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Mumbai Theatrical Debut!
Part of my recent blogging ‘disappearing act’ is because I made my Mumbai acting ‘debut’!
Most would know that stage and film is my partner’s profession.
Onno Vivekananda
Few would know that there was a time when I flirted with this too. Waaaay back 30 years ago, along with regular school, I also attended Prairie Theatre Exchange‘s theatre school. Acted in a couple plays, did a TV commercial, taught drama education as a summer job and even landed a Drama Award.
No I wasn’t a drama queen – just enjoyed stage work. You could say I came by it naturally as I grew up hanging out backstage as my mother donned costumes and make-up to go under the bright lights to sing her operatic heart out at the concert hall.
However I left that all behind decades ago until a friend persuaded me to help out a local Bengali community theatre group with a play on Swami Vivekananda. An amateur production with a director who has spent 20+ years writing & putting on plays raising charitable funds for both a cancer patients and girls education – worthy causes indeed! (more…)
What is your most memorable multi-lingual story?
This is a “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours” type posts… as I really do want to hear your best multi-lingual story…
Wanna go to school in Ireland? (Photo: Carissa Hickling)
My most memorable multilingual experience was in Calgary, Alberta, Canada in the early 1990s. I was there for an academic conference, staying with relatives and catching a bus to the campus each day…
On one bus trip, the driver had a wide smile, jovial manner and a comment or two or three for just about everyone getting on and off the bus… in different languages! By the time it he was on to the 5th language… I simply had to ask his story. (more…)
Mute – Screaming Silently
I love this crazy maddening country India that I live in… however, as a ‘firangi’ (foreigner), I cannot vote and therefore, have no say.
Often this makes me feel mute – not having the right to voice my opinions and frustration at certain situations. Or more positively, am restricted against playing a direct role in being part of any kind of political change. Fair enough, I chose to retain the citizenship of my birth – Canada, so this is the result.
This morning, my partner forwarded a marvellous film short that speaks to this. “Mute” is by a new company based literally around the corner for us called Handloom Picture Company. And while it directly talks of our circumstances in Mumbai, there is a universality to many elements in the message – it is worth checking out. (more…)
I’m NOT dreaming of a white Christmas
While I miss family and friends back in Canada, I don’t miss freezing my nether regions! I come from a place where winter can mean -40’c without windchill… factor that in and we’re talking -60’c or worse… Brrrr!!!
Yet there is a perverse pride in surviving and thriving in such conditions and I know one of these years I’ll be back and enjoy it with immense gusto! (Confident a couple of planes later I’ll be home with palm trees and sandals). (more…)
Tis the season to get “marry”ed… again
While tis the season to be merry, winter is also marriage or “shadi” season in India! The temperatures cool and ‘phorun’ (foreign) relatives descend. Peacock bright wedding finery is donned, jewellery polished and coloured envelops stuffed with cash plus one rupee for good luck.
Wedding puja (Photo: Carissa Hickling)
In a true sign of the times, the family wedding we attended on the weekend was 2nd time around for two siblings. All four experienced wedding, divorce and were taking a leap of faith to wed again. The brother and sister decided to tie the knot with their respective loves on the same day, keeping the ceremonies short, sweet and restricted to family. (more…)
Give the gift… of your opinion please!
In many countries around the world, cash registers are working overtime and folks are trudging through streets and malls scouring for the perfect gift for that special someone, obligatory family member or “Secret Santa” at work.
Xmas tree 2013 (Photo: Carissa Hickling)
Now we are all multi-faceted creatures with a variety of interests – our gifts and gift giving reflects this. And this blog is no exception, particularly as it is a purely personal indulgence. However as I was poking around the statistics for the upcoming 3rd quarter summary, I thought comments from family and friends that “Hey I loved that!” or “That’s totally not my thing so I ignore posts about…”
Rather than make a wild guess or totally piss off all ya super cool readers out there, I would love to hear what YOU want more / less of… I’ve broadly divided along the lines of the blog’s categories. (more…)
“Drive here? Are you nuts!” Cars and re-learning to drive in India
I’m often asked about driving in India… and my response for the longest time was “Drive in India? Are you nuts!?”
My ‘new’ car in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, 1997
Like a typical Canadian teenager, I got my driver’s license in high school. However less typically, it was a decade later before I owned a car – a 2nd hand Toyota Corolla which survived more than one blizzard in Winnipeg. I did a great job accumulating Manitoba Driver’s License merit points not because I was a particularly good driver but simply that I drove so rarely it was nearly impossible to be caught speeding or get into an accident! So when I moved back to Delhi in 2003, bought a cheap 2nd hand Maruti 800, I also splurged on a wonderful bonus – HIRED A DRIVER.
A Canadian friend visited us in India and remarked that driving around the world is a bit like a video game – Canada is the super easy, reasonably polite entry-level and India is one of the most challenging. Here you dodge everything from cyclists to beggars, camels to cows (less so now), and during particularly hot summers, high tempers combined with arrogant driving can lead to deadly disasters. (more…)
Losing the right to vote?
While not always the case, for many of us that chose to embrace the world unfettered by the borders of our birth… we give up a few things along the way… like the right to vote.
Many Manitoba provincial and Canadian federal elections ago I lost the right to exercise my democratic ‘right.’ And while I may have lived a decade + in India, that alone would never bestow any rights to participate in elections here.
Yet if I COULD vote who WOULD I vote for?? (more…)
Winter is coming… so make soup!
Winter is coming to my ‘home town’ of Winnipeg… while here in my ‘adopted home’ Mumbai, it is perpetual summer. And yet I find myself in a strangely sentimental mood thinking about friends and family in colder climes. So, what to do? Make a ‘winter’ inspired soup, of course!
Winter is coming! (The Weather Network)
The trick with this ‘Winter soup’ is to predominantly use root vegetables. As with the ‘Sick Chick’ and Monsoon Soup, a pressure cooker makes all the difference.
Here are the ingredients: (more…)
House Cooling/Warming Part 1 – Mumbai masquerades
Given a choice between socializing at public establishments or private homes – my vote is ‘house party’! And while average flat sizes in Mumbai are modest, there are some that are designed with ‘entertaining’ in mind!
We recently attended a ‘house cooling’ party in Mumbai. It wasn’t at all like the one I had in Winnipeg before moving back to India. Mine was a simple affair where the focus was valiant efforts by one and all to empty the house of assorted bric-à-brac and demolish the booze cabinet! No one was permitted to stay with empty glass or leave empty-handed.
In the recent Bandra variant, there was certainly food and booze aplenty however it also featured a burlesque masque theme! Tonight is the same friend’s ‘house warming’ party and am looking forward to kicking off the “B-b-b-b-birthday celebrations – quintuple style” courtesy of his hosting skills! (more…)
Everyday Asia 