دانلود مکالمات ضروری در زبان انگلیسی(با راهنمای فارسی)

[Persia1]

Making a Cup of Tea



Download audio file (tee1.mp3)


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.
​

 

[Persia1]

People and Places – The Swami 5 – Chanting the Vedas



Download audio file (swami5.mp3)


Mark: Poetry is the Rigveda?
Swami: Poetry is the Rigveda because it has a specific number of characters with a form and a syntax and it has a rhythm and a rhyme.
Mark: Specific number of syllables?
Swami: Ah. (Telegu for “yes”) It is called “chandis”. So poetry is Rig-veda. “Rig” itself means “a verse”, “a chant”, “a mantra”.
Mark: M-hm.
Swami: Rik. Rig. Somebody who chants the Vedas is called a ” rik-trik” in Vedic terminology. “Rik” is the basic word. “Rig-veda”. “Rik” plus “Veda” becomes “Rigveda”.
Mark: Mm-hm.
Swami: In Sanskrit it is called “sandi”. “Sandi” means “joint”. When you join two words, the joining word; its tone; it changes. “Rik” plus “veda” is “rig-veda” Rig-veda as you said is poetry. And “yajus”. “Yajus” means “sentence”. It just means a sentence. It takes the form of a sentence. It doesn’t have the poetic style. But it goes sometimes long, sometimes short.
Mark: So this is prose.
Swami: That is Yajurveda. That you can say is prose. In prose you have sometimes beautiful descriptions, long long sentences. Sometimes you have simple words. A sentence where you have just two or three words. It has no specific syntax or length.
Mark: Or rhythm.
Swami: Or rhythm. So that is prose. Yaju- veda is mostly prose.
Mark: M-hm.
Swami: Samurveda. “Samur” in Sanskrit also means “friendship”. “Samur” also means “harmony”.
Mark: M-hm.
Swami: So Samurveda is music. It has tone. It has up-beat, low-beat. It has sometimes elongation.
Swami: (Sanskrit)
Swami: It has music.
Mark: Mm. Beautiful.
Swami: It has music. It has music. That is Samurveda. And the fourth one is Atharvaveda. Atharvaveda is the name of a rishi; a sage called Atharva. Through his form it came. Atharvavedas are very powerful mantras. Those mantras; they follow the style of Rig-veda.
Mark: M-hm.
Swami: Atharvaveda. You can say it is a combination of the Rig-veda and the other three. The mantras are very powerful. Whether to…They affect nature and have natural effects.
Mark: M-hm.
Swami: And whether to cure, whether to curse. Whether to bless. They are very powerful mantras. Atharvaveda is the fourth one.
Mark: Mm.
Swami: So these are the four. Vedas were one. Vedas are one. Vedas will always be one! It is in this age of Kali for human beings of limited intellect; they have written a lot; the old rishis have had such powerful (?); such supreme mental intellects. The supreme mental capability wants to hear…the entire Vedas; they used to remember. But how to use what mantras. Their essence. Which god? The entire thing they knew by heart. They were living encyclopedias. They were walking encyclopedias! They were mobile encyclopedias. The old rishis.
Mark: The rishis.
Swami: This was so even till just five thousand years ago. Just five thousand years ago when Lord Krishna came into being, all the rishis were like that and Vedas were one!
Mark: Mm.
Swami: Then came the sage Vyerda-Vyasa. Vyasa-rishi.
Mark: Mahabharata.
Swami: Correct! The author of Bhagavad-gita. The author of Bhagavad-Gita. Mahabharata, Bhagavad-gita and Vishnu……is part of the… Mahabharata…it comes in the war.
Mark: In the middle.
Swami: In the middle somewhere. He is the author of Srimad Bhagavatam, the story of Lord Krishna. And he is the author of the eighteen Puranas. The eighteen Puranas of all the gods. Vishnupurana. Lord Vishnu. Shivapurana. Lord Shiva. Purana. All the Puranas. Eighteen Puranas. And he is the one who classified the Vedas into four.
Mark: Mm.
Swami: (He said) here you; your clan of sages you will practise this veda. This is the Samurveda. And you specialize in this Atharvaveda. And even in these four vedas there are sub-branches. It is called “sherkar”. “Sherkar” is like a tree.
Mark: M-hm.
Swami: The Vedas are but the same eternal tree .. and we have the four main branches …the four Vedas… and the sub-branches; you have “sherkars” so this line of rishis; they will practise this part of the of the rig-veda. They will practise this line of Rigveda. They will practise this line of Rig-Veda.They say even this perception; even this calculation, is perhaps erroneous; under-estimated (But!) They say we have today hardly one per cent of the original vedas. The rest have become extinct.
Mark: Mm.
Swami: The rest have become extinct. The Vedas were not put in computer. they were not put on papyrus.
Mark: Not recorded.
Swami: For a long time. Sruti. The other name for vedas is “sruti” the other name for vedas is sruti. “Sruti-mani” means “that which you have heard”. Sruti. Srutum. Sruti-mani. That which is heard. So they used to hear (listen) and the next generation; they catch on so they are chanting and (it is) not recorded anywhere (laughs)
so with the deterioration of the intellect of the human down the ages down lakhs of ages how many years we do not know. Vedas came into being at
Mark: Mm.
Swami: So All this Vidya; all this wisdom has got lost.
Mark: Mm.
Swami: So today they say approximately not more than maybe not more than one per cent; only a fraction of the original vedas are still alive (in existence). And it can be said that what you have even if you make use of that, that is good for every human being on earth to sustain the creation to carry on from now. What is left is much more than what we need today. Even that.
Mark: So the creation is sustained by prayer?
​

