Mark: Well. I am hungry. I am going to go outside and get something to eat. One of the Locals: Hello. How long have you been here? Mark: Hello. Hello. The Local Guy: Hi there. Are you having a good time? Mark: Hi. Who are you? The Local Guy: My name is Alec. Mark: Alec. Mark. How are you? The Local Guy: Nice to meet you. Mark: Nice to meet you too. The Local Guy: Are you having a great time? Mark: I am having a great time. The Local Guy: It is a nice day, isn’t it? Mark: You are one of the locals here, are you? Alec: That is right. I am one of the locals. Mark: Ok. Ok. Maybe you can help me. The Local Guy: I will try. Mark: I am hungry. I am looking for a place to go…like a restaurant. Alec: Well, if you just turn around, behind you is a restaurant. Mark: Right ok. Right. The Local Guy: What do you want to eat though? Mark: What is nice to eat around here? The Mosquito City-ite: Traditional Mosquito cuisine. It is the best you can imagine. You want to try it. Check it out. Mark: Ok. What kind of food? The Local: Anything. You know. It is all delicious. Are you a vegetarian? Mark: No, I eat anything. The Local: You like to eat a bit of meat. Mark: I eat anything. I like vegetarian. The Local: For the vegetarian or meat-eater. They cater for everyone. Mark: This place here? The Local: That is the place. Mark: I am going to go in. Thanks a lot. Alec: Thanks a lot. Bye.
Mark: So you are making a documentary? French Guy: Yes. Bjorn: Yeah right. Mark: Yes? Where are you from? Bjorn: The basic crew is from Germany. Mark: M-hm. Bjorn: I am from Switzerland. Our main re-enacter is from France. And another protagonist is is also from France. Mark: Right so you are French, Swiss and German. Bjorn: Yes. It is basically German. It is a German crew. Mark: Everybody is speaking English though (able to speak English). French Guy: Yes. Bjorn: Yes. Mark: What part of Switzerland do you come from? Bjorn: I am from Bern. The Swiss-German part. Mark: So you are a German (speaker)? Bjorn: Yeah. Swiss-German and I have been living for fifteen years in Munich. Mark: What is the documentary about? Bjorn: Ok. The documentary is about the character of Henri Le Saut. He is a French monk born in 1910. Mark: Uh-huh. Bjorn: In forty-nine he moved in a mission for the Benedictine… Mark: Ah He is a Christian. Bjorn: Yeah. Christian monk. Benedictine monk from Brittany in France. He moved to India in order to mission the Hindus. Mark: Right. Bjorn: In order to understand the deeper meaning of hinduism. Mark: M-hm Bjorn: He went deeper and deeper into the Vedas and eventually turned sanyasin. Mark: Really? Bjorn: However without leaving his Benedictine.. Mark and Bjorn: Order. Mark: Right. Bjorn: It would not be such an amazing case but he left a lot of writings and he wrote a lot of books about this ambiguity and this sort of being torn between two religions but eventually he did not want to serve any of the religions but he wanted to look for God. Mark: To serve God. Right. Bjorn: To serve God. Yeah. So he lived here from forty-nine to seventy-three. He never went back. Mark: Right Bjorn: Although he was invited to lots of times. He led a very simple and full life and he left a lot of writings and so we… This is the third time we have been in India. We have been here two years ago in Rishikesh. We were last year in south India in Tiranamalai ..where the ashram of Ramana Maharshi is; where he was a scholar.
he had his self realization through Ramana Mahashi. So he had a really deep religious and spiritual experience in his ashram there. Mark: Great. Bjorn: And later on he moved to northern India. Mark: Uh-huh. Bjorn: And he made a sort of pilgrimage to the source of the Ganges…to Gangotri where we just have just been re-enacting lots of things with Christian, our re-enactor of Henri le Saut. Mark: Right. Bjorn: So we are trying to get bits and things together on this small indie movie level. Mark: It is just an independent movie? Bjorn: Yeah it is an independent movie and we are trying to put together a ninety minute documentary. Mark: When do you think you will finish? Bjorn: I think honestly it is going to be another one and a half years. Mark: Well. Good luck! Bjorn: Thank you.
Mark: Ok. So here am I at my room in Mosquito City at the Grand Hotel. It is a lovely big room. I didn’t give Brad a tip. I hope I didn’t do the wrong thing. I wonder if people usually tip in Mosquito City and I wonder how much they tip. I know! I will call Rodney on the room phone and I will ask him…Here we are…Hello..hello..hello… Receptionist: Hello, Sir. Hello. How are you doing? Mark: It is me. Mark. How are you Rodney? Receptionist: Hello, Mark. How are you? Mark: Good good. I just wanted to ask. I had an embarrassing moment there. When Brad the bellboy came up with me…Is it normal to tip in Mosquito City? Receptionist: Sir, you never tip in Mosquito City. It is the worst possible thing you can do. So you did the right thing. Just have a good time Sir. Mark: Really, really. Right so you don’t tip here. That is good. Receptionist: No. Never ever tip. Never make the mistake of tipping because it is an offence to the Mosquito culture. Mark: It is considered rude? Receptionist: It is very condescending, Sir. Mark: That is interesting. Receptionist: So you did the right thing. Mark: Thank you very much. Receptionist: You are welcome. Mark: Bye. Receptionist: Bye.
Yorkshireman: What it is… It is just like it is something that everyone can relate to. It is like someone; you know like when you meet someone? Australian Bloke: Yeah. Yorkshireman: When you meet someone and you don’t really like know them too well and you want to… Australian Bloke: Break the ice. Yorkshireman: Yeah. Break the ice. Sort of thing. You know?
