So I started a “Festive 50″countdown just before Christmas, but didn’t get to the end of it yet… mainly because I’ve been working absolutely flat-out at college since the start of January, and I’ve just been utterly exhausted. Plus I couldn’t decide on the categories for the last 20… :P Anyway, after Birds, Words and Food, here comes Part 4… LIFE. Here are 10 of the most notable ways in which life has changed since moving to India. #20: Weather A […]
As I wrote 2 months ago, I had to move to a new apartment — or “shift” — recently. Actually it’s been 4 weeks since I moved, but work has been unbelievably hectic since the start of 2012 and I’m only just catching up with stuff. I had been really dreading finding a new place, since my first experience of flat-hunting in Bangalore wasn’t good. So many apartments here seem to be a pile of junk, or really dirty, or […]
1st January, 8.30am. Woken by the sun streaming in through the bedroom sky-light, and the silence being shattered by some very loud shouting in the street. Hangover-free and glad to see that the sky is blue and the sunshine is back, after 3 days of cold, grey, wet and windy weather caused by the tail end of Cyclone Thane, which had been causing destruction and even some deaths over on the East coast. Shorts and trainers on, I put the recycling […]
Indian food is fantastic! Coming from the UK I already knew the cuisine pretty well, especially after living in Leicester which has a very large South Asian population. But since living here I’ve discovered much more about it and have enjoyed it even more. For me, the food is one of the best things about living here. South India is paradise for vegetarians too. I do eat fish occasionally, but I mostly eat “veg” here and it’s a real […]
(Sajda, from My Name is Khan. By Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Shankar Mahadevan and Richi Sharma) I posted recently about watching Shahrukh Khan at the cinema, and I’ve also been watching a couple of his films at home. I rented Om Shanti Om through iTunes — how very 21st century — on the strength of the tune Jag Soona Soona Lage, which I like a lot, and which features Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, a nephew of the late, great Ustad […]
Moong Daal is one year old today. On 2nd November last year I bought my one-way plane ticket and decided to start this blog to document the adventure I was about to embark upon. Today also marks my first visit — at long last — to the cinema here. A friend from the UK is staying with me just now, so we went along to the big multiplex next to college to see Ra.One, Shahrukh Khan‘s new block-buster Bollywood/SciFi crossover […]
So we’re reaching the peak of the Festive Season here in India, or so it seems. It’s Diwali just now (aka Deepavali) — a national holiday. Probably the biggest festival for Hindus, and celebrated by Sikhs and Jains as well. Buildings are festooned with rope-lights, fancy goods shops are bursting with lanterns, and street vendors are selling huge mounds of the tiny ceramic diyas (oil lamps) which are so symbolic of the festival, and which give it its name. Meanwhile, the […]
It seems like the time for traditional festivals and celebrations here in Bangalore just now. Which is very welcome when Holy Days become Holidays… and we had 2 days off work this week. Wednesday was Eid-ul-Fitr, when Muslims celebrate the end of the fasting month of Ramadan. And the next day was Ganesh Chaturthi, the Hindu festival of Lord Ganesh, son of Shiva and Parvati, who is notable for having an elephant’s head. Today is Saturday and the Ganesh festivities […]
Learning a new language gives me a special buzz that’s hard to describe… somehow it feels like a different kind of learning to most other things. There’s a lot of memorising (alphabet and vocabulary), systematic understanding (grammar) and some skill in pronunciation and comprehension. To me it feels similar to learning a musical instrument in many ways. But you get to try it out on random strangers and communicate with people who otherwise might be out of your reach. […]
