blog entry

blog entry

some words, phrases and sayings in india (hindi)

it is told in all the villages & towns :
"every 1 mile the water changes in taste and every 4 miles the language
and accents change"

there are different words for these in each dialect. in Northern & Eastern India people generally speak Hindi and English. In Southern India people speak languages such as Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalum and English - they don't usually like speaking Hindi, they prefer English over Hindi.

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delhi movie for steve

Watch the video this is the full / self-contained movie.

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WATM challenge 2 - part of things video - fabrics & furnishings

Watch the video

WATM challenge 2 - part of things video - fabrics & furnishings

http://wearethemedia.com/2006/06/26/watm-challenge-2-parts-of-things

music is Speaking in Tounges - Sheila Chandra from the Weaving My Ancestor's Voices album.

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WATM challenge 2 - part of things video

Watch the video

this is my video for the We Are The Media challenge # 2 - parts of things

http://wearethemedia.com/2006/06/26/watm-challenge-2-parts-of-things/

it's a short piece. it's part of a video showing part of the subject's life. as a visitor to the country I can only ever see part of their existance. as I zoomed in I lost part of the video also.

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today I'm listening to... KITKA

today I'm listening to:

http://magnatune.com/artists/albums/kitka-wintersongs/

I heard one of the songs whilst watching a video so checking out the album.
http://cafesiena.blogspot.com/2006/03/bloom.html

I hadn't heard of KITKA before - they're a group of Eastern European women vocalists.
http://magnatune.com/artists/kitka

"Kitka is a professional women's vocal ensemble dedicated to producing concerts, recordings, and educational programs that develop new audiences for music rooted in Eastern European women's vocal traditions. Kitka also strives to expand the boundaries of this music as an expressive art form."

" Now approaching its 25th Anniversary season, Kitka was founded in 1979 as an offshoot of the Westwind International Folk Ensemble. Kitka began as a grassroots group of amateur singers from diverse ethnic and musical backgrounds who met regularly to share their passion for the stunning dissonances, asymmetric rhythms, intricate ornamentation, lush harmonies, and resonant strength of Eastern European women's vocal music. Under the artistic direction of vocalist, composer, and conductor Bon Brown Singer from 1981 to 1996, Kitka blossomed into a refined professional ensemble earning international renown for its artistry, versatility, and mastery of the demanding techniques of Balkan and Slavic vocal styling."

cycle rickshaw ride in chandni chowk, old delhi

Watch the video

cycle rickshaw ride in chandni chowk, old delhi, 09/05/2006

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wake up call on a fortunate life

I had my wakeup call this afternoon as we were leaving work. as a quick background, the site is still largely a building site with workmen & women living in makeshift tents - a piece of thick plastic (that blue stuff they cover roofs with after cyclone damage) with a couple of sticks holding it up. as we drive past I could see some have a plank of wood which is like one of those wooden crate plinths (not sure of the real name) so it looks like they sleep on this under the tent. keep in mind it's about to be monsoon season, so they'll be sleeping 2 inches above soggy ground most days over the next few weeks. the workmen used to live under the awnings of the walkways - it has a roof and they'd strung plastic sheets as walls. at least there was a cement floor about 1/2 metre above the ground but they've been kicked out of there as murdoch is due for a visit soon and other vips have come for meetings (though they seem to find excuses to leave and only stay an hour). anyway, there were friday drinks this afternoon as we were leaving (early for once!!) - which isn't really drinks like in aus, but is argyaaal sweets and (yummy & filling) vegetable samoas instead. we were talking to one of the guys about the food - they provide a hot cooked lunch for the staff at work (I can't eat it more than once every couple of weeks but some people do). I said we should get the samosas as they were good and chatted about what the workers eat. then one of the guys mentioned in some parts of mumbai there were people who ate a similar dish for breakfast, lunch & dinner every day of the year. I (stupidly) said (without thinking) "don't they get sick of having the same thing everyday?" (which they think is strange coming from me who has vegemite sandwiches every day - brought the vegemite with me and make them at breakfast in the fancy hotel). and he replied, "no.. it's all they can afford to eat so they don't ever have anything else". which made me feel really bad. not only for saying something dumb & inconsiderate but for being so oblivious to the fact that I take for granted the luxury of eating different choice meals each night/day and have never even thought twice that I don't have this option available to me. now this could have been a slight exaggeration on his part and perhaps they do have a minimal choice of really cheap food, but I've seen things here which leads me to believe he wasn't exaggerating. sorry, just had to write this down and this thread seemed like a place for it.

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1 minute recording of Bahai Lotus Temple in Delhi, India

Watch the video Attached is a 1 minute recording of inside the Bahai Lotus Temple in Delhi, India taken on 30/04/2006. Sounds never cease in Delhi - the traffic and the people, so finding a quiet spot is like an oasis. This building has amazing acoustics - the sounds of coughs and whistles vibrates through the space. It was a really nice place to sit and relax on a really hot afternoon. I hope you enjoy it.I recorded it using a Sony MiniDisc and a cheap pc mic.

http://www.bahaindia.org/ has images/info about the temple

I've emailed this to the organiser of the Quiet American website - http://www.quietamerican.org/vacation.html - they have 1 minute recordings from people's holidays from around the world.

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