New Blog!

As of today, this blog will no longer be updated.

After setting up my professional resume site, I decided to create a matching blog. Simply click on the picture above to visit the new site!

Since I began using this platform in 2015 a lot has changed - where I am, what I want to do, what I enjoy talking about. I think it's only fitting to change venues.

But all of my old posts will still be available here. 

Don't forget to subscribe on the new site to get posts in your email!

Review: Teach Yourself Hindi

Back in January I committed to buying and using a textbook for Hindi for the following reasons:

• Lack of solid and wholesome beginner-intermediate material
• Lack of focus 
• Desiring an offline source for vocabulary and reading practice

By the time I bought Teach Yourself Hindi I had already learned the alphabet, colors, numbers and a few greetings. This made the book very easy to slip into, as I already had a hold on the fundamentals.

The Mystic Mountain Range and Doctor Strange

Before Doctor Strange released in early November, I was already hearing quiet complaints of stereotypes and overuse of the “Mystic Near East” trope. Certainly this isn't the first time Nepal (and often India) had been reduced to gurus and isolated mountain-top monasteries. And while I enjoyed Doctor Strange, I was curious about the use of this trope in the comics and film.

Thoughts on using ACTFL Can-Do Statements

Given that I’ve studied primary Indo-European languages, I’ve become well familiar with the Common European Framework of Reference (CERF). Japanese has its own equivalent (JLPT), but Arabic lacks a concrete exam, and I’ve often used CERF levels to monitor my progress.

Project Updates: Web Development, Course Revision and More

While being nestled near the Western Ghats in an Indian high-rise suburb appears relaxed, I can tell you that it this isn't the case! It felt as if the final months of the year might have been swept out with the pre-Diwali cleaning.

After a series of viral and a short respite in Hyderabad in September, I found myself frantically trying to finish or resume projects started in August.

First there was my personal website, which I have used as a lab rat for different CSS3 and HTML5 principles since last October. Finally I settled on a design, at least for the time being, and cut 75% of what I had built. All that was left was to edit the content, finalize fonts and colors, and finish the media queries. Granted, my PHP form abruptly stopped working, possibly because of an addition of another script, and so it was back to the drawing board for my contact form.

Given that I enjoy numerous creative pursuits, I wanted a place to showcase my development project, translation, writing, and design. However, I also wanted the website to be simple, not overbearing, and possibly interactive. Therefore, I borrowed code from this fullscreen layout with page transitions as shown on Tympanus.net and tweaked it to create a one-page interactive layout. In the process, I learned quite a bit about JQuery and clean CSS3 styling, which I hope to use in my future projects.

I’m hoping to experiment with the layout of this blog, as well as delve into some WordPress development.

Next, I wanted to focus on my online grammar course. Although I am proud of my first course, I have wanted to expand and improve on it. Back in March I had made a list of possible improvement areas based on feedback from a test class, and I continued to add to this throughout the year. Finally in October I sat down and organized my list and created a general timetable. As I plan to nearly quadruple the size of my course, I have estimated it will take about eleven months to write, film and edit it. While I’ve gone ahead and done some work now, I’m officially starting in December.

Of course, all of my projects will take the passenger seat for 20 days in November, during which time I will learn stick shift! While I’m not too fond of driving, depending on autos and Ola cars has become rather impossible at this point. Waiting for our area to develop simply isn’t a decent option. This became especially clear in September, when a viral was making its rounds about the house, and we had no way to get to a doctor without a vehicle.

As for my German and Hindi – both are slightly off schedule. I’m still planning to take my German exam in February-March, as my work through Aspekte has appeared promising. My Hindi, finally, is starting to pick up. On a typical day I can understand most of what people say around me, or at least get the gist. I can maybe understand 30 of Bollywood dialogue, which is expected, as I haven’t quite hit the 1000 word mark yet. Currently I’ve stopped at chapter 14 of Teach Yourself Hindi, of which I’ll give a proper review in a future blog post.

Writing wise, I have three short stories in the works, a novel outline, and a draft of a comic. I’ve also had time to write a few poems here or there, and I’m hoping to make it a regular activity.

Once I finish driving school in November, and take my C2 exam in early 2017, I’m hoping to have more time to lend to these other projects. And once my Hindi reaches a more natural conversational level, I’m estimating sometimes early next year, I’m hoping to start some Marathi (the local language) and Bengali (home language).

Then, perhaps, I can finally reacquaint myself with my other languages.

Film Review: PINK

After the Brock Turner scandal, in which a rapist served only three months of his six months sentence, it was fitting and somewhat comforting to see the film PINK.

Given India's usually conservative stance in the social realm, I wasn't sure what to expect. Certainly rape is considered a crime, but I wasn't sure how the victims would be seen. Would we hear common excuses - "Her clothes were skimpy" or "She was too flirty"? Yes, this was touched upon. But gratefully there was also the resounding "No means no".

Film Review: A Flying Jatt

At the end of August I ventured out with my husband and mother in law to see the almost family-oriented movie A Flying Jatt. Although I normally enjoy watching a Hindi film without subtitles, as I consider it extra language practice, I had reservations about this film based on the earlier release of Baaghi.