Khana
his spice is so precious it takes 75,000 flowers to make just one pound of it — and India grows most of the world's supply.
saffron
This Bollywood superstar is so famous he has his own wax statue at Madame Tussauds — and was once reportedly the richest actor on Earth.
Shah Rukh Khan
This gesture in Indian classical dance uses hand positions that can tell entire stories — there are over 500 of them.
mudras
India has more vegetarians than the entire rest of the world combined — roughly this fraction of its population eats no meat.
about 40%
"Jugaad" is a famous Indian concept that roughly translates to this English phrase — celebrated worldwide as a form of genius.
"a creative hack" or "frugal innovation
This street food is so spicy and chaotic, Mumbai vendors are practically surgeons assembling it at lightning speed with two plates.
pav bhaji
In this iconic 1975 film, Amitabh Bachchan played the ultimate angry young man — and basically invented the Bollywood action hero.
Deewar
India's weddings last an average of this many days — and yes, every single one involves dancing.
3 days (multi-day)
This Indian-origin board game was originally a lesson in Hindu morality — but the British turned it into a children's toy you probably grew up with.
Snakes and Ladders
This Indian sport, played by chanting your own name repeatedly while tagging opponents, is now an Olympic-level competitive sport.
Kabaddi
It looks like a samosa's evil twin — this deep-fried snack from Rajasthan is stuffed with lentils instead of potatoes.
dal baati/daal kachori
This actress won Miss World in 1994 and went on to become one of Bollywood's biggest stars before conquering Hollywood too
Aishwarya Rai
This ancient Indian martial art from Kerala, performed in full costume with oil lamps, is so theatrical it inspired many Bollywood fight scen
Kalaripayattu
India has so many pending court cases that if its judiciary worked at its current pace with no new cases added, it would take this long to clear the backlog.
300 years
India's Constitution is the world's longest written constitution — it's so thick that it was originally handwritten by this many people in calligraphy. (Prem Behari Raizada)
(Prem Behari Raizada)
This dish is so associated with British India that the UK actually considers it an unofficial national dish — yet most Indians have never heard of it.
chicken tikka masala
Bollywood films average this many songs per movie — and if you guessed "zero," you clearly haven't seen one or you're SHIVAM BATHLA
5 to 6 songs
The bindi worn on a woman's forehead between the eyebrows is said to protect this — considered the body's most powerful chakra.
third eye (Ajna chakra)
This Indian city has a local train network so overcrowded, it carries this many passengers per day — more than Australia's entire population.
Mumbai (7+ million daily)
This Bollywood term — literally meaning "item number" — refers to a flashy, standalone dance sequence with no plot relevance whatsoever.
item song
This fermented South Indian breakfast item has nothing sweet about it — it's savory, crispy, and best dipped in sambar.
medu vada
This 2001 Bollywood film was so controversial for showing a Muslim-Hindu love story that it sparked actual riots in some Indian cities.
Gadar: Ek Prem Katha
This massive chariot festival in Puri, Odisha, is so intense that the English word "juggernaut" was literally born from watching it.
Rath Yatra
ndia once sent a Mars mission for less money than it cost to make this Hollywood space movie — and succeeded on the first attempt.
Gravity (2013)
India is the only country in the world where this big cat, the lion, and the tiger all coexist in the wild — within the same nation's borders.
(Asiatic lion in Gir, Bengal tiger elsewhere)