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Writing for Indians

Before I write another word, I need to point out there are 1.21 billion Indians in the world. I've interviewed exactly one of them. She's a teen living the urban (city) life. These are the things she felt are what western writers need to know when trying to create books that cater to Indian audiences. Just to be clear, we're talking Indians from India, not Native Americans.

School In India

First things first, Nursery school begins at the age of 3-4, followed by prep school around 5 years of age. At age six, they start their 1st year of school, and then that just goes on until 12th grade. Unlike Americans, the schools don't have as many defined divisions, and it's likely that a single school will function for all grades. Where we have a clearly defined elementary, middle, and high school era, their 12 years are purely dedicated to one thing.

That one thing is the final board exam, which basically decides the remainder of their futures. With millions of kids taking this test every year, this does not leave much room for error. A student is expected to get a minimum of 96%, and even a 98% can keep you out of many of the nicer colleges. Perhaps it isn't always that extreme. The CBSE Board exams have an entire key full of cut off scores, but most degrees require >90% in general, and that's the bare minimum cut-off for admission, not even speaking of being competitive. Of course, even if someone scores below, there are options to technical colleges and BAs, but for most teens, the pressure is on. 

While teens still like to have fun, everything is focused on passing that exam (not getting a meaningful education, just passing). Pure evaluative success is the only thing. You have talent? Passion? Well, if you had those things, then you should have gotten an A! Where America has recently been making a move to step away from the brutal 'teaching to test' methods of the past, this is still very much ingrained in Indian culture.

Love In India

What's that? According to my source, a 'love' marriage is often looked on as an oddity, not the norm. We've all heard about Indian arranged marriages, but they're still very much a thing in India. Now, to be fair, 'arranged marriage' does not mean 'forced marriage'. Those are becoming much less common. Some children are even given the right to reject certain selections entirely.

For the most part, it's cultural more than law. 'Love' marriage isn't illegal, but most Indians don't want to fight with their parents. Family is very important there, and refusing to marry someone your parents approve of can lead to a lot of headaches and perhaps even estrangement.

In India, it's undeniably still the norm to have parents pick out the man a woman is inevitably going to marry, and to subsequently set all of it up. While dowries were banned in India, it's usually the bride's family that is expected to pay for the wedding. Of course, this depends on the bride and groom, and their respective families.

So without 'love' marriages, where does that leave the dating scene? Well, it's still a male dominated society and men like the sex. It's not a lot different than here. There is a strong push for abstinence, but whereas America mostly says it is to prevent STDs and unwanted pregnancy, India also adds the 'being pure until your married' argument. Naturally, female virginity must be kept at all costs, while men are almost expected to soil their wild oats, so to speak.

A lot of parents refuse dating outright... until the child is old enough that they can't stop them. However, even then, they will inevitably get married when their parents want them to. The average in India is 18 for women and 21 for men. Which, if you do the math, is just enough time to get them through their schooling. Like here, there is feminist pushback... bold women who want to end this culture. However, it is still engrained in the culture, and just like second wave feminism in the 70s/80s, is meeting a lot of sexism and struggle.