One of the best things about India is that it welcomes everyone & everything with open arms. Even if you don’t belong to this country, you’ll become an integral part of it in no time!

And in case you don’t believe us, check out this list of 10 items that you always thought were Indian. This will seriously blow your mind!

1. Khichdi

So much for being India’s national dish. However, we are not cooking up this story. According to a report in the Hindu, Khichdi may as well not be an Indian dish after all. The report suggests that the dish popular in Indian homes is actually a plagiarised dish and the original came to India some 2500 years ago from China. That is ‘sick’ news, right?

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2. Samosa

Yes, you read that right. The samosa, everybody’s favourite snack, is not originally from India. It originated in the Middle East, where it was called Sambosa.

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3. Chai

Indians are addicted to chai, but you’ll be surprised to know that tea originated in China. It was popularized by the Britishers in India.

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4. Rajma

One of the most favourite delicacies of our country, Rajma came to India only after the red kidney bean arrived from Central Mexico and Guatemala.

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5. Kites

All of us have memories of flying kites on Baisakhi , but even they are not Indian. They flew in to the Indian skyline from China.

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6. Aaloo

Almost every other Indian dish seems to have aaloo in it . But did you know this vegetable originated hundreds of years ago in southern Peru and north western Bolivia?

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7. Cricket

The sport we consider a religion is traditionally not ours. It was invented in England and the Britishers bought it to our country, but we gave our time and sweat to the sport and have made it our own.

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8. Hand knitting

Our grandmothers’ favourite pastime actually comes from the land of the mummies: Egypt.

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9. Biryani

The Hyderabadi biryani is famous all across the nation, but historians claim that it was first brought to India by Turkic invaders.

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10. Maggi

Who would have thought our very own Maggi is in fact not ours? India’s favourite snack comes from Switzerland. It was invented by Julius Maggi way back in 1872.

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11. Silk

Our mothers have a huge stock of silk sarees. But did you know that silk was brought to our country centuries ago by Chinese traders?

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Are you amazed? Did you know these things were not Indian?

That’s the beauty of India. Even if something is not Indian, once it arrives in the country, it becomes a part of India soon enough. For more, check this awesome Quora post out.