 

[Persia1]

London Accent



Download audio file (londonaccent.mp3)


London Bloke: Personally to myself, Class A drugs are drugs that…Ok I will put it this way…
Australian Bloke: Speed. Co…?
London Bloke: I will put it this way. To me non-Class A drugs are drugs that can be cultivated without any …modern farming techniques … or chemical interference… for example… non-Class A drugs: marijuana, even opium. Yeah? Class A drugs: heroin, cocaine, crack, ice, MDMA: ecstasy, ketamine. That to me is class A drugs.
Australian Bloke: What have they all got in common?
London Bloke: They all eat Mr Jack(?)
​

 

[Persia1]

I make Bread and Pizza



Download audio file (hannan.mp3)


Mark: What was your name again?
Hannan: My name is Hannan Benetan.
Mark: One more time.
Mark and Hannan: Hannan.
Mark: Hannan. How do spell that?
Hannan: H-a-n-n-a-n.
Mark: H-a-n-a. Hannan. What part of Israel do you come from?
Hanan: Rishon le Zion. The same city as Eran.
Mark: Did you work in Africa as well?
Hanan: No. I work in Israel in a bakery.
Mark: That is a beautiful job.
Hanan: I make bread and pizza and …
Mark: So you have to wake up every morning very early?
Hanan: Yes.
Mark: And what time do you finish work?
Hanan: Every day I work for like ten hours. I guess sometimes twelve.
Mark: That is too long.
Hannan: Yes but it is ok. It is a good one.
Mark: You like it.
Hanan: Yeah I like it.
​

 

[Persia1]

Mixed British Accents



Download audio file (mush.mp3)


(Can you tell a person from Southampton by the way they talk; by their accent?)

First English Guy: Oh yeah.
Englishwoman: That’s Southampton. It is about as far south as you can get.
First English Guy: “Mush”. By the way they use “mush” and things like that. That is a Southampton thing. Always used to get my back up. Mush.
Australian Guy: What does that mean?
Second English Guy: Like “mate.” I don’t know where it comes from.
First English Guy: “Are you having a drink, mush?” I always thought that was a Southampton thing but that is a Portsmith thing, as well?
Second Englishman: (nods)(non-verbal signal)
First Englishman: Oh, Ok.
​

 

[Persia1]

Himalayan Hike – 1 – Hiring a Guide



Download audio file (Himalayan Hike1.mp3)


