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Annaprasanna – First foods/first grain eating ceremony. The Annaprasana comes in the sixth month when the child is given solid food for the first time. Mantras are recited and oblations are offered to the various deities. See this post for more info.

Auntie/Uncle - a term of respect; what all the adults (older than you) in the Indian community are called, regardless of whether they are your blood relative. Their name may precede the tag for further definition, e.g. “Sree Uncle” or “Lakshmi Auntie”.

Curry/curries – these are just the Indian dishes. Although curry powder is used in some dishes, it’s not used in all of them. I don’t know why they’re all called curries. This term applies specifically to the dishes that are to be mixed with rice (usually). They are usually of a paste consistency (some more or less so) and mostly vegetarian, but there are some with chicken, shrimp, eggs, and/or tofu.

Mix – Term for Indian version of a snack kind of like Chex mix. Everybody makes it different, but it’s always called “Mix”.

Pooja/Puja – A Pooja is worship to the Deities of the Hindu Religion in the form of prayer, offerings and sarcrifices. See http://www.visittnt.com/todo/Events/Divali/Pooja.htm for a personal take, but I like the wikipedia def: Pūjā (Devanagari: पूजा) (alternative transliteration Pooja, Sanskrit: reverence, honour, adoration, or worship) is a religious ritual that Hindus perform on a variety of occasions to pray or show respect to their chosen Gods or Goddesses. Most practicing Hindus pray once or twice a day. Pujas are reserved for special occasions like house warming. Puja should be done after a shower or bath and it is recommended that rites be performed before food intake to ensure sattvic qualities and full concentration (dhyana). Puja is also performed on special occasions in addition to the daily ritual. These include Durga Puja, Pongal and Lakshmi Puja and other religious occasions. Puja or Pooja is also a very popular Hindu female first name.

Sweets – Indian desserts.

Sari/Saree - Traditional Indian “dress” worn by Indian women. The traditional sari is usually a South Indian style. I don’t remember the North style name, which looks different (my husband and Indian community are South Telegu, so I don’t know much about North stuff). There are many styles and variations, and it seems (to me anyway) the style varies by the region of India as well (even if family lives here in the States, they may wear whatever style is popular in the part of India they are originally from).

Bollywood - The Indian version of Hollywood – also a style of movie. You’d just have to see one, but it’s becoming quite popular in the States. Lots of singing and dancing.

Caste/caste system – Way old class ranking system I don’t really understand. There are lots of castes. I used to think there were just a few, like the ones you read about in High School Social Studies (religious caste, untouchables, yada yada). Turns out, HS social studies was kind of crappy and way off on pretty much everything I was taught about India. Saresh’s caste is “Kamma” – it’s equivalent to “middle class/upper middle class” here (like business owners; professionals), but since it’s not entirely socio-economic based, there’s a lot more to it than that. There’s not really an accurate US equivalent.

Botu/Bindi – the “dot” on the forehead. Women and men wear them, and babies and children. They’re decorative and also used in religious ceremonies. Most are stickers. There’s also this cool stuff in a bottle you can paint on and it dries like a powder. They can be simple dots, or jeweled designs to match your outfit.

This post on Indian matrimonials has a few other terms with definitions as well.

Miscellaneous stuff:

North India vs South India – I get the impression this is a bit like North and South USA before the Civil War. From what little I’ve gathered, North looks down on the South, and South doesn’t necessarily like the North. Northern Indians tend to be lighter skinned. A lot of the Indian/Bollywood stars are from North India (some look white). South Indian food is hotter – waaaay hotter. North India borders Pakistan, and that’s where you hear a lot of the skirmish stuff with Pakistan. South India doesn’t seem to get into that. Saresh’s family is from South India.

Religion – Primarily Hindu with large populations of Christians and Muslims, and I think there are Sikhs (sp?) and Jainists, too, in decent populations. The Hindu temple here has a room for Jainists I believe (maybe Sikhs, too).