An Indian Father 's Plea Essay

Helena Wood

10/2016

Period:4 ELM 2

Do you think that your culture impacts your decisions more than your personal opinion does? Or maybe that your culture has nothing to do with your viewpoint? There is a lot of controversy on this topic. A person 's culture majorly affects how one views the world, however personal opinion, experiences also play a role. Personal experiences help to shape people into who they are today. Personal experiences shape how you respond to situations. In "An Indian Father's Plea" written by Robert Lake, the piece of fiction discusses how Wind–Wolf makes his own decisions based off of his past experiences. "...So now my young Indian child does not want to go to school anymore."(92) Wind–Wolf is bullied at school for his cultural heritage, and decides he doesn't want to go to school anymore. He is teased, this is to due with his culture, but also his emotions. He takes in his situation and makes a decision to fix his problem by cutting out his culture. In my experience, no one can make me do something, I've always made choices, good or bad, and had to take responsibility for them. "Now he refuses to sing his native songs, play with his Indian artifacts, learn his language, or participate in his sacred ceremonies."(92) No one is forcing Wind–Wolf not to play with his toys, or participate in cultural activities. He is introduced to a new culture, and starts to merge his views and values with theirs. He finds a middle ground that he is comfortable with

Think of India and one of the first things that come to mind is its diversity. A large populous country divided into many states; each with its own unique traditions and gastronomic fare. Indian cooking is one of the most popular cuisines across the globe. Not only is it popular among the large Indian diaspora but also among the mainstream population of North America and Europe. For the uninitiated, Indian food may seem foreign, scary, spicy and not for the faint of heart. This paper aims to explore many of the facets that make upIndian cuisine and hopefully allay any misconceptions or fears that may exist. The chapters are categorized under the following sections: 1. The Evolution of Indian Cooking 2. Geographical...show more content...

Northern India North Indian cuisine is distinguished by a proportionally high use of dairy products. The tawa, or griddle, is used extensively for baking flat breads like roti and paratha. A tandoor oven is also frequently used to cook main courses like chicken. Goat and lamb are favored ingredients of many northern Indian recipes. The samosa, a common appetizer on all Indian restaurant menus, has its roots in northern India. The staple food of most of north Indians are a variety of lentils, vegetables, and roti. Common north Indian foods such as kebabs and meat dishes originated with the Muslim incursions into the country. The influence of Europeans is also apparent with the creation of new dishes like chicken tikka masala which is actually a British invention during colonial times.

Eastern India

In the eastern part of India there is a large Oriental influence resulting from an influx of movement from Tibet and Nepal. All of these influences helped form the dietary customs in eastern India. Popular food is this region is a unique blend of vegetarian meals prepared in the traditional Chinese cooking style. Rice and fish are the staple foods because most of the towns and fishing villages are located on the coast.

Southern India

Southern Indian cuisine is distinguished by a greater emphasis on rice and the liberal use of coconut, coconut oil and curry leaves. Before Christianity came to India in the early 52 AD, Kerala was strictly vegetarian as

Indian Culture

The Indian Culture is a very interesting culture they have a lot of different ways of living, family relationships, foods, dress, and entertainment.

One of the great themes pervading Indian life is social interdependence. People are born into groups–families, clans, subcastes, castes, and religious communities–and live with a constant sense of being part of and inseparable from these groups. Social interaction is regarded as being of the highest priority in Indian families, and social bonds are expected to be long lasting. All social interaction involves constant attention to hierarchy, respect, honor, the feelings of others, rights and obligations, hospitality, and gifts of food, clothing, and other...show more content... Loyalty to family is a deeply held ideal for almost everyone. Large families tend to be flexible and well– suited to modern Indian life, especially for the 67 percent of Indians who are farmers or agricultural workers or work in related activities.

