Streets of Mumbai - Part two

Seen on: YouTube

In a new series for Al Jazeera, Divya Gopalan attempts to understand the real Mumbai by taking a culinary journey through its vibrant streets.

> Streets of Mumbai - Part one

Streets of Mumbai - Part one

Seen on: YouTube

In a new series for Al Jazeera, Divya Gopalan attempts to understand the real Mumbai by taking a culinary journey through its vibrant streets.

> Streets of Mumbai - Part two

India Smoking Ban

Seen on: YouTube

Up to 900,000 people die each year from smoking-related diseases in India. It is feared that the yearly toll could rise to one million people by 2010.

> Smoking curbs: The global picture

Faced with these startling figures, the government is instituting toughter smoking bans. But will it be enough? Al Jazeera's Matt McClure reports from Delhi.

Image Day - Holi Ke Din

People sing and dance as they celebrate Holi, festival of colors, in Ahmedabad.

> AP Images

Image Day - 'Holi in Kolkata'

A girl participates in the celebrations for the spring season during Holi, the festival of colours, in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata. The tradition of Holi heralds the beginning of spring and is celebrated by Hindus all over the world.

> Reuters Pictures

Bengali Language Movement - Three

Rabindranath-Tagore, a soul rooted in Bengal, was inseparable from his Bengali background. He travelled all over the world, but no landscape could ever move him more than the flat, dry plain around his beloved Santiniketan.

The rivers of East Bengal inspired much of the poetry of his thirties, but it was the drier West Bengal landscape, with its spaciousness of sky and simplicity of earth, that he came to regard as his home.

Even the Himalayas - so important to his father, who took Tagore there when he was eleven years old - never meant as much to him.

> Related Link: 'Ogo-Bideshini'

He belonged with the land, the flowers and the trees; the birds; the people - whom he cared for genuinely, not just romantically, combining his educational experience at Santiniketan with an agricultural experiment at the neighbouring village of Sriniketan; the music, which he enriched immeasurably with his two thousand songs; and above all the language of Bengal.

He may have moved to English at a particular phase in his life; but he never moved from Bengali. He insisted that Bengali should be the medium of instruction in Bengal's schools, and wrote several essays and lectures on this theme.

When he was invited in February 1937 to deliver the Convocation Address at Calcutta University, he made history by delivering it in Bengali. Back in 1895 he made a similar stand at the Bengal Provincial Conference, demanding (unsuccessfully) that all business should be conducted in Bengali.

His concern of the language went far beyond the literary use he made of it.

Near the end of his life, he wrote a technical treatise of the Bengali language, bangla-bhasa paricay (1938); when the Bangiya Sahitya Parisad (Bengali Literary Academy) was founded in 1894, he provided a list of technical terms.

> Bengali Language Movement: One - Two

Via Bangladesh-Blogger

RIP - Writer Sujatha

S. Rangarajan, the author of over 100 novels, 250 short stories, ten books on science, ten stage plays, and a volume of poems, has passed away.

Better known for scripting movies like Iruvar, Boys, Kannathil Muthamittaal, Sivaji, Aayutha Ezhutthu. His dialogues were realistic, so full of life, the sort that struck a chord in you and stayed with you for days, or maybe even years.

A dialogue that comes to mind from Aayutha Ezhuththu: Esha Deol tells Surya, “Enna ni, enna oththrum-illaada theatre-ko, Pondicherry-ko kootindu poegaama edho oru graamathuku aleichindu porai….”

Via Numbskulls page

Bengali Language Movement - Two

It has been suggested that the freedom-struggle of Bangladesh originated from the Bengali language movement. Statistically Bengalis were the majority community of Pakistan - About fifty-five percent of the total population.

The Language Controversy
The language controversy of Pakistan started even before the creation of Pakistan. Dr. Ziauddin Ahmed, a former Vice-Chancellor of the Aligarh-University of India had suggested that Urdu should be the official language.

Simultaneously Dr. Md. Shahidullah, a noted Bengali linguist from Dhaka-University, opposed the suggestion and put forth arguments in favour of Bengali as the future state language of Pakistan.

He wrote: If Urdu or Hindi instead of Bengali is used in our law courts and universities, that would be tantamount to political slavery.

