12 Strange Things You Only See in India

[Music] so here's a fun riddle for you we're in the world our wedding rings worn on the toes and people serve bulls instead of waves now it's not New Jersey folks it's India and it's a place full of odd customs and curiosities you probably didn't know about and guess what today's your lucky day I'm going to tell you about it for example there's in descending order number twelve the quirks of Indian English now India is one of the largest english-speaking countries in the world second only to the US but in a country with around 880 spoken languages only 22 of which are even officially recognized it's no wonder Indian English may sometimes tickle your ear in a strange way for instance if a person starts talking to you with a weird yaar sound don't worry that's just the Indian way to say hey dude Indians would probably ask your name with the phrase what's your good name and no that doesn't mean you have some kind of a bad name that you somehow earned it's just a way of being polite and when an Indian person finally starts addressing you by your first name they may add G to the end to show how much they respect you ah my dear bright side er g11 beautifully adorned toes in India when two loving hearts decide to marry each other the groom must put a wedding ring on his bride's toe yep that's the custom these wedding rings are called bicha and every bride wears them on both her second toes as a sign of her newly married State there are other kinds of Touring's in India too some men wear them on their big toes in a belief that it'll boost their strength and vigor Indians are famous for their love of gold but toe rings are mostly made of silver because it's inappropriate to wear gold below the waist number 10 unbreakable promises most people in India believe that a spoken-word has immense power within it and if you break a promise you'll enrage spirits and deities the most powerful promise is the promise of a mother so if an Indian person swears by this then you better believe them if you don't want to come off as really rude number 9 the birthplace of plastic surgery among India's most sacred texts there's one that baffles surgeons and medical experts to this day it's called the Sushruta Samhita and it's a fundamental part of the indian practice of Ayurveda it was written by the ancient Indian surgeon Sushruta somewhere between 1000 BCE and 500 BCE the text describes tons of unbelievably complex surgical procedures but the most fascinating thing is that it proves that India is probably the birthplace of all plastic surgery even for his time Sushruta was totally capable of doing nose jobs or rhinoplasty 'he's if you want to be technical and earlobe reconstructions not exactly what would make movie stars seem foreveryoung but still impressive speaking of movies number eight twice the Hollywood India's Bollywood is the largest film industry in the world no not Hollywood Bollywood produces about 1,200 films every year that's twice the amount that Hollywood puts out and if you want to start an acting career in India you better learn how to sing and dance since most of the movies produce there are musicals this passion for musical stems from a deep appreciation for Indian traditional dance and folklore also it's no secret that Bollywood was inspired by Hollywood works from the 1920s to 1950s many of which were musicals Bollywood got its be from Bombay the city where most Indian films are produced which of course changed its name to Mumbai in 1995 yeah they should keep a be Mollywood just No isn't the same number seven holy rats I know it sounds absurd so let me explain according to an ancient Indian legend the mighty and worshipped warrior sage karni mata tragically lost her stepson Laxman when he accidentally fell in a pond and drowned karni mata was in such grief that she begged the gods to save him well they did but on one condition all of her male children would be reincarnated as rats ah those wacky gods what a unique sense of humor huh so that's why the temple devoted to karni mata in dish snow is known as rat temple here you are going through a huge hall completely covered in rats but people here are happy to come and share their food with these sacred long-tailed rodents a might be a relative it's a particular honor to come across and feed the rare white rats in the temple they're believed to be the true reincarnation of karni mata and her son's number six bull surfing whoa gnarly dude if you ever go to the village of Ananda pala after harvest season then you might be able to watch some bull surfing how do you surf a ball very carefully I'd guess you see first off they make a track on a flooded field that becomes pretty much a big muddy swamp then teams yeah it's a competitive sport compete to stay on a board being pulled through the water by two bulls these jockeys trained for this event and the Bulls are groomed and cleaned with their horns being polished nice and shiny doesn't last very long can you see yourself hanging ten on a board driven by two really big mammals in your hands and that's no bull wait yes it is turf sup dude number five who to thank for your clean hair did you know the word shampoo has Indian roots well that comes as no surprise since shampooing itself originates in India the original word chompoo means massage and was initially used to describe the process of hair strengthening with herbs common in India but India has good reason to pay so much attention to their locks the country sells over 20 billion dollars worth of hair in a single month such amounts are second only to China but even this hair selling giant mixes its product with indian hair for better quality [Music] number four serious wildlife conservation india gets a lot of criticism for its pollution problem which there's no denying that it's a serious one but that doesn't say anything about indian people's attitude towards wildlife there are 104 national parks in india with over 15,000 square miles of overall coverage some of the rarest animals on earth inhabit these parks like the bizarre-looking purplefrog the smallest pig in the world the pygmy hog and the largest living bat the indian flying fox these endangered species are in severe need of protection and India has proven itself very capable of wildlife conservation just take the country's national symbol as an example in 2010 there were only between 1700 and 1900 Bengal tigers left in the world but those numbers are now up to around 2,200 the Bengal tiger is still considered endangered even though it's the biggest tiger species in terms of numbers so you can imagine how grave the situation is for its cousins elsewhere number three towers of silence India is not only home to rare wildlife species but some uncommon ideologies - one of them is Zoroastrianism zoroastrians believed fire and earth to be sacred fundamental el so it's very bad for them to bury or cremate their departed the solution they came up with was to build towers of silence for the deceased also known as docma these towers have no roof so that nature can step in and do the work as an undertaker the only towers of silence still functional to this day are in India but let's move on to a place that's very much alive and definitely not silent number two pet like sardines in trains India has the fourth largest railway system in the world with almost 42,000 miles of track overall but if you want to keep a pleasant impression of this country in your heart then you might want to avoid trains at all costs or you know if you're just curious to see people hang off the sides and right on the roof of the train then India is the place to go local commuter trains in India are unbelievably overcrowded most of the time so even trying to get in one is pretty much impossible and don't even bother trying to get a seat you'd be wasting your time but still these crazy packed trains have sort of become a tourist attraction in and of themselves but still I'd take uber or something for short distances if I were you number one pageants for true beauties hey what's more beautiful than a huge Indian elephant can't think of anything hmm that's a tough one well the only real answer is the most beautiful Indian elephant of course there's a contest dubbed as such that happens each year on the full moon between February and March and this pageant is a key part of job Horus famous Indian festival nowhere else in the world are these gorgeous Giants celebrated like they are here people get down to work preparing for the festival by cleaning the elephants and decorating them with an array of stunning embellishments and clothes they even paint colourful designs on them then everybody votes for the most beautiful and gracious elephant at the festival it's really nice to know that these kind and helpful creatures can get so much respect and love boy you could see that one coming now couldn't you hey what's the most amusing fact about India that you know add your own points to the list in the comments down below and don't forget to give this video a big thumbs up share it with your friends and click subscribe to always stay on the bright side of life

Channel: BRIGHT SIDE

Views: 5,609,237

Keywords: India, Indian culture, crazy facts, Indian inventions, India travel, strange things, Indian traditions, Indian elephants, transport in India, Zoroastrianism, wildlife in india, Bollywood, cinema of India, Towers of Silence, bull surfing, Karni Mata, rats in India, holy animals, plastic surgery, Indian English, marriage in India

Id: RUrciMK74DQ

Length: 11min 26sec (686 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 19 2019