Geography Now! India — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00So we have finally encroached upon the giant: India.
2. 0:02Some of you've been waiting a LOOOOONG time for this episode.
3. 0:05I'm just gonna say straight up:
4. 0:06You all know India is incredibly complex and diverse.
5. 0:09Even Indians have trouble understanding their own country.
6. 0:11Obviously, I won't be able to scratch even the surface in this episode.
7. 0:14But I'll try my best. A lot of you Indian geograpeeps have helped me along the way.
8. 0:17So thank you, and without further ado, let's begin!
9. 0:19♫♫♫
10. 0:21♫ It's time to learn Geography! NOW!!! ♫
11. 0:24Hey everybody. I'm your host Barby.
12. 0:25This place doesn't even need much of an introduction.
13. 0:27Everybody has heard of India. It's big. It's loud.
14. 0:29It's colorful, and most importantly it has a plethora of confusing territorial anomalies that I just can't wait to cover. Here we go!!
15. 0:36♫ Political Geography ♫
16. 0:38There's an old saying: India is a place where everyone is in a hurry,
17. 0:41but no one is ever on time.
18. 0:43First of all, India is located in South Asia right on the Indian and Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal.
19. 0:48Bordered by six other countries. So close to seven but that land bridge between Sri Lanka
20. 0:52got wiped away like 600 years ago by a cyclone. India is divided into 29 states and 7 union territories
21. 0:56with the capital New Delhi which acts as its own administrative
22. 0:59unit located in the capital territory
23. 1:01Keep in mind that New Delhi is actually just the name of one of the districts in the capital territory made up of 11.
24. 1:05The largest city however, is actually Mumbai, with New Delhi, Bangalore (or Bengaluru) and Hyderabad
25. 1:11following after. However the four busiest airports are Delhi (Indira Gandhi International), Mumbai (Chhatrapati Shivaji International)
26. 1:18Bengaluru's Kempegowda International and Chennai International in the south.
27. 1:22Ah, you know why I'm smiling
28. 1:23This is my favorite part of any episode
29. 1:25we ever make: territorial anomaly time!!
30. 1:27India is loaded with strange borders and
31. 1:29deliciously complex demarcation lines.
32. 1:32First of all what exactly is a union territory?
33. 1:34In the simplest way I can put this union territories are places that are two distinct to be incorporated into a state
34. 1:38but too small to have their own local governments.
35. 1:41The first one of course is the Delhi National capital territory where the capital lies.
36. 1:44Chandigarh is a post-independent city constructed to replace Lahore as the capital of the Punjab area after it was split up between India and Pakistan.
37. 1:50Then you have the Island territories the smallest one
38. 1:53Lakshadweep and Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The Andaman Islands being home to one of the last
39. 1:57uncontacted people groups on the planet:
40. 2:00the Sentinelese tried who have been hostile to visitors and are therefore left alone.
41. 2:03As well as the Nicobar Islands which actually used to be a short-lived colony of Denmark.
42. 2:06Finally the three remaining territories are former European Colony towns and ports:
43. 2:10Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu
44. 2:12which are separated by 200 kilometers across the Gulf of Khambhat.
45. 2:16And the most confusing Union Territory: the French-speaking Puducherry
46. 2:19Which is actually split between four district cities across India:
47. 2:22Karaikal, Mahe, Yanam and Pondicherry.
48. 2:24Pondicherry is strange because it has 11 enclaves within the Tamil Nadu state or in this area you can also find the
49. 2:29experimental hippie-ish
50. 2:32commune with a little bit of controversy (look it up).
51. 2:33Here the Eastern States (also known as the Seven Sisters) are connected by this incredibly narrow 27-kilometer wide pathway known as the Siliguri Corridor.
52. 2:40This pathway is like a crucial artery that completes the India puzzle. Or so you would think?
53. 2:45Now let's discuss the juicy stuff.
54. 2:47Now in the China episode
55. 2:48I already talked about the disputed areas with India such as Aksai Chin and Arunachal Pradesh.
