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Shahzada Khan
Professor Debra Crank-Lewis
Sophomore Portfolio
6 October 2015
Comparing Cultures
I chose the countries Pakistan and India to compare about. Pakistan and India used to be
one country called Hindustan. Pakistan had many cultural differences with India. The country
was divided between Islam and Hinduism. There were many fights between the two cultures
which paved the way for Pakistan’s Independence Day on August 14th, 1947. India made their
Independence Day on August 15th, 1947 so they are not the same as Pakistan’s. Pakistan and
India have kind of a hatred towards each other. It’s not that if the people from these two
countries see each other, they will hurt one another. It’s the media which is trying to show that
these two countries hate each other and then the people of each country believe what their people
are telling them. “Pakistan was created as a national homeland for the Muslim-majority areas of
the subcontinent, while India proposed to become a secular nation that included about 85 percent
Hindus, but also more than ten percent Muslims as well as large numbers of Sikhs, Christians
and members of other religions” (India-Pakistan Relations). I personally believe that if they had
not divided themselves in two countries, Hindustan would have been a great nation by now. I
think they slowed themselves in progress when they separated. I will be comparing these
categories: “Food and Economy”, and “Gender Roles and Statuses”.
Pakistan is a country of with “at least 95 percent of […] population is Muslim”
(Pakistan). No Muslim can eat pork and they have to fast during the month of Ramadan. Green
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tea is a typical drink served with meals in Pakistan. Pakistan has many spices and lentils they put
in their meal to give it a very unique taste. India’s usual food is rice with many being
vegetarians. Religions in India that are “Muslims, Jews, Sikhs, and Christians all eat meat, with
the important proviso that the first three groups do not consume pork” (India). Poor people of
India almost eat any meat except beef while the richer people of India are strict
vegetarians. Pakistan has many celebrations involving food like Ramadan, Eid-ul-Azha, and Eid-
ul-Fitr. In Ramadan, a typical Muslim would fast and pray for a month. Family would make
traditional foods and eat together. Traditional foods like “sheer khurma”, “halwa”, and “naans”.
Sweets are given to other people when something good happens to you or your family. In India,
“every caste, tribe, town, village, and religion has a panoply of traditional ceremonies that are
observed with enthusiasm and wide participation” (India). India is a big country with many little
