Some Rafi, a little Shakespeare, Sheer Khurma and more
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This illustrated newsletter has a little bit of trivia about legendary singer Rafi, my favourite sonnet by Shakespeare, interesting Twitter conversations, a book recommendation, a bit of poetry, a fear of abandonment Bingo for you to make and if you are an artists two international opportunities for you to apply to.
I’m starting with the most interesting bit of information I found out about my favourite most singers - Mohammed Rafi. I am a huge, huge fan, every time I pass Rafi Manzil in Bandra, Mumbai, I blow a kiss in the direction. When I dated someone who lived close by, I would look at Rafi Manzil and sing, ‘Ek ghar banoonga, tere ghar ke saamne.” It was perfect because the person was good to me though not a Rafi fan.
Here are three of my favourite Rafi songs, all written by Sahir Ludhianvi, another favourite:
Man re tu khan na dheer dhare, woh nirmohi moh na jaane, jinka moh kare, this encapsulated my early love life.
Abhi na jaoon chhodkar ki dil abhi bhara nahin
Interesting tidbits from Twitter
Have you already seen Hussain Hairdy’s Sheer Kurma recipe? I am going to try it soon. There is also a Poha recipe by him that people are swearing by but who puts fennel seeds in Poha? I am a Maharashtrian poha person who likes Bhopali poha and jalebi but will only make Maharashtrian poha, so I am going to skip.
And I found out that, "updating the Kaspersky" ("actualizar el Kasperspy") means "having sex" in Cuba. Here’s why.
It was the bard’s birthday and the day he died, on April 23, so I visited one of my favourite sonnets by him.
Want to know what a sonnet is, look up this link. This is a great resource for most things Shakespeare.
Shakespeare’s birthday is World Book Day and I want to recommend a book I recently read. Pick up H for Heritage Mumbai by Fiona Fernandez, if you love history, trivia and would like an accessible+illustrated book about this magnificent city. The illustrations by Sumedha Sah are lovely.
I also wanted to write about Bachata and owning one’s body , MGR and send you some Tamil Sangam poetry but that’s for next time. Before I leave you with the prompt for this week, here’s a poem by Noelle Kocot
Sappho hugging fellow poet Erinna in a Garden at Mytilene in Lesbos, Greece by Simeon Solomon.
Sappho to Erinna Noelle Kocot
Come. It’s morning.
Let me brush the stars
from your hair.
In today’s prompt, I have a fear of abandonment bingo I made while playing with Chat GPT. This one is mine. Now make yours.
Also before I sign out, opportunities people have shared with me
1. Emerging comic artists competition. With a prize of CHF 5’000.- divided between the winners, it is open to anyone aged 15 and over who has never been published. The theme of the 2023 edition is « Eureka ». The winners of the three BDFIL prizes will be invited to the opening of the exhibition and the prize-giving ceremony (August 31, 2023). The deadline for entries is Thursday, June 1st, 2023.
Details here: https://bdfil.ch/concours/la-releve
2. Global Feminist Pitch: Feminism in Pictures The Global Feminist Pitch is back to support feminists from Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia, Africa, Middle East and (South) Eastern Europe. This year we are looking for six feminists who will tell stories of feminists, feminist moments, and movements from their region in the form of short graphic novels. Details here: https://www.boell.de/en/2023/04/21/global-feminist-pitch-feminism-pictures
See you
<3
Indu