Hey fellow adventurers! Saudi Arabia’s official language is Arabic so we’ll be talking about that today. Modern Standard Arabic is derived from Classical Arabic, and has influenced over 20 other languages. It is the fifth most spoken language in the world (after Mandarin, Spanish, English and Hindi) and is one of the six official languages of the United Nations.
Let’s start with the Arabic alphabet (abjad). This is a video meant for kids but the song is pretty cute:
Now that you’ve gotten a grasp on what Arabic sounds like, we’ll move on to everyday phrases. This site has a lot of translations you could use as a tourist:
Though listening to foreign languages is a lot easier for me than reading:
If you have an interest in learning this language, I highly recommend Duolingo. Duolingo is an awesome, free app that is a good tool when learning a foreign language. And yes, I checked! It does have Modern Standard Arabic available as well! Well, thank you so much for reading my blog! Until our next adventure!
Hey fellow adventurers! I hope I can cover Saudi Arabia’s history justly! If you feel anything needs expanding upon, please feel free to tell me in the comment section below! And as always, I highly encourage you to look deeper into anything in this post that interests you. And for those of you living in the United States, Happy Labor Day! I hope you’re enjoying your extended weekend!
For much of the history of the Arabian Peninsula, tribal rulers controlled most of the territory. In 570 CE, the prophet Muhammad was born in Mecca. In 622 CE, he moved to Medina and began to unite the tribes of Arabia under the banner of Islam. To this day, Mecca and Medina remain the most spiritually important places in the Muslim world.
In the 19th century CE, the Al Saud family fought nomadic tribes for territory within the Arabian Peninsula, especially the Rashidi family. In 1902, Abd-al-Aziz Bin-Abd-al-Rahman Bin-Faysal Bin-Turki Bin-Abdallah Bin-Muhammad Al Saud (often known as Ibn Saud) took control of Riyadh and gave the Saudi family the upper hand. In 1912, the Ikhwan (Brotherhood) was founded based on Wahhabism and promised to help Ibn Saud conquer the Arabian Peninsula. With the help of the Ikhwan, the Saud family started gaining more and more territory, until they finally took the holy cities, Mecca and Medina in 1925. In 1928, the Ikhwan turned against the Saudi family after the family welcomed non-Muslims into the territory and tried to modernize the region, and were defeated in 1930. In 1932, all the territories are united into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with Ibn Saud crowned King.
Eureka! In 1938, oil is discovered and production begins under the US-controlled Aramco (the Arabian American Oil Company). In 1960, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Kuwait, Iraq and Iran founded the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) whose mission is to “coordinate and unify the petroleum policies of its member countries and ensure the stabilization of oil markets, in order to secure an efficient, economic and regular supply of petroleum to consumers, a steady income to producers, and a fair return on capital for those investing in the petroleum industry.” In 1972, Saudi Arabia gains 20% of Aramco, and in 1980 they take full control of Aramco so the US can’t control the oil in Saudi Arabia. In 1973, Saudi Arabia boycotts the western countries that supported Israel in the October war, quadrupling gas prices.
In 1981, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates founded the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) with the intention to strengthen relations amongst participating countries and promote cooperation amongst the countries’ citizens. In 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait which Saudi Arabia quickly condemned and requested the assistance of the United States to defeat Iraq. The United States responded by stationing troops in Saudi Arabia so they could push Iraqi forces out of Kuwait. However, removing the presence of American troops once the war ended became one of the main goals of Al-Qaeda (a terrorist group consisting of mostly Saudi citizens).
In the 1990’s, Al-Qaeda increases the number of terrorist incidents against western targets. All this eventually escalates and leads to the attacks of September 11th, 2001 in which 15 out of the 19 terrorists were Saudi nationalists (I’ll cover this subject in greater depth later). In which King Fahd’s response is to state that they need to work on the eradication of terrorism. In 2003, the United States pulls almost all their troops out of Saudi Arabia. King Fahd gives the Consultative Council (a legislative body that represents individual districts) more power, allowing them to propose legislation without his permission.
