Tag Archives: Going Local
Going Local: An Insider’s Guide to Pakistan and India’s Film Industry
The Woods, they are a confusing place. Bollywood is just a player in India’s massive cinema scene. Get the low down on Bollywood, Mollywood, Tollywood, and yes, even Kollywood. I am also including Lollywood (you heard me right) even though it is based in Pakistan, because there is nothing that can beat the old school Punjabi classics coming out of there.
LOLLYWOOD
Lollywood is arguably the most underrated film industry in this part of the world. There has never been the sleekness, sex-appeal, string of “super-hits,” or the budget that Bollywood has had over the decades. But then again, it wasn’t funded by the Indian mafia either. During the 1960s, Indian entertainment in almost all forms were heavily censored, and in many cases, banned. This inevitably gave rise to blackmarket dvds, and radio programs playing bollywood dance numbers based out of Sri Lanka. These days, most Pakistanis (and Indians), as well as Desis the world over, get their hit of movies from Bollywood. But in its heyday, Lollywood made a string of the most awesome Punjabi films. Now Punjabi films are relegated to Sikhs from outside India, so you have a handful of Punjabi films with the same weepy storyline and the hero is a Punjabi singer with zero acting ability who is funding the production.
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Maula Jatt, which launched the careers of Sultan Rahi (the hero) and Mustafa Qureshi who plays the villain, Noori Natt. The storyline is simple. Maula Jatt is the hero. Noori Natt is the villain. He steals his woman. Maula Jatt kicks ass while wearing a loongi, carrying a gandasa, and gets his woman back with a lot of dishoon-dishoon, and some of the most awesome zingers in the world. There is also a lot of mustache tweaking. Here is the best fight scene you have ever seen:
Travel Tips: Five Travel Tips To Get The Best Prices on Airline Tickets
One of the most annoying things about travel is exactly that: traveling. I’ll admit that taking rickshaws in India, or riding on sleeper buses in China is bloody good fun. Flying, however, is the most boring form of transportation, but in most cases it has to be done before the fun travel begins. Even more boring than flying is looking up plane tickets to so you can fly to your destination. Flying is an efficient form of travel, but it’s also the most boring, and the most expensive part of the trip. And waiting at the airport is just plane boring. No, that wasn’t a typo. It was a deliberate attempt at being clever.
Before we had Kavya, the initial flights were the only things we would book. Everything else, we winged. We didn’t pre-book hotel rooms, or train tickets. We just showed up and hoped for the best. In most cases everything worked out. The one place we had a spot of trouble was in the city of Bhubaneshwar, where every room had been booked because of some conference. So, we picked up our Lonely Planet and headed off to the coastal town of Puri, a few miles down the road, and got a lovely room right on the beach.
Flights really are the one thing we labor over though because the money we save simply by booking a day or two ahead or behind is pretty significant, particularly when you go to a country where street food costs under $1.
Our upcoming trip to Hawaii this winter is going to be an interesting one because we’re in charge of planning a family trip involving my parents, Sona’s parents and sister, and of course our 1 year old, Kavya. Winter in Hawaii is the high season, a period we usually go out of our way to avoid because it involves much more planning. And in a place like Hawaii, not only do hotels get booked up, so do rental cars. Even inter-island flights. And unfortunately, while me and Sona are down with vagabonding in Hawaii, everyone else has responsibilities, so a lot of it has to be pre-booked.
Anyway, here some travel tips we’ve learned over the years for getting good deals on air fare. Some of it is common sense, while some of it is just knowing how to play the game!
Tip #1:
Going Local: Ten Best Coffee Bars in New York City
Best Coffee Bars in New York City
In a pinch, we can drink coffee anywhere in the world. We have drank burnt espresso, overly milky frappuccinos, and super-sugary Keralan cold coffee from street coffee shops in places like Vietnam and India, at chain stores like Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, 7-11, and McDonald’s worldwide. But we’ve also tasted a coffee brewed to perfection at coffee plantations in India, been intoxicated by the fresh aroma of drip-coffee at coffee bars in Milan, Naples, Paris, San Francisco, and New York City. You heard us right, New York City has finally gotten with the program for the serious coffee drinker!
New Yorkers used to have to rely on West Coast roasting companies like San Francisco based Blue Bottle Coffee or Stumptown Coffee Roasters in Portland, Oregon to supply the coffee beans for their favourite joints. Now there are plenty of roasters right here in town (including roasting companies that supply not only coffee bars, but restaurants and carts all over the City), like the Brooklyn Roasting Company, Porto Rico, and West Coast roasters mentioned above. There are a handful of companies that already do on-site roasting, and many of the coffee bars listed here have plans to roast their own beans within the year!
Here are our picks for the best coffee bars in New York City:
Going Local: Map of Our Ten Favourite Coffee Bars in New York City
View The Best Coffee Bars and Coffee Shops in New York City in a larger map and check out http://www.ishqinabackpack.com/going-local/ten-coffee-bars-nyc/
Video: Cursing in Quebecois!
I’ve always found swearing/cursing/using “inappropriate” language the best way to learn about a culture and a language in a way no textbook or language course can prepare you. Swearing in India generally goes straight for the mothers and sisters, the ultimate form of insult where sometimes you don’t even need to use an actual swear word. “Teri ma ki,” for example, simply means “Of your mother.” It’s an unfinished thought and enough to get you beaten up or worse.
On a recent trip to Canada, I met up with an old friend from China at a bar (where else?), who gave me the run-down of swearing in Quebecois (don’t ever call it French or Canadian French). It is fascinating that all of their swearing revolve primarily around religion. She also recommended a movie called “Bon Cop/Good Cop” which gives a great breakdown of swearing in Quebecois akin to George Carlin’s “Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television.”
Neither of us are strangers to travel, but we are very different travelers. Navdeep can brush aside a cockroach from his food and continue eating. Sona flies into hysterics at any creepy-crawlies (real or imagined) within a ten mile radius. 
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