“Ah what football team do you support?”,”I support…”, “What do you support them for?” And you throw a bit of banter about. (laughs)You know what I mean? Australian Bloke: You and that guy from Birmingham were like that! (holds up two fingers)(non-verbal signal) You know. Like. Straight away. You know? Yorkshireman: The thing is, as well, I support Leeds United. He supports Man. United and they hate each other. Australian Bloke: Which teams? Yorkshireman: I support Leeds United. Australian Bloke: Leeds United. Yorkshireman: Which is like northeast and he supports Man United which is northwest… And the northeast and northwest … When we were younger… ah like no before I was even born… Like back in the day … They had a war called The War of the Roses. Australian Bloke: Yeah. I have read about that. Yorkshireman: Over whether the rose should be white or red. Sort of thing and it still relates back to that and they, like, hate each other. They hate each other more than anyone can hate anyone. But you can have a laugh about it outside of it. You know what I mean? You can have a laugh and joke about it. It doesn’t rule your life, as such. But it is a big part of your life. When it came to a game against Leeds, Man United; I would rather spit on them than talk to them and vice versa you know what I mean? Australian Bloke: It is all a …it’s all a game. Yorkshireman: But its… That is just how it is. We call FOOTBALL “the global language” because you don’t need to be able to speak the same language to be able to have a game of football with someone.
Mark: Are you the bellboy? The Bellboy: That is right. I am the bellboy. Mark: Right. Ok. My name is Mark. How are you? Bellboy: Hi. I am Brad. I am Brad the Bellboy. Mark: Nice to meet you. Bellboy: Nice to meet you. Mark: So… Bellboy: Are you having a good time there? Mark: Yeah. I don’t have any bags but can you show me where my room is? Bellboy: Sure. Just follow me. Mark: Ok. Bellboy: It is up here. Mark: Off we go then. Ok. Bellboy: Be careful because it is a little bit steep there. Mark: Ok. Where are you from Brad? Bellboy: I am from Belfast. Mark: You are from Belfast. Bellboy: I have been here for about two years. Mark: Oh yeah. Why did you come here? Bellboy: I came because I like the sunshine you know and the palm trees and all the free kind of fruit everywhere. Mark: Right. Bellboy: There are fruit trees everywhere if you look out the window. Mark: Right ok. Bellboy: It is really great Mark: This is my room here, is it? Bellboy: That’s right. Mark: Ok, mate. Thanks very much. Bellboy: (Is there) anything else you need? Mark: No. Bellboy: Ok. Have a nice time. Bye. Mark: Ok. See ya.
On the sandy bank of the Ganges near Rishikesh, Mark ran into a man who lived in the nearby ashram. They stood on the beach and talked for a few minutes.
Mark: Which Indian languages can you speak? Guy on the Beach: Which language? Mark:Which Indian languages? Yeah. Guy: Aah maybe Hindi and this ah Telugu, Kerala, and Rajastani, and this ah Punjabi,Tamil, Malayalam, Assami and Bengali. Mark: Everything? You understand everything? Guy: Yeah yeah yeah. Mark: Bhutani and Nepali? Guy: Bhutani and Nepali same-same. Mark: Wow! Guy: Bhutani Nepali Timputi. Same. Same. Mark: Same ok ok but when you were … when you stay with your mother and father…? Guy: My mother and father is (are from) Nepal. Mark: So at home you spoke Nepali? Guy: Yes. Sometimes my parents lived in Bhutan. Then I spoke it no problem. My mother tongue is Nepal(i). But for a very long time I stayed in Rajastan. Then I was speaking (Rajistani). Mark: How old were you when you left Nepal? Guy: Me? Mark: Yeah. Guy: My parents? Mark: You. Guy: Me. Maybe fifteen years. My mum. Just my age now. Thirty-five years. (When my mum was just my age now.) Mark: And you lived in many places in India? Guy: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Mark: Study? Guy: Study, no. Sometimes business and sometimes as a tourist. Only for tourism
before I am a doctor. Mark: Doctor? Guy: Medical doctor…chemist. Mark: And now you stay in an ashram? Guy: Yeah. I like it. Meditation. Mark: Six years? Oh good. Thank you.
Australian Fellow: When you make a cup of tea, like, do you, like, put the milk in first or put the sugar in first or put the tea in first? Is there some, like, special way you do it? Irish Fellow: Put the sugar and the tea-bag in together then pour in the water and leave it sit. Yeah. Never squeeze the tea bag Australian Fellow: Never squeeze the tea bag? Irish Fellow: Never squeeze the tea bag. Australian Fellow: What about the milk? You put the milk in last? Irish Fellow: Put the milk in last. Give it five or ten minutes to let the tea bag diffuse then dump in the milk. Australian Fellow: That is if you are using a tea bag but if you make a pot of tea a lot of people say you should put the milk in first and then put the tea in second because if you put the milk in second, it leaches the flavor out of the tea. Have you ever heard that? Irish Fellow: I have heard that putting the milk in first is better because … otherwise the tea gets burned.. from the boiling water. Australian Fellow: Mm. Irish Fellow: I am not too sure on that. Australian Fellow: There is nothing like a good cup of tea. Irish Fellow: No, there is not.
Use this post to learn English and Swedish at the same time.
I speak Swedish
(Swedish)
I don’t speak English.
(Swedish)
I want to learn English.
(Swedish)
I speak a little English.
