Our Trip started at JFK to Mumbai

1. Our Trip ended back at JFK after a stop in Delhi Our Trip started at JFK to Mumbai Next we took at train to Orissa & was there 4 days before driving back to Calcutta We then flew to Kerala; spent 3 days there From there we flew to Calcutta; spent 3 days there

2. Inhabited for over 5000 years • Small principalities prior to British rule • Formed only 60 years ago @ British Departure • East & West Pakistan were carved out of the partitioning of the India sub continent… • E. Pakistan became Bangladesh which to this day contributes to the Pakistan-India friction 28 states & 7 territories set mostly along language lines

3. Sikh other 1.9% Christian 1.8% 2.4% Muslim 13.4% Hindu 80.5% Major Indian Religions 12th largest 3rd largest

4. India factoids • 12th largest economy • 7th largest country (area) • ~ 1/3 USA • 25% live below poverty line- • and its NOT the USA definition!!

5. More India factoids • 1,166,000,000 people 2nd to China • Over 1600 dialects!! • 61% literate • Life expectancy 69.9 yrs • (145 th ranking)

6. Maithili Assamese Punjabi 1.2% other 1.3% 2.8% 5.5% Oriya Malayalam 3.2% 3.2% Hindi Kannada 41.2% 3.7% Gujarati Urdu 4.5% 5.0% Tamil 5.9% Marathi 7.0% Bengali Telugu 8.1% 7.2% 13 Major Indian Languages The state languages we visited are circled in RED

7. Kerala • 32 Million  people – slightly less than California • 15,000 sq-mi Slightly larger than Maryland • highest literate rate 91% & life expectancy at 73 years, but lowest birth rate • Malayalam is main language • Jewish settlements in 573 BC • St. Thomas visited around 52 AD • Portuguese, then Dutch controlled area 1498 -1741 • Most Christians follow the Syrian (Orthodox) Catholic rite • Poverty rate is 10%

8. Changanacherry is ~2 hour ride from Airport in Kochi • Portions of Vembanadu Lake reclaimed for rice paddies & is called Venice of the East • Nehru Boat races held annually on the lake

9. WestBengal • Pop.: 80.2 Mil  (Top 3 US states –CA,TX, NY total 81.5 million) • 34,267 sq mi --slightly smaller than Maine • Hinduism 72% Muslims 23%; Sikh & Christians 2.5% each • Literacy – 69% • 32% below poverty line • Bengal was divided in 1947 along religious lines into two separate entities, W. Bengal -a state of India, and E. Bengal, part of new nation of E. Pakistan (now Bangladesh) • borders were only agreed in 1960

10. Formed in 1936 37 Million  people – slightly more than California 60,000 sq-mi Slightly larger than Georgia 63% literate 47% live below poverty line Oriya is main language 22% of population is“Tribal” infant mortality rate of 6.5% Orissa Mogul Empire was a Persian, Islamic imperial power that ruled the Indian subcontinent until the British arrival in the 1700’s

11. But the drive back was even more “FUN”!! Train ride from Calcutta (Kolkata) to Belasore (Balashwar): 3.5 long hours!

12. Orissa Religious Strife: 2008 • According to All India Christian Council, the 2008 violence affected in 14 districts out of 30 and 300 Villages, 4,400 Houses burnt, 50,000 Homeless, 59 People killed including at least 2 pastors, 10 Priests/Pastors/Nuns injured, 18,000 Men, women, children injured, 2 women gang-raped including a nun, 151 Churches destroyed and 13 Schools and colleges damaged • Hindu nationalist groups have blamed the violence on the issue of religious conversion. clashes are long-simmering tensions between equally impoverished groups: the Kandha tribe, who are 80% of the poor, and the Pana The Panas have converted to Christianity in large numbers and prospered financially • Conversions have been legislated by the provisions of the Freedom of Religion Acts, replicated in some of the states in India. Orissa was the first state of independent India to enact legislation on religious conversions. The Orissa Freedom of Religion Act, 1967, stipulates that no person shall “convert or attempt to convert, either directly or otherwise, any person from one religious faith to another by the use of force or by inducement or by any fraudulent means • -from Wikipedia