(Shahidullah 1947: 34-35)

> Bengali Language Movement: One - Three

Via Bangladesh-Blogger

Rajasthan Roots

Seen on: YouTube

A journey through music to a beautiful-land, where dreams lay unbound.

Image Day - Old Delhi

People walk in the old part of Delhi, which is mainly populated by Muslims.

> Reuters Pictures

Image Day - Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

Members of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi cremation-committee surround the body of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. The Beatles guru died at his home on Feb. 5th, 2008.

> AP Images

Still In Delhi

Amber writes from Delhi:

And if we weren't, I'd have been very, very surprised. Of course, as soon as we arrived at the airport to check in for our flight to Srinagar.

Today we spent most of the day walking around Connaught-Place. It's a bunch of circular roads near upmarket shops and restaurants - Levi's, Dockers, Pizza Hut (which is upmarket, compared to a few places we've been to!) etc.

It actually brings up an interesting point about India: the massive class distinctions. India has an enormous middle-class (most of the Indians you'd know are probably well-educated professionals), but also an incredibly poor class.

Today we took two-rides to and from Connaught Place and it was... an experience. Actually, Delhi traffic is really something else (we already had a minor fender bender with Mister Chaudhary, at about 5km per hour!).

Bengali Language Movement - One

The importance of the Movement for the Defence of the Bengali-Language was not restricted to politics alone.

Literature and Cultural life also had a strong influence.

Between 1947 and 1971, at least 1500 novels were published in East-Bengal, many more than in preceding years. The authors of the short-stories, also very numerous, could find a literary-outlet in the literary-magazines which proliferated.

Among the authors, Shaukat-Osman (1917-99), Syed-Waliullah (1922 - 1971) and Alauddin al-Azad (born 1934) imbued their works with a humanistic and generous message which characterizes the texts of the period.

As Badruddin-Umar has written: The language-movement has actually laid the foundation not only of a new cultural-life of the people but also of a truly non-communal and democratic movement in the country. Muslims of Bengal, during the decades of communal-politics almost forgot their national identity.

> Bengali Language Movement: Two - Three

Via Bangladesh-Blogger

Teaching desi-culture

The story of how Jaswant became Jack, as India became the world's back office, is out-of-date. Here's a look at how Jack became Jaswant as Indian firms increased their global footprint.

It started in the late ‘90s when Indian IT companies started opening new centres and acquiring companies from Japan to Mexico, South Africa to Australia. Every such move meant adding local employees to their rolls. It also meant training them about the company's work culture and mindset.

“In global workplace, ignoring cultural differences can heighten the risk of miscommunication,” explains K Venkataraman, director, Cognizant.

In fact, there's a growing demand even among clients preparing for their maiden visit to India for help with understanding the cultural traits and differences that separate them from their Indian counterparts. Realising this need, most IT companies have now created capsules and e-learning courses for their expat employees and clients. While each country has its own national culture, there is an overriding commercial culture that makes MNCs tick.

This works for Indian firms too. Wipro, for example, has over 26 development centres across the globe but it has some core values that are rooted in India.

These values give them an identity as an Indian organisation.

We simply do two things for our expat employees. Everyone is made to go through a 'Spirit of Wipro' workshop which initiates them about our core values. Then they are given a cultural orientation about India,” says Supriti Bhandary, GM talent engagement and development (Americas), Wipro Technology.

Similarly, Cognizant has an e-learning tool for foreigners. "It helps them understand Indian communication styles, social courtesies, body-talk, facial and other gestures, personal and social conversation," explains Venkataraman.

NIIT, which has been actively recruiting locals abroad since 1999, has a vision document. "We take them through the document when they join. Also, things like events in the social calendar of the company are followed across the globe uniformly," says Ashish Basu, President, Corporate Learning Solutions, NIIT.

Via Talk-Desi

French film festival in Mumbai

There was much in store for film fans at the French film festival in Mumbai.

Image Day: King-Khan crowned

Shahrukh-Khan, speaking after receiving the "Ordre des Arts et des Lettres".

French-Ambassador to India Jerome-Bonnafont conferred the title on Khan at the inaugural ceremony of four-day French film festival today. The award is given to people who have distinguished themselves in art, culture or literature.

> Getty Images