Hinduism according to me.

India is full of worshippers  of either Siva and His family or Vishnu and His avatars or both.
This choice of worship is very little to do with personal choice but is mostly to do with the family one is born into .It is inherited belief.This schism in the of worship of deities does not divide or dilute the feeling of being a Hindu because of the following fundamentals on which Hinduism rests.

First and foremost is the belief that 'Atma' and body are different .A person does not cease to exist with cessation of his bodily functions and extinguishing of life .Since he is a atma which is eternal he continues to exist as he had done since time immemorial and will do so forever.

2.Staunch belief in samsara or recurring cycles of birth, death and re-birth.The atmas created in the inception of the universe by the Paramatma , out of Himself are born again and again that could range from dust to rocks , insects, animals and human beings .The highest order of evolution an atma  in this recurring births is to be born as a  human being  Human beings are blessed with intelligence and the power to discriminate  .Intelligence is a must to  learn the methods of release from the tenuous  earthly bonds of  samasara and to follow it .
There are differences in the three main philosophical schools viz Advaita, Visishtdwaita and Dwaita regarding atmas relation to the Supreme being but none of them deny the distinction between atma and body.There is no difference in regarding the atma as pure knowledge , full of bliss , splendour,, eternal , all pervasive and powerful.in its original state.

3. The firm belief that being born as a human being is a blessing since it gives a wonderful chance to atma to strive and  seek liberation from cycles of birth, death and rebirth .In short an good opportunity to free oneself from sorrow and attain eternal bliss.

4.The need to remember one's dead ancestors or Pitrus [maximum up to seven generations] regularly at least once a year  by performing rituals to propitiate them .These rituals range from being be very simple to very elaborate.

5.The immense belief that taking three dips in sacred rivers, lakes ,seas and temple ponds even  once in ones lifetime will absolve one of the karmas-sins accumulated over past innumerable lives .

6.Praying before deities at home daily by lighting a oil wick lamp placed before the deities pictures and figurines and reciting  sanskrit slokas or telling prayers in  ones mother tongue .The deity could be housed in a shelf of a cupboard or a stand or placed in eloborte prayer rooms as per available space.

7 Wearing new clothes in festivals .There are numerous festivals region wise .But Deepavali is one festival where everyone  wears  new clothes what ever one's economic status may be and is celebrated by all ,specially by children  with great enthusiasm by bursting crackers.

8.The belief in Karma dominates all .The belief that it is one's own actions that causes happiness or sorrow and will do so in succeeding births as well .They determine one's future births and future course in such births .To stay clear of the effects of both bad and good karma's the easiest way out is to seek the Supreme persons blessings which will erase all the sins instantly.The easiest method is to achieve this is to  worship that Supreme person sincerely
9.All Hindus are bound by injunctions and philosophies of Vedas whether they  are aware of it or not or whether they like it or not.,because everything i mentioned above has originated from Vedas .
The injunctions [do's and dont's]and the philosophy stated  in the Vedas have seeped into all over the centuries since ancient times viz even earlier than 5000 BC that following them is instinctive and has become the habit/custom of every family of all  castes mentioned in Vedas and also by castes not mentioned in the Vedas.
It is so entwined into the daily life of all Hindus  that they do not have to read Vedas or understand it to follow it .The grasping of the essence viz practises and philosophies of the Vedas into the system has taken place centuries back and it is very difficult to dislodge it from ones life.
How much ever academic or intellectual a Hindu may be or much ever he tries to rebel against its basic beliefs he will be automatically be guided by his inner self  with its impressions or vasanas of preceding births which would have tackled similar situations , to take recourse to these Vedic. injunctions or  philosophies or both when he plummets to depths of bottomless sorrow., grief and misery .