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

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

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

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

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

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

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%

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

West Bengal 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

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

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

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