Once again, there’s an increase in Al-Qaeda related terrorist attacks as Saudi Arabia fights back against extremism. In 2007, the religious police are banned from detaining subjects. Starting in 2009, major reforms started to take place including the first woman minister, the sacking of the head of the religious police and the act of modernizing the government. The Arab Spring (protests due to deep seated resentment of the aging Arab ruler class, unemployment and corruption within the government) came to Saudi Arabia in 2011. This helped lead to an increase in women protests (protesting not only about that but also against things like the ban that states women aren’t allowed to drive). These protests weren’t effective in bringing about change. In response King Fahd announces an increase in welfare spending, his intent on creating more jobs and the intention to grant more rights to women. In 2012, women were allowed to compete in the Olympics, and in 2013 women are added to the Consultative Council for the first time.
In 2013, Saudi Arabia rejects an offer for a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council because King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud believed that the UN was not doing enough to help Syria. Meanwhile, they continue to tighten laws against terrorists, labelling Islamic groups as terrorist organizations and banning any funding and/or support for those organizations listed; as well as participating with other Arab states in airstrikes against Islamic state militants. The government approves for far reaching reforms to diversify the economy away from oil. This year, Saudi Arabia sparks a diplomatic crisis by leading an air, land and sea blockade by Arab countries, to get Qatar to cut its alleged connections with terrorism and distance itself from Iran.
The past and present kings of Saudi Arabia:
Ibn Saud (1932-1952): he fought for the territory that is now Saudi Arabia, ruled as king for 21 years and started a large-scale oil production that made his family rich.
Saud bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (1953-1964): a lot of people gave him a hard time because when the Saud debt began piling up, rather than cut back on his lavish lifestyle, he cut government programs instead and was eventually forced by his family to abdicate the throne.
Faisal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (1964-1975): he was known for rescuing the country’s finances and implementing a policy of modernization and reform before being assassinated by his nephew Faisal bin Musaid in 1975.
Khalid bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (1975-1982): he showed an interest in improving the education, health-care and infrastructure of the country but failed to monopolize the power during his reign and was unsuccessful.
Fahd bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (1982-2005): he was a supporter of the United Nations and spent a lot of money on improving religious education for his country.
Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (2005-2015): he maintained strong relations with other countries, gave women the right to vote for municipal councils and to compete in the Olympics, and maintained the status quo during the Arab Spring.
Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (2015-?): he is the current king of Saudi Arabia and has so far ordered the bombing of Yemen and has lost support after the Mina Stampede in 2015 when over 2,400 people died during their Hajj pilgrimage.
If you prefer videos, please feel free to check out this short animation:
That wraps us this history portion. Thank you all for reading my blog! Until our next adventure! 😊
Saudi Arabia is a sovereign state in West Asia that makes up most of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a desert, known as the birth place of Islam and the burial site for the prophet Muhammad. It’s a popular touring spot for Muslims since it holds the two holiest places in Islam, Al-Masjid al-Haram in Mecca and Al-Masjid an-Nabawi in Medina. Public displays of non-Muslim worship are banned and the worship of non-Wahhabi Muslim religions are restricted. For the most part, non-Muslims are not allowed to visit Saudi Arabia. Petroleum was discovered in 1938, and since then Saudi Arabia has become the world’s largest producer and exporter of oil, with the second largest oil reserve. Saudi Arabia has attracted criticism for its treatment of women and use of capital punishment. In Saudi Arabia, women aren’t allowed to drive and they need permission from a male guardian if they want to work, travel, go to school or open a bank account. Women could vote for the first time in December 2015.
Hey fellow adventurers! It’s the end of August! That means that this is the last post about India. However, there’s so much about India that I couldn’t cover in this triweekly blog. If any of the subjects I mentioned intrigued you and you want to learn more, I highly recommend checking out some other blogs. I was going to do research like I did last time but then I came across this list early on, and honestly, they did a better job than I could have so I’m just going to give you the link to that. You can look up your interests via category (personal blog, technology blog, food blog, etc.)
