Basu had some questions that I am going to attempt to discuss. I won't say answer, because I am not any kind of expert. This is my take on it and I welcome you to put your own beliefs or understandings in the comments.
1. attaining moksha breaks the cycle of rebirth . but after a soul attains moksha through the law of karma , what happens?
I believe that we tend to think about our souls in too limited a way. We are so connected to this idea of ourselves, that we imagine that we go to join God with all our thoughts, feelings, personal history, opinions, grudges, etc.
We leave our body behind when we attain moksha and we also leave our mind behind. Our mind is not who we are any more than the body is. It is the soul only which attains moksha, and the soul is a part of God already.
It is described as being like coming home. We rejoin the rest of ourself, and so it's not like we're a little piece hanging out thinking about being bored while we are in the midst of moksha.
There is no mind to be bored and we are not a separate piece, we become the whole.
Of course, since we can never prove that any messages have come from people who have attained enlightenment, it's hard to be sure about these things. Life or lack thereof after death is a very tricky concept to pin down because no one really knows.
2. you said you follow advaita vedanta . which i suppose says god, a supreme being is beyond all our senses. and the personal gods visnu, durga, lakshmi etc are result of an illusion/maya. in that case how do you relate to myriads of mythological stories? do you think all of them are symbolic stories?
i found it difficult to get the symbolism of all our mythological stories.
I don't know if I would say that personal gods are maya. There's two ways of looking at them. 1) The gods are living creatures like us, but on a different level or 2) the gods are symbolic ways of understanding different aspects of the one God who is too big a concept for us to comprehend. This second one is my own belief.
Also, the one God can go by any name. "He" is ultimate reality and you can call that Atman, or Brahma, or Shiva, or Cosmic Energy, or Shakti. Any of those names can name the Absolute.
I find mythology very interesting. I rarely think that the stories "really" happened, but I don't find that means that they are any less valid or any less real. Being a trained fiction writer, I sometimes find more truth in fiction than in real life.
I don't need for religious stories to make sense or follow a linear progression. Contradictions are not a problem for me. Rather than analyze them, I usually just let them wash over me and see what I get from it.
Take Krishna and Radha and the rest of the gopis. Is it weird that there's a story of a God who is lustfully desired by hundreds of young women? Not really. I think that we are all gopis, longing for unity with God. And all of us can be beloved of God, not just one.
What about Krishna stealing butter and being a difficult child? I think it shows the joy and zest for life in children and encourages us to seek unity with that kind of delight.
Are there particular stories that trouble you?
3. you surly heard the phrase "33 koti devas/deities" in hinduism. wikipedia says that it is possible that 330 million is a mistranslation . and it is actually 33 kinds/types of gods. do you have any reference on this issue for further reading? or if you yourself can explain it to me .
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conceptions_of_God#Conceptions_of_God_in_Hinduism
I read recently that 330 million is more like a way to express infinite. Like in English we might say "There were like a billion flies at the picnic." We have no idea of the number, so we pick a really big one to represent it.
On a DVD I watched about Going to a Temple (from Appu Series) they said that 330 million is not a literal number, but a way to express that every single thing in creation is a god (right down to blades of grass and fruit flies).
Of course, as mentioned about Advaita, in reality there is only one. One God who is everything.
I disagree with some of the things written in that Wikipedia article. To say that God is generally considered female in Hinduism is ridiculous and there are no footnotes to support that claim. There are those who worship Shakti primarily or Kali, but they are not the majority. I think most Hindus (and probably most Christians) would agree that God does not have a gender. Again, we break the Absolute down into parts so that we can understand the whole, so there are both male and female parts that balance each other. Each major male God has a female counterpart.
********************************************************************
I'm happy to discuss anything that anyone wants, but it is a good idea to put the questions in an email to me or a comment on the current post. I don't get any alert of new comments, so it can sometimes take a while before I discover new comments on older posts.
Tomorrow I'm going to post a summary linking to some of my key older posts so that new readers can get a quicker introduction to what's going on around here and not have to read through every post.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Additional Reflections From the Last Post
A friend made some comments to me about my complaint about the speaker at the dance performance that made me think about some things in a new way.
