More pics from India

[sethr]

From Bangalore

























These aren't scanning so great. I'm using a negative scanner. I need a regular one. The prints are a lot better.

Edited by: sethr at: 7/18/03 9:44 pm

[RonOnGuitar]

Works fine!



Which one is you, Sethr?

[debbie mannas]

I must post some of home. Sigh.



Its so strange in India - you see such abject poverty, and some really fantastic homes, all sitting side by side. It makes me sad and very angry. I've seen kids digging in garbage bins for food. And then they turn around and flash you this beaming smile.



And among "educated" people you will still see the dowry system, arranged marriages, bride burning. I lost a friend - she got burnt to death - she was unmarried though. The story goes that her gas stove blew up and set her alight. But there are enough cases of unmarried women who want to marry the wrong guy who end up dead...



I think I've already told the story of the dead baby in my neighbour's garden. a newborn girl...



Once my mom's telephone line went dead. She called the telephone company, they sent a man. He fixed it. She didnt bribe him. He went down the road and cut the line again.



On the bright side, did you get any pics of MG road, or the parks/avenues etc?

[RonOnGuitar]

Weren't you from nearby this area, debbie? (bangalore?)

[debbie mannas]

Born and raised in Bangalore. I was lucky to have a comfortable home and food. very lucky. I'll post some pics if I can scan any in.



Also, my mom worked for Oxfam for about 12 years. So we were exposed to all kinds of social issues. It was great.

[RonOnGuitar]

What is Oxfam? A social interest group of some sort, I suppose?



I'd love to see just about everyplace in the world, but then again I'm happy just taking a walk around my neighboorhood, haha.



Most of my non-book knowledge of India comes from a buddy who married a cool lass from Madras. Her name is Prema (sp??), I believe her original dialect-language is Tamil. So many dialects on that sub-continent!

[bbchris]

Oxfam is a major charity. There must be websites etc. Have a google Ron.



Seth - great pics. They look fine to me. Can you show us some more please?

|Blah Blah|Thinking Out Loud|Jane Eliz||Talk Soup |

[debbie mannas]

is not a dialect. Its a language. There are over 18 official LANGUAGES in india, and thousands of dialects within each. English and Hindi are the two "national" languages. English is the business language.



By language I mean, the script is different, the grammar is different, the structure is different, depending on where the language originated from. India is pretty much the "united states of india" so each state has its own legal system, language, customs, food, traditional garb, history, etc. If you cross the border from one state into the next, all the signage changes from one language to the other! That is a unifying language is needed. in the south the unifying language is English (urban areas mostly) and the north, Hindi is more predominant.



People even look different from one state to the next. If you grew up in India you'd learn to spot the difference immediately; both by looks and family name. Accents are ALL different. Its BRILLIANT. I love accents.



Premilla/Prema is quite a typical Tamilian name (from the state of Tamil Nadu, the capital of which is Madras, now Chennai). Official language Tamil.



Bangalore is the capital of Karnataka. Official language Kanada.



Hyderbad is the capital of Andra Pradesh. Official language Telugu.



Bombay is the capital of Maharashtra. Official language Marathi, and so on and so forth.



Many indians speak about 4 or 5 languages at least, including near perfect english.



English is my mother tongue (cause I'm mixed ), and I'm crap at languages. I've never been able to learn any of the Indian languages enough to converse. I can read and write two though - hindi and kanada. Strange, isnt it? If I could change one thing about myself it would be my language ability or lack thereof (and my big foot in mouth, but thats another story).

[RonOnGuitar]

Ahh, yes, Chris - googling is helpful! It seems to be UK based, so that's probably why I hadn't heard of it.

[RonOnGuitar]

Thanks for that info on Tamil and languages, Debbie!



Must be both interesting and challenging to deal with so many systems and languages from state to state. If I go down south in the US, it's still English - or something reasonably close, lol!



To the north Canada has the Québécois and below the southern border(Mexico), of course, is Spanish. Many immigrants to the US from whereever in the world retain their language, especially the older folks. The kids learn English much faster. In Minnesota (my state) we have the largest Hmong population in the US and it's pretty common to run into the Hmong language. Hearing Swedish used to relatively common, but most the oldtimers who spoke it a great deal have passed on.



That's not to forget all the tribal languages of the native Americans (thought to be "Indians" by Columbus). The two biggest tribes in my area are/were the Ojibaway (Chippewa) and the Sioux. Our mom spoke some Ojibaway from having grown up with them and from when her dad employed many when he ran a lumber camp. I forgot how to count in the language, but I remember "Indian Tabacco" was called "Kinnikinnick".



I think it's great that you can read hindi and kanada, even if you're not fluent speaking them.



So what kinda accent do you have, if any? regional Indian, HK Brit, other?



We midwesterners have a dull, flat monotone. "Minnesotan" is a stupifyingly mundane regional accent. Someone said it's the equivilent of playing a 1 string guitar. If you've ever seen the film "Fargo" (I'd guess not, tho) it exagerrates the accent a bit, but is pretty close in a funny way.



Y'know I remember when I'd write to my bud in Madras that the address included "Tamil Nadu". That was a few years back - They live in Seattle now.



I love watching travelogs of India and other spots. Just so many interesting places on this earth!

[droolymutt]

I assume this is from when you were gigging there?





Must have been quite the experience.



btw - how on Earth did you get a gig in India...?????

[sethr]

Drooley-

The band was there three times. I went on the second and third tours. Bernie's parents were living in Bangalore. His mom was at the Bangalore School of Music. There was a last minute cancellation by some band scheduled to play their bi-annual East-West Music and Dance Festival. They wanted an American blues band. Bernie's mother suggested the Rhythm Sharks, the rest is history. The band was such a hit on the first tour that we were invited back for the next festival. (We are the only non-Indian band to play that festival more than once). That second tour led to another multi-city tour the next year. These pictures are from the second tour, my first time there. I have more pics from both tours that I'll post soon.

[debbie mannas]

Sethr, let me know when you next go...



It would be interesting to take my band to india. but then they'd expect me to do bollywood crap and I hate that stuff. UGH.



Hi Ron, yeah accents are so much fun, doesnt matter whose. Mouth movement and the way people pronounce words especially fascinate me.



Here's a tiny bit of voiceover (20secs) I did as a favour to our corp. svs dept. I did it in small bits at home cause the vocals were fixed to an animation... this is my slow monotonous boring voice. And the text was EVEN more boring - so consider this fair warning! Normally I speak quite fast and far far more sing-song (as Chris will attest). And when I'm mad the Indian accent is pretty strong!



www.debbiemannas.com/voiceover.mp3

[sethr]

Accents of Indian people who speak English as a first language are one of my favorites in the world. Very lilting and melodic. So much more character than what I usually hear, here in upstate NY.

I find languages to be fascinating. I'm really interested in how they develop and spread. India is an amazing place for that sort of thing. I enjoyed how all the signs were in English, Hindi and whatever the local language was. The various scripts are very interesting, and often quite beautiful. I especially like the script from Sri Lanka (Sinhalese?).

I spent some time in the Carribean, and I also really like the English spoken there. It's amazing how the language can be changed by degrees, depending on who one is talking to. Someone could speak to me in an English I could easily understand, and then turn to a friend and speak in a style that I could not grasp at all. What a great skill to have. I'm very monotone, monochromatic, dull by comparison.

[dj spaceAce]

wowowow...



our world...sometimes soooo near...and sometimes soooo far away



debb...is it you on da vokals...can i make a tune with that ??



pluuuuuueeeeeeeessssssse ...

dj spaceAce aka Y-Orbit