The Many Names of India Posted by Rachael on Nov 8, 2018
Most, if not all, countries (देश/desh, masc.) in the world have multiple names (विभिन्न नाम/vibhinn naam, masc.) depending on which language (भाषा/bhaashaa, fem. or ज़बान/zabaan, fem.) you are using: for example, Deutschland vs. Germany, España vs. Spain and Éireann vs. Ireland, etc. Similarly, the story of India’s many coexisting names is fascinating and complex in…
Ghosts, Ghouls and Goblins Posted by Rachael on Oct 29, 2018
All over the world, each culture has its own ways of making sense of death (मृत्यु or मौत), the afterlife and supernatural phenomena. India, of course, is no exception. In my last blog, I discussed the tales from Baital Pachisi (बेताल पच्चीसी), a collection of stories about the mythical king Vikramaditya and his quest to…
Vikram and The Vampire / विक्रम और बेताल Posted by Rachael on Oct 27, 2018
As Halloween is one of my favorite holidays (मनपसंद त्योहार/manpasand tyohaar), and I’ve been fascinated with ghost stories since I was a child, I thought I would share an Indian “ghost story,” if you will, in honor of the upcoming (आनेवाला/aanevaalaa) holiday. When I was a teenager, I came across a collection of tales (कथाएँ/kathaaen…
The Asiatic Lion in Gujarat’s Sasan Gir Forest Posted by Nitya on Oct 23, 2018
The state of Gujarat in India’s (paschhimi/western) (kshetra/region) is (prasiddh/famous) as the (ghar/home) of the majestic Asiatic शेर (sher/lion). Once found in other parts of the world and in (poorvi/eastern) and (madhya/central) India, it is now believed to make its (vishesh/exclusive) domain within the confines of the (Gir van raashtriya udyaan/Gir Forest National Park) in Gujarat…
WhatsApp in India / इंडिया में व्हाट्सऐप Posted by Rachael on Oct 21, 2018
Some of you may be familiar with the popular messaging app known as “Whatsapp” (व्हाट्सऐप). In India and many other countries, this app is widely used as a major form of communication (संचार का प्रमुख माध्यम/sanchaar ka pramukh maadhyam) as you can call, text and video chat through its service for free as long as…
Stay on the Alert for Crimes Posted by Nitya on Oct 8, 2018
I’ve recently been watching a धारावाहिक (dhaaravahik/television series) in Hindi, which is telecast जिसका प्रसारण होता है (jiska prasaraN hota hai) on one of India’s प्रचलित (prachali/popular) television networks, Sony Entertainment. This कार्यक्रम (kaaryakram/program), called Crime Patrol, is a cinematic recreation of how India’s police force has solved (mostly) भीषण (bheeshaN/gruesome) crimes. Some of the प्रकरण (prakaraN/episodes) are presented…
Improve Your Hindi Vocabulary: Prefixes, Part 2 Posted by Rachael on Sep 30, 2018
If you’re just catching up with this blog series on prefixes, take a moment to review my first blog in the series here. Learning prefixes, or particles that appear at the beginning of a word to change its meaning slightly, can be enormously helpful if you are trying to expand your vocabulary in Hindi. Rather…