#West India Holiday

[luxury-trails-blog]

Luxury trails on India offer West India tour packages and West India trips at the best price. Click now to get an exclusive discount on Western India Holidays.

[lotusindiaholidays]

Great Royal Rajasthan tour – Explore Rajasthan's grandest palaces and forts

A "Great Royal Rajasthan Tour" promises an even more immersive experience in this culturally rich and historically significant region of India. Here's a glimpse of what such a tour might entail: Grand Palaces and Forts: Explore Rajasthan's grandest palaces and forts, including the opulent Udaipur City Palace, the mighty Chittorgarh Fort, and the sprawling Junagarh Fort in Bikaner.

[welcometotheravenclawcommonroom]

(South) Indian Harry Potter Headcanons:

Harry knew he was Indian (mostly because the Dursley’s used to say racist shit to him) but he didn’t know where in India the potters were from until he went to Hogwarts. He finds out from the Patils, who were close with the potters because desis stick together.

The Patils are from the north and use Hindi to speak to each other. Neither of them knows Telugu/Tamil/Marathi/Malayalam/insert Southern language of choice here (I personally headcanon Telugu because it’s the only Indian language I speak and because there’s a huge diaspora of telugumandi in the west, but feel free to choose whatever you’d like). So Harry has to rediscover his heritage language on his own.

He also studies Sanskrit, and it opens up a HUGE world of spells that they don’t teach at Hogwarts (because of course Indian wizards don’t do spells in Latin). He and the Patils know a bunch of spells that nobody else does.

Harry’s pleat game is ON POINT. It makes sense, since he had to do all the chores at the Dursley’s and that includes perfectly folded and ironed laundry with the edges aligned neatly, or else he would risk being punished. But the result is that if you want your saree drape to pass the inspection of even the most judgemental auntie, you go to Harry to help with your pleats.

Even when they’ve graduated and all have their own homes, it’s a pretty regular sight for the Patil twins to come through Harry’s floo, half dressed, to have Harry pleat their sarees or their lehenga dupatta for them.

Harry LOVES spices. The dursleys only liked bland food, but Harry has always liked flavorful foods, and has no problem with (hot) spicy food either. He uses lots of spices in his own cooking now. His food is very flavorful, but when he’s cooking for himself, it’s too spicy for all his friends (even the Patils). So nobody can eat his leftovers unless he was specifically cooking with other people in mind. Ron learned this the first time he rummaged through Harry’s fridge after a night of drinking. Now Harry labels all his food as to whether or not it’s “Harry spicy”.

James LOVED to buy Lily sarees. He’d order them with custom, wizard-themed designs from weaving villages in south India. The women who made them assumed he was just very imaginative, so he wasn’t violating the statute of secrecy since saree patterns are often vibrant and unique. Harry finds some of them in the old potter manor, and they still smell like the perfumes and scented oils his mother would wear when James took her to the local temple for Hindu holidays.

Indian witches often store extra magic in or enchant pieces of their copious jewelry with spells that can keep them safe if they’re ever in a situation where they don’t have their wands. stuff like, each bangle can function as an emergency portkey that can take you to different safe locations if you say the activation word, or ones that create an instant magical shield when you tap them. Harry finds some of his mothers gajulu, gives them to his female friends.

He ties Rhaki on Ron and Neville, and all the weasley boys. Ron was the first person he ever tied it on, because Ron was the first person who he ever bonded with, and his closest brother.

Harry always cooks idli sambar or dosa for his friends for breakfast the next morning after a night of drinking together, and it’s the perfect hangover food because it definitely brings you back to full alertness/knocks the last bit of post-hangover grogginess right out of your system.

Harry’s parselmouth abilities are valued in his native culture because of the sacredness of snakes in Hinduism, and it comes to be something he’s really proud of (personally I think the ‘parselmouth connected to the horcrux’ thing is dumb, so I’ve always imagined Harry was just naturally a parselmouth).

As the number of Indian immigrants/expats continues to grow after they graduate, Harry helps some of his students (he’s the DADA teacher) start the Hogwarts “South Asian Student Union”.

He always has snacks out for his students when they come to visit his office hours, and they’re all Indian snacks and sweets. His personal favorite is kaju barfi, but he always has a good variety of both sweet and spicy treats, especially for stressed out owl and newts students.

He collaborates with Hermione, who works in the ministry, to make it mandatory for Hogwarts students to a “foreign magical language” course so they can broaden both their minds and their spell repertoires. Padma Patil becomes the “Sanskrit Spells” teacher, and Seamus teaches “Irish Gaelic”. (It took him a little longer to get his course started, since it turns out that at least 40% of Gaelic spells are just increasingly complicated and violent ways to repel the English).

Hermione and Harry also work together to make sure there are employees in the international magical cooperation department who specialize in post-colonial relations, because the magical world also has its issues with that colonialist mindset towards countries that were formerly part of the empire.

Just south Indian Harry embracing his heritage, learning about what was ripped from him, and using it to enact meaningful change in a multicultural magical society.

[qqueenofhades]

Man, the Russia/Ukraine war has led to a lot of terrible takes from far leftists. I have a mutual from Brazil, a self identified socialist, who is convinced that Ukraine is full of nazis. While they don't support Russia, they questioned why they have to be "pro-Ukraine" or "pro-Russia". They call Ukraine a "nazi hole" but call Russia merely "fascist". Am I wrong in thinking that they've been influenced by Russian propaganda? I know Ukraine does have a nazi/far right problem, but so does the US? And most European countries? idk they strongly hate the US/US government too, and it seems to create some kind of brainrot. at least they don't blindly support China or Russia like tankies do (nor identify with them), but it's still frustrating to take a neutral position on a pretty black and white situation.

I don't want to confront them 1) cause I'm not the type to argue over serious things like this and this may break our long friendship and 2) I'm not super educated on the nazi situation in Ukraine.

Anyway thank you for letting me rant in your inbox.

Yes, Russia has specifically focused its propaganda efforts on Latin America, Africa, and other regions that HAVE suffered from Western/European/American imperialism and are thus predisposed to take the worst view of them/believe that this situation is their fault somehow. This is similar to what the USSR did in newly postcolonial Africa in the 1960s and 1970s, positing themselves as offering the shared hand of communist brotherhood from Western oppressors. Because of more recent events like the invasion of Iraq, which was fully as unjustified as the invasion of Ukraine, Russian propagandists and their eager tankie/leftist foot soldiers have also got a lot of mileage out of "whataboutism." This is likewise an old Soviet propaganda technique designed to deflect any criticism of the actual situation by disingenuously asking "what about this other one!!!"

Likewise, the idea that Ukraine has a "Nazi problem" is itself propaganda. In the last election, far-right/Nazi-identified parties won barely 2% of the vote and AFAIK, no seats at all in the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian parliament). This is far lower than the nearly half of the USA voting for the far-right/Nazi-sympathetic Republican Party, and as noted, the far right elements in the UK and Europe. The idea that Ukraine is "full of Nazis" (with a Jewish president who just celebrated iftar with the Ukrainian Muslims/Crimean Tatars during Ramadan and instituted observance of Muslim holidays nationwide, very Nazi of him) is a line used by Russian propagandists to "justify" their attack and appeal to national memories of the Great Patriotic War (World War II) and the struggle against the Nazis, which is the central cultural grievance/memory in modern Russia. The Putin regime has referred to anyone they don't like, but especially the Ukrainians, as "Nazis" for a long time now, so it's supposedly their holy duty to kill them/commit ethnic cleansing/forcibly reunite the "fraternal" people of "Little Russia," as Ukraine has been called since the 17th century, with "Great Russia." And yeah, no.