I hope you enjoyed this month’s blog posts! If there’s any Indian bloggers that you like, please tell me in the comment section below! I would love to hear about it! Thank you so much for reading my blog! It’s time to move on to a different country. Namaste India! And namaste Saudi Arabia! Until our next adventure!
Hey fellow adventurers! This is another blog post that I’ve been looking forward to writing! I’ve always been intrigued in Indian fashion but I’ve never looked into it.
Although India has had a popular style of fashion for a long time, Indians have only been interested in the fashion industry since the 1980’s. Popular items of clothing in the pre-1980’s were:
Kurta: a loose shirt falling somewhere around the knees, worn by women and men
Dhoti: a rectangular piece of unstitched cloth, usually around 15 ft. (4.5 meters) long, wrapped around the waist and the legs and knotted at the waist, worn by men
Gagra Coli: the combination of a midriff-baring blouse and waist or hip high long skirt, worn by women
Sari: a piece of fabric that is anywhere between 5-9 yards long (4.5-8 meters) wrapped around the waist and draped over the shoulder which symbolizes grace, worn by women
Now a day, there are a few regions that wear only traditional clothing but in most places, you’ll see a mix of traditional and new styles. There are so many different mixtures of styles depending on the occasion, the region and the person’s taste in clothing. Especially in places like Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderabad, you’ll see more western style clothing. A popular mixture of traditional and western style fashion is wearing a kurti (a shortened kurta) with jeans.
Some popular Indian Instagram accounts that cover fashion:
If you’re like me then you’ve been wondering how women wear saris. I found this YouTube video that explains how to put it on and a couple different ways to style it:
While researching Indian fashion, I came across a Hindi filmed called Fashion that sounds interesting. The audience gave it a score of 70% on Rotten Tomatoes (no critic score available). On Rotten Tomatoes, it’s described: “Set against the glittering backdrop of the glamorous but ruthless world of haute couture fashion, this film tells the story of a small town girl with big city ambitions. Meghna always knew she was meant to be famous, but she was about to find out the hard way that success came at a price. Fashion is the tale of what happens when the price of success becomes too much to pay.” Unfortunately, the trailer I found doesn’t have English subtitles but it’s still interesting to watch:
That’s it for the post on fashion! What’s your favorite aspect of Indian fashion? Please let me know in the comment section below! I’m loving kurtis but I eventually want to get a sari. Thank you so much for reading my blog! Until our next adventure!
Hey fellow adventurers! I’ve been looking forward to this blog post all month! I’m honestly in awe of the Dabbawallas! Maybe, by the end you’ll understand why.
Dabbawallas are an essential part of everyday life in Mumbai. For 800 rupees ($12.50 USD) a month, Indians can get a homecooked meal delivered to them 6 days a week. Their organizational system is one of the best in the world with some saying they only make one mistake every million deliveries and others saying six million. Either way, they’re the best delivery men I know of! They definitely put my local pizza hut to shame!
Dabba is the name of the cylinder metal container (tiffin) that the food comes in and wala refers to the man that carries those lunches. Dabbawalla roughly translates to “tiffin box delivery man” or “the one who carries the box.” Wives and mothers of the men that sign up for this service make their loved ones home cooked meals. The Dabbawallas pick up those meals from their homes and take it to the recipient’s work or school via train and bicycle by 1PM (13:00). It’s essential that they deliver these lunches on time. But it’s also important that the recipients give their empty containers back to the Dabbawallas on time as well. If the recipients fail to give their empty containers to the Dabbawallas three times, they’re dropped as a customer. Apart from the train, the Dabbawallas don’t use any modern devices to help them in their delivery. Over 200,000 lunches are delivered by Dabbawallas every day.
