When you think of the Internet or websites, you probably think of those of the United States; that country is certainly is the elephant in the room. However, there is a growing number of websites in India. I have touched upon many aspects of life in this article. There are certainly many categories or topics that I have not emphasized here, but I do know that the following are consistently good in very many things. Some of them are new websites; some of them are older. All of them are very good and helpful so I am placing them in alphabetical, not an arbitrary numerical, order.
Best India Edu Virtually every Indian and every Indian family is obsessed with education and with a job. BestIndiaEdu can help you with the former (and they provide some information on the latter). From this website you can find out about career courses, entrance exams, education in various cities, education abroad, distance education and education loans. Although this is a wonderful portal for education in India, it may not provide everything that you may want it to have. For example, it has an exhaustive list of schools in Mumbai but it does not provide a link to that school’s website (although it does provide its specific address, usually a phone number and sometimes an email address).
Bhagwad As a blogger and the author of this article, I was ambivalent about including blogs. I wanted this post to be of websites only, but began to feel that it would be incomplete if I neglected to include a blog. I have found Bhagwad Jal Park to be extremely astute in current events and a wide variety of topics in India, including technology. Another Indian blogger whom I regularly follow is Subhorup Dasgupta. Reading both of them is very enriching.
EVaidya We can go through much of our life without needing the help of others. As with legal assistance (see below), we often need help with our personal health. EVaidya is a very attractive website that provides a health forum, information on a health plan, more than 500 doctors in its community, 24/7/365 online doctor support, has an extremely high user satisfaction number (98.3%) and it was started fewer than three years ago!
Indian Hotels I found this website about a dozen years ago through a search engine when I wanted to get a good deal on a hotel in India. That search engine no longer exists, but IndianHotels still does, offering great discounts on not only 5-star hotels but also budget hotels. The starting price for a room at the Taj Bengal in Kolkata starts at USD110 which is, if I remember correctly, actually lower than it was when I stayed there.
Legal Services India As stated above, we can go through much of our life without needing the help of others. However, sometimes things happen and we need information and advice. With Legal Services India (and its sister site LegalServiceIndia), you can find out about law colleges, forms of law (Consumer, Family, Criminal, Human Rights, etc.), legal forms (such as those for wills and Affidavit for Death Orders), information through a searchable blog and perhaps most importantly and pertinently, advocates. I found my own advocate through this website.
Magic Bricks As stated below, Sulekha has everything, including a listing where you can buy, sell or rent property. However, many times you may want a more dedicated website. MagicBricks is such a website. Moreover, it has listings in virtually every state (the small, thinly populated states of Sikkim and Manipur being two exceptions). The website is even more user-friendly than is Sulekha, and you can even chat with real estate experts!
Maps of India What would India be without India! In addition to having maps, MapsofIndia combines virtually all the relevant information from Wikipedia and WikiTravel. In addition, it provides distances between cities, information on the current elections, hotel information, current headline news and information on sports, even information on flight schedules, among many other things. You can even have the website translated into German! It is certainly vast in its scope!
Olx In the United States, Amazon is the behemoth among online shopping sites because it started early and when online shopping caught on, few other companies wanted to compete against that growing company. In India, online shopping is still in its infancy and many companies have come to fill in the void, including FlipKart, SnapDeal, Junglee, Jabong, HomeShop18, Myntra and others. For awhile, I favoured Ebay.in. Recently, I found out that Amazon has a dedicated Indian website. However, these last two companies are unseen in Indian media and the only reason why I am aware of them is because of my time in the U.S. Olx is perhaps the best online shopping site in India as it combines the vastness of the American companies with an aggressive marketing.
Reuters In the U.S., print newspapers seem to be going away like the dinosaurs. Newspaper companies are either closing up shop, being bought out or going to an online version. In India, there is still a healthy number of print newspapers although many people are beginning to get their news online. The linked Indian version of Reuters is probably the most authoritative and respected. A close second, I feel, is TimesofIndia although I sometimes have difficulty in finding the online versions of various print articles.
Sulekha The elephant in the Indian room! Here, you can find and do almost anything and everything. You can buy and sell things, find rentals, hotels, restaurants in many cities, find out about colleges and universities, learn about popular travel destinations, read about the latest movies and where they are screening, among many other things. You can even start your own blog, or read those of others here.
Y-Axis The economy of India is growing, and external factors are making other nations a little bit less desirable but many Indians, primarily students and those entering the work force still want to go abroad. Speaking from experience, I know that it can be cumbersome and inconvenient to find out about and apply for the right visa. Y-Axis makes it easier, with extremely knowledgeable and professional consultants. The website for Y-Axis stands on its own, but they are also an umbrella of many other websites and blogs which can be found on their Google+ profile.