56. 2:52The latter pretty much just belonging to India as it's almost completely inhabited and operated by Indians.
57. 2:56So let's move to the other disputes. Now as of 2015 the Bangladesh episode is already outdated as India and Bangladesh have finally come to
58. 3:03an agreement over the frighteningly
59. 3:04complex former enclave/exclave dispute. In the end India only lost about 40 square kilometers of land to Bangladesh.
60. 3:10And now only a few enclaves and exclaves exist.
61. 3:13Now let's head North.
62. 3:14Now when you try to draw the shape of India you might want to be careful which depiction you use.
63. 3:18Some might use this picture.
64. 3:19Some might use this.
65. 3:20Some might use this
66. 3:21and those that don't really study very well might use this.[hehehe]
67. 3:24The point is the whole area is like the most heavily militarized
68. 3:26diplomatically stressed out region on the planet.
69. 3:28It's already had like four wars in the past half century.
70. 3:31Basically, India, Pakistan (and to some extent China) all want the entire area for themselves although
71. 3:35it's more of like a Pakistan-India thing.
72. 3:37In the China episode we already discussed the Chinese disputes with India
73. 3:39so I won't cover those in this episode if you want to learn more just watch the China episode.
74. 3:43But anyway! This entire area was a former domain known as the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir that was under Royal
75. 3:48Maharaja rulers all the way up until independence.
76. 3:50Currently this place is split up by this fenced off militarized line known as the Line of Control (LoC) between India and Pakistan.
77. 3:56Why is this?
78. 3:57Well in the quickest way I can put this:
79. 3:58Pakistan: Okay the British are out. We get to take your land.
80. 4:00J&K: No, we want to be an independent princely state.
81. 4:03Pakistan: Er..we're supposed to take your land and majority of your people are Muslim.
82. 4:06Just like us. Even though your ruler is Hindu as well.
83. 4:08Soon after...
84. 4:09J&K: Hey India. If you help me, I'll let you secede my territory to your land with autonomy.
85. 4:14India: Deal.
86. 4:14*India beats Pakistan.*
87. 4:16J&K: Ha! your problem now.
88. 4:17I love how Mike played India. He totally represents India.
89. 4:19Oh, and keep in mind Pakistan's capital
90. 4:21Islamabad is less than 80 kilometers away from all that drama.
91. 4:24The Line of control meanders through the mountains until it stops at a point called NJ-9842.
92. 4:28This is where things get really crazy because from there you hit the Siachin glacier (the second longest nonpolar glacier) in the world and this
93. 4:34is pretty much the dead man's zone. After point NJ-9842 you hit the actual ground
94. 4:39position line: a series of military outposts that extend all the way to the Chinese border.
95. 4:44That means everything in this area is ground zero for the Indo-Pak tension.
96. 4:47You know the crazy thing is there's actually literally small towns of normal regular civilians living in these areas high up in the mountains.
97. 4:53Many of which just go about daily life going to work and raising their families.
98. 4:56Otherwise they have a river dispute with Nepal
99. 4:58and various River Islands disputed with Bangladesh.
100. 5:00Outside of all the dispute stuff though
101. 5:02India not only has the world's second largest road network and three of the world's top ten mega cities and their own space program
102. 5:08but they also have a copious abundance of landmarks and notable sites way too many to list.
103. 5:13But some of the ones that you guys the Indian Geograpeeps have told me to mention include places like
104. 5:17the abandoned Dhanuskhodi Ghost City
105. 5:18Golconda Fort
106. 5:19the four Pillars of Charminar
107. 5:20The Ajanta Buddhist art Caves
108. 5:22The Elora Monolithic ruins
109. 5:23Mandu Fortress
110. 5:25The Golden Temple (which feeds over a hundred thousand people a day; for free!)