Recognizing that India needed a service that delivers hot food to busy, working men, Mahadeo Havaji Bachche started a lunch delivery service with about 100 men. Today, there are at least 5,000 Dabbawallas delivering food, and the service is still growing. Dabbawallas wear white kurtas and white Gandhi caps. Each Dabbawalla earns 8,000 rupees ($125 USD) a month, making this service one of the better paying labor jobs in India. Many of the Dabbawallas either have low literacy skills or are illiterate so the system uses mostly colors and numbers to direct men as to where the food should go. But I can’t explain as well as Dabbawalla so I highly suggest you listen to this man describe the system (it’s a short video): http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20170119-the-ingenious-codes-of-indias-dabbawalla
In 2014, a movie centered around this service came out called The Lunchbox. I haven’t seen it yet but it looks interesting and the critics at Rotten Tomatoes gave it a score of 98% so that’s promising. They describe it as: “Middle class housewife Ila is trying once again to add some spice to her marriage, this time through her cooking. She desperately hopes that this new recipe will finally arouse some kind of reaction from her neglectful husband. She prepares a special lunchbox to be delivered to him at work, but, unbeknownst to her, it is mistakenly delivered to another office worker, Saajan, a lonely man on the verge of retirement. Curious about the lack of reaction from her husband, Ila puts a little note in the following day’s lunchbox, in the hopes of getting to the bottom of the mystery. This begins a series of lunchbox notes between Saajan and Ila, and the mere comfort of communicating with a stranger anonymously soon evolves into an unexpected friendship. Gradually, their notes become little confessions about their loneliness, memories, regrets, fears, and even small joys. They each discover a new sense of self and find an anchor to hold on to in the big city of Mumbai that so often crushes hopes and dreams. Still strangers physically, Ila and Saajan become lost in a virtual relationship that could jeopardize both their realities.” Trailer here:
Though times are changing in India just like the rest of the world. With more and more women working in India, some women don’t have the time to make a hot lunch to be delivered to their husbands. If this trend continues, the delivery system will be forced to change. There’s some talk that the wives of the Dabbawalla might need to be the ones that make the lunches in the future. As of right now though, most women are still at home and making lunches for the husbands.
Are you lot impressed like I am? Feel free to post your opinions in the comment section below! I would love to know! Thank you so much for reading my blog! And until our next adventure!
Hey fellow adventurers! I made some popular Indian Dishes for my husband Ethan and a friend Karl. First, I’ll talk about the etiquette of being invited over to someone’s house and then I’ll share the recipes I tried.
In India, they have a traditional saying “Atithi Devo Bhava“ which means “The Guest is God!” Indians love entertaining guests, so unless you have an exceptional excuse as to why you can’t go, you’ll offend the person who invited you by saying no. Etiquette begins before you even arrive at their house. It’s customary in India to arrive later than the time stated. You might even upset your host by showing up on time. Before you eat the meal though, you’ll have a few drinks with the host, and maybe a snack or two, while you talk.
It’s almost time to eat but first you need to wash your hands. Apart from rural India, most Indians eat at tables now a day. Generally, you’ll be served a glass of water with your meal. Although it’s not looked down upon in most of India to eat with utensils, most Indians prefer to eat with their right hand. They eat with their hand because eating is considered a sensual activity, and touch is part of the experience along with the taste, aroma and presentation of the food. Use the tips of your fingers to grab the food and try to put it in your mouth without putting your fingers in your mouth.
Whether you eat with utensils or your hand, DON’T EAT WITH YOUR LEFT HAND! It’s considered rude and unhygienic to eat with your left hand because the left hand is considered unclean. In India, they wipe their butt with a stream of water and their left hand. You’re shitting on someone by touching them with your left hand. Also, never touch someone else’s “contaminated” food. Food is considered “contaminated” once it comes in touch with saliva or something that touched saliva. If your host pushes you to eat more, it’s considered rude to refuse them because how much you eat is considered an indication of your enjoyment of the meal. Most meals end with dessert and a digestive treat. And don’t forget to compliment the chef!
For dinner, I made mango lassi, bhindi masala, chickpea curry, white rice, plain naan (the frozen kind from Trader Joe’s – it’s AMAZING!) and kheer. To begin the meal, Ethan, Karl and I talked while sipping on our mango lassis (sorry I forgot to take a picture but just imagine mango smoothies since it looked like that), and later beer. After a little over an hour of chit chat, we washed our hands and sat down on my floor cushions to eat dinner. Yes, I have floor cushions. I know that’s strange for an American to own. Also, we did eat with our right hand and enjoyed it. It heightens the experience of eating, and although I won’t do it with every meal, I’m going to start doing it more often.
