Family and Cultural traditions

During the chat sessions, Marie-Joaona and I talked with Jackson Nadar, a 25 year old Tamil Indian who comes from the state of Tamil-Nadu at the extreme South of India, not very far from Sri Lanka (formerly known as Ceylon). The State capital of Tamil-Nadu is Chennai (formerly known as Madras)

Jackson explained us that India was a very secular country. All religions are tolerated and there is no link between religion and politics (As in France since 1905). The main religion in India is Hinduism but it is multi-cultural country.

He explained us how marriage is done in India; you can get married at the age of 21 for boys and at the age of 18 for girls. There are still arranged marriages but also love marriages. If some marry before the age, it is illegal. The two fiancés don’t live together, sex is prohibited before marriage. He explained us how Tamils get married: the future wife wears a sari and the future husband wears a shirt, trousers and a tie. He seemed quite amazed by the fact that in France people live together before getting married (but is was the same for us when he told us that they don’t live together before getting marriage).

After talking about marriage, we talked about transportation in India. Like in France, they have cars, buses, planes, trains and boats but most people use their feet. He talked to us about the famous Mumbai local train.