First, a brief comment on the cultural and linguistic diversity in India, the country where my target language is spoken. India has 22 official languages and hundreds of unofficial local languages and dialects, and along with those linguistic differences come cultural and historical differences. I am aware that it is not completely appropriate to speak of “Indian culture” and “Hindi-speaking culture” as equivalent. For the purpose of this course, I will try to focus my cultural awareness on North India (the more Hindi-speaking part), but I cannot guarantee that cultural artifacts I mention necessarily align with Hindi-speaking Indians.
A few aspects of Indian culture that interest me so far are the history and architecture of India. I have been to such beautiful forts in India, and the stories surrounding them are fascinating! For example, in Jiapur, Rajisthan, I went to Nahargar Fort which contains beautifully painted rooms. A guide there told us that each bedroom was for a different wife of the king - and the king had hidden passageways built for him to move between the rooms! The same king had Jal Mahal, or Water Palace, built for his Queen. It is a whole palace built on a tiny island in the lake. Everybody can see it, especially when it is lit up at night, but nobody can access it to harm the queen!
P.S. Fun fact about Nahargar Fort: it is rumored to be haunted by the spirit of a certain Nahar Singh Bhomia - hence the name! ;)
This is me in one of the bedrooms of Nahargar Fort. Photo credits go to Ashish Bharti and Snapoholic.
This is Jal Mahal, the Queen's Water Palace, at night. Photo credits go to Ashish Bharti and Snapoholic
In the future, I would love to have conversations with native Hindi-speakers about their rich architectural history, but for this semester I think the closest I will get to talking about architecture and history will be something like “I like such-and-such place” and “This palace is beautiful”. I will leave more complex conversations about culture for when I can do them justice. In my learning plan, I do have goals related to telling about the past, so I suppose I could talk about times when I visited such places. For that, I shouldn’t need special vocabulary or linguistic knowledge besides knowing the names of places.
Comments
Nahargar Fort and the Jal Mahal are so beautiful. I can understand why you would want to more about the architecture and extensive history of India. The designs seem so detailed and elegant as well as long lasting in how long it's been there. I can't wait to hear more especially given in the cultural context of native speakers who will probably be able to give more insight.
These photos are incredible, Kelly! The architectural history of India is, indeed, a fascinating subject. From an engineering perspective, ancient Indian construction projects developed a number of sustainable innovations that are still relevant in the modern era. The baori design is one of the most important features of hot urban cityscapes. It's been used effectively in India, Iran, Turkey, but goes by a number of different names. Also, the jaali is an aesthetically-pleasing, albeit time-intensive renovation that makes any structure more beautiful .Take a look at the following site: https://www.indiatimes.com/news/india/here-are-5-indian-architectur.... Also, while you probably want to hold off on engaging more complicated architectural subjects and discussion topics, you can probably read up on the subject in selected hybrid texts: http://www.bookganga.com/Preview/BookPreview.aspx?BookId=0405120855.... Keep up the excellent work!