The chickpea curry recipe is from a vegetarian crockpot recipe book that my grandmother gave me. I love the convenience of just throwing everything into a pot and letting it do its own thing! It was sweeter than the curry that I’m used to but still very delicious! I would never have thought to pair raisins with lentils and vegetables before I tried this dish. This dish pairs best with either rice or couscous.
Also for dinner I made a mock bhindi masala. Unfortunately, I went to 3 different stores and couldn’t find okra so I used green beans instead. One day, okra! One day! I used the same recipe I would have used had I found okra but with green beans and it was amazing! If you like your food super spicy, add more spice. I don’t so it was perfect for me! I was worried the tomatoes would ruin it for me since I don’t like mushy tomatoes but even those were tasty in this dish! This dish pairs best with naan or a similar type of bread.
And lastly, for dessert, I made kheer which is a type of rice pudding. Unfortunately, I’m allergic to almonds which is a common ingredient in kheer though so I doubled the number of cashews I used instead. It tasted phenomenal! The sweetness and the spices worked together really well! The raisins and cashews gave it a nice texture, plus the raisins added to the sweetness. 10/10 I recommend this dish and will definitely have it again!
Here are the recipes in case you want to try making your own:
Thank you so much for reading my blog! Please, comment below what your favorite Indian dish to make is. I would love to know! Maybe I’ll even try making it myself someday! Until our next adventure!
Hey fellow adventurers! This week we’re going to be talking all about Indian food! To start the week off, restaurants! I was going to talk about Indian etiquette while dinning in an Indian restaurant but I’m not able to find anything via Google. I can only find rules about when you’re invited over to someone’s house and I’m going to include that in the blog where I recreate a home cooked Indian meal. I did see that, like in the United States, it’s rude not to tip. It looks like it’s customary to tip your waiter 10%.
I went to Himalayan Curry and Grill for lunch. I went there with the pretext that it was for my blog but it was partly because I just love that place. I always go there for lunch because you get a lot of food for $9.
Normally, I go there with my mum and grandpa and we order a Taj Mahal beer but this time I was with my husband so we got mango lassi.
Since we’re vegetarians, we got the saag aloo and veggie korma options. SO GOOD! And that comes with rice, naan and daal soup.
And then at the entrance of the restaurant, they had fennel seeds next to peppermint candies. You might remember in my post about spices, I mentioned that fennel seeds are popularly used after a meal to freshen the breath. I personally dislike the taste but they do make your breath feel fresher.
If you want to try to make these dishes at home, here are some recipes:
Indian is almost always my #1 choice when asked where I want to eat! I love it! Any opportunity to drink mango lassi and eat naan bread is good in my book! Non-spicy veggie korma is my favorite thing to get! What’s your favorite dish to get an Indian restaurant? Or even make at home. Leave your answer down in the comments below. And until our next adventure!
Hey fellow adventurers! I would like to continue talking more about Indian media. This time: movies. Bollywood. Bollywood releases more than 1,000 films each year so obviously I felt compelled to write about it. Bollywood is the colloquial term that most people use to describe any Hindi movie coming out of India. However, Bollywood (the film producer) makes up less than half of the movies produced in India. If you’re interested in learning more about Bollywood, check out its Wiki page here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bollywood
A lot of Indian movies like to stick to a specific formula. You’ll find the occasional outlier but for the most part, this is what you can expect from an Indian film:
Movies will be a minimum of three hours long (in the U.S. it’s generally 90 minutes-2 hours long).
There will be a minimum of 4-5 dance numbers in the film. If it was made by Hollywood, it would be classified as a musical.
The stories are centered around families and can sometimes feel like soap operas.
They have the same old love formula: Boy meets girl. The girl’s parents reject the boy. And then after a lot of turmoil, they finally give in to the boy and the couple lives happily ever after.