Mark and Axel from Australia teamed up with Luis from Spain and Alex from France to hike to Malana in Himachal Pradesh. Gilles helped them negotiate the price and conditions of a guide over the mountain pass.
Gilles: You must be clear about where you go and when you go and how much you give and when you give(it).
Alex: Yeah yeah.
Gilles: You know what I mean? Then there is no trouble. You know? It must be very very clear. After if something is not on the way, (you will say) “It was not like this! It was not like this!”
Alex: Yeah.
Gilles: It is not good, no? It is (there will be) bad feeling.
(Hindi) (code-switching)
Gilles: Because for example you know he just told me now. You have to…He will go the second day, drop you in Malana. He will not stay in Malana. So you must be very clear. He wants to come back on the same day.
Mark: Mm.
Gilles: Otherwise he will spend three days.
Alex: Yeah.
Gilles: You know. If he has to stay in Malana… to sleep in Malana… He will not stay in Malana. So you must be very clear. He wants to come back on the same day. The second day he will not stay in Malana. So he must come back on the same day.
Mark: Yeah.
Gilles: He will arrive here at nine o’clock in the evening. You know? But it means the second day you have to start very early.
Mark: Yeah.
Gilles: Otherwise if you start at nine or ten o’clock, then he will reach Malana at two or three o’clock. Then he can’t come. He has to sleep and eat in Malana and to come back on the third day.
Mark: Yeah.
Gilles: Then it makes one day more.
Mark: Mm.
Gilles: You know what I mean? Otherwise he spends three days. You know? With food..If he has one thousand rupees, he pays the bus. He pays everything. OK. He pays the food. He pays to sleep. He has to pay something, you know?
Mark: Yeah.
Gilles: And out of one thousand rupees he has just four hundred rupees left, you know?
Mark: Yeah.
Gilles: He cannot be satisfied with this.
Mark: Yeah.
Gilles: Otherwise he will stay here and he will work here, you know? He will do something. You know what I mean? And if you want to walk in Malana also, it is better you walk with him.
(Hindi) (code switching to talk to others)
Gilles: So maybe it is better you keep him for two and a half days.
Mark: Mm.
Gilles: Because I know you will wake up at five o’clock. You will not rush. You don’t want this. You want to go slow.
Mark: Yeah.
​

 

[Persia1]

The Argentine Economy



Download audio file (argentine.mp3)


Australian Guy: How is the Argentinian economy now, like there was a crash a few years ago wasn’t there?
Argentine Guy: The crash was in 2001 and after that I don’t know if you remember we had five presidents in three weeks.
Australian Guy: Wow!
Argentine Guy: And since then they all retired on full presidential salary.
Australian Guy: Wow!
Argentine Guy: (laughs) And since then it hasn’t really recovered. Although it depends. The private economy has actually really boomed because as a result of the currency devaluing by three times, all our costs… if you are exporting, labor costs are a lot cheaper and if you are exporting to the dollar…
Australian Guy: Right.
Argentine Guy: For instance if you are in the farming economy we were doing very well until last year and now they are beginning to have inflation and so they are really hitting down on the private sector for instance I am a cattle farmer and we can no longer export beef …
Australian Guy: Right.
Argentine Guy: The theory being if we don’t export beef then there is going to be more meat on the national market and so it is going to push the price of beef down
Australian Guy: Right.
Argentine Guy: And it is going to help control inflation…
Australian Guy: Right.
Argentine Guy: And that is just one example of how they try and doctor the numbers and not try and go to the root cause.
Australian Guy: Right!
Argentine Guy: And at the moment our president is in a huge corruption scandal so it looks like his wife is going to take over.
Australian guy: Wow! Right. Argentina was the richest country in South America ten years ago.
Argentine Guy: Argentina was the richest country in the world after the Second World War.
Australian Guy: After the second World War.
Argentine Guy: We are still the richest country in South America.
Australian Guy: Chile is pretty strong too.
Argentine Guy: (laughs)
Australian Guy: Not so much?
Argentine Guy: Chile; I think the statistic is Chile has a tenth of the resources of Argentina and it is half as wealthy. I can’t remember the exact figures. Basically the Chileans are a hundred per cent Spanish and Indian in origin and they work hard. The Chileans are what they call “the Swiss of South America” because they work really hard. They are really really boring people.
Australian Guy: (laughs) I know you have to catch a flight Where are you flying to?
Argentine Guy: I am flying…I have got a twenty-seven hour flight and twelve hours time difference. I am going to Malaysia to South Africa to Brazil.
Australian Guy: Wow! Back home. Right. Have a safe trip.
Argentine Guy: Yeah. Thank you.
​