Because the West and Europe has been pretty solidly on Ukraine's side, Russia has therefore cultivated countries like China, India, Brazil, etc, who have all suffered from Western interference and are looking to move into the first rank of global superpowers. This is, as noted, similar to the competing systems of influence built during the Cold War, but it also relies on much deeper Russian grievances that go back to the medieval era. Anybody who knows a thing about actual Russian history would therefore know that every single word it says about the Ukraine situation is a lie, but because that lie is useful for many other countries and fits into their own understanding of themselves, it is easy to repeat and act like it's a so-called superior moral position. This is also why US/American tankies so eagerly lap up Russian propaganda, because it plays into their moral sense of themselves as far better than the rest of the West and "righteously" discovering that the West is responsible for all the evil in the world etc etc. While non-Westerners are just helpless misunderstood puppets with no real agency or ability to make complex choices. This totally makes sense!!!

[salvadorbonaparte]

Would you mind sharing your views on backpacking? 👀

Take all of this with a grain of salt because I'm mostly just bothered by backpacking content on Instagram.

I think the concept is fine. I'd actually like to do some backpacking some time.

But backpacking content, as well as most overland* content, always has a really weird vibe. It almost feels like cosplaying poverty if you know what I mean??

It's almost always young people from the so called "West" and almost always they're somewhere in South or Southeast Asia. The most popular backpacking destinations I'm seeing at the moment are Bali (exclusively that part of Indonesia for some reason), Thailand, Vietnam and Sri Lanka. The algorithm has recently also started showing me content from Pakistan, India and Afghanistan.

Since flights to these destinations are usually quite expensive, and many of these people stay abroad long enough that they might need a visa and that accommodation and food would also add up, it can be safely assumed these people have a certain amount of financial stability. Some of them are full time influencers too.

And while travelling with a backpack instead of a suitcase makes sense, and while you want to have an "authentic" experience, the vibe on those videos is often sooooo weird.

They're always like "I just spent 45h standing in a cramped bus without AC because it was only $1. I'm sleeping on the floor of this abandoned building that costs me $4 a night. I only carry 2 t-shirts with me, can't find a laundromat and I'm travelling for 3 months. Yesterday I got scammed and got food poisoning."

And I'm like why are you doing this? Is it really more "authentic" just because it's a foreign country? You can find the same uncomfortable situations and people who live like that all the time in your home country, but when you're abroad it's cool and authentic and #humbling #eatpraylove. Meanwhile there's also people in that same country you're backpacking through who, like, have a comparable standard of living you're used to. Your holiday doesn't have to be luxury resorts but it also doesn't have to be absolutely god awful.

And of course there's also the factor of adrenaline and stepping out of your comfort zone but with these videos it seems like they're almost glamorising having an awful time in an "exotic" country because that's what it's supposed to be like? I guess?

Idk I feel like I should get the opinion of someone living in one of those backpacking hotspots to make sure I'm not just getting annoyed at nothing but I think the vibe is off.

*overland content as in "travelling from XY to YZ without flying - Day 420" type videos. They're often interesting and I follow some of those people and I actually have some ideas for cool overland or long distance train trips but some of the accounts also have a weird vibe. Most of the ones I saw were men and they're like hitchhiking through some desert somewhere and I'm like oh this would feel so unsafe to me as someone perceived female. And obviously they also make lots of content where you know they have lots money because they've been travelling for several months but it has that same fake low budget backpacker vibe.

I hope this makes sense. I'm not sure it does.

[disneytva]

Mickey Mouse Funhouse Opens Doors to Season 3 Next Month With Huey, Dewey and Louie

The third season of the whimsical animated preschool series Micky Mouse Funhouse will premiere Friday, February 23 on Disney Junior (9:30 a.m. EST/PST) and Disney Channel (10:30 a.m. EST/PST) before rolling out onto Disney+ later this year.

In the new season, Mickey, Minnie and their friends embark on more imaginative journeys through the magical doors of Funny the Funhouse (voiced by Harvey Guillén), returning them to places like the Enchanted Rainforest and the Old West and taking them to new locales like Movie Magic Land, as well as culturally rich locations like Armenia, Korea and India. Along their adventures, they make new friends and meet up with beloved Disney characters like Huey, Dewey and Louie, unknow if they will be their regular versions or their DuckTales 2017 versions. The new season also includes an epic camping trip special and sees Mickey and the gang celebrating an array of holidays, including Noche Buena, Chuseok, Arbor Day and Hanukkah.

Since its premiere in August 2021, the series has amassed nearly half a billion hours of viewing across linear, streaming and Disney Junior YouTube and consistently ranks as a top 10 monthly series on Disney Junior YouTube. In 2023, the series ranked among the Top 5 most watched series on Linear TV for preschoolers.

[thetiredstuff]

The holidays are coming up and for some religions are already here, and this time of year can be incredibly hard for people. I just want you all to know there are so many resources out there to help you so

Please do not hesitate to contact suicide prevention hotlines or emergency services when you need help:

Worldwide

Befrienders  http://www.befrienders.org

Australia

Lifeline Australia  http://www.lifeline.org.au Phone: 13 11 14 

Kids Helpline  http://www.kidshelp.com.au Phone: 1800 55 1800 

Headspace  http://www.eheadspace.org.au Phone: 1800 650 890 

Austria

Rat auf Draht  http://rataufdraht.orf.at Phone: 147

TelefonSeelsorge – Notruf 142  http://www.telefonseelsorge.at Phone: 142 (24 hours/day)  Email: https://onlineberatung-telefonseelsorge.at (chat & email) 

Belgium

Centrum Ter Preventie Van Zelfdoding  http://www.zelfmoord1813.be Phone: 1813 

Brazil

CVV  http://www.cvv.org.br Phone: 188  Email: atendimento@cvv.org.br 

Canada

Kids Help Phone (for youth under 20)  Phone: 1 800 6686868 

For people over 20, find a crisis centre that serves your area:  http://suicideprevention.ca/thinking-aboutsuicide/find-a-crisis-centre

Czech Republic

Linka bezpečí  https://www.linkabezpeci.cz/ Phone: 116 111 

Pražská linka důvěry  http://www.csspraha.cz/linka-duvery Phone: 222 580 697 

Linka důvěry Ostrava  http://www.mnof.cz/linka_duvery Phone: 596 618 908  Phone: 737 267 939 

Linka duševní tísně Most  http://www.mostknadeji.eu/linka-dusevni-tisne Phone: 476 701 444  Skype: ldt.most 

Linka důvěry DKC  http://dkc.cz/linka_duvery.php Phone: 241 484 149  Skype: ld_dkc 

Linka bezpečí  http://www.linkabezpeci.cz Phone: 116111 (children and youth) 

Denmark

Livslinien  http://www.livslinien.dk Phone: 70 201 201 

Børne  https://bornetelefonen.dk/ring Phone: 116 111 (Child Helpline is open daily from 11:00-23:00.) 