You might know the plot already because the movie was probably inspired by another story.
In this post, I wanted to talk about a couple of popular Indian films and one that is less famous but I love.
Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge
Rotten Tomato describes Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge: “Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (Brave Heart Will Take the Bride) was a huge hit in India, and won all the major Filmfare Awards. It was also the film that catapulted Shahrukh Khan to Bollywood superstardom, and it was the first of several successful pairings of Khan and Kajol. Khan plays Raj, a likeably goofy rich Indian boy, brought up in London, who’s had everything handed to him in life. Kajol is Simran, a proper Indian girl who also lives in London. Her stern father (Amrish Puri) has arranged for her to go to back to his sorely missed homeland in Punjab to marry the son of an old friend. Simran persuades the old man to let her go off on a month-long trip to Europe with her girlfriends before she weds. On the trip, Simran meets Raj, and naturally they don’t get along at first. He humiliates her with his pranks, and she refuses to loosen up. Then they get stranded together, get drunk together, sing and dance together, and begin to develop feelings for each other. They return to London, each hoping the other will express his/her love. They part, and when Simran’s father overhears her telling her mother (Farida Jalal) about Raj, he gets angry and demands that they leave for India immediately. But Raj follows them there, determined to win over Simran’s father and take Simran as his bride. He ingratiates himself with the dimwitted groom, Kuljit (Parmeet Sethi), and enters the household as his friend. Things get even more complicated when Kuljit’s family mistakenly believes that Raj is interested in the groom’s sister, and they begin to plan a double wedding. The film was the directorial debut of Aditya Chopra, and the hit soundtrack was composed by the writing team Jatin-Lalit.” The movie was the highest grossing movie of 1995 and is still one of the most successful Indian films of all times. It won 10 Filmfare Awards, the most for a single film at that time, and won the National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment. The soundtrack album was one of the most popular of the 1990s. It’s on the list of “1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die.” It is still screening at the Maratha Mandir theater in Mumbai, making it the longest-running film in the history of Indian Cinema.
I can understand why people love this film. It was fun, charming and engrossing. The film lasts over three hours but because it was paced so well, it didn’t feel that long. Even my mother, who gets bored with movies about an hour in, said that it didn’t feel like the film was three hours long. I love the chemistry between Raj (Shah Rukh Khan) and Simran (Kajol) and can honestly say that I was at the edge of my seat for the entire film. I loved all the actors in this film. And as for the actor who plays Simran’s dad (Amrish Puri), I have to give him props especially. I didn’t know a human’s eyes could go as wide as his did. I was seriously worried for a bit that they were going to fall out of his head. I’m definitely going to look for more movies like this one. Especially one with Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol.
3 Idiots
Rotten Tomato describes 3 Idiots: “Two friends embark on a quest for a lost buddy. On this journey, they encounter a long-forgotten bet, a wedding they must crash, and a funeral that goes, ridiculously out of control. As they make their way through the perilous landscape, another journey begins: their inner journey through memory lane and the story of their friend — the impressible free-thinker Rancho, who is in unique way, touched and changed their lives. It’s a story of their hostel days that swings between Rancho’s romance with the spirited Pia, and his clash with an oppressive mentor, Viru Sahastrabudhhe. And then one day, suddenly, Rancho vanished. Who was he? Where did he come from? Why did he leave? The friend who influenced and inspired them to think creatively and independently, even as the conformist world called them “three idiots.” Where is the original idiot now? Finally, in misty mountains of unparalleled beauty, the friends find the key to the secret.” Before being overtaken by Chennai Express in 2013, 3 Idiots was the highest grossing Bollywood film of all time. A Mexican remake of the movie came out this year, titled 3 Idiotas.
This is officially my and my husband’s favorite movie! I didn’t have a favorite movie until I saw this. It was funny, sad, serious, ridiculous and so much more all rolled into one movie! I love it when TV shows can elicit an array of emotions from its audience but when films try, it just feels rushed due to the time constraint. This movie did it perfectly! I love the actors and dance numbers! I can’t get “All is Well” out of my head. Basically, I highly recommend anyone see this movie!