 

[Persia1]

The Man from Marseilles



Download audio file (marseilles.mp3)


Mark: So Eric, you are from France?
Eric: Yes.
Mark: Which part?
Eric: Which park?
Mark: Which part?!
Eric: My part is Marseilles. My city is Marseilles and my country is France.
Mark: But you speak English with an Indian accent.
Eric: An Indian accent? It is true?
Mark: It is nice.
Eric: It is strange because in France I have had a good teacher and for the accent very strict, no?
Mark: Uh-huh.
Eric: Because in France we say: “Where is my car?” You know?
Mark: With a strong accent?
Eric: Yeah a strong accent. The teacher said, “No. Where is your car?” It is different, no?
Mark: Uh-huh.
Eric: It is ok. That is why in India also they speak like me. Not with a big accent and me also. I do not have a strong accent in English. That is why for me it is easier to understand the Indian English.
Mark: Uh-huh.
Eric: Sometimes I heard some people who came from England and they had a very strong accent. I did not understand.
Mark: A difficult accent?
Eric: Yes because they rolled…You understand rolling accent?
Mark: Not really. Rolling? Rolling (their “r”s)?
​

 

[Persia1]

Liverpool Accent



Download audio file (liverpoolaccent.mp3)


Australian Guy: I am hungry.
English Guy: I am hungry.
Australian Guy: I am very hungry.
English Guy: I am starving.
Australian Guy: I am really very hungry.
English Guy: Oh God, I want…I need something to eat, I tell you.
​

 

[Persia1]

People and Places – The Swami 4 – The Same Thing



Download audio file (swami4.mp3)


Swami: So you have the five senses.
Mark: Mm. Mm.What is the relationship between Atman and Brahman?
Swami: Brahman and Atman are the same thing.
Mark: Mm.
Swami: Brahman is the lingua franca… is the terminology for “the formless infinite” as described in the Upanishads. Upanishads are the end of the Vedas. “Vedas” means “Knowledge”.
Mark: Mm.
Swami: The essence of all Vedas; ultimately the culmination; the genitor; the innermost, subtle most; the essence of the highest truth is contained in Upanishads.
Mark: Refined.
Swami: Ah. In Upanishadic terminology. In “Upanishadic” or “Vedic” terminology “Brahman” is the eternal formless infinite.
Mark: Mm.
Swami: “Atman” is used to attribute it when you want to classify “Brahman” as “Param-atman” (the supreme self), “Jiv-atman” (the individual self). So it is for the sake of creation; for the sake of differentiation; for the sake of explanation that the word “Atman” has been introduced. Again in the Vedas.
Mark: Mm.
Swami: Like that.
Mark: Mm.
Swami: That is the difference between “Brahman” and “Atman”. When we say “Param-atman”, we mean “Brahman”. The ultimate reality as said in the Upanishads.
Swami: All this is getting recorded?
Mark: Yes. Yes.
Swami: Wonderful.
Mark: I want to put this on the internet so many people can hear this knowledge.
Swami: Wonderful. We can put a lot of things that way and…
​

 

[Persia1]

Mashed, Smashed, or Whipped Potatoes



Download audio file (potatoes.mp3)