Finland

Suomen Mielenterveysseura https://mieli.fi/ Phone: 09 2525 0111 

France

S.O.S Amitié  https://www.sos-amitie.com/ Phone: 09 72 39 40 50 

Germany

Telefonseelsorge  http://www.telefonseelsorge.de Phone: 0800 111 0 111  Phone: 0800 111 0 222 

Nummer gegen Kummer  https://www.nummergegenkummer.de Phone: 0800 111 0 550 (adults)  Phone: 0800 111 0 333 (children) 

Greece

Klimaka NGO  http://www.klimaka.org.gr

Suicide Help Greece  http://www.suicide-help.gr Phone: 1018 

Hong Kong

The Samaritan Befrienders Hong Kong  http://www.help4suicide.com.hk

The Samaritan Befrienders Hong Kong  http://www.sbhk.org.hk Phone: 2389 2222 

The Samaritans Hong Kong  http://www.samaritans.org.hk Phone: 2896 0000 

Hungary

Magyar Lelki Elsősegély Telefonszolgálatok Szövetsége  http://www.sos505.hu Phone: 116 123  Email: sos@sos505.hu 

Kek Vonal  Phone: 116-111 

India

AASRA  http://www.aasra.info Phone: 91-22-27546669  Phone: 91-22-27546667  Email: aasrahelpline@yahoo.com 

Israel

ERAN  http://www.eran.org.il Phone: Free call within Israel: 1201  Phone: Out of Israel: 972-76-8844400 

SAHAR (Emotional support chat line)(Hebrew)  http://www.sahar.org.il

SAHAR (Emotional support chat line)(Arabic)  http://www.sahar.org.il/?categoryId=63068

Palestine

Sawa organization https://sawa.ps/en/ Phone: 121 for West Bank & Jerusalem

Aisha Organization https://aisha.ps/en Phone: 1800 170 171 for Gaza

Italy

Telefono Azzurro  https://www.azzurro.it Phone: 19696 

Telefono Amico  http://www.telefonoamico.it Phone: 199 284 284 

Latvia

Skalbes  http://www.skalbes.lv Phone: 371 67222922  Phone: 371 27722292 

Lithuania

Lietuvos emocinės paramos tarnybų asociacija  http://www.klausau.lt

Vaikų linija (Child line)  http://www.vaikulinija.lt Phone: 116 111 

Jaunimo linija (Youth line)  http://www.jaunimolinija.lt/laiskai/ Phone: 8 800 28888 

Vilties linija (Hope line)  https://www.viltieslinija.lt/ Phone: 116 123  Email: 116123@viltieslinija.lt 

Pagalbos moterims linija (Women's line)  http://www.moteriai.lt Phone: 8 800 66366  Email: pagalba@moteriai.lt 

Linija Doverija (Support for Russian-speaking clients)  Phone: 8 800 77277 

Luxembourg

SOS Détresse – Hëllef iwwer Telefon  http://www.454545.lu Phone: 454545 

Kanner-Jugendtelefon  http://www.kjt.lu Phone: 116 111 

Mexico

Consejo Ciudadano  http://consejociudadanomx.org Phone: 55 5533-5533 

Instituto Hispanoamericano de Suicidologia, A.C  Phone: +5255 46313300  Email: info@suicidiologia.com.mx 

Netherlands

Stichting 113 Zelfmoordpreventie  http://www.113online.nl Phone: 0800 0113 

New Zealand

National Depression Initiative  http://www.depression.org.nz

The Lowdown  http://www.thelowdown.co.nz Phone: 0800 111 757  SMS: 5626  Email: team@thelowdown.co.nz 

Youthline http://www.youthline.co.nz Phone: 0800 376633  SMS: 234  Email: talk@youthline.co.nz  Email: parenttalk@youthline.co.nz 

Norway

Kirkens SOS  http://www.kirkens-sos.no Phone: 815 33 300 

Poland

Fundacja Dzieci Niczyje  http://www.116111.pl/napisz Phone: 116 111 

Portugal

SOS voz amiga https://www.sosvozamiga.org/ Phone: 213 544 545 / 912 802 669 / 963 524 660 (Daily from 15h30 to 00h30)

Russia

Samaritans (Cherepovets) Phone: 007 (8202) 577-577 (9am-9pm)

EMERCOM Psychological Service (Интернет-служба экстренной психологической помощи) https://psi.mchs.gov.ru/ Phone: 007 (495) 989-50-50

Serbia

Centar Srce  http://www.centarsrce.org Phone: 0800 300 303  Email: vanja@centarsrce.org 

Singapore

Samaritans of Singapore (SOS)  http://samaritans.org.sg Phone: 1800 221 4444  Email: pat@samaritans.org.sg 

South Africa

The South African Depression and Anxiety Group (SADAG)  http://www.sadag.org Phone: 0800 567 567  SMS: 31393 

South Korea

Korea Foundation for Suicide Prevention (한국생명존중희망재단) http://www.kfsp.org/ Phone: 02-3706-0500 

보건복지부 보건복지콜센터 (Ministry of Health & Welfare Call Center)  Phone: 129 (24시간 위기상담 / 24 hour hotline) 

정신건강증진센터 정신건강위기상담전화 (Mental Health Center Crisis Counseling)  Phone: 1577-0199 (24시간 위기상담 / 24 hour hotline) 

Spain

Teléfono de la Esperanza  http://telefonodelaesperanza.org Phone: 902500002 

Sweden

Mind  https://mind.se/

Switzerland

Tel 143 - La Main Tendue – Die Dargebotene Hand – Telefono Amico  http://www.143.ch Phone: 143 

Taiwan

MOHW Suicide Prevention Line (衛生福利部) https://www.mohw.gov.tw/cp-16-48244-1.html Lifeline http://www.life1995.org.tw/

United Kingdom / Ireland

Samaritans  http://www.samaritans.org Phone: 116 123  Email: jo@samaritans.org

United States:

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline  http://www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org Phone: 1 800 273 TALK (8255) 

Lifeline Crisis Chat  http://www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org/gethelp/lifelinechat.aspx

Veterans/Military Crisis Line (for active U.S. service members, veterans, and family members)  http://www.veteranscrisisline.net Phone: 1 800 273 8255, Press 1  SMS: 838255 

The Trevor Project (for LGBT youth, friends and family members)  http://www.thetrevorproject.org Phone: 1-866-488-7386

Ukraine

Lifeline Ukraine https://lifelineukraine.com/en Phone: 7333

Again: Please use the Befrienders.org website to find the suicide prevention hotline in your country. Help is out there. Please reach out

[somerabbitholes]

Hello! Could you recommend some fics from travel literature? My reach only extends to Dalrymple's In Xanadu as of yet. And I suspect a growing love for this genre. Also, would love to know your thoughts on this genre. 🌼🍁

Here you go! It's a mix of fiction and nonfiction, and anything containing travel qualifies even though it might not intentionally be travel writing

Non-fiction

The Old Ways by Robert Macfarlane: the authors follows ancient routes, hollows and pathways in Britain; is generally about the communal nature of walking.

Great Railway Bazaar by Paul Theroux: about journeys through Asia on railways. Theroux is among my favourite travel writers, also because he almost exclusively travels by and writes about trains. Do check out his The Old Patagonian Express

Nanologues by Vanessa Able (or alternatively, Never Mind the Bullocks): a travelogue of a woman who drove through India in a Tata Nano. It's really well done. And if you'd like the immersive experience, she also ran a blog while she was driving.