He pointed out that I am often unhappy at feeling like an outsider at Indian events and how difficult and frustrating that is. The woman may have had a point, although I think she chose a very poor way to express it and could have discussed the advertising possibilities with the director in private.
However, it also made me think that the dance school is not responsible for making her happy. They are there to put on an event of their beloved music and dance and it is not a failing on their part to not consider how to make sure that white people like it or are there.
And that leads back to me. It is not the responsibility of Indians at temples or in my daily life to make sure that I feel comfortable. That is entirely on my own shoulders. No one else should have to alter his life because I want validation!
I had not noticed this mindset in myself until it was pointed out and that is one of the great values of having a blog like this. The flow of ideas and the discussion of lifestyle leads me to important insights.
Thanks, everyone, for reading and for giving opinions!
He pointed out that I am often unhappy at feeling like an outsider at Indian events and how difficult and frustrating that is. The woman may have had a point, although I think she chose a very poor way to express it and could have discussed the advertising possibilities with the director in private.
However, it also made me think that the dance school is not responsible for making her happy. They are there to put on an event of their beloved music and dance and it is not a failing on their part to not consider how to make sure that white people like it or are there.
And that leads back to me. It is not the responsibility of Indians at temples or in my daily life to make sure that I feel comfortable. That is entirely on my own shoulders. No one else should have to alter his life because I want validation!
I had not noticed this mindset in myself until it was pointed out and that is one of the great values of having a blog like this. The flow of ideas and the discussion of lifestyle leads me to important insights.
Thanks, everyone, for reading and for giving opinions!
Monday, May 31, 2010
Dance Performance-the day after
So the dance show went really well. It was a long day, though. The event was five hours, starting with music students and then dance students and some people gave speeches.
I messed up my dance a tiny bit (turned the wrong direction, but it was not very noticeable to the audience). My dance class is just me and one other girl, K. We were the only adult students there, and beginners. It was a little embarrassing. That and my costume was a few sizes too small!
K also declared that we and our guests were the only non-South-Indians there (she's Bengali). She wasn't quite correct.
There was a white woman who made one of the speeches. I wasn't able to hear what she was saying because I was getting changed at the time, but my boyfriend said that she gave an odd talk. He said she basically said that this cultural event was so wonderful and beautiful and they should try harder to share it with the general population and not keep it all Indian.
He found it pretty distasteful and he wasn't the only one. At the very end of the show (after this woman had already left!) one of the organizers said the good-bye speech and the thank yous. He made sure to point out that the last dance was done to a Western song (classical music set to a techno beat). He talked about how previous shows had blended ballet with Bharatnatyam. I think he was hurt by what that woman had said.
I think it was inappropriate too. It's not as though white people are forbidden to go. I was there. My boyfriend was there. It was a free show, anyone who wanted to come could have. That's not the fault of the dance school. Maybe they could have advertised differently, but I'm not sure how. Should they have put a lot of money into advertising to a segment of the American population that is very unlikely to even come?
K and I were talking about it a little at the dress rehearsal. She said something about this dance being unique and that other forms of dance have participants of all races and backgrounds. I said I thought more white people would be doing it if they knew about it, but K didn't think so. She made the point that you would have to know an awful lot about Indian culture and mythology to enjoy Bharatnatyam. It also has a spiritual aspect and I'd hate to see it turn into an exercise craze only, like yoga!
Obviously the woman who gave the speech didn't read the program too closely, or she would have seen my Scottish name :)
I messed up my dance a tiny bit (turned the wrong direction, but it was not very noticeable to the audience). My dance class is just me and one other girl, K. We were the only adult students there, and beginners. It was a little embarrassing. That and my costume was a few sizes too small!
K also declared that we and our guests were the only non-South-Indians there (she's Bengali). She wasn't quite correct.
There was a white woman who made one of the speeches. I wasn't able to hear what she was saying because I was getting changed at the time, but my boyfriend said that she gave an odd talk. He said she basically said that this cultural event was so wonderful and beautiful and they should try harder to share it with the general population and not keep it all Indian.
He found it pretty distasteful and he wasn't the only one. At the very end of the show (after this woman had already left!) one of the organizers said the good-bye speech and the thank yous. He made sure to point out that the last dance was done to a Western song (classical music set to a techno beat). He talked about how previous shows had blended ballet with Bharatnatyam. I think he was hurt by what that woman had said.
