India Smart

India's huge population of 1.2 billion people is as varied and colorful as the spice markets of Old Delhi. Each region, caste, and community has its own culture, reflecting unique histories shaped by conquest, creativity, and religion. Steeped in ancient traditions, exceptionally fatalistic, and intensely passionate about their culture, the Indians are also ingenious, creative, and world leaders in cutting-edge science and technology. Show interest in their country, and it will be reciprocated with genuine warmth and friendship.

India is in transition. Since the publication of Culture Smart's first guide to India in 2003, the nation has been transformed from a developing third-world country into the world's fastest growing economy. This completely new and up-to-date volume by American author Becky Stephen is unrivalled.

From a hectic bazaar in Delhi's old town to a carved wooden temple in Kathmandu's Durbar Square, Jason Smart discovers a wealth of colour amid the chaotic crowds of the Indian Subcontinent. After some tea and biscuits with a Bangladeshi ambassador, he somehow manages to catch Delhi Belly before even setting foot in India. When he does eventually arrive, Jason is buzzed by fearsome insects, hassled by persistent touts and acquires a worrying 'fish eye' growth on his leg. Nonetheless, Jason never loses sight of the fact that his latest adventure is an eye-opener at every turn. From the ...

In the past two decades, mutual funds have emerged as the preferred investment option for Indians. They offer liquidity, and ease of entry and exit, along with potentially higher returns. This, in turn, makes mutual funds a natural choice over traditional investment options such as gold, real estate and fixed deposits. However, while the popularity of mutual funds has increased in India, the ability to use them to our advantage has not. Investors are frozen by the choices they face with thousands of mutual fund options.

She was trying to do her job by the book. Strong undercurrent of corruption was drifting her away. Could she survive her reality? Reema was a hard working Indian girl in her twenties. When her low paying public sector job made her work sixteen hours a day she did not complain. The same job introduced her to the reality of crime and corruption. Night after night Reema found herself wide awake turning from one side to another. Corruption was not a choice though corruption was about to kill her body and soul. Would she bury her naivety to become the ghastliest evil to triumph over the evil? ...

Reema and Suman became a drifting couple for sometime. Can they ever be able not only to perch but to roost? Reema and Suman, both are in their early thirties, with a full decade of work experience. When Reema quit her job to cling to Suman, Reema’s mother was upset, so was Suman. Suman was wary that he became the monster who took away Reema’s freedom. Reema tried hard to make Suman feel her love. The effort made her realize that freeing Suman from his household duties so that his sole attention goes to his job while Reema hops from gig to gig was not losing independence. Did she think ...

Though Reema and Suman were not shifting across the ocean every calendar year, yet they were drifting from a city to another almost every quarter of a year. Will their life become harder with time? On a stormy night Reema and Suman arrived at a new city. They were not sure how long they could stay there yet with each passing moment they found calmness in each other, bonding them stronger than ever before. Every good thing comes to an end. One evening some of Suman’s colleagues found Reema working. The wheels of jealousy and conspiracy started rolling and Reema’s aloofness from the ...

Reema has no clue if she could ever become strong enough to protect Suman from all the harm. Suman is clueless if he can keep his promises to Reema. Where would the couple end up? Reema and Suman went back home. Over the following month they sensed that the homecoming was temporary and they would be uprooted any moment to fly to a new location where they must start afresh. The new location was not at all welcoming. Reema and Suman saw worse and they tolerated the burnt. Arrangements of abrupt travel without the idea how long one has to stay in the new location hits on the money one has. Can...

MISSION MOON! On August 23, exactly at 12:33 P.M. UTC, India's Chandrayaan-3 mission's robotic lander, named Vikram, touched down on the surface of the moon. It was a moment of jubiliation and celebration across India and around the world. For the first time, humans had landed a spacecraft on the Moon's unexplored South Pole. Behind the success of this mission were the decades of hard work put in by the scientists and engineers of ISRO - the Indian Space Research Organization, in cooperation with other space agencies around the globe. From launching the orbiter, lander, and rover into space...