111. 5:27The Gol Gumbaz mausoleum
112. 5:29The Kalavantin Durg Post
113. 5:30The ruins of Hampi
114. 5:31The Hill Forts of Rajasthan
115. 5:33Shatrunjaya hill (which is basically like a Mecca for Jains)
116. 5:36The temple of the Bodhi tree
117. 5:37Jal Mahal
118. 5:38Bhangarh Fort (the most haunted place in India)
119. 5:40Mohabbat Maqbara
120. 5:41and keep in mind. Just like in China
121. 5:43you can find a great wall of India in Rajsamand.
122. 5:45There's also the Paritala Anjaneya Temple (with the largest statue in India depicting Hanuman)
123. 5:51and over 150 acres the Sri Ranganathaswami Temple
124. 5:53the largest Hindu Temple in the world
125. 5:54And there's also that building with the stuff and that thing and whatever.
126. 5:58We could go on for centuries talking about India's rich constructed domicile
127. 6:01But what it lies on top of is even more fascinating?
128. 6:03♫ Physical Geography ♫
129. 6:06Now don't make this mistake.
130. 6:07I'm going to India. All I need are my sandals and sunscreen.
131. 6:11Welcome to Kargil!
132. 6:12(freezing) Oh crap!
133. 6:13Now as the seventh largest country in land area, India has a wide range of landscapes, climates and elevations
134. 6:18that all contrast from one corner to the other.
135. 6:20First of all, let's talk about the North. India sits on the Indian tectonic plate that essentially smashed into the Eurasian plate
136. 6:25which in return created the largest Mountain range in the world: the Himalayas.
137. 6:28The force is so strong that it's estimated that the Himalayas grow about 2.4 inches
138. 6:32or 6.1 centimeters every year. It's also here we can find Kanchenjunga: the tallest mountain in India or the third in the world, right on the border of Nepal.
139. 6:38Keep your eye on these mountains. These are pretty much the source of most of India's major rivers that give
140. 6:44life to the whole country.
141. 6:44That's why India takes these mountains so seriously.
142. 6:46You can also find the largest natural lake Wular, up in the Jammu & Kashmir area.
143. 6:49Below the Himalayas you reach the North Indian River plains, sometimes referred to as the Indus-Ganga.
144. 6:54This is the most fertile part of India where the most important Rivers like the Ganges and its tributaries flow.
145. 6:59Heading a little south you Reach the Satpura and Vindhya ranges that pretty much divide North India from South India.
146. 7:04On each side you get the Western and Eastern Ghat mountains which in return creates this massive triangle thing called the Deccan plateau.
147. 7:10This place is moderately forced especially in the east and the Chota Nagpur plateau
148. 7:13where you get a section of the swampy Sunderbans that they share with Bangladesh (check out the Bangladesh episode).
149. 7:18Head a little West and you get the dry Thar desert along the border with Pakistan.
150. 7:21As well as the Runn of Kutch (known as the salt desert)
151. 7:24And finally the only active volcanic area would be the Andaman and Nicobar Islands
152. 7:27with Barren Island having actual conical eruptions and Baratang having tame mud Volcanoes
153. 7:32Now here's the thing: although India has a relatively high population density
154. 7:34they do relatively well with maintaining their ecological footing
155. 7:37In fact in 2016 they beat a world record by planting (disputably) 50 million trees in one day.
156. 7:42They've also agreed to reforest about 12 percent of the country by 2030. The most heavily forested area being the Seven Sister states in East India.
157. 7:48Now one of the factors that contributes to this would be the fact that India has the lowest meat consumption in the world with
158. 7:53the highest population percentage of
159. 7:55vegetarians at around 40% (most of whom are lacto-vegetarian that consume milk products)
160. 8:00By the way in India when buying groceries this label means
161. 8:02Vegetarian and this one means
162. 8:03Non-vegetarian.
163. 8:04Nonetheless, the remainder of the population does typically eat some kind of animal
164. 8:08protein (mostly in the form of seafood or chicken).