Round Ireland with a Fridge by Tony Hawks: it's exactly what it sounds like. The author loses a bet, and consequently carries a small fridge around Ireland. It's really really funny and warm and kind and great holiday reading

On Travel by Charles Dickens: this is a few essays about the places he visited, the process of travel, and at times quite like a travel diary

Fiction

Outline trilogy by Rachel Cusk: all three books follow a narrator through about a decade or so of her life; a bulk of the story happens when she's travelling, and her state of always passing through does interesting things to the narrative

On the Road by Jack Kerouac: I love Kerouac, and this is the first of his books that I read. It's his journey through and to the West Coast in the US. That said, it is a messy book and it does test your patience

Flights by Olga Tokarczuk: this is about travel, mobility, the body and experience. It's a whole bunch of short essays, notes, some stories, all of whom come together to be about travel and what movement means now

A Passage North by Anuk Arudpragasam: follows the narrator who is on a journey home after he's received some distressing news. His life sort of unspools while he's travelling, and through that, it is about the afterlife of the Sri Lankan civil war, memory and what it means for his relationships

I hope this helps!

[apenitentialprayer]

Would I be somewhat correct to say that, loosely, iirc, Sunni Islam is like Protestantism in its strict, “exclusive” monotheism (no saints, no extra devotions to Muhammad or asking others to pray for you, no holy sites for other individuals), and no hierarchy, whereas Shia is more like Catholicism - a hierarchy in the leadership of the divinely set 12 Imams, praying to saints, relics etc., going to holy pilgrimage sites and wells etc., also ritual mortification in memory of Husayn (like wearing cilices or hairshirts in Catholicism). I’ve encountered some Sunnis who also dismiss it all as crazy and not in the Qur’an, as “extra,” added on—similar to how Protestants say about us with praying to saints, sacramentals etc etc

Ah, I think that while the Sunni=Protestant / Shi'a=Catholic analogy can kind of work so long as it's understood not to be a one-to-one analogy and that it falls apart the second any nuance is applied to it, I still think it only applies to some of what you said and not to others.

Sunnism definitely does not have a hierarchy the same way that Shi'ism does, and Sunnis definitely don't believe that devotion to the 'Ahl al-Bayt (the family of Muhammad) is an essential duty in the way that Shi'is do, but there is significant overlap between most Sunnis and Shi'is in terms of the other things you mentioned.

Muslims of all kinds have a long history of relic- and saint-veneration, from (Sunni) Mehmed the Conqueror who supposedly had a tooth of Muhammad to Hazratbal, considered one of the holiest (pan-Muslim) shrines in India because it houses a hair from Muhammad's beard. There are also lots of stories about Muslim saints appearing to others in visions to initiate them into esoteric rites (Sufism, primarily a Sunni phenomenon), and many tombs of great scholars or mystics have had mosques built on top of them, often with their own traditional pilgrimage rites to go with them. Salim Chishti, for example, is a Sunni saint of the Chishtiyya order whose tomb is often visited by women seeking to become pregnant; they ask for his intercession by tying a little red ribbon around the fences of the shrine.

In the West, however, there are large strands of Islamic thought influenced by Muhammad al-Wahhab, himself deeply influenced by Ibn Taymiyyah; they both believed that much of what was then mainstream in Islam wasn't authentically Islamic, and so sought to combat religious innovation (bid'a in Arabic) by removing anything they believed could not be traced back to the Muslim community as it existed when Muhammad was still in living memory. While proponents of an Islam that does not have saints, does not engage in pilgrimages beside the Hajj and the Umrah, and does not have holidays besides Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha are vocal, they are not the only Sunnism in existence.

[boltedgarlic]

taglist~

you’ll have to use the search function unfortunately :( i am no longer linking all my tags. if you’re on desktop, my theme should have a search bar!

dated by year

1980 | - | 1994 | - | 1997 | - | 1999 | - | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | - | 2039

dated by month

january | february | march | april | may | june | july | august | september | october | november | december

holidays/seasons

christmas | easter | fall | halloween | valentines day | winter

locations

australia | belarus | belgium | brazil | bulgaria | canada | china | france | georgia republic | greece | holland | india | ireland | italy | japan | medellín | netherlands | new zealand | palestine | peru | poland | spain | sweeden | switzerland | syria | russia | thailand | uk | ukraine | uae | usa

alabama / alaska / arkansas / california / connecticut / idaho / illinois / indiana / iowa / kansas / kentucky / louisiana / maryland / missouri / new mexico / new york / north carolina / ohio / oregon / pennsylvania / tennessee / texas / utah / west virgina / wisconsin

Chuck E Cheese | Dongdaemun Market | Hershey Park | Moody Gardens | NASA | Rocky Mountain National Park | Treasure Island Beach | Walmart

animals

anemone | birds | bees | bugs | bunnies | cats | chickens | cicadas | cows | crabs | deer | dogs | ducks | ferrets | fish | goats | goldfish | guinea pigs | horses | kittens | sheep | snakes | swans

pets

Abby | Augustine | Azuki | Bert | Bob | Mr. Boot | Bruce | Cupid | Donna | Dusty | Ellsie | Fiona | Fudge | Gizzy | Huckleberry | Itzl | Kiwi | Mattie | Mookie | Muffy | Newt | Noose | Ollie | Pepe | Mr. Punky | Ramses | Shika | Smokey | Tamako | Tucker | Xoco | Ziggy | Zoey

art/mediums

art car | ceramics | collage | crayons | crochet | drawings | food art | glass art | installation | knitting | miniatures | mural | oil pastels | origami | ornaments | paint | painting | paper crafts | patchwork | quilt | sculpture | tapestry | tiles | yarn

artists

Anne-Sophie Landou | Enrico Delponte | Jen | Keith Haring | Mark Schaer | Ryan Gander | Terry Ravan

Ween

colors

red | orange | yellow | green | blue | purple | pink | brown | black | gray | white | silver | gold | multicolor

food & drink

baking | batter | bento | birthday cake | bread | breakfast | cake | candy | cereal | cheese | coffee | cookies | cooking | curry | dessert | drinks | fake food | fruit | hot pot | ice cream | meat | onigiri | pancakes | pastries | pie | potluck | pumpkins | salad | sashimi | smores | soup | sushi | tea | torte | vegetables | wine

characters/licenses/media

animal crossing | anpanman | boognish | candy land | dora | doraemon | evangelion | garfield | giant microbes | hannah montana | hello kitty | hoops & yoyo | joe cool | miffy | moomin | moppy | muppets | nasa | powerpuff girls | sanrio | sesame street | snoopy | sonic (the hedgehog) | spongebob | texas chainsaw | universal studios japan | wallace and gromit | winne the pooh | yotsuba | yugioh

interior

apartment | attic | bar | basement | bathroom | bedroom | cabin | chandelier | dining room | dorm | foyer | hallway | home | hostel | hotel | kid’s room | kitchen | library | living room | mall | playroom | shelves | stairs | studio | unfurnished | window

bead curtains | beds | bookshelf | computer | crt monitor | chairs | curtains | desk | fishtank | fridge | furniture | kitchenware | lamp | laptop | lava lamp | salt lamp | sewing machine | stove | tablecloth | tables | tv | vase | whiteboard | wood paneling | wood stove

exterior/outside

backyard | balcony | beach | bridge | building | canal | car show | cemetery | chapel | chicken coop | church | city | clothesline | dam | fair | fence | ferris wheel | gate | highway | hills | house | iron gate | mailbox | neighborhood | park | patio | picnic tables | plants | pool | porch | road | street | tables | train | train station | tunnel | wind chimes | wreath | yard

