Preetha Bhat comes from India, and she speaks English, Hindi, Tamil and Konkani. She understands Malayalam. She's lost most of her French over the years.

Her husband also is from India.

In their home in Bloomington, they speak English - not for the sake of assimilation or for any other reason than it is their easiest common language, she said.

A Westerner seated at a table at an Indian restaurant in Bloomington may not understand a word being spoken by Indians at the next table. But it also is true that an Indian may not understand a word of that conversation either.

The scope of languages in India is perhaps the most obvious demonstration of its diversity. The government in the world's most populous democracy recognizes 22 languages as "national languages" and estimates there are 844 dialects among those languages.

Rather than letting this be a source of division, Indians living here say they celebrate this feast of sounds.

In that spirit, a festival will be held Saturday in downtown Bloomington.

Organizers for the Festival of India expect to teach Westerners about the vast expanse of India and its rich culture but also to learn about parts of the nation and Indian subcontinent themselves. The all-day event entails displays inside the McLean County Museum of History during the day and entertainment outside the museum that night.

It is the first such event for the McLean County India Association. (See accompanying item for more details.)

The group's president, Vinod Thaker, said the festival fits into the association's goals to adapt to the local ways while honoring Indian tradition while serving and adding to the Central Illinois culture.

"Some blend into the culture. We adapt and remain diverse," he explained.

Barkha Dhar, another member of the festival committee, said the prevailing thought in India is that differences can be assets. "We say 'unity in diversity.'"

The association estimates that 4,000 to 5,000 Indians from 2,000 families live in Bloomington-Normal, many as guest workers and non-citizen residents working in technology fields. They encounter misconceptions. Among them: All Indians are vegetarians; Indians don't know English (it's an official language); and their homeland is the primitive country of snake-charmers depicted in old American movies.

Indians have long, melodic names, like Vasundhara Krishnamohan, and their native accents are further complicated for the American listener by their nation's use of Queen's English. Westerners struggle with both, straining to pronounce and to comprehend.

Indians appreciate the honest effort. And they add that Indians' names from the north can sometimes tongue-tie those from the south, and vice versa.

An honest effort counts for them, too.

Seated around Thaker's den the other night, five women from different states of India talked about how they, at the Festival of India, will explain some of the strong points of their region. Examples:

• Gujarat is the birthplace of Mahatma Gandhi and other independence leaders. The non-violent independence movement Gandhi led against colonial England stemmed from ancient teachings, not just modern technique.

• The state of Jammu and Kashmir in the north has heavy cultural influence from military occupations of long ago and from its large, current-day Muslim population. It is the only state in the majority-Hindu nation with a Muslim majority. Its climate defies the stereotype of tropical heat. This state in the Crown of India, as it is called, is defined geographically by the Himalayan Mountains.

• Orissa is famous for its ornate temples and draws tourists to study them, not just to worship inside.

• Motion picture production is huge. Tollywood is in West Bengal and Bollywood is in Bombay.

The committee members at Thaker's house have different home states and different skin tones. Uniformly, they said it doesn't even occur to them that skin lightness or darkness should be a basis of judgment.

There are separatist movements and strife within the nation for other reasons, but the group didn't care to discuss the conflicts. On culture, there are ample differences, but they talk about them with appreciation.

The women on this night all wore garments from India for photo profiles. One said she usually only dresses like this for festivals, another said for temple worship. Shanthala Baleger spoke up: She likes to dress in tradition Indian clothes all weekend, while she wears Western clothes during the work week.

She displayed a traditional bindi - a simple red dot on her forehead. Other women have gone to more elaborate bindis. It's a fashion statement for Pinky Desai. The purpose for wearing the bindi could have a spiritual significance. But any more, a person never can assume.

It used to mean a woman was married, and that had a benefit, as an identifier, to the single men, said Thaker.

The people of India still regularly practice arranged marriage, and divorce traditionally has been so out of the question that the Hindi and Sanskrit languages don't even have a word for divorce.

Many Indians - and all the members of the committee - defend the practice and explain it as a choice that all parties agree upon. Even Bhat, who chose to marry Don Paul outside the arranged marriage, speaks of it respectfully.

These weddings can be elaborate and ornate. The festival in Bloomington will feature a re-enactment of a traditional "monsoon wedding." Vasundhara Krishnamohan, who goes by Vasu, is coming in for a lot of teasing because she is unmarried and is playing the bride.

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Festival of India

A festival will be held Saturday at the McLean County Museum of History, downtown Bloomington.

• 10 a.m. - Inaugural dance in front of the museum.

• 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. - Displays inside the museum to show the expanse and diversity of India and its states.

• 5 to 10 p.m. - Music, dance and culture showcase on stage outside the museum.

Food for sale by Puran Indian Restaurant and Foodways Indian Restaurant.

Host: McLean County Indian Association.

Indians in the Twin Cities: Estimated by the McLean County Indian Association at 4,000 to 5,000 people, counting U.S. citizens, non-citizen residents and legal guest workers without resident status.

India snapshots

• Scale - 1.1 billion population in 1.3 million square miles. (United States has 300 million people in 3.7 million square miles.)

• Government - Secular federal republic with a parliamentary system, 28 states, six union territories and a national capital territory. Also described as a socialist democracy.

• Independence - Aug. 15, 1947, from British colonial rule.

• Major religions - Hinduism (81 percent); Islam (13); Sikhism (2); Christianity (2).

• Languages - 22 recognized national languages. Official language is Hindi. 844 different dialects.

• Capital - New Delhi.

• Climate - Tropical monsoon climate in general, but India also includes areas with near-arctic cold.

• Literacy - 65 percent, with 75 percent for males and 54 percent for females.

SOURCES: "The World Almanac and Book of Facts 2007" and www.india.gov.in