165. 8:10But almost never beef or pork (unless a fewer part of the muslim or Christian minorities scattered throughout the west and east areas).
166. 8:15Now let's talk about the role of Cattle, shall we?
167. 8:17India has more cattle and livestock than anywhere else in the world at around 330 million
168. 8:21And it's interesting because since they have prevalent Hindu traditions, the killing of cows is illegal in many of the states except for a few,
169. 8:27and each state has varying degrees of punishment for committing intentional cow slaughter.
170. 8:31Keyword: Intentional. Cows accidentally get hit by cars all the time.
171. 8:34Once the cows too old to produce milk it typically is released into the open
172. 8:37to die naturally in the wild. "Ideally".
173. 8:39Nonetheless male cattle get it much worse as they are deemed as kind of "useless". Some places use them as draft animals for labour.
174. 8:45Some religious sects use them as sacrifices, but otherwise
175. 8:47They're typically sold to the underground market for beef or hides.
176. 8:51To this day, there are about six times as many female cows as male cattle in India so that means: yeah something's happening to the males.
177. 8:57Nonetheless, India does have the third highest carbon emission rate after China and the US. Fourth if you consider the EU.
178. 9:03However emission per capita they rank pretty low at only about two kilotons per person.
179. 9:07Contrast that with Qatar at about 40.
180. 9:08There are 94 national Parks, 501 Animal Sanctuaries
181. 9:10across the country where you can find some of the national animals like the Peacock,
182. 9:14the Ganges River Dolphin, the King Cobra,
183. 9:16the Indian elephant,
184. 9:16and the highest population of Bengal tigers in the world
185. 9:18which are all highly protected.
186. 9:21India also has the most irrigated land in the world
187. 9:23which allows them to become the number one producer of multiple products like
188. 9:26Millet
189. 9:27Bananas
190. 9:27Lemons (limes?),
191. 9:28Mangos,
192. 9:29Ginger,
193. 9:29Chickpeas,
194. 9:30milk, butter,
195. 9:31Fennel,
196. 9:31Jute,
197. 9:32and about 75% of the world's Spices alone come from India.
198. 9:36Speaking of which: food.
199. 9:36Typically you can find the staples: Roti, chapati and Naan in the North.
200. 9:40Idli and Dosa in the south
201. 9:41and everybody eats rice. More commonly commercialized Indian foods
202. 9:43that we in the west grew up knowing like:
203. 9:45Samosas, Tikka Masala
204. 9:47Tandoori and my favorite Indian dish: Palak Paneer.
205. 9:49These usually come to the Northern regions of India.
206. 9:53Mmm seriously India, you took spinach and made it fat.
207. 9:55I love you guys.
208. 9:56Otherwise the West is Mostly known for their chutneys,
209. 9:58and pickled foods as well as beef since there's a high number of Muslims and Christians
210. 10:02The south uses a lot more coconut and has
211. 10:04Some of the best curries like Poriyal, Sambar, Rasam and Tooto.
212. 10:07And the east is known for having the best desserts like Peda, Mishti doi, Rasgulla or Sandesh.
213. 10:11Speaking of which India is so diverse and complex that sometimes even Indian people need translators when going to different states.
214. 10:17It's about to get 10 times more confusing in about 3, ,2 1...
215. 10:20♫ Demographics ♫
216. 10:23Shashi Tharoor once said, "In India we celebrate the commonality of major differences;
217. 10:27we are a land of belonging rather than of blood".
218. 10:30First of all India has a population of about 1.3 Billion people and is the second most populous country in the world after China
219. 10:36with about 18% of the world's population.
220. 10:37About 72% of the country is indo-Aryan and a quarter are dravidian
221. 10:41and the majority of the remainder are Mongoloid Asian and other people groups.
222. 10:44They also use the Indian rupee as their currency. They use the type C, D and M plug outlet
223. 10:48and they drive on the left side of the road.
224. 10:50By the way, technically it's illegal for these banknotes to leave the country.
