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Ranbir : Thenaughtyyet nice chap

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An egg-zoticbreakfast

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Mandarin,Japanese andSpanish arethree popular languages thatlocal youngstersare opting tolearn

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Remember how Chris Tuckerpainfully and memorably mispro-

nounced the basic Chinese greeting,“Ni Hao,” in Rush Hour? Well you betterlearn to pronounce that word right ifyou want to survive in the 21st centuryas Mandarin takes over as the hottestnew second language, with everyonefrom Suri Cruise to Brangelina hookedto it and now youngsters in Bengaluru

are following the trend.The Goethe Institute and Alliance

Francaise may continue to enjoy thestatus of being the premier institutionsin the city imparting knowledge inFrench and German but all that is set tochange with the invasion of the Asians.Wildly popular among the preferredlanguages is Japanese with almost 21per cent of the learners being local.

Continued on Page 21Suri Cruise has inspired youngsters to learn Mandarin

SSwwaattii PPaassaarrii

Faith accompliFaith accomplithroughthrough

ART

The Mandarin candidate!

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25Friday 18 February 2011

glam-sham21Thursday 30 May 2013

Continued from Page 17

“I know a lot of girls whodo it because they loveanime, but if you’re seri-ous you might justNippon Ni tobu (fly toJapan),” says Joannewho’s been learning thelanguage for the past twoyears.

Mandarin is still theking, as China continuesto emerge as an economicsuperpower; many stu-dents in the city are look-ing at the highly difficultlanguage as an option. “Ihired a private tutor tolearn Mandarin. Indiahas an increasing demandfor Chinese translatorsand this will only grow inthe future” says PallaviShrinivas, a student wholooks at this opportunityas a smart investment.

So does this spell thedoom of the Europeaninfluence, well not really,Spanish is finding manytakers, 28 per cent of theexperts in the languagebeing from this city.“Spanish has a wider pop-ulation base than Frenchand is spoken in nationslike Brazil, so this couldpotentially be the next bigthing” says Manisha KR,a student who bid adios toFrench and embraced herlove for Spanish when shewas in ninth grade.

While Mandarin,Japanese and Spanish arethe most popular new lan-guages now, people arealso looking at highly off-beat options like Hebrewand Finnish! So if you’resold on the idea alreadythe Bangalore Universityoffers diploma and certifi-cate courses in 10 lan-guages and there arenumber of private institu-tions too like IFLAC(Institute of foreign lan-guage and culture) “Wehave the highest numberof people enrolled inSpanish as it’s soon tobecome the second mostspoken language in theworld” says SpurthiNayak, manager ofIFLAC. ShyamshoolSingh, a Chinese tutorsays, “A lot of companieslike Amazon andAccenture are also offer-ing the language in theirtraining.” So there youhave it, learning that dif-ferent foreign languagecould really take youplaces.

— SANJANA SUDHEER

TheMandarincandidate!

ZZOOYYAA PPHHIILLIIPP

DECCAN CHRONICLE

The human mind per-ceives and relates brightcolours with happiness

and the feel good factor. Twenty-five-year-old artiste Swati Pasarihas utilised this concept andmade it the driving force behindher artwork. She will be exhibit-ing her first solo show, SoulinkCelebrating Life, a product of adeep relationship between artand spirituality, at a local galleryfrom June 14.

Born and raised in one of theoldest business families ofKolkata, Swati was supposed tohave joined the family business.But she took a detour soon aftera year of studying at BondUniversity in Gold Coast,Australia. “It was around thistime that I started becomingspiritual. I started understand-ing energy and its result onthings around us,” she recalls.She also took a course in pranichealing and all these factorsinfluenced her paintins. “Ibegan by painting LordGanesha, and then progressed toBuddha before finally paintingLord Krishna,” she expresses.

Her work is a collage of face-less people, musical instruments

and notes combined with certainsymbols that denote peace andhappiness. “Lotus is one motifthat finds its way into all mypaintings. It calms me when I ampainting it which is why I ampartial towards it. As far as ‘face-less people’ are concerned, it is

my way of explaining that youdo not need eyes or ears to con-nect with spirituality, it residesin you,” she explains.