Wayne, from northern Kentucky, explains to Aaron the difference between mashed, smashed, and whipped potatoes.
Aaron: What’s the difference between mashed potatoes, smashed potatoes, and whipped potatoes?
Wayne: Well, whipped potatoes are when you take a blender and you blend them with a blender and beat them.
Aaron: Yeah?
Wayne: And they get kind of frothy…
Aaron: Yeah.
Wayne: And they get real light…
Aaron: Uh-huh.
Wayne: Kind of light.
Aaron: OK
Wayne: Alright? And smashed – or mashed – potatoes…
Aaron: Yeah?
Wayne: Are when you just take a fork…
Aaron: Uh-huh.
Wayne: You add your whipping cream or your butter…
Aaron: Yeah?
Wayne: Or your milk…
Aaron: OK.
Wayne: Grandma Campbell used to put milk…a little bit of milk with it.
Aaron: OK.
Wayne: And you just take a fork and you kind of beat it a little bit with a fork.
Aaron: Yeah.
Wayne: Smashed potatoes are what some of the restaurants – if it’s like a barbecue joint…
Aaron: Um-hm.
Wayne: They will just take a fork after they cook the potatoes…
Aaron: Yeah?
Wayne: And put their whipped cream in it or whatever and just take a fork and smash it a few times…
Aaron: Oh.
Wayne: And maybe whip it just a couple of times…
Aaron: Yeah?
Wayne: And throw it on your plate and it’s got chunks of potatoes in it. It’s smashed.
Aaron: Yeah.
Wayne: And you can have it with gravy or just whatever.
Aaron: Wow! That sounds delicious.
​

 

[Persia1]

What is it like in a Dogon Village?




Download audio file (luisdogon.mp3)


A group of friends start to talk about Dogon villages in Africa and end up talking about nationalism.
Mark: What is the Dogon village like?
Luis: They are clay… and they are…
Mark: Clay houses?
Luis: Clay houses.
Mark: Round houses?
Luis: No.
Mark: Square?
Luis: No, they are more square and a little bit…. They bring to mind (remind me) a lot the houses of the Navajo Indians.
Mark: In the southwest US?
Luis: Yeah exactly. Actually many things are really very very similar. There is something very particular. The Dogon worshiped another people who were occupying the same area; La Fales de Bandiagara; the Bandiagara Escarpment.
Mark: Say that again.
Luis: The Bandiagara. It is the area. Escarpment. It is like a cliff.
Mark: Right. Ok. Sorry.
Luis: So in this cliff but hanging on the cliff there are a lot of villages, which were abandoned ten centuries ago.
Mark: Uh-huh.
Luis: And these were inhabited by the Tellem.
Mark: The Tellem?
Luis: The Tellem people.
Mark: And the Dogon worship the Tellem?
Luis: No, they do not exactly worship the Tellem. They developed a system of beliefs, which is supposed to be the same one the Tellems had. Of course they do not know if the Tellem did or not. It is a mythical knowledge.
Mark: A mythical story. Yeah.
Luis: And they try to explain the monuments of the Tellem because they really built some very strange things. Actually the Tellem villages are the ones which are exactly like Navajo.
Mark: Uh-huh.
Luis: Or Pueblo villages.
Mark: The Dogon … the Dogon have some connection with Sirius 5, the dog-star, some…
Luis: Yeah,. actually there is something very strange and very funny. This kind of thing which happens, well, with the prepotence of the west. The Dogons for many years, for centuries; they were saying that they came from a star. Sirius, I think. Yeah. They have their own cosmography and their own..
Mark: Cosmology.
Luis: Cosmology yeah. They have this astrological knowledge.
Mark: Mm. Thats right yeah. They know about stars and planets which were only recently discovered by the Hubble telescope.
Luis: Yeah. That is the thing. So everybody was thinking…
Mark: Hubble bubble telescope.
Luis: It is not a star. It is just a myth of the Dogon. And then the prepotent west discovered that there was a star exactly in the same place as where these people were saying.
Mark: The what west?
Luis: The prepotent.
Mark: Prepotent west.
Luis: Prepotent west.
Mark: It is not a common word.
Luis: Ok but in Spanish it would be very common.
Mark: What does it mean then? Prepotent? Like?
Luis: Prepotent. Ahm.
Mark: Arrogant?
Luis: Exactly. The arrogant west.
Mark: The arrogant west. We are arrogant. The west is arrogant.
Luis: The west thinks the west is the best.
Mark: For a long time though…I mean when I lived in other countries I thought to myself, people are arrogant. Like, nationalism… Everybody thinks that their country is the best. Everybody.
Alex: I don’t.
Axel: Yeah everyone knows Australia is the best. (irony)
Mark: The ugliest shittiest places I have ever been; everybody thinks that it is the best place in the world because they were born there. Everybody.
Alex: I know but not me.
Mark: Nationalism. It is silly. hey?
Alex: Not me.
Mark: Not you?
Axel: Yeah I have met lots of people like that.
Alex: I was born in just…
Mark: Australians are the same. They are very nationalistic. They say you know Australia is the best country in the world but they have never been to the rest of the world. They do not know.
Luis: Well they know. They should know because actually Australians travel a lot.
Alex: Australians travel.
Mark: Yeah, some of them do.
Axel: But then there are like the country ones.
Luis: No. Traveling in Asia there are Australians everywhere.
Alex: What is the best? What does it mean?
Mark: What does it mean? Everybody loves family. Everybody loves mountains and rivers and sky and sunshine and beaches and nature. Everybody likes food, natural food.
Alex: I know that France is a very nice country but I hate to live there. When I stay there after three months, you know…
Luis: Exactly the same has happened to me in Spain.
Alex: But I like to go back you know. I go back I…Sometimes I feel sad at the end of my trip and I think about the place I am going back to and it makes me happy.
Luis: To me actually to finish (traveling) in my city; Granada to me it is the perfect place to come back to. Which means it is also the perfect place to live.
Alex: Yeah. I agree.
Luis: No, to me it is the perfect place to come back to. I like it a lot to come back but to come back you first have to leave. It is not enough to leave for just three days…Actually I know people who live in awful places; awful cities.
​