clouds | creek | dirt | field | flowers | fog | forest | frost | garden | mountains | mushrooms | nest | night | lake | lawn | ocean | path | plants | rain | rainbow | sky | snow | snowman | sunset | topiary | trail | trees | waterfall | woods

miscellaneous tags

altar | angel | antlers | astrology | beekeeping | baby shower | bamboo | basket | bicycle | birthday | birthday cake | blankets | books | brick | bowling | camera | candles | chain | cherub | chess | clock | clothing | car | card game | cards | chess | cigarettes | collection | construction | decor | desk | dollhouse | dolls | dusty | figure | figurines | flowers | fortune telling | gift | globe | gloves | hay | installation | karaoke | kite | knife | knives | lace | landmark | lanterns | leak | lock | machinery | mannequins | market | moving | nursery | objects | orbs | party | pearls | people | piano | pillows | plane | playing cards | plush | polaroid | posters | preschool | pyrex | rail | remodel | religion | retail | roadtrip | school | school bus | sculpture | seashells | shoes | sign | silverware | smoke | spirits | suburbia | sunlight | stained glass | swords | tech | toys | trinkets | vehicle | vhs | video games | visual clutter | water | wedding | window

blur | edit | fisheye | flash | frame | glow | low quality | panorama | photo collage | text | timestamp | video | vignette | watermark

my tags

11:11 | baby tag | birthday tag | fav | grandmas house | magic tag | personal | thank you post

updated: 09/13/2024

[brookstonalmanac]

Holidays 9.23

Holidays

Al-Yaom Al-Watany (Saudi Arabia)

Asian Corpsetwt Day [Every 23rd]

Asteroid Day

Autumn Stroll Day

Barbara Gordon Day

Batman Day (DC Comics)

Bi Visibility Day (UK)

Bonn Phchum Ben (Ancestors’ Day; Cambodia)

Celebrate Bisexuality Day (a.k.a. Bisexual Pride & Bi Visibility Day)

Checkers Day

Chuuk Liberation Day (Micronesia)

Day of the Genocide of Lithuania's Jews (Lithuania)

Dogs in Politics Day

Education Technology Day

Flashbulb Day

Gray Cat Day

Grito de Lares (Puerto Rico)

Haryana Veer and Shahidi Divas (Haryana, India)

Holocaust Memorial Day (Lithuania)

I Have Not Yet Begun To Fight Day

Innergize Day [Day after Equinox]

International Bi Visibility Day

International Day Against Sexual Exploitation & Trafficking of Women & Children

International Day of Sign Languages

International Hospitality Women’s Day

International Restless Legs Syndrome Day

International Za’atar Day

King’s Birthday (Western Australia)

Kyrgyz Language Day (Kyrgyzstan)

Landscape-Nursery Day

Learn to Code Day

Martyrs Day (Haryana, India)

National AFM Day (a.k.a. Acute Flaccid Myelitis Day)

National Acute Flaccid Myelitis Day

National Checkers Day

National Day of School Failure Prevention

National Day of Women’s Political Rights (Argentina)

National Field Marketer’s Day

National Fitness Day (Ireland)

National Go With Your Gut Day

National Maritime Day

National Property Manager’s Day

National Redhead Appreciation Day

National Singles Day

National Teletext Day (UK)

National Temperature Control Day

National Volleyball Day

Neptune Day

New Year's Day (Constantinople)

Nintendo Day

Pancake Queen Memorial Day

Puffy Shirt Day (Seinfeld)

Restless Legs Awareness Day

Saffron Day (French Republic)

Speed Racer Day

Sügise Algus (a.k.a. Sügisene Pööripäev; Estonia, Finland, Sweden)

Teachers’ Day (Brunei)

Thrue Bab (Blessed Rainy Day; Bhutan)

Teal Talk Day

That'll Be the Day Day

West Nordic Day

World Adopted Dog Day

World Maritime Day (UN)

Food & Drink Celebrations

Chewing Gum Day

Gastronomy Day (France)

Great American Pot Pie Day

Hummerpremiär (Lobster Festival; Sweden)

National Apple Cider Vinegar Day

National Bacon Butty Day (UK)

National Baker Day

National Snack Stick Day

Za’atar Day

Independence & Related Days

Duchy of Prussian Britannia (Declared; 2014) [unrecognized]

Unification Day (Saudi Arabia)

4th Monday in September

American Indian Day (Tennessee) [4th Monday]

Canterbury South Province Day (New Zealand) [4th Monday]

CASAColumbia Family Day [4th Monday]

Dominion Day (New Zealand) [4th Monday]

Family Day — A Day To Eat Dinner With Your Children [4th Monday]

Meditation Monday [Every Monday]

Mellow Monday [4th Monday of Each Month]

Monday Musings [Every Monday]

Motivation Monday [Every Monday]

Mushroom Monday [4th Monday of Each Month]

National Eat Dinner with Your Family Day [4th Monday]

Weekly Holidays beginning September 23 (4th Full Week of September)

Falls Prevention Awareness Week (thru 9.27)

Global Week of Student Prayer (thru 9.27)

International Happiness at Work Week (thru 9.27)

International Week of the Deaf (thru 9.29) [M-Sun including Last Sunday]

Festivals Beginning September 23, 2024

Mayberry Days (Mt. Airy, North Carolina) [thru 9.29]

Feast Days

Adomnán (Christian; Saint)

Augustalia (Ancient Rome)

Bunster Winding (Shamanism)

Carl-Henning Pedersen (Artology)

Cicciolina Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Cissa of Crowland (or of Northumbria; Christian; Saint)

Citua (Feast to the Moon; Ancient Inca)

Corneille (Positivist; Saint)

Emmuska Orczy (Writerism)

Feast of Chukem (Deity of Footraces; Colombia)

Feast of the Ingathering (a.k.a. Harvest Home, Kirn or Mell-Supper; UK)

Festival of Papa, Wife of Rangi (Maori; New Zealand)

Festival of the Goddess Ninkasi (Sumerian Goddess of Brewing)

František Kupka (Artology)

James Carroll Beckwith (Artology)

Libra zodiac sign begins (Pagan)

Linus, Pope (Christian; Saint)

Louise Nevelson (Artology)

Manolo and Carlo Flamingo (Muppetism)

Matthew Pratt (Artology)

Paul Delvaux (Artology)

Padre Pio (a.k.a. Pio of Pietreclcina; Christian; Saint)

Pekka Halonen (Artology)

Sossius (Christian; Saint)

Stan Lynde (Artolgy)

Suzanne Valadon (Artology)

Thecla (Roman Catholic Church)

Walk the Plank Day (Pastafarian)

Wesley Chu (Writerism)

Xanthippe and Polyxena (Christian; Saint)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Fortunate Day (Pagan) [39 of 53]

Taian (大安 Japan) [Lucky all day.]

