This week, I traveled to Delhi, a large city in North India, to attend a psychiatry conference. A conference in the research world is a big meeting where doctors and researchers come together to share their ideas, talk about their research and learn from one another. For my program, I usually live and work in Chennai, which is in South India, so visiting Delhi felt like traveling to a very different place, even though it is in the same country!
Being in Delhi helped me see how different regions within India can be. Delhi, or formally New Delhi, is the capital of India. In Delhi, the main language spoken is Hindi. Unfortunately, I do not speak Hindi, so at first I felt a little like a foreigner. However, many people also speak English, and many signs are written in English as well. People were very kind and accommodating, which made it much easier to get around.
The food in Delhi was also very different from the food I usually eat in Chennai. North Indian food often includes dishes such as naan, butter chicken and mutton rogan josh. In South India, meals usually include foods such as dosa, idli, rice and sambar. Both styles of food are delicious, but they show how culture and geography shape everyday life, even within one country.