 

[Persia1]

Outside Oslo



Download audio file (outsideoslo.mp3)


Mark met a Norwegian woman at a cafe.
Mark: What part of Norway do you come from?
The Norwegian Woman: Just outside Oslo.
Mark: Oh Yeah. Is it like part of Oslo?
The Norwegian Woman: No it is a little town kind of east of Oslo, just outside.
Mark: Fishing town? Farming town?
The Norwegian Woman: More farming.
Mark: What is the name of it?
​

 

[Persia1]

People and Places – The Swami 3 – The Five Elements



Download audio file (swami3.mp3)


Mark: What are the five elements?
Swami: The first is earth.
Mark: Earth.
Swami: The most solid. Rough is the earth.
Mark: Matter.
Swami: Matter. Matter. Subtler than that is water.
Mark: Water.
Swami: Subtler than water is fire.
Mark: Earth, water, fire.
Swami: Subtler than fire and invisible is air.
Mark: Air.
Swami: And then the fifth one is …you cannot see …you cannot perceive and that is space.
Mark: Or ether.
Swami: Ether.
Mark: Yeah.
Swami: First ether is born from the supreme self; from the atman; the supreme self; the formless infinite, which is the highest truth. From that comes first the space; the concept of space. Let there be space. Ok. This entire millions of miles of …square miles of area. So let me speak on space.
Mark: Mm
Swami: There is space. There is nothing there in that. And from space slowly the wind starts blowing and that is considered as wind. Wind you cannot see.
Mark: Mm.
Swami: Space you cannot even feel but wind you can feel because it touches you.
Mark: Mm.
Swami: Space you can only hear. In space if there is a sound …ooouuu…some sound… some vibration only is visible. You can only perceive through the ear… space… and through space… in space …slowly the wind blows. The wind blows. You can see the…the vision of the wind.. .also the blowing…also you can hear. And also it can touch you. If there is a cool breeze we feel “Oh there is wind. Oh it is windy.” So you have two perceptions. You can hear and you can touch. Two. And from wind comes fire. Hydrogen is but a form of wind.
Mark: Fire?
Swami: Air. Wind. Air. A form of air. Wind is air and if that burns you can see form. The