225. 10:52But you guys have sent me a lot of them for fan mail for fan Friday videos.
226. 10:55So I don't want to go to jail...again. (what)
227. 10:58Now, keep in mind those statistics that I just mentioned are incredibly generalized.
228. 11:01Of the Indo-Aryan and Dravidian communities there are about
229. 11:04two thousand different ethno-linguistic people groups in India with about
230. 11:06645 District indigenous tribes (52 major ones). So obviously we can't cover them all.
231. 11:11But what we do know is that the North is very different from the South.
232. 11:14For one, the North mostly speaks in languages that are all related to the Indo-Aryan branch with languages like
233. 11:19Hindi, Bengali Punjabi and Gujarati.
234. 11:21Whereas the South speaks a completely unintelligible Dravidian branch with languages like
235. 11:25Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada.
236. 11:28Otherwise there's also pockets of Sino-Tibetan in austroasiatic languages spoken in the Far north and East
237. 11:34So how do they communicate with each other?
238. 11:36Great question! Although India does not have an official language there are 22 recognized national languages and of these two are the most prevalent taught
239. 11:43in schools and used by government officials: Hindi and English.
240. 11:46And very often these two are like mixed mid-sentence.
241. 11:48It's weird. Don't be surprised if you hear someone speaking Hindi and then suddenly finishing off in English.
242. 11:51It's like:
243. 11:52*random gibberish in Hinglish*
244. 12:02Now of course let's discuss the one thing
245. 12:03that goes hand in hand with India: Hinduism.
246. 12:05About 80% of India claims to be Hindu or at least part of the hindu practicing community.
247. 12:09Now we don't have time to explain everything about the tenants and multi-layered philosophies and practices of Hinduism.
248. 12:13You want to know? Just talk to a Hindu person.
249. 12:15But basically one thing you do need to know is that Hindu-driven ideologies pretty much dominate most of life in India.
250. 12:20Everything from family to business. You will see colorful
251. 12:22mesmerizing shrines, temples, statues and rituals being performed everywhere, even in public.
252. 12:26And the Bharat Mata (the mother of India) statues are everywhere.
253. 12:30She's like this symbol of India.
254. 12:32The largest Hindu pilgrimage: the Kumbh Mela happens every three years
255. 12:34rotating between four cities in which the adherents bathe in the Ganges river
256. 12:38and enjoy a massive festival with tens of millions of people.
257. 12:41Like seriously, you can practically see it happening from space.
258. 12:44Now a controversial topic in relation to Hinduism would be the caste system.
259. 12:46Which is basically a belief that people are born into a socio-economic
260. 12:49life that they are destined to serve into.
261. 12:51Today however, the system is more fluid and loose from what it used to be from a long time ago.
262. 12:54And thanks to economic reforms anybody with enough drive can kind of move up the social ladder regardless of birth.
263. 12:59Nonetheless, India is home to every major religion in the world.
264. 13:02Even a few jews including the Bnei Menashe, an indigenous group that claim to be
265. 13:05one of the lost tribes of Israel.
266. 13:07In fact Judaism and Christianity actually had a head start in India way before it even kicked off in Europe.
267. 13:11As tradition holds Cochin or Malabar Jews migrated around 1000 BC to trade during the times of King Solomon.
268. 13:18And in 53 AD Thomas the Apostle of Jesus arrived in what is now the state of Kerala to establish the first church in India.
269. 13:22Today, most Christians are found in the Southwest and far East Seven Sisters regions.
270. 13:26India also holds the highest population of Sikhs, Jains and Zoroastrians,
271. 13:29mostly found in the North, and the second largest Muslim population in the world after Indonesia.
272. 13:33Most muslims are populated around the Northwest areas by Pakistan or in the east by Bangladesh.
273. 13:38Oh, and don't forget the Buddhists. in fact Buddhism actually started in India.
274. 13:41Today the Dalai Lama even takes refuge in kiss port in the state of Assam.
