Festival Fringe
Come August and Edinburgh the beautiful capital of Scotland turns into a massive performance pad buzzing with artists and performers from across the world.
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe or simply ‘The Fringe” started in 1947when 8 theatrical groups decided to land up uninvited at the Edinburgh International Festival (EIF), the original and the official festival consisting of opera, theatre, dance, music and visual arts. Over the years new and more performers started turning up to perform on the outskirts of EIF and by 1958 The Festival Fringe Society was formed which provided all information pertaining to the Fringe shows. Now the EIF and the Fringe run as independent bodies bringing separate programmes every year.
Hygge – a Danish phenomenon
While in Copenhagen I got introduced to a new term called Hygge – phonetically Hu-gah or Hew –ga. of Norwegian origin this word meant well-being, but the Danes promoted Hygge to such an extent that now it is popularly known as a Danish phenomenon! I was told that just as the word is difficult to pronounce properly, it is equally difficult to explain the real essence of hyggelig (adjective).
INDIA ROCKS!!!
Believe it or not but Bollywood is a big thing in Europe. We met people in France who can actually sing few songs from Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge amongst others. One even knew how to play the song on her ukulele!! Few find the Hindi movies amusing and few are in complete awe of it. We even met a German who believes in spending “quality time” with his 15 year old watching Bollywood movies since they love it! And guess what, he knows all Bollywood actors including Johny Lever!! Now who would imagine that! I thought Shahrukh Khan or Hrithik Roshan who btw were his daughter’s favourite actors, were the stars to watch out for, but Johny Lever!! I was truly amazed.
Human Statues…
This is a guest post by Mr.Q, a quizmaster by profession and a passionate traveler How many of us would volunteer for a job that doesn’t require you to do anything at all except standing still?? I guess 90% of us would jump at this offer of not having to do anything at all!! But […]