I think it was inappropriate too. It's not as though white people are forbidden to go. I was there. My boyfriend was there. It was a free show, anyone who wanted to come could have. That's not the fault of the dance school. Maybe they could have advertised differently, but I'm not sure how. Should they have put a lot of money into advertising to a segment of the American population that is very unlikely to even come?
K and I were talking about it a little at the dress rehearsal. She said something about this dance being unique and that other forms of dance have participants of all races and backgrounds. I said I thought more white people would be doing it if they knew about it, but K didn't think so. She made the point that you would have to know an awful lot about Indian culture and mythology to enjoy Bharatnatyam. It also has a spiritual aspect and I'd hate to see it turn into an exercise craze only, like yoga!
Obviously the woman who gave the speech didn't read the program too closely, or she would have seen my Scottish name :)
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Photo in a Sari
As promised, here is a picture of me in a sari. It's a little difficult for me to look at pictures of myself these days, as I've gained a lot of weight in the last few months. Anyway, I'm working on getting back to my normal size (forty pounds lighter!), but it is hard to face evidence like this of how big I've gotten.
So, I'm on my way to my dance performance today. I'm wearing this sari until it's time to change into my dance costume. I'm about to go put on all the dance jewelry.
This is my fanciest sari by far and I love how silky soft it is!
Edited to add: When I got to the dance school my friend, K, asked if I wanted her to "fix it." Apparently my hem was not entirely even and my pleats left something to be desired. She took me to the bathroom and rewrapped me, and I hope I can remember her tips on how to do it. I've been wearing sari based on my memory of my cousin showing me how to do it one time!
So, I'm on my way to my dance performance today. I'm wearing this sari until it's time to change into my dance costume. I'm about to go put on all the dance jewelry.
This is my fanciest sari by far and I love how silky soft it is!
Edited to add: When I got to the dance school my friend, K, asked if I wanted her to "fix it." Apparently my hem was not entirely even and my pleats left something to be desired. She took me to the bathroom and rewrapped me, and I hope I can remember her tips on how to do it. I've been wearing sari based on my memory of my cousin showing me how to do it one time!
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Zealous
I'm always reading stories about other converts, regardless of which religion they are moving to or from. There seems to be a quality that converts have in common and which I'd love to study more and read more about. That is their zeal.
To some extent, people born in a religion can take it for granted and it can be uncomfortable to see people new to it who have so much excitement to do everything.
Here you are, you've been X religion all your life and you've settled into a groove with it, doing the parts that make sense to you and leaving some of it. Your name is X and your looks are X, so it has always been part of your identity and you don't have to do anything to hold onto it.
Now here comes someone who has just discovered how amazing and wonderful X religion is and he is doing every ritual and looks at you in surprise when you don't do something that is usually a part of X religion. This person studies and questions and asks about things you've never heard of before and their enthusiasm is exhausting and pretty annoying.
But converts can't help it!
Through Memoirs of a Jewminicana I found an article about a Jewish woman whose husband converted to marry her, but then took everything very seriously.
In the comments a girl named Rebecca said, "But realistically, who converts to be lukewarm about something."
Michelle responded:
-TabletMag.com
To some extent, people born in a religion can take it for granted and it can be uncomfortable to see people new to it who have so much excitement to do everything.
Here you are, you've been X religion all your life and you've settled into a groove with it, doing the parts that make sense to you and leaving some of it. Your name is X and your looks are X, so it has always been part of your identity and you don't have to do anything to hold onto it.
Now here comes someone who has just discovered how amazing and wonderful X religion is and he is doing every ritual and looks at you in surprise when you don't do something that is usually a part of X religion. This person studies and questions and asks about things you've never heard of before and their enthusiasm is exhausting and pretty annoying.
But converts can't help it!
Through Memoirs of a Jewminicana I found an article about a Jewish woman whose husband converted to marry her, but then took everything very seriously.
In the comments a girl named Rebecca said, "But realistically, who converts to be lukewarm about something."