The business graduate, fromCalcutta University has exhibit-ed her artwork at a number ofexhibitions, both nationally as

well as internationally. In fact,her paintings have reached gal-leries as far as Miami (NinaTorres Fine Art Gallery in 2012)and London (Group exhibition at the Nehru Centre, April, 2013).

“These opportunities literallyflowed my way, like a river flowsto the ocean,” she states adding,“A lot of Westerners relate to thevibrancy in my paintings andfibreglass sculptures.” Thecolours in her work lend herpaintings a childlike innocence.“The best compliment I have gotso far was at an exhibition at ahospital in Gurgaon. A ladycame to see my work with tearsstreaming down her face. Hermother had suffered a fractureand was admitted in the ICU.After spending half-an-hourlooking at my paintings, shecame up to me and said, ‘Yourpaintings have eased my pain.Thank you.’ I was overwhelmedby what I had just heard andknew, I had found my true call-ing,” Swati reveals. Over theyears, and by word of mouth,her art has found space in officesand homes of eminent personal-ities, some of them including thelikes of Sanjay Jhunjhunwalla,Turtle Group, Vijaya Piramaland CK Birla.

Faith accompli through...

Bengaluru Chronicle

A painting from her ‘Celebrating life’ series

Rife with wife prejudiceSSIINNDDHHUUJJAA BBAALLAAJJII

DECCAN CHRONICLE

Just when you thought thatthe Indian society is coming

of age, a certain incident likethis one throws you off guard.An online advertisement hasgenerated a furore, irkingyoungsters. Titled the‘Bridessential Course’, this is a10-week saga teaches a bride-to-be everything she is sup-posed to know beforebeginning a newchapter in lifelike basic

make-up, napkin folding,table layouts, etiquetteand more.

It is a reflection of thedichotomy in ourminds, and many areappalled at such anadvertisement.Danseuse and

entrepreneur Deepti Sudhindrasays, “The one on napkin-fold-ing really threw me off. Weclaim to be a liberal societybut, in reality, it’s just an ideathat’s yet to mature.” Deepti

reveals how suitors evennow ask her the jaded

‘can you cook?’and ‘can you

keep thehouse

clean?’ “In thequest for equality,we have all messedup what is feminineand what isn’t.” With more empha-

sis on equality, sucha statement ranklesmany. PremilaNesargi, a lawyer andwomen’s rightsactivist says,“Everyone has to honebasic skills, even boys.A woman’s role is notconfined to a particularspace. Cooking, clean-ing and basic civicsense should beinstilled in everyone.”With so many studentsand working profession-als pursuing studies andcareers abroad, self-

sustenance is the only guide tosurvival, and patriarchal beliefswill probably not hold you ingood stead. But what is the real-ity here? Do families expecttheir daughters-in-law to be‘fully trained’ to take on newresponsibilities, regardless ofwhat their previous accomplish-ments are? While such schemescan be dismissed as money-making, it is part of the biggerpicture. Sonali Malhotra, a pro-prietress and image consultant

at Get Enriched, says,“Everyone focuses on

the wedding, andnot the bride.Concerned par-

ents feel girls aren’ttraditional anymore. Groomingis such a small part of this issue,what one needs to really thinkabout is how a girl will have toadapt to a new family, and prepher emotionally.”

Another school of thought dic-tates how the changes in mod-ern society are too much to han-dle. Sociologist Radhika Bhatsays, “The speed at which soci-ety is changing today is rapidand terrifying. When it comes tofamily, people are compelled tostick to tradition. A woman’scareer is still not taken seriouslyand she has to compromise farmore. This dual mindsetincreases frustration.”

An online adoffering a 10week bridalcourse hasled to outrage fromprominentladies in the city

In English Vinglish, Srideviheads to NYC to learnEnglish after her daughterpokes fun at her for being ahousewife