Adventures in Bollywood

One day in Indian film and television production studio

Shooting for Chakravartin Ashoka Samrat TV serial.

It is a fine Friday evening in Mumbai. My flatmates are watching TV and carelessly chatting. I am scrolling through my emails feeling somewhat tired from the overwhelming May heat. Suddenly my phone rings, and I go to the kitchen to pick it up.

“What I Learnt from a Cockroach” in Peace blog

My story What I Learnt from a Cockroach has been published on Peace Blog.

It’s a story of how I did not kill a cockroach that flew in my apartment in Hyderabad (India), but instead ran out myself and got into another experience – an invitation go down to the neighbors – which made me forget the cockroach and the fear I had.

Interview at METRO INDIA

Hyderabad based newspaper “Metro India” interviewed me about my writings and special relationship with India and Hyderabad.

 

 

Wifi in Hyderabad as sweet and rare as lollipops

Even if some cafés in Hyderabad say they have wifi, it is usually a lie.

On a day when there is no wifi in the place where I stay, I decide to roam around with my laptop and wander in some café with an internet. Mind, not an internet café. What I find are all kinds of excuses why wifi is not working.

Talk “Adventurous India” in Lamakaan

On 7th of August 2o14 I had a wonderful opportunity to read a few of my stories in the event called “Adventurous India – A Narrative by a European” that took place in Lamakaan (an open cultural space) in Hyderabad, India. This was my debut reading in India, and I was thrilled to see so many people in the audience interested in my experiences in this country that has become so close to me.

A 16-year-old girl involves people from Canada, Asia and Europe to make a difference in India

June 2013. My Chinese friend Sophy sends me a Facebook message asking whether I know any school that would need a donation of uniforms. Apparently, her Chinese friend in Canada is running an organization that raises funds to make uniforms for underprivileged children. Amidst many emails, my internship in Brussels, the reports of Baltic-Arab study visit that I organized in Spring, I reply to her: “Yes, indeed, I happen to know such a school.”

Which country? Are you married?

One of the things that makes me smile in India is the peculiar way of Indian men communicating to foreign ladies. It’s a fine, sunny Wednesday noon in Hyderabad, and I have arranged a meeting with a sort-of-a-friend of mine (male) at the GVK Mall. It’s only ten minute walk from Banjara Hills where I currently stay.

From “One Nite Stand” to a musical affair

“So, how do they sound? Something like Kings of Leon?” I make a random guess to my friend who has invited me to see an Indian rock band in Hard Rock Cafe in Hyderabad.

“No, it’s not like that,” he says. “It’s One Nite Stand,” he keeps repeating the band’s name that – you want it or not – reverberates in your ears for some time. “And the lead singer is a pilot,” he adds.

Accepting stranger’s invitation for dinner with his family… Why not?

Jaipur. I am standing at a bus stop and waiting for my bus. It’s around 7 pm. I am vaguely planning my evening: reaching home, having dinner, chatting with friends. Suddenly a young guy in his early twenties starts talking to me. General things. He inquires which bus I am waiting for and even suggests to better take an auto.

Indian “gender games”: ladies? Gents? Or maybe mixed toilets?

“Ladies washroom is over there. Or …you wanna try gents?” a guy asks me ironically as I happen to be standing at the men’s area for toilets in the overcrowded Jaipur literature festival. Only then as I look further I see a long, long line waiting for ladies’ washrooms; the usual scene at massive events.