Water
Rotten Tomato describes Water: “The film examines the plight of a group of widows forced into poverty at a temple in the holy city of Varanasi. It focuses on a relationship between one of the widows, who wants to escape the social restrictions imposed on widows, and a man who is from the highest caste and a follower of Mahatma Gandhi.” This film is the third and final installment of the Elements series. The Element Trilogy films all deal with controversial issues. The first film Fire deals with arranged marriage and homosexuality. The second film Earth deals with religious strife during the partition of India and the formation of Pakistan. The third and most successful film Water deals with suicide, misogyny and the mistreatment of widows in rural India. For a few years it looked like the director Deepa Mehta might not be able to make this film. Partially brought on by outcry at one of her previous movies, Fire, 2,000 protestors stormed where the set was supposed to take place, burned down the film set and threw the remnants into the Ganges. It was difficult for Deepa to get permits that would allow her to film the movie. She also kept receiving death threats from people stating that they would kill her if she didn’t stop filming this movie. Deepa talks about that and more in this article: http://www.tiff.net/the-review/deepa-mehta-journey-in-film/
I was first introduced to this movie when I was taking a film class in college. It’s not easy to watch but it’s honest and brave. The characters are well written and the actors that play them, amazing. I’m honestly in awe of Deepa Mehta who fought so hard to make this film a reality. I highly doubt with thousands of protestors and multiple death threats, that I would have continued working on this film. That takes a lot of bravery. The film is amazing though! And although Sati (the custom where a widow commits suicide after the death of her husband) is illegal, many women still get shunned by their communities and abandoned by their family because of superstitions. National Geographic talks about it here: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2017/02/global-images-of-widows-india-bosnia-uganda-discrimination-exile/.
If there were any Indian films that you think deserve mention, please comment below. I would love to hear about them! Until our next adventure!
Hey fellow adventurers! Firstly, I posted this yesterday but for some reason, it’s not there anymore. I’m really sorry about that! I don’t know when that happened but I hope that doesn’t happen again.
We’re back to the subject of music! Unfortunately, it looks like YouTube doesn’t have a convenient list for me this week so I’ll just post the top 20 music videos (if they have one) in this post.
#1 Despacito by Luis Fonsi ft. Daddy Yankee
This song look familiar? It should. Even if you haven’t been listening to American radio stations, this was in the top 3 on the French station from last month.
#2 Hawayein (from “Jab Harry Met Sejal”) by Pritam and Arijit Singh
#3 Mi Gente by J. Balvin and Willy Willam
The music video is pretty lit.
#4 Qismat by Ammy Virk
Fair warning: The music video kind of made me want to cry.
#5 Mere Rashke Qamar (from “Baadshaho”) by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan and Tanishk Bagchi
#6 Fetish by Selena Gomez ft. Gucci Mane
Apparently, Selene Gomez should be on the show My Strange Addiction.
#7 Meant to Be by Ananya Birla
#8 Attention by Charlie Puth
#9 Magnolia by Playboi Carti
#10 Swalla by Jason Derulo ft. Nicki Minaj and Ty Dolla $ign
#11 Feels by Calvin Harris ft. Pharrel William, Katy Perry and Big Sean
#12 Unforgettable by French Montana ft. Swae Lee
#13 Shape of You by Ed Sheeran
#14 Na Ja by Pav Dharia
#15 Wild Thoughts by DJ Khaled ft. Rhianna and Bryson Tiller
Another song that was on the list last month too.
#16 High Rated Gabru by Guru Randhawa & Manj Musik
#17 2U by David Guetta ft. Justin Bieber
#18 Faded by Alan Walker
#19 There for You by Martin Garrix and Troye Sivan
#20 Rockabye by Clean Bandit ft. Sean Paul and Anne-Marie
Just like with the first post though, I acknowledge that some of you don’t listen to popular music. For those of you that prefer classical music, the next video is one that I’ve been listening to while writing every post about India up until this one. I’m in love with it.
If you’re looking for more traditional Indian music you can try this video:
