The World of Indian Sweets Posted by Rachael on Feb 21, 2018
Although many Westerners complain that Indian sweets are “too sweet,” I have luckily never had that problem. With a sweet tooth stretching back generations in my family, when I discovered Indian sweets, my culinary world expanded tenfold! Below I’ve curated a list of five of my favorite sweets with short descriptions accompanying each. Enjoy! Peda…
Tales from the Panchatantra Posted by Nitya on Feb 20, 2018
The Panchatantra is an ancient collection of animal fables from India. Surviving works have been dated back to 300 BC although the stories themselves are believed to be much older. Currently, the Panchatantra is considered to be the most widely translated Indian text around the world, including Persian, Arabic, and European languages. Written in…
HindiVAALE! Posted by Rachael on Feb 13, 2018
While learning Hindi, you may have noticed the ubiquitous presence of the vaala/vaale/vaali (वाला/वाले/वाली) suffixes––by the way, a suffix is any word or particle that comes AFTER another word and changes its meaning. From Merchant and Ivory’s film Shakespeare-Wallah (or “Vala”) to the chaivaala (चायवाला) on the street corner who brews up just what you…
Finding your way … or an address Posted by Nitya on Feb 11, 2018
I’ve always admired the mailmen and women of India’s vast postal network. That they are able to navigate the country’s labyrinthine and often chaotic sprawl of addresses (pataa sing.), is nothing short of a feat. Many a times, rural addresses bear no more than the name of the person, with other landmarks like “next to…
Padmavati Posted by Rachael on Feb 1, 2018
As many of you may be aware, the recently-released film, Padmaavat (पदमावत), by well-known director (निर्देशक/nirdeshak) Sanjay Leela Bhansali, has kicked up a bit of controversy (विवाद/vivaad, masc. noun). Without going too much into the controversy, I wanted to devote this blog to the text that inspired this film: the epic poem (महाकाव्य/mahaakaavya, fem. noun) Padmavat…
India’s Republic Day, January 26 Posted by Nitya on Jan 30, 2018
This past weekend, friends and family in India enjoyed a long weekend in observance of India’s Republic Day (Bharatiya GaNatantra Divas), which is celebrated on January 26 each year. It marks the day that the Constitution of India came into effect (January 26, 1950), thus cementing India’s transition into an independent republic after it’s independence from British…
For the Love of Coffee: कॉफ़ी के प्यार में Posted by Rachael on Jan 23, 2018
I’m sure most of you have heard countless times about the obsession India (mostly North India) has with “chai” (चाय) or tea. But, as an American who LOVES coffee, I must desist from rehashing a trite discussion of the various forms of “chai” and instead devote this blog to India’s time-honored and burgeoning fascination with…