5.Chapter 13.S.St.India's Neighbors

Chapter 13

 India's Neighbors Look at the map of India.  You will notice that Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, China and Myanmar are our immediate neighbors.  Besides these seven countries, Afghanistan and Maldives are also our close neighbors.  APOKARTAN MAD KADHAL CHINA PAKISTAN UTTAR FRADESH RAJASTHAN ASSAY TRAR N D GUJARAT MADHYA PRADESH MAHARASHTRA MTANDAR ORIDA ARABIA ITA ANDHRA PRADEON 07 HINGAL LAREA INDIAN OCEAN 89

Notice on the map that India shares boundaries with Pakistan in the north wost: China, Nepal and Bhutan in the north;  and Myanmar and Bangladesh in the east.  The island of Sri Lanka is our southern neighbor in the sea.  India has always believed in peaco.  History proves that India has never attacked any country for gaining territory.  We have always followed a policy of maintaining friendly relations with our neighbor as well as far away countries.  We believe in solving mutual differences by peaceful means.  This policy has helped us to share cultural and trade relations with our neighbors since ancient times.  Let us take a look at some common features of language, food and culture that we share with our neighbors.  Similarity of Language between India and Pakistan Pakistan came into existence only in 1947. Till then, Pakistan was a part of India.  We share a common history and culture.  Hence, there are many similarities in language, food and dress between India and Pakistan The commonly spoken languages, Hindi and Urdu, sound quiet similar.  They have similar grammar and both have developed from the Khari Boli dialect of North India.  Khari Boli had developed from Madhaydeshi, which originated from Prakrit.  Prakrit developed from Sanskrit.  Hence, both Urdu and Hindi evolved from Sanskrit, the mother of all languages.  Some differences between Hindi and Urdu are: • Hindi is written left to right in the Devanagari script.  • Urdu is written right to left in Persian - Arabic script called Nastalig.  • Hindi uses vocabulary from Sanskrit.  • Urdu uses vocabulary from Persian and Arabic.  90

The surprising fact is that Hindi uses words from Persian and Arabic, and Urdu uses words from Sanskrit.  Do you know?  The word 'Urdu' originated from the Turkish word for tent, army or horde - Ordu.  Urdu was a language of the army and the common people before becoming the language of the court of Mughals of Delhi and the Nawabs of Lucknow.  Most people in Pakistan speak Urdu either as a first or second language.  In India, Urdu is widely spoken in the cities of Lucknow, Aligarh and Hyderabad as well as in Jammu and Kashmir, and Andhra Pradesh.  Common Hindi and Urdu Phrases S.No.  Phrase Hindi Urdu 1.  Hello 2.  Namaste Suprabhaat aap kahaan sey hain?  Alvida Good Morning Where are you from?  Good bye Assalam 'alykum Subha Ba - khair Aap ka taluq kahan se hai?  Khuda hafiz 3.  4.  Similarity of Food between India and Nepal Though there are many similarities in the cuisines of India and its neighbors, we are going to take a look at the similarity of food between India and Nepal.  The traditional Nepali meal consists of Daal, Bhaat and Tarkaari (pulses, rice and vegetable curry).  Similar food is served in many Indian restaurants also.  The only difference is that Nepali food is much less spicy than Indian food.  The influence of Indian food is more evident Do you know?  in south - western part of Nepal.  The Nepalese delicacy 'Momos', (dumpling rest of Nepal is influenced by Tibetan filled with meat or vegetables) is and Chinese cuisines.  very popular in India.  91

dress that we share with our neighbor The non - vegetarian cuisine of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh is very similar.  The Kababs are an all time favorite for everyone.  Dosa, a south Indian dish, forms an important part of Sri Lankan cuisine.  Do you know?  Chinese food is very popular all over India.  But it is very different from Chinese food that is available in China.  Similarity of Dress with Our Neighbors There is great similarity in dresses of both men and women that are worn in India and its neighboring countries.  Saree and salwar - kameez are the traditional dresses in both India and Pakistan.  Saree is also worn in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.  However, the traditional style of wearing a saree in most countries is quite different The mekhla - chaddar of north - east India is similar to the dress of Nepal, Myanmar and China.  In Myanmar, longyi (sarong) and eingyi (blouse) are worn.  Similar dress of lungi - blouse is also worn in south India and Sri Lanka.  The traditional dress worn by men in Ladakh and Bhutan is quite similar to the Hanfu of China.  The men in both India and Nepal favor kurta pyjama or shirt / coat with pyjama.  Muslims in many parts of India wear salwar - kameez, which is the traditional dress of Pakistani men.  But the modern generation has removed all differences and has uniformly adopted jeans, t-shirts and European dresses for both men and women.  Hantu The similarities in the language, food and Do you know?  Bangladeshi men wear countries are an indicator of common cultural kurta - pyjama that is bonds.  They act as a unifying force even in the known as Punjabi!  face of differences.  92