Joint family is also common in cities, where kinship ties can be crucial to obtaining scarce jobs or financial assistance. Not infrequently, clusters of relatives live very near each other, easily available to respond to the give and take kinship obligations. Even when relatives cannot actually live in close proximity, they typically maintain strong bonds of kinship and attempt to provide each other with economic help, emotional support, and other benefits. Indian marriages are deemed almost necessary in the Indian society. Arranging a marriage is the responsibility of Indian parents and other relatives of both bride and groom. In India there is no greater event in a family than a wedding. Some parents begin marriage arrangements on the birth of a child, but most wait until later. The brides family usually hosts most of the ceremonies and pays for all the arrangements for large numbers of guests for several days, including accommodation, feasting, decorations, and gifts for the groom's party. These arrangements are often extremely elaborate and expensive and are intended to enhance the status of the

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Indian Food

The traditional food of India has been widely appreciated for its fabulous use of herbs and spices. Indian cuisine is known for its large assortment of dishes. The cooking style varies from region to region. India is quite famous for its diverse multi cuisine available in a large number of restaurants and hotel resorts, which is reminiscent of unity in diversity. The staple food in India includes wheat, rice and pulses with chana (Bengal Gram) being the most important one. To know more about the Indian traditional food, read on.

Indian cuisine is characterized by the use of various spices, herbs and other vegetables, and sometimes fruits grown in India and also for the widespread practice of vegetarianism in Indian society....show more content...

The bhaaji is served in the plate on the right hand side while the chutney, koshimbir are served from left going up the periphery of the circular plate. The papad, bhaji are served below the koshimbir with the rice and poli served at the bottom of the circle closed to the diner's hand. The puran is served at the top in the inner concentric circle. The amti, rassa is served in separate bowls placed on right hand side of the diner. Water is placed on the left hand side. It is considered ill mannered to use left hand while eating

Gujarati Food

The traditional Gujarati food is primarily vegetarian and has a high nutritional value. The typical Gujarati thali consists of varied kinds of lip smacking dishes. Gujarati cuisine has so much to offer and each dish has an absolutely different cooking style. Some of the dishes are stir fry, while others are boiled. Gujarati food is more often served on a silver platter. Gujaratis use a combination of different spices and flavors to cook their meals and this is what makes their food truly exotic.

The traditional Gujarati thali mostly encompasses rotli, dal or kadhi, sabzi also known as shaak and rice. People in Gujarat eat one or the other type of curry along with rice and roti in almost every meal Gujarati dishes usually have a very subtle taste that makes it truly distinct from other Indian cuisines. Lot of emphasis is laid on maintaining hygiene while cooking. Most of the Gujarati

Indian Music

The music of India is one of the oldest unspoken musical traditions in the world. The basis of for Indian music is "sangeet." Sangeet is a combination of three art forms: vocal music, instrumental music (Indian music). Indian music is base upon seven modes (scales). It is probably no coincidence that Greek music is also base upon seven modes. Furthermore, the Indian scales follow the same process of modulation (murchana) that was found in ancient Greek music. Since Greece is also Indo–European, this is another piece of evidence for the Indo–European connection (Dance and music of India).

The vocal tradition is especially strong in Indian music. It is understood that the song is probably the most ancient form of...show more content... It is linked to the Sanskrit word "ranj" which means, "to colour" (Indian music). Therefore, rag may be thought of as an acoustic method of colouring the mind of the listener with an emotion. It is not a tune, melody, scale, mode, or any concept for which an English word exists. It is instead a combination of different characteristics. It is these characteristics, which define the rag. There must be the notes of the rag. They are called the swar (Indian music). There must also be a modal structure. This is called that in North Indian music and mela in carnatic music (Carnatic music). There is also the jati. Jati is the number of notes used in the rag. There must also be the ascending and descending structure. This is called arohana/avarohana. Another characteristic is that the various notes do not have the same level of significance. Some are important and others less so. The important notes are called vadi and samavadi (Indian music). There are often characteristic movements to the rag. This is called either pakad (Indian music).

The Indian rhythm is known as tal. Tal means "clap". The tabla (Indian drum instrument) has replaced the clap in the performance, but the term still reflects the origin. The basic concepts of tal are tali, Khali,vibhag, matra, bol, theka, lay, sam, and avartan. Tali are a pattern of clapping. In addition to the claps, there are also a number of