Michelle responded:
You nailed it Rebecca. Someone told me about a year after my conversion that he was surprised at how familiar I was with services and rituals and how knowledgeable I was about Judaism in general. I couldn’t figure out why he would think I would be anything less. It’s hard for me to imagine someone converting who wasn’t passionate about it and didn’t want to immerse herself into the faith, the tradition and the community in a significant way.
-TabletMag.com
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Learning Hindi, one year in
Last summer I was walking through the mall with my best friend and I saw a Rosetta Stone stand. My friend was interested in learning Arabic for her work and I had an older version of Hindi that I had done a little bit of work with and liked (I didn't know at the time that there was anything new!). We went over to the stand and the demo that was going looked different, and much much better than the software that I had. The salesman informed me that the program had recently been updated and I was very impressed with what I saw.
The old version had some problems with it. It taught you early on really weird and somewhat useless things. I got really good at saying "The bird is flying" in Hindi, but all the sentences you learned were structured like that. There was no speaking about ones self, no greetings, no where is the bathroom? Also, they had listening exercises, reading exercises, and speaking exercises, but they were separated in such a way that you would get going in one of them and you'd just keep going, so you had to back all the way out to try a different method. Also when I first bought it, they only had Hindi in level 1 and the "popular" languages in levels 1, 2, and 3.
The shiny new Rosetta Stone solved all of these problems and was much more beautiful to use as well. I discovered that they had three levels of Hindi now (and levels 4 and 5 in the popular languages!).
I didn't have a job at the time and it was very expensive. My friend was put off by the expense and also by the fact that she needs to learn the Syrian dialect of Arabic, not the standard Arabic. I, however, could not resist. I bought all three levels and put it on my credit card.
I've never regretted doing that.
I love Rosetta Stone and I sing its praises to everyone I meet! I was never good at languages as a kid and switched from Spanish to Latin in the 6th grade because the pressure to speak in Spanish class was so overwhelming and I didn't know what to say. I continued, badly, with dead languages. But I still loved language so much. I have two degrees in writing. I took linguistics classes in college and loved them. I dreamed of being bilingual someday. Rosetta Stone started me on that path.
It has been almost a year since that purchase. A couple months ago I had almost made it through level 3 when my computer died and I had to call customer service to transfer to another computer. Instead of asking how to get my progress back, I decided to start over from the beginning to help reinforce what I was learning.
As my first post on Hindi told you, I also use a huge variety of other products, from books and youtube videos to flashcards, computer games, and movies to supplement the Rosetta Stone learning.
It's very hard to rate progress in a language. Lately I've been reading a lot of blogs about people learning other languages, trying to be bilingual or, more often, trying to learn many languages and their advice on how to proceed. Through them I discovered this chart of language knowledge:
level description
A1 Can understand and use familiar everyday expressions and very basic phrases aimed at the satisfaction of needs of a concrete type. Can introduce him/herself and others and can ask and answer questions about personal details such as where he/she lives, people he/she knows and things he/she has. Can interact in a simple way provided the other person talks slowly and clearly and is prepared to help.
A2 Can understand sentences and frequently used expressions related to areas of most immediate relevance (e.g. very basic personal and family information, shopping, local geography, employment). Can communicate in simple and routine tasks requiring a simple and direct exchange of information on familiar and routine matters. Can describe in simple terms aspects of his/her background, immediate environment and matters in areas of immediate need.
B1 Can understand the main points of clear standard input on familiar matters regularly encountered in work, school, leisure, etc. Can deal with most situations likely to arise whilst travelling in an area where the language is spoken. Can produce simple connected text on topics which are familiar or of personal interest. Can describe experiences and events, dreams, hopes & ambitions and briefly give reasons and explanations for opinions and plans.
B2 Can understand the main ideas of complex text on both concrete and abstract topics, including technical discussions in his/her field of specialisation. Can interact with a degree of fluency and spontaneity that makes regular interaction with native speakers quite possible without strain for either party. Can produce clear, detailed text on a wide range of subjects and explain a viewpoint on a topical issue giving the advantages and disadvantages of various options.
C1 Can understand a wide range of demanding, longer texts, and recognise implicit meaning. Can express him/herself fluently and spontaneously without much obvious searching for expressions. Can use language flexibly and effectively for social, academic and professional purposes. Can produce clear, well-structured, detailed text on complex subjects, showing controlled use of organisational patterns, connectors and cohesive devices.
