She wears a headscarf, watches trashy television and is smart. What to do?
The camera rests, and rests some more so that you, the viewer, can look, can feel, can hear, can allow the character, the place, the sound, the emotion to speak to you. It is as if the maker of Bir Baskadir suggests that you watch and listen. Really watch and listen. Not just what is…
‘Globalization’ – 2021
As I look through the windshield at forbidden fireworks creating silent fountains against the fast fading light, Peter Frankopan’s clipped British accent provides the soundtrack. A new era is about to begin as 2020 is a few hours away from passing on. In an interview for BBC’s ‘hard talk’ programme, he reveals that while two…
An Emerging India on your screen
‘A Suitable Boy’ by Vikram Seth is a thick book, but that wasn’t the reason I didn’t get beyond the first couple of hundred pages. I was young then, and was probably on the lookout for something more quick-paced. Besides, the India that it described was more or less the India I lived in, so…
From here to Tokyo and beyond….sharpen your cross cultural competency
Try telling your expat friends, ‘the Dutch are very hospitable’ or ‘the Dutch love to spend their money’. You should get some interesting responses! Turning stereotypes around can show you the underlying truth when grouping people on the basis of their cultural background. This handy tip is to be found in Esther Janssen’s book ‘Van hier…
‘The Hindus’ – 1
‘The Hindus’ by Wendy Doniger tells ‘an alternative history’ of the Hindus from c.50,000,000 BCE to 1500 BCE to the present. Considering this claim, 700 pages are rather modest. Doniger clarifies that she doesn’t believe that any one person can tell the story of Hinduism. Perhaps this is also one reason (amongst others) why she…