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Am I correct in my understanding that the Indian people, as a race, are considered "Asian".
Presuming I have that correct can some explain to me why, the indian heritage and culture to my foreign eyes seems very distinct from other Asian cultures.
Is it a term Indians themselves use to describe themselves? If so do Indians feel a closer tie to other Asian countries than they do say, Pakistan? I assume of course Pakistanis dont describe themselves as Asian...
@_lunawinters @freemo Thats why India is being easily polarized and distracted.
@freemo also, we are very much close to Pakistan and Bangladesh in many ways, because we used to be a single country before partition.
@_lunawinters I've read a bit about the partition before. Sad, but I learned a lot.
@freemo You're getting it right. But the thing is we don't have any particular culture that is followed uniformly throughout the country. Like the part where I am from (Kolkata), has more similarities with Bangladesh.
Similarly many on the western part has similarities with Pakistan when it comes to the way of living eating etc.
Here we say one thing: "Unity in diversity" (though in current conditions, it has been questioned many times)
@shibaprasad It is a beatiful saying :)
@freemo Geographically speaking, we are Asians. But I have always wondered why we are not addressed as 'Asians' as much others (Chinese, Koreans etc). So I guess we are just 'Indians'
Like @_lunawinters mentioned, more than 150 languages are spoken (22 official), thousands, if not lakhs of different communities following different customs are present.
Not weird for a country with 1.3 BILLION population.
@Karthikdeva 22? Wasn't Bhojpuri included? Or are they still asking for it?
@_lunawinters its not included yet i guess.
@_lunawinters @Karthikdeva not included yet One of the reason being, if they start including dialects of Hindi, similar demands will prop up from other regional dialects to be included as well.
@kapoorrajat1857 @Karthikdeva bhojpuri, maithli and maghi have their own vocabulary, grammar and stuff, but still are considered a dialect of hindi. Why?
@_lunawinters @Karthikdeva same is the case with all the dialects of Hindi, be it Haryanavi, Awadhi, Braj, etc. + Hindi speakers are an amalgamation of all these dialects. If we separate these, then there's no Hindi speaker. Same is the case with Marathi- Airani etc, Gujarati- Kutchi, Mehsani etc
@freemo Here in Canada the usual reference is to "South Asian" people. There's also "South East Asian" for the region previously called Indochina (Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, etc). Asia is a huge area, tremendous spread North to South as well - Siberia to Sri Lanka all are part of.
@freemo Indians and Pakistanis are essentially the same. We weren't aware that we are Indians and Pakistani till the Brits broke us up and left. 
And yes, we are all usually considered South Asians. Further east is South East Asians.
@Venkatmangudi @freemo
The brits didn't divide willing, the Islamist leaders from the present Pakistan insisted they must go.
@freemo that's a very long topic to discuss. In short, before the rise of right wing politics, India was and is right now also, 'unity in diversity'. There are multiple religions and cultures that were born in India itself and those cultures are so very different in food, clothing, rituals and even abodes but all stand united in front of the enemy.
Pakistan was split from India and its culture is somewhat similar to Punjab in India because of common border.
FYI Pakistan is also asian country.
@freemo As a continent we're still Asians (more precisely South-asians). The south of Asia is also sometimes referred to as the Indian Subcontinent which includes India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan. So while technically were still Asians, the term has been co-opted by our northern neighbours, China and Japan. Hence the confusion. We're pretty chill with any of these terms though 😉
@freemo although I wouldn't refer to Pakistanis or Bangladeshis as Indians 🤷♂️
@freemo the thing is that in India, we don't have a particular culture that i or any Indian can pinpoint. We have a unique diversity where we have more than 100 languages (23 recognized by the constitution), 5 major religions and many other minorities.
Every 200 km, you can see the uniqueness nature of India.
In Korea or China, they have a particular culture with which they represent their country. India represents itself with it's diversity.