C2 Can understand with ease virtually everything heard or read. Can summarise information from different spoken and written sources, reconstructing arguments and accounts in a coherent presentation. Can express him/herself spontaneously, very fluently and precisely, differentiating finer shades of meaning even in the most complex situations.
This will help me clarify my goals and see where I am. After a year of somewhat intensive study (although I have a lot of other things going on too) I am at the A1 level, though probably about to break through into A2.
A little disappointing, but I knew this endeavor was going to be difficult. I think having this chart will allow me to set more concrete goals to reach for, so I can speed up my progress. One of the key motivators is my desire to raise my children in two languages. I've also been reading a lot of blogs of mothers raising bilingual children, even some of them doing it in a language that is not native to them. There are links below. I calculate that it will be a year and a few months before I can start trying for a baby, so that's my time frame for getting all the way to the top of the chart! (Okay, a B2 level would probably be fine for the early learning and I could continue my progress as the kid is growing).
The main way I had been gauging my progress is by playing my favorite Bollywood movie (Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam) without subtitles and seeing how many words I recognize. I did that first this past summer after doing a little bit of Rosetta Stone and I'd say I recognized about one word in twenty-five. I'm currently somewhere between one word in ten and one word in five, so I have come a long way! It's still frustrating to feel how far I have yet to go, but a year is really not that long in terms of language study.
When I know a word, it really sticks out in the movie. I know that once I really understand Hindi it will all be clear as a bell instead of now where it sounds like "mumble mumble mumble kutta mumble..."
I'm taking some study techniques from the blogs I've been reading. One is to keep a language journal to record what I studied each day to keep me accountable and to help me see my progress. Another is to do an active/passive week thing to keep from getting burnt out. One week I'll study with Rosetta Stone, grammar books, flashcards and really try hard, and the next week I'll learn passively by watching movies, listening to music and just being absorbed in the language to remind me how much I love it. A lot of people on these sites also use Anki flashcards to learn. I went to the website and downloaded it and I've been very impressed. It uses adaptive recall just like Rosetta Stone, so you rate how easy a word was to get and the easier ones will come back up less frequently. You should watch their youtube videos about how it works. Really neat. Someone has created a huge deck of the vocab from Teach Yourself Hindi and it is in devanagari script (although the font they're using is rather difficult to read).
I practice saying Hindi sentences to the dog and for the last few days I've been trying to translate my thoughts in my head into Hindi. I'm still pretty shaky on verb tenses and noun case endings, though!
As part of preparing for children, I'm going to try to memorize this lullaby:
[Darn! Another video removed. This is a very beautiful lullaby. If you can find "So ja Chanda" it is really worth hearing!]
I've been working on translating it.
I'll leave you with a lot of links to enjoy:
List of Hindi Resources
http://gbarto.com/multilingua/confessions/
http://www.fasterforeignlanguagelearning.com/
http://www.streetsmartlanguagelearning.com/
http://languagefixation.wordpress.com/
http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/forum/default.asp
http://bloggingonbilingualism.com/
http://letstalklang.blogspot.com/
Parents raising bilingual kids:
http://wheregoinghavo.blogspot.com/
http://nonnativebilingualism.blogspot.com/
http://babybilingual.blogspot.com/
http://bilingualbabes.blogspot.com/
http://mamaintranslation.blogspot.com/
http://triculturalbaby.blogspot.com/
http://babelkid.blogspot.com/
http://multitonguekids.blogspot.com/
http://intrepidlybilingual.blogspot.com/
The old version had some problems with it. It taught you early on really weird and somewhat useless things. I got really good at saying "The bird is flying" in Hindi, but all the sentences you learned were structured like that. There was no speaking about ones self, no greetings, no where is the bathroom? Also, they had listening exercises, reading exercises, and speaking exercises, but they were separated in such a way that you would get going in one of them and you'd just keep going, so you had to back all the way out to try a different method. Also when I first bought it, they only had Hindi in level 1 and the "popular" languages in levels 1, 2, and 3.
The shiny new Rosetta Stone solved all of these problems and was much more beautiful to use as well. I discovered that they had three levels of Hindi now (and levels 4 and 5 in the popular languages!).
