15 February,2026 10:24 AM IST | Mumbai | Tanisha Banerjee
Pic/iStock
How fast does India's crime clock tick? What kills Indian men and women the most? Which dialect of Hindi is our national language? These are questions you may not ask yourself every day but once you read the answers, your understanding of the culture and facts of India will change. Rohit Saran's 100 Ways to See India provides an elaborate viewpoint of the country, not by opinions or expert voices, but with data sheets and pie charts. The book's richly informative and visual text helps you become more discerned, helping you see all sides more clearly.
India's relationship with alcohol is complicated. Over 93 per cent of Indians who drink prefer spirits, which are three to eight times stronger than beer or wine. This happens due to alcohol being a taboo in most Indian cultures. Moreover, India has 41 per cent of male drinkers and only 21 per cent women drinkers.
No party in India has ever won 50 per cent of the polled voters, let alone a majority of eligible voters. This means that no government has represented 50 per cent of Indians. Ever. It's more interesting that according to data, women now vote more than men. In 1951, only 46.7 per cent of women voted in comparison to 57.7 per cent of men voters. During the 2024 general election, 65.8 per cent of Indian women voted, as opposed to 65.6 per cent
of all male Indian voters.
In the nation's diverse battleground of languages, Bengaluru emerges the winner, with 181 mother tongues and 107 languages. The number of mother tongues - which includes dialects too - is higher than that of languages because of Census survey classification. For example, Hindi is made up of at least 56 dialects or mother tongues, the largest being Bhojpuri.
In 2023, India recorded over 62 lakh crimes of which 61 per cent were serious crimes under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). Through extensive studying of data we come to know that one rape happens every 18 minutes, one murder every 17 minutes, and one incident of cruelty by husband or relative every four minutes. These facts shed light on the perception of safety and time we have in India. These are only the reported crimes. The actual record might be much higher.
All of India can fit into simply 86 per cent of Kerala if every Indian lived as densely as the residents of north-east Delhi - the most crowded district in India. Moreover if all India lived as thinly spread out as people in Arunachal Pradesh do, it would take 22 Indias to fit our entire population. The Indo-Gangetic belt running through UP, Bihar, and Bengal makes up just 13 per cent of India's geography but houses 35 per cent of its population.