275. 13:45Oh that was a lot of information. Ahhhh!!! Okay, so by now
276. 13:47you can probably get a grasp of how incredibly mixed and diversified India's population is.
277. 13:50But what exactly holds the country together?
278. 13:52Well for one, you kind of have to understand Indian history which will take way too long to explain
279. 13:56but in the quickest way I can put it:
280. 13:58Indus Valley;
281. 13:58Maurya and Gupta Empires;
282. 14:00Southern Empires;
283. 14:01Golden age;
284. 14:01Middle Kingdoms;
285. 14:02A ton of new religions come flocking in;
286. 14:04the North fell to the Delhi sultanate;
287. 14:05the South Became the Vijayanagara Empire
288. 14:07Mughal Empire starts;
289. 14:08British East India Company;
290. 14:10Direct British Rule;
291. 14:11Nationalist Movements;
292. 14:12Independent Republic;
293. 14:13Economic liberalization in 1991;
294. 14:14And here, we are today.
295. 14:16Vijaya
296. 14:17Essentially India used to be made up of around 500 smaller royal Princely states,
297. 14:21and when the British came in they kind of exploited them to manage such a huge population.
298. 14:25Along India is a democratic federal republic (and the largest democracy in the world)
299. 14:30the old royal families still exist today and although they have
300. 14:31no political power they hold high positions of influence in their communities across India
301. 14:35So today, technically you could meet someone that would be considered an Indian prince or princess.
302. 14:40Nonetheless, the biggest thing that really united Indians in the past
303. 14:42two centuries would probably be their hatred of British rule. It was kind of like:
304. 14:46Well, this is not cool. Yep.
305. 14:49What do you say you and I work together enough and uh, end this thing?
306. 14:51*friendship noises*
307. 14:52Especially one good thing you could say that came out of imperialism was
308. 14:56that it kind of stopped all the internal squabbling and unified the
309. 14:58groups towards one common goal to get rid of imperialism.
310. 15:02Today Indians are just proud to be Indians.
311. 15:03I mean a Tamil soccer player can get cheered on by a Rajasthani and Punjabi pop Star can sell out tickets in Orissa.
312. 15:09Speaking of which all Indians love movies and music.
313. 15:12India has the second largest film industry in terms of volume pumping out nearly
314. 15:152,000 films per year
315. 15:16surprisingly Nigeria pumps out more.
316. 15:19However the box office revenues grossed out at only about two billion dollars annually compared to Hollywood at over 10 billion.
317. 15:23But still it's impressive and keep in mind that it's not just Bollywood
318. 15:25but it's also Tollywood, Gollywood, Kollywood, Pollywood and so on.
319. 15:30There's like 20 different woods in India.
320. 15:31And like every movie in India has at least one scene where everybody breaks out in song and there's almost always a happy ending.
321. 15:37Unfortunately mainstream media has also put an aesthetic strain on many of the people as it's almost become an obsession to be light or
322. 15:42fair-skinned causing people to go so far as to buy skin bleaching products.
323. 15:45Some other controversies include things like illiteracy being an issue in many parts of the country (especially in the rural areas).
324. 15:50But I mean come on when your country has literally hundreds of different writing systems. Go figure.
325. 15:54I mean give them a break.
326. 15:55Also, many of you guys (the Indian geograpeeps) have asked me to bring awareness to the fact that India does unfortunately
327. 15:59have some of the highest rates of human trafficking and child slavery.
328. 16:03The government is trying to crack down and culture is slowly being reformed
329. 16:05but for now, it's a sad reality that still does exist.
330. 16:08Hey here at GN, we talk about the good and the bad. I'm just saying.
331. 16:10Otherwise sports do definitely tie everyone together as well.
332. 16:13Especially cricket: the most popular sport (even though they also used to do really well in field hockey).
333. 16:17India also has a lot of their own indigenous sports like:
334. 16:19Dopkhel in Assam,
335. 16:20Bull racing in Kerala in South,
336. 16:21Insuknawr rod pushing in Mizoram;
337. 16:24and Malakhamba the strange pole Yoga gymnastics thing in the South.