Unlucky Day (Grafton’s Manual of 1565) [45 of 60]

Premieres

Abraxas, by Carlos Santana (Album; 1970)

Aja, by Steely Dan (Album; 1977)

Arsenic and Old Lace (Film; 1944)

Baa Baa Black Sheep (TV Series; 1976)

The Blacklist (TV Series; 2013)

Blonde (Film; 2022)

Brave Little Tailor (Disney Cartoon; 1938)

Bridges to Babylon, by The Rolling Stones (Album; 1997)

Bunker Hill Bunny (WB MM Cartoon; 1950)

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (Film; 1969)

Capture the Saint, by Burt Barer (Novel; 1997) [Saint #52]

Corpse Bride (Animated Film; 2005)

The Count of Monte Cristo (Hanna-Barbera Animated TV Special; 1973)

Crazy House (Andy Panda Cartoon; 1940)

Daffy’s in Trouble (WB LT Cartoon; 1961)

Difficult Loves, by Italo Calvino (Novel; 1970)

Dolphin Tale (Film; 2011)

Educating Rita (Film; 1983)

Enola Holmes (Film; 2020)

Girls with Balls (Film; 2018)

The Goldfinch, by Donna Tartt (Novel; 2013)

Goofy Gymnastics (Disney Cartoon; 1949)

The Greatest Beer Run Ever (Film; 2022)

Heroes, by David Bowie (Song; 1977)

Highway Hecklers (Chilly WIlly Cartoon; 1968)

I’ve Got to Sing a Torch Song (WB MM Cartoon; 1933)

JAG (TV Series; 1995)

Jeepers Creepers (WB LT Cartoon; 1939)

The Jetsons (Animated TV Series; 1962)

Light of the Midnight Fun (WB MM Cartoon; 1939)

Mad About You (TV Series; 1992)

Moneyball (Film; 2011)

Modern Family (TV Series; 2009)

Mom (TV Series; 2013)

Mutiny Ain’t Nice (Fleischer Popeye Cartoon; 1938)

NCIS (TV Series; 2003)

Night of the Living Duck (WB LT Cartoon; 1988)

North, by Elvis Costello (Album; 2003)

The Nylon Curtain, by Billy Joel (Album; 1982)

One Tree Hill (TV Series; 2003)

Only When I Laugh (Film; 1981)

Oo-oo Birds of a Feather (George of the Jungle Cartoon; 1967) [#3]

Parallel Lines, by Blondie (Album; 1978)

People Are Strange, by The Doors (Song; 1967)

Phantom of the Opera, by Gaston Leroux (Novel; 1909)

Pink Pull (Pink Panther Cartoon; 1978)

Pink Suds (Pink Panther Cartoon; 1978)

The Prophet, by Kahlil Gibran (Prose Poetry; 1923)

Rodent to Stardom (WB LT Cartoon; 1967)

Round Trip to Mars (Woody Woodpecker Cartoon; 1957)

Scooby-Doo! And the Goblin King (WB Animated Film; 2008)

The Shawshank Redemption (Film; 1994)

Sicque! Sicque! Sicque! (The Inspector Cartoon; 1966)

Sky Scrapper (Ub Iwerks Disney Cartoon; 1928)

Sledge Hammer! (TV Series; 1987)

Slouching Towards Bethlehem, by Joan Didion (Essays; 1968)

Storks (Animated Film; 2016)

Up a Tree (Disney Cartoon; 1955)

The Veldt, by Ray Bradbury (Short Story; 1950)

When I Was Cruel, by Elvis Costello (Album; 2002)

Whose Line Is It Anyway? (UK Improv Series; 1988)

Wild Ralph Hiccup (Super Chicken Cartoon; 1967) [#3]

The Wolf’s Side of the Story (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1938)

Today’s Name Days

Gerhild, Helene, Linus, Thekla (Austria)

Elizabeta, Lino, Pijo, Tekla, Zaharija (Croatia)

Berta (Czech Republic)

Linus (Denmark)

Diana, Dolores, Tekla (Estonia)

Mielikki, Miisa, Minja (Finland)

Constant, Faustine (France)

Linus, Gerhild, Thekla (Germany)

Iris, Polixeni, Rais, Xanthippe, Xanthippi (Greece)

Tekla (Hungary)

Lino, Pio, Rebecca (Italy)

Ivanda, Omula, Vanda, Veneranda (Latvia)

Galintas, Galintė, Linas, Teklė (Lithuania)

Snefrid, Snorre (Norway)

Boguchwała, Bogusław, Libert, Minodora, Tekla (Poland)

Zdenka (Slovakia)

Constancio, Lino, Pío, Tecla (Spain)

Tea, Tekla (Sweden)

Autumn, Linnet, Linnette, Lynette, Lynn, Lynne (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 267 of 2024; 99 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 1 of Week 39 of 2024

Celtic Tree Calendar: Muin (Vine) [Day 23 of 28]

Chinese: Month 8 (Guy-You), Day 21 (Geng-Yin)

Chinese Year of the: Dragon 4722 (until January 29, 2025) [Wu-Chen]

Hebrew: 20 Elul 5784

Islamic: 19 Rabi I 1446

J Cal: 27 Gold; Sixday [27 of 30]

Julian: 10 September 2024

Moon: 61%: Waning Gibbous

Positivist: 15 Shakespeare (10th Month) [Almarcon]

Runic Half Month: Gyfu (Gift) [Day 2 of 15]

Season: Autumn or Fall (Day 2 of 90)

Week: 4th Full Week of September

Zodiac: Libra (Day 1 of 30)

Calendar Changes

Libra (Balance) begins [Zodiac Sign 7; thru 10.22]

[iamswapnendubiswas]

Sea- The peace , The serenity & The sunsets

We all have been asked a question since childhood , what do you like ? Beach or mountain ? I was also no different, I also have been asked numerous times - beach or mountain? My answer was always consistent - A Beach , the beautiful sunrise and the peaceful sunset .

I hail from the city of joy , Kolkata and I am a proud Bengali . I am brought up in Kolkata , so I had to travel either to a place named “digha” in West Bengal or “Puri” in Orissa to enjoy sea beaches . These two beaches are basically closest to Kolkata .

Since childhood, I have been there multiple times, but somehow my heart was looking for something else . My heart was looking for calmness that the sound of the wave brings when it touches the land .

I was merely 14 years old when my father told me that we are going to Andaman & Nicobar to have a holiday . I was excited for two reasons . One reason is clear to all of you but the second reason was , I was boarding flight for first time in my life . Though my father has already travelled by air , but this was first time for my mother as well . It was a 5 am flight and I clearly don’t remember the month of travelling . We were all excited and giggling when we put our first foot on the flight . Being the only child, it was pretty easy for me to get the window seat. I remember it was an air India flight and we enjoyed our journey throughout. But , I felt the real excitement when I saw the scattered islands from airplane and I was mesmerised by the beauty of nature earth . We had an amazing trip there for 7 days and my eyes were full of tears when we took the return flight .

Since then , I have travelled many sea beaches . I found different experience in every single sea beach . Some beaches are full of crowd where people are enjoying with family & friends and some beaches are calm where lovers are holding hands and walking around to experience the love with the calmness of the nature .

The picture you see above is taken by my wife , is in Morjim beach , Goa . I have been in Goa multiple times like every party lover. But sitting in a shack and looking at the sea from morning to late evening in Morjim beach , there is no other place in the world where people can find more peace . The beach is calm , less crowded and safe to take a dip in the water . I have been there multiple times and I have never got bored , I can still close my eyes and visualise the sunset. I wish , I can go there many more times , roam around on the beach , eat coconuts , sea foods and lots of beer. Few events in your life stay with you forever, and travelling to Morjim beach is one of them. If you never travelled there, you should definitely go there.

With this thought , Signing off today .

Take care .

[bobmccullochny]

History

New Year's Day - The most celebrated holiday around the world.

January 1, 1502 - Portuguese explorers landed at Guanabara Bay on the coast of South America and named it Rio de Janeiro (River of January). Rio de Janeiro is currently Brazil's second largest city.

January 1, 1660 - Samuel Pepys began his famous diary in which he chronicled life in London including the Great Plague of 1664-65 and the Great Fire of 1666.

