घuसना — to sneak in

The verb घuसना is so articulate as to be almost a one-word justification for learning Hindi. Its range of meanings, or rather its suggestions and attitudes, is a real challenge for lexicographers, whose various glosses can only hint at what घuसना has to say.Asian Studie

कमरा room

Even the most ordinary, everyday words can have an interesting story to tell. कमरा is one of the first Hindi nouns a learner encounters, and many course-books use it to introduce the ‘oblique case with postposition’ construction: कम% & 'या ) ?Asian Studie

ककत$%यiवम*ढ़ nonplussed, bewildered

This fine expression — actually a Sanskrit phrase rather than a single word — is nicely translated as ‘nonplussed’, which itself derives from the Latin non plus ‘not more’, describing a moment when we can say nothing more about a puzzling situation.Asian Studie

बदलना — to change

बदलना means to change — which is perhaps nothing to get very excited about. But this everyday verb has two points of interest that make it stand out from the herd.Asian Studie

ज"ता — shoe

!रा ज%ता ' जापानी, + पतल%न इ.iग12तानी सर 4 लाल टोपी 7सी, iफर भी iदल ' iह=2तानी !रा ज%ता ' जापानी … This song from Raj Kapoor’s 1955 film >ी ४२० must have graced almost as many Hindi classrooms as it has cinemas. It addresses cultural authenticity, contrasting imported items on the one hand with an abiding Indianness of spirit on the other. Ironically, while Kapoor’s filmic persona seeks to promote Indianness, it actually derives from the ‘tramp’ character developed forty years earlier, in Hollywood, by the British actor Charlie Chaplin.Asian Studie

An Open Letter to Netflix

If there is one thing that I will be absolutely ashamed in admitting to you, it’s that I love television. Love it. Not in a turn-it-on-watch-whatever-all-TV-rocks kind of way, but in an I’m-overly-obsessed-with-15-shows-at-a-time kind of way, to the point where I could say that being able to watch the latest episode of Suits or Community could easily be the highlight of my day (week, year…). [excerpt