I Love This Guy

My favorite Pandora station, 'Ringa Ringa Radio,' began playing this really catchy Punjabi/Bhangra song a few weeks ago, which started getting stuck in my head for lengths at a time (even though I could only remember the words to one phrase). I have since looked up the singer, and am now in love with the music of who must be the happiest man on Earth- Daler Mehndi.



I can't help but laugh at some of his videos, some of the footage is hysterical. But he is so colorful, dances bhangra, and always has a huge smile on his face. And his music is RIDICULOUSLY WONDERFUL. I have tortured my poor roommate by playing it aloud....(secretly, I think she likes it ;) ) The music is so happy and energetic, and makes me want to dance!



So listen to this, 'Dil Mera Naal' by Daler Mehndi! And be sure to check out his other songs, such as 'Tunak Tunak Tun' - it has over 22 million views on Youtube...pretty impressive. Have fun dancing!

My New Little Friend

Always trapped in the convent that is all-girls' boarding school, I rarely get the chance to shop. So when my school has a Fair Trade sale, I'm there (granted I have money, of course).

Fair Trade items are wonderful not only because they have different ethnic styles, are beautiful, handmade, and unique, but also because they ensure fair wages for people in the world, which can have great impacts.

With all of these things in mind, I approached the long table full of Fair Trade goodies and found this:

The pictures don't do him justice- he's really quite the beauty. He is made of soft wood, and the flowery ornate design is all over his body. He even has little footprints underneath his feet!

He was a bit expensive for a wooden elephant. But he is Fair Trade. And a graduation present to myself. And, he makes me very happy sitting atop my bookshelf and looking pretty.

I do love my new little friend.

Picture of the Day

Meet Henry. He is my cat.

It could be quite nice

to be a purring feline

and sleep in windows

Salaam Bombay!

I just finished Mira Nair's Salaam Bombay!, which I had heard much praise about. It did not dissapoint! It was definitely a change from the newer, glitzier Indian movies I have been watching lately. The film was dedicated to the street children of Bombay, and told the very sad and haunting story of a young street child named Krishna. Definitely a heart-tugging, thought provoking movie. I have recently thought a little bit about possibly working with non-profits and street children in India for a while at some point in my life, so it was interesting to watch.
I kept a notebook by my side while I watched to try to catch some Hindi-which was somewhat difficult, because the actors all speak so fast! But here is some of what I picked up:
हिंदी बात नहीं आता? Don't speak Hindi?
मैं कुछ करेगा- I'll do something
ठीक है जायेगा- It will be alright

I also thought I picked up the word for sexy- जिक्नी (jikni) ? But I looked it up on google translate and it came up as a non-existent word...hmmm.

Picture of the Day

For today, a picture I took of a lonely little grave...

Isn't it sad? There were a bunch more like it, probably from the 1800s. It makes me want to come up with a whole story- how did the baby die? Why didn't the family have the money to put its name on the tombstone? What was the baby's name? At the time I took the photo I was also doing some research on illegal immigration and learned about the cemeteries where unknown illegal immigrants are buried when they die attempting to cross the border...you can read more about them here.

Maybe not the happiest picture... but I will post a brighter one tomorrow :)

Haiku

maybe I have it

this thing called senioritis

alas, no known cure

Picture of the Day

So far I have actually posted a picture every day....for the past three days.... which perhaps isn't the most impressive track record, but nevertheless I'm glad I've been able to keep up :) Who knows how I long I will continue...



For today I have a photograph I took at a Santeria store in my neighborhood.



I've learned from my Caribbean Lit class and by doing a little bit of research that Santeria is an African/Caribbean religion, which blends Christianity with more traditional tribal religion and things like voodoo. I'm no expert though.... you can learn all about it at http://santeriareligion101.com/! It's pretty fascinating.

Anyway, I took this photograph at this Santeria store, which was crammed full of religious statues, candles, mysterious love potion sorts of things, creepy statues of heads with eyes made out of cowrie shells, and much much more...it was quite the place. A few months ago they had a big fire at the store that was pretty serious and devastating...but apparently the large religious statues in the window did not burn to a crisp, which was quite puzzling and mysterious! I'd love to go back and take more photographs if they re-open.

I'm thinking of putting this photograph in my end-of-year photography portfolio, too....thoughts?