Pictures taken by subhasish

Photo Credit: lucidlad

An Indian firm which rents out wedding guests says business is booming.

The Best Guests Centre, at Jodhpur in Rajasthan, is looking to expand across the state.

The company caters for families who fear they will fall short of guests at weddings.

It hires out guests, either traditionally dressed or wearing smart western clothes, according to requirements and budget.

The guests dance and try to impress with their etiquette without letting anyone know they are being paid for it.

Proprietor M I Syed briefs his staff about the groom, the bride and their families before the wedding to avoid a faux pas.

He told The Statesman: “The breaking up of joint families and lack of affection among relatives also creates a demand for paid guests.

“Such families need to hire guests to make up for the fewer number of relatives available for attending the marriage.â€?

“Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge…At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance”

– Jawaharlal Nehru Claiming Independence from British
Midnight of August 14, 1947

via रोजनामचा (Rojnamcha)

Imagine white performers singing, and dancing wearing bollywood style cloths. Meet five non-Indians, a chinese american twins, Italian girl and two half French half German, who sing songs from Sholay and Kal Ho Na Ho, love songs like Ek Ladki Ko Dekha from 1942 – A Love Story, and performs Dola Re Dola dance from Devdas.

Via India Glitz

The Ekal Vidyalaya movement aims to help eradicate illiteracy from rural and tribal India by 2012. To date, Ekal Vidyalaya is a movement of over 13,000 teachers, 2,500 voluntary workers, 20 field organizations (scattered in 20 Indian states), and 6 support agencies. With this tremendous human force, the Ekal Vidyalaya movement strives to create a network of non-formal schools that will educate and empower children in rural and tribal India.

The Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation is a charitable trust that initiates, supports, and runs non-formal one-teacher schools (popularly known as Ekal Vidyalayas) all over the country. With the participation of numerous non-profit trusts and organizations, this program has now become the greatest non-governmental education movement in the country.

Bollywood blockbuster Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge has been shown at Mumbai’s Maratha Mandir theatre everyday since its 1995 release. Everyday, more than 700 people purchases ticket during afternoon show to see 4+ hour long movie. Owner of the theater planning to screen the film for another 100 weeks.

Having been brought up in London, Raj (Sharukh Khan) and Simran (Kajol) are second generation British Asians, who still cherish their Indian roots, culture and values. The two meet in a chance encounter jwhile traveling through Europeon an inter-rail holiday. When they get seperated from theirfriends, they discover each other…they discover LOVE! When they return to london, Simran is taken back to India, for an arranged marriage as per her fathers wishes. Now Raj must go to India to win his Dulhania and asks Simrans father for her hand in marriage and seek acceptance of their love-all this, while Simrans wedding is in full swing.