January 1, 1776 - During the American Revolution, George Washington unveiled the Grand Union Flag, the first national flag in America.

January 1, 1801 - Ireland was added to Great Britain by an Act of Union thus creating the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

January 1, 1863 - The Emancipation Proclamation by President Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves in the states rebelling against the Union.

January 1, 1877 - Queen Victoria was proclaimed Empress of India.

January 1, 1892 - Ellis Island in New York Harbor opened. Over 20 million new arrivals to America were processed until its closing in 1954.

January 1, 1901 - The Commonwealth of Australia was founded as six former British colonies became six states with Edmund Barton as the first prime minister.

January 1, 1915 - During World War I, the British Battleship Formidable was hit by a torpedo in the English Channel, killing 547 crewmen.

January 1, 1942 - Twenty six countries signed the Declaration of the United Nations, in Washington, D.C., reaffirming their opposition to the Axis powers and confirming that no single nation would make a separate peace.

January 1, 1958 - The EEC (European Economic Community) known as the Common Market was formed by Belgium, France, West Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and The Netherlands in order to remove trade barriers and coordinate trade policies.

January 1, 1959 - Fidel Castro seized power in Cuba after leading a revolution that drove out Dictator Fulgencio Batista. Castro then established a Communist dictatorship.

January 1, 1973 - Britain, Ireland and Denmark became members of the Common Market (EEC).

January 1, 1975 - During the Watergate scandal, former top aides to President Nixon including former Attorney General John Mitchell, Domestic Affairs Advisor John Ehrlichman and Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman, were found guilty of obstruction of justice.

January 1, 1979 - China and the U.S. established diplomatic relations, 30 years after the foundation of the People's Republic.

January 1, 1993 - Czechoslovakia broke into separate Czech and Slovak republics.

January 1, 1999 - Eleven European nations began using a new single European currency, the Euro, for electronic financial and business transactions. Participating countries included; Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal and Spain.

Birthday - American Patriot Paul Revere (1735-1818) was born in Boston, Massachusetts. Best known for his ride on the night of April 18, 1775, warning Americans of British plans to raid Lexington and Concord.

Birthday - Betsy Ross (1752-1836) was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She was a seamstress credited with helping to originate and sew the Stars and Stripes flag of America in 1776.

[elxgantcaptain]

Headcanons on Hook's London Home/education

After studying a lot of maps from London in the 1500s, 1600s and 1700s I've roughly decided on where it was in London that Hook lived with his father and where he was sent to school.

All under the cut! Feel free to ask questions about it too uwu

HOME

In the 1600s through to the 1700s, the west of London was mostly for the aristocracy and nobility, basically, the rich. As I HC Hook's father to be the leader of a merchant ship and part of the East India Trading Company, it would make sense for them to live somewhere in this location.

They would have possibly lived close to the Strand, which was an important location for merchants and tradesmen, as it was the source of their offices etc.

Now you have to know that London back then was much smaller than it is now, in fact, a lot of the west of London was newly built as the wealthy began to pour back in from the countryside estates after fleeing the civil war conflict.

Below is a map of London in the 1700s, the red circle indicates roughly where Hook and his father would have lived. As you can see, the suburbs and the surrounding countryside is bigger. I've also attached a modern day map of the zoomed in area, where you can see the Strand by Covent Garden. The home would have roughly been around Mayfair and St James's park.

Hook would have been born in 1652, when a lot of these buildings were still being built, but being the wealthy man his father is, he would have secured and moved into one of the newer houses even as more were being built.

When it comes to the house itself, tutor houses were often built out of wood, however, the new estates and the rich could afford stone and brick and to even add extensions onto properties.

So I imagine it looking like a cross between these two images. They would have had servants galore and only a small garden.

EDUCATION

Its stated all over wikis and is apparently general knowledge that Hook gained education at a place called Eton College.

Now, Eton College IS real, though it exists way out of the main city of London and all the way near Windsor. (Shown below) In these times, boys as young as 5 could be sent to the college here to study.

Though with Hook, I HC him to have been tutored mostly at home in the earlier years and after the age of 5, he'd be sent to a more local school for boys (often hosted by a church) until his father managed to secure his place in the college.

From this point on, young James would have been sent away to study at the college for months on end, like a boarding school and came home during the holidays or to be educated further on taking over his father's business.

By the time he's 12 his pleas on travelling on the sea on one of his father's ships comes true, but only with the condition that he sail for no more than a year and then return to England, where his future would await him.

James never returned. He never took over his father's business or saw England as he had seen it ever again.

If he had returned after the year, he would have found his father had betrothed him to a wealthy business partner's daughter and that the business and all its assets would be passed on to him.

[mariacallous]

There is no substitute for eating a dish in its place of origin, preferably made in a home kitchen by hands that hold the muscle memory of thousands of meals. For me, a close second is stumbling across a recipe, trying it out, and feeling transported to a new place by its flavors. The vastness of the Jewish diaspora has gifted us with a wealth of interesting types of culinary mergers, and I particularly love exploring the Jewish food of India, where Jewish communities date back thousands of years.

There are three distinctive Jewish Indian groups that happened to be largely isolated from each other: the Cochin Jews of Kerala in South India, the Bene Israel Jews of India’s West Coast and Mumbai, and the Jews of Kolkata in East India (formerly known as Calcutta). In “The Book of Jewish Food,” Claudia Roden recounts how Shalom Cohen from Aleppo was the first known Jew to settle in Kolkata in 1798. Soon after, Syrian and Iraqi Jews followed and developed a strong community there, where they worked as merchants and traders and lived in harmony with their neighbors. Things changed in 1947 when India gained independence, and again in 1948 with the creation of the State of Israel; anti-Semitism grew as the Jews became associated with the colonial British power. During that time, most of the Jews from Kolkata immigrated to Israel, the U.S., U.K. and Australia. This once vibrant Jewish Indian community is now all but gone from Kolkata.

While only a handful of Jews still live in Kolkata, the food from this community has traveled with its people. Their style of cooking involves a combination of ingredients and preparations from the Middle East, with the spices and techniques of Indian cuisine. There are several cookbooks and articles devoted to Sephardic foods and Indian Jewish cookery that have documented some of the dishes of the Jews from Kolkata. I was first struck by a recipe I found in both Copeland Marks’ book “Sephardic Cooking,” as well as in “Indian Jewish Cooking” by Mavis Hyman. Mukmura (or mahmoora) is a dish of chicken and almonds in a slightly sweetened tangy lemon sauce. I like any recipe that looks like it is simple to prepare but still offers big flavors, and this was clearly that. This chicken dish calls for easy to find bold ingredients like ginger, garlic, ground turmeric, lemon juice and fresh mint. The chicken is braised, which means the meat won’t get dry, and it can easily be made in advance for entertaining, Shabbat and holidays. By slowly simmering all of the ingredients together you develop a slightly sweet and sour sauce with all those warm spices and aromatics.  This dish is simultaneously comforting and exciting.

Note: This can be made a day in advance and reheats well.

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

Konstantin Kisin - The Speech The World NEEDS To Hear

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn once said that the strength or weakness of a society depends more on the level of its spiritual life, than on its level of industrialization. If a nation's spiritual energies have been exhausted, he said, it will not be saved from collapse by the most perfect government structure, or by any industrial development. A tree with a rotten core cannot stand.