338. 16:26Otherwise some notable people from India or of Indian descent might include people like:
339. 16:30Siddhartha gautama or the Buddha;
340. 16:32Mahavira;
341. 16:32Ashoka the great;
342. 16:34Prithviraj Chauhan;
343. 16:35Aurangzeb;
344. 16:36Shivaji of the Maratha Empire;
345. 16:37Mahatma Gandhi;
346. 16:39Indira Gandhi;
347. 16:40Subhash Chandra Bose;
348. 16:42Jawaharlal Nehru;
349. 16:43Rabindranath Tagore (first Nobel laureate of Asia);
350. 16:44CV Raman (first Indian scientist to win Nobel);
351. 16:45Satyendra Nath Bose;
352. 16:47Bhagat singh;
353. 16:48Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam;
354. 16:50Shah Rukh Khan;
355. 16:51Amitabh Bachchan;
356. 16:52Aamir Khan;
357. 16:52Salman Khan;
358. 16:53Priyanka Chopra;
359. 16:54Ben Kingsley;
360. 16:55Sundar Pichai (current CEO of Google);
361. 16:56Satya Narayana Nadela (current CEO of Microsoft);
362. 16:57AR Rehman;
363. 16:59Sachin Tendulkar and Mahendra singh Dhoni;
364. 17:01There's also literally millions of other famous people
365. 17:03I missed out on if you want to mention them please there's a comment section below. Use it.
366. 17:07In the meantime we got to finish this info marathon. Shall we?
367. 17:09♫ Friendzone ♫
368. 17:12Now, no surprised India is huge and therefore has a huge international outreach when it comes to diplomacy to almost everyone
369. 17:17except their immediate neighbors.
370. 17:19First of all countries with large population percentages of Hindus and Indians like Fiji, Guyana, Suriname,
371. 17:23Trinidad and Tobago, Mauritius and Malaysia typically stay close to India's roster of go-to friends. They enjoy cordial relations with trade.
372. 17:30Now the UK may have left on a sour note
373. 17:31but they still have a lot of ties to their former colonizer in terms of business and tourism.
374. 17:36India still part of the commonwealth (NOT Commonwealth realm there's a difference).
375. 17:38And the UK has over 1.5 million citizens of Indian descent.
376. 17:43As mentioned in the China episode, China is kind of like India's "I'm only here to do business with you and nothing else" friend
377. 17:48as drama still hasn't been subsided in regards to the territory complex.
378. 17:50Now when it comes to the US things started kind of sour back in the 70s during the Indo-Pak war of 1971
379. 17:55when the US sided with Pakistan, their arch-nemesis.
380. 17:57Today relations have cooled off mostly the US supports
381. 18:00India's move towards democracy and as a key ally in the military conflicts in the Middle East.
382. 18:05When it comes to their best friends however, most of the Indians I talked to have said Russia and Bhutan.
383. 18:09Russia because during the Indo-Pak Wars Russia came in and supported them and ever since then especially has global superpowers.
384. 18:15Bhutan and India signed a treaty of friendship -each country has held a high position of respect for the other-
385. 18:19almost immediately after independence
386. 18:20The two countries have shared interests and a currency pegged system as well. Bhutan even supported the annexation of their cousins in the Sikkim state
387. 18:27into India as it gave a nice buffer of lands from China's stick to their claim.
388. 18:31In conclusion, you will not find anywhere else on Earth like India. Thousands and millions of people inhabiting a colourful majestic green
389. 18:37slightly greedy at times slab of Earth blessed and cursed in so many ways yet wonderfully harmonized
390. 18:42mostly in a unity unlike anywhere else.
391. 18:44In the end, that's In-di-ah!! AAHHH!!!
392. 18:47Stay tuned, Indonesia is coming up next.
393. 18:50♫♫♫