I didn't have a job at the time and it was very expensive. My friend was put off by the expense and also by the fact that she needs to learn the Syrian dialect of Arabic, not the standard Arabic. I, however, could not resist. I bought all three levels and put it on my credit card.
I've never regretted doing that.
I love Rosetta Stone and I sing its praises to everyone I meet! I was never good at languages as a kid and switched from Spanish to Latin in the 6th grade because the pressure to speak in Spanish class was so overwhelming and I didn't know what to say. I continued, badly, with dead languages. But I still loved language so much. I have two degrees in writing. I took linguistics classes in college and loved them. I dreamed of being bilingual someday. Rosetta Stone started me on that path.
It has been almost a year since that purchase. A couple months ago I had almost made it through level 3 when my computer died and I had to call customer service to transfer to another computer. Instead of asking how to get my progress back, I decided to start over from the beginning to help reinforce what I was learning.
As my first post on Hindi told you, I also use a huge variety of other products, from books and youtube videos to flashcards, computer games, and movies to supplement the Rosetta Stone learning.
It's very hard to rate progress in a language. Lately I've been reading a lot of blogs about people learning other languages, trying to be bilingual or, more often, trying to learn many languages and their advice on how to proceed. Through them I discovered this chart of language knowledge:
level description
A1 Can understand and use familiar everyday expressions and very basic phrases aimed at the satisfaction of needs of a concrete type. Can introduce him/herself and others and can ask and answer questions about personal details such as where he/she lives, people he/she knows and things he/she has. Can interact in a simple way provided the other person talks slowly and clearly and is prepared to help.
A2 Can understand sentences and frequently used expressions related to areas of most immediate relevance (e.g. very basic personal and family information, shopping, local geography, employment). Can communicate in simple and routine tasks requiring a simple and direct exchange of information on familiar and routine matters. Can describe in simple terms aspects of his/her background, immediate environment and matters in areas of immediate need.
B1 Can understand the main points of clear standard input on familiar matters regularly encountered in work, school, leisure, etc. Can deal with most situations likely to arise whilst travelling in an area where the language is spoken. Can produce simple connected text on topics which are familiar or of personal interest. Can describe experiences and events, dreams, hopes & ambitions and briefly give reasons and explanations for opinions and plans.
B2 Can understand the main ideas of complex text on both concrete and abstract topics, including technical discussions in his/her field of specialisation. Can interact with a degree of fluency and spontaneity that makes regular interaction with native speakers quite possible without strain for either party. Can produce clear, detailed text on a wide range of subjects and explain a viewpoint on a topical issue giving the advantages and disadvantages of various options.
C1 Can understand a wide range of demanding, longer texts, and recognise implicit meaning. Can express him/herself fluently and spontaneously without much obvious searching for expressions. Can use language flexibly and effectively for social, academic and professional purposes. Can produce clear, well-structured, detailed text on complex subjects, showing controlled use of organisational patterns, connectors and cohesive devices.
C2 Can understand with ease virtually everything heard or read. Can summarise information from different spoken and written sources, reconstructing arguments and accounts in a coherent presentation. Can express him/herself spontaneously, very fluently and precisely, differentiating finer shades of meaning even in the most complex situations.
This will help me clarify my goals and see where I am. After a year of somewhat intensive study (although I have a lot of other things going on too) I am at the A1 level, though probably about to break through into A2.
A little disappointing, but I knew this endeavor was going to be difficult. I think having this chart will allow me to set more concrete goals to reach for, so I can speed up my progress. One of the key motivators is my desire to raise my children in two languages. I've also been reading a lot of blogs of mothers raising bilingual children, even some of them doing it in a language that is not native to them. There are links below. I calculate that it will be a year and a few months before I can start trying for a baby, so that's my time frame for getting all the way to the top of the chart! (Okay, a B2 level would probably be fine for the early learning and I could continue my progress as the kid is growing).
The main way I had been gauging my progress is by playing my favorite Bollywood movie (Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam) without subtitles and seeing how many words I recognize. I did that first this past summer after doing a little bit of Rosetta Stone and I'd say I recognized about one word in twenty-five. I'm currently somewhere between one word in ten and one word in five, so I have come a long way! It's still frustrating to feel how far I have yet to go, but a year is really not that long in terms of language study.
When I know a word, it really sticks out in the movie. I know that once I really understand Hindi it will all be clear as a bell instead of now where it sounds like "mumble mumble mumble kutta mumble..."
I'm taking some study techniques from the blogs I've been reading. One is to keep a language journal to record what I studied each day to keep me accountable and to help me see my progress. Another is to do an active/passive week thing to keep from getting burnt out. One week I'll study with Rosetta Stone, grammar books, flashcards and really try hard, and the next week I'll learn passively by watching movies, listening to music and just being absorbed in the language to remind me how much I love it. A lot of people on these sites also use Anki flashcards to learn. I went to the website and downloaded it and I've been very impressed. It uses adaptive recall just like Rosetta Stone, so you rate how easy a word was to get and the easier ones will come back up less frequently. You should watch their youtube videos about how it works. Really neat. Someone has created a huge deck of the vocab from Teach Yourself Hindi and it is in devanagari script (although the font they're using is rather difficult to read).
I practice saying Hindi sentences to the dog and for the last few days I've been trying to translate my thoughts in my head into Hindi. I'm still pretty shaky on verb tenses and noun case endings, though!
As part of preparing for children, I'm going to try to memorize this lullaby:
[Darn! Another video removed. This is a very beautiful lullaby. If you can find "So ja Chanda" it is really worth hearing!]
I've been working on translating it.
I'll leave you with a lot of links to enjoy:
List of Hindi Resources
http://gbarto.com/multilingua/confessions/
http://www.fasterforeignlanguagelearning.com/
http://www.streetsmartlanguagelearning.com/
http://languagefixation.wordpress.com/
http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/forum/default.asp
http://bloggingonbilingualism.com/
http://letstalklang.blogspot.com/
Parents raising bilingual kids:
http://wheregoinghavo.blogspot.com/
http://nonnativebilingualism.blogspot.com/
http://babybilingual.blogspot.com/
http://bilingualbabes.blogspot.com/
http://mamaintranslation.blogspot.com/
http://triculturalbaby.blogspot.com/
http://babelkid.blogspot.com/
http://multitonguekids.blogspot.com/
http://intrepidlybilingual.blogspot.com/
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Clothes
I am truly surprised that traditional Indian clothes have not made more of an impression in America.
As much as I love sari, I can understand that people find them intimidating, but salwar kameez suits are the ideal clothes!
From what I've heard, these originated in the North and Pakistan (probably originally a Muslim way of dressing, but now embraced by many because of how practical they are) and are sometimes called Punjab suits for that region. They are the best of both worlds between a dress and pants. Plus you don't have to worry about what pieces go together in an outfit.
Suits have pants of various different styles, sometimes very loose, sometimes tighter, and then a tunic over the top and a scarf called a dupatta. The scarf can be worn/draped in many different ways. The three pieces are designed to work together, so they are made of the same fabric and design. They are very beautiful and graceful, but you can also have a full range of motion in them because of the pants.
Try as a I might, I have not started a fashion trend of these in the West. I really don't understand why!
Here are pictures of a few different types of suits (these come from the website http://www.entertainmentpk.com/salwar-kameez-designs.html, which also has info on the history)
I buy mine from a variety of places: Ebay, Sari Palace (a store in MD), and salwar.com My cousin also gave me some of her old ones and my parents got some for me when they visited India. You can even have these stitched to exactly match your measurements.
Here's one from www.salwar.com:
Saris are also not that hard to figure out and they are, in my opinion, the most beautiful and elegant clothing ever invented. I feel like a queen when I wear one.
(Image from AboutHinduism)
People of about grandmother age now often wear sari every day. My parents told me about seeing women helping to carry concrete to a construction site in India, all wearing sari.
There are also dresses called Lengtha Choli (they have other names as well). That consists of a top (choli, same as a sari blouse) and a long and flowy skirt. They also have a scarf. These are really fancy for a big party, but easy to put on and to wear. I have a lilac one that I frequently wear to weddings.
(Image from FashionMyDream.Blogspot)
I have heard that in India "ethnic" clothes have been looked down on in the past. Wearing traditional clothes makes you seem old-fashioned and there are night clubs that will only let you in if you are wearing Western clothes. But the West doesn't do everything better!