When he was allowed to leave the USSR Solzhenitsyn went to the US, where he was given a hero's welcome. But he quickly realized that American society was far from perfect. He started lecturing Americans about the problems he saw. Americans don't like that. Like Solzhenitsyn, I come from the Soviet Union, but I have no intention of repeating his mistake. That's why I've come to Britain, where you love being told what's wrong with you by foreigners.

But I do have to be honest. Six months ago, when Jordan and Philippa asked me to come here and speak at ARC about the importance of audacity, adventure and a positive vision for our civilization, I was honored and delighted.

But as I stand here today, after watching crowds openly celebrate mass murder on the streets of our cities, after watching the police spend more time debating Islamic theology on Twitter than enforcing the law, I'm starting to lose faith. I don't know how long our civilization Will survive.

For years now many of us have been warning that the barbarians are at the gates. We were wrong. They're inside. Now look, I'm not going to be all doom and gloom, there are positives as well. I mean, say what you want about Hamas supporters, at least they know what a woman is.

But joking aside, I have to be honest. I've been in a dark place these last few weeks, so I did what I always do when I don't know what to do: I talk to my wife. It's not the only time I talk to her, but you know, get the point. And she said, look, you need to clear your mind, take a few days off, let's go on holiday. And I know, it's a weird thing to say, I don't like going on holiday, cause I love working, and I hate spending money. Protestant work ethic in a Jewish man's body. My wife is exactly the other way around, unfortunately.

But she was right. She's always right. That's her best and most annoying quality. So, we went to Barcelona. Beautiful city. And as we were walking down the main tourist street, La Rambla, many of you will know, when you get to the bottom, you hit the Christopher Columbus Monument. It looks like a giant column with a pillar of Columbus on top pointing towards the New World. And this reminded me of my son, Nikolai. He's 16 months, and this is what he does, he sits on my hip and points in the direction he wants to go. Treats me like a horse, basically. And if I don't act quickly enough, or if I don't comply, he does what all toddlers do: he throws a tantrum and starts screaming. How dare you! You have stolen my dreams with your empty words! And when he does, we read him a story and put him to bed. We don't give him a standing ovation in front of the UN.

Anyway, trigger warning, I am going to talk positively about Christopher Columbus. I know he committed some pretty sizable microaggressions, but he also changed the world. Do you know why he changed the world? Yeah, he tried to reach India and by accident discovered America. But why go west to India? Europeans had been trading with India and China for centuries via the Silk Road. Why risk your life to go out on a limb? There were many reasons of course, but the main one was the decision to try and reach Asia by going west, was not made out of choice. Europe was desperate. Only a few decades prior, in 1453, the Ottomans sacked Constantinople, and they cut Europe off from the Silk Road. The West Was facing a huge challenge and a new threat. No smaller than the one we face today. And like us what they needed was another way.

But when Columbus took his idea to go west to India to the kings and queens of medieval Europe, they laughed at him. They didn't laugh at him because he was some misunderstood genius, he wasn't Galileo. They laughed at him because he was wrong. If you go out in the street and ask a random person why Columbus discovered America, they'll tell you he worked out that the Earth was round. Not true. By the time Columbus set off on his voyage in 1492, people had known the Earth was round for two millennia. There's probably more flat Earthers now than there were in the 15th century. God bless the internet.

The reason Columbus discovered America is not that he'd worked out that the Earth was round. The reason is that he massively underestimated the size of the planet. They were right to laugh at him. He was wrong. But he took that wrongness, he persuaded 90 other men to get into three boats smaller than the size of this stage, and sail into the unknown. And he persuaded Queen Isabella of Castile and King Ferdinand of Aragon to fund his voyage.

The moral of the story is, it doesn't matter how wrong you are as long as you've got rich friends.

That's not the moral of the story. The moral of the story is, the history of our civilization was not made by people who always got everything right. It was made by people who'd made mistakes too. It was made by people who dared to believe that they could solve the problems they faced. The story of the West is a story of audacity.

The big debates of the last decade, the culture war, the polarization, are about one thing and one thing only: the future. There are people like us in this room who believe that our future is to be prosperous, powerful and influential. We are the majority. But there are also some people whose brains have been broken by an excess of education, who believe that our history is evil. That we do not deserve to be great, we do not deserve to be powerful, that we must be punished for the sins of our ancestors. To them, our past is abominable, our present must be spent apologizing, and our future is managed decline.

My message to those people is simple: how dare you. You will not steal my son's dreams with your empty words.

But Jordan is right, we need a positive message too. So here it is: from the dawn of time, human beings have had to work to make the world a better place. We captured the mystery of fire. We invented the wheel. Today we build buildings that would shock and awe almost every human being that has ever lived. We split the atom, we spliced the genome and we connected the world through microcomputers that fit in our pockets, that allow us to do amazing amazing things.

This morning, I destroyed someone on Twitter with facts and logic from the toilet. It's magic! Remember your grandparents? Remember them? If I could go back in time and transport the grandparents of your grandparents into this room, just four generations ago, they would think they'd been abducted by aliens. that's the progress we've made. We haven't made that progress by whining and acting like victims. We've made that progress by unleashing the creativity and talent of people like us here in this room.

But I do think we've forgotten what adventure is. Being adventurous is not ordering extra-spicy chicken at Nando's. Wrong reference for this room. Let me try again. Being adventurous is not ordering extra-spicy chicken from your personal chef.

When Columbus and his men got on those boats and took a journey into the unknown, they sailed to certain death. You know why? It's not because they were braver than you and I, it's because they knew something we forgotten: all death is certain. And so I say to our friends in the world of business, you've made your fortunes by maximizing your returns on your investments. We are in the fight of our lives. there is no greater return on your investment than to protect and preserve our civilization.

And so I invite you to follow in the footsteps of Elon Musk and Paul Marshall and Ben Delo and many of you here who are using your fortunes for the betterment of humanity.

I say to our friends in the media: truth matters! We are in the fight of our lives. There is more to life than clicks and downloads. Let’s move beyond the culture war where all we do is bat away the litany of slanderous allegations about our history. Let’s set the agenda. Let’s remind our fellow citizens why we are where we are. Let’s remind them that we are the most tolerant, open and welcoming societies in the history of the world. We’re not embarrassed about our past, we’re proud of it.

And to my colleagues in new media especially I say this. The legacy media is dying for a reason. They cannot be saved, they cannot be reformed. Let’s stop complaining about them and start building the media empires of the future ourselves. We have everything we need. We’ve even got rich friends now.

I say to our friends in education and academia: I understand that many of you feel like the French Resistance or Soviet partisans, stuck behind enemy lines, undermanned and out gunned. And you’re right, we are in the fight of our lives. So keep fighting for every young mind you can. It will be worth it.

And finally, I say to our friends in politics. Many of you here are conservatives. I’m not, I look terrible in tweed. That’s why I identify as politically non-binary. But I can tell you conservatives something. You will never get young people to want to conserve a society and an economy that is not working for them. We will not overcome Woke nihilism as long as young people are locked out of the housing market, unable to pair up, unable to have kids, unable to plan for the future.

I know it’s difficult, and I know that whoever solves the housing crisis may well pay the price at the ballot box. This is true of many pressing issues too, or at least you think it is. But you did not get into politics to get re-elected. You got into politics to make a difference.

We are in the fight of our lives. And if courage means anything it means doing the right thing and being willing to take the punishment if you have to. Let me say it again: all death is certain. We do not get to choose whether we live or die. We only get to choose whether we live before we die. Thank you very much.