onion stuffing. So delicious!
This week, I listened to Bollywood music. Bollywood is a generalized name for the Indian movie industry. Bollywood puts a lot of money into the music they make for their movies, so they always create really beautiful work. I recommend "Tum Jo Aaye" sung by Pritam and Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, among others.
I have also been listening to an artist named Saint Levant.