Thank goodness it looks like there are trends back to "ethnic" clothing, and now young people often mix a suit top (kurta) with jeans, etc.Trend in Indian Clothes
These really are wonderful clothes and better than so many Western styles!
Something interesting I've noticed is that in ancient cultures, it seems to be the women who hang onto the clothing. I was watching the Jessica Simpson Price of Beauty episode in Africa and it called to mind so many times of seeing a similar effect. There was a wedding happening and all the people from the African village gathered in their finest clothes. The women wore traditional clothing and the men wore Western suits. This seems to happen all over. I can tell you what the traditional Korean dress for women looks like, but have no idea of the men's. Often I see Indian women wearing traditional clothes each day and the men wearing Western (and part of that might be that in these cases the men have jobs in America and have to wear clothes considered appropriate to the American job market). At temple I see some men wearing kurta (long shirt) with jeans and only the priests wear dhoti. No judgement call on that, I just found it to be an interesting observation.
I hope that at least Indian inspired clothing will gain in popularity here because they really are comfortable, beautiful and practical. I really appreciate the Indian love of design and color.
As much as I love sari, I can understand that people find them intimidating, but salwar kameez suits are the ideal clothes!
From what I've heard, these originated in the North and Pakistan (probably originally a Muslim way of dressing, but now embraced by many because of how practical they are) and are sometimes called Punjab suits for that region. They are the best of both worlds between a dress and pants. Plus you don't have to worry about what pieces go together in an outfit.
Suits have pants of various different styles, sometimes very loose, sometimes tighter, and then a tunic over the top and a scarf called a dupatta. The scarf can be worn/draped in many different ways. The three pieces are designed to work together, so they are made of the same fabric and design. They are very beautiful and graceful, but you can also have a full range of motion in them because of the pants.
Try as a I might, I have not started a fashion trend of these in the West. I really don't understand why!
Here are pictures of a few different types of suits (these come from the website http://www.entertainmentpk.com/salwar-kameez-designs.html, which also has info on the history)
I buy mine from a variety of places: Ebay, Sari Palace (a store in MD), and salwar.com My cousin also gave me some of her old ones and my parents got some for me when they visited India. You can even have these stitched to exactly match your measurements.
Here's one from www.salwar.com:
Saris are also not that hard to figure out and they are, in my opinion, the most beautiful and elegant clothing ever invented. I feel like a queen when I wear one.
(Image from AboutHinduism)
People of about grandmother age now often wear sari every day. My parents told me about seeing women helping to carry concrete to a construction site in India, all wearing sari.
There are also dresses called Lengtha Choli (they have other names as well). That consists of a top (choli, same as a sari blouse) and a long and flowy skirt. They also have a scarf. These are really fancy for a big party, but easy to put on and to wear. I have a lilac one that I frequently wear to weddings.
(Image from FashionMyDream.Blogspot)
I have heard that in India "ethnic" clothes have been looked down on in the past. Wearing traditional clothes makes you seem old-fashioned and there are night clubs that will only let you in if you are wearing Western clothes. But the West doesn't do everything better!
Thank goodness it looks like there are trends back to "ethnic" clothing, and now young people often mix a suit top (kurta) with jeans, etc.Trend in Indian Clothes
These really are wonderful clothes and better than so many Western styles!
Something interesting I've noticed is that in ancient cultures, it seems to be the women who hang onto the clothing. I was watching the Jessica Simpson Price of Beauty episode in Africa and it called to mind so many times of seeing a similar effect. There was a wedding happening and all the people from the African village gathered in their finest clothes. The women wore traditional clothing and the men wore Western suits. This seems to happen all over. I can tell you what the traditional Korean dress for women looks like, but have no idea of the men's. Often I see Indian women wearing traditional clothes each day and the men wearing Western (and part of that might be that in these cases the men have jobs in America and have to wear clothes considered appropriate to the American job market). At temple I see some men wearing kurta (long shirt) with jeans and only the priests wear dhoti. No judgement call on that, I just found it to be an interesting observation.
I hope that at least Indian inspired clothing will gain in popularity here because they really are comfortable, beautiful and practical. I really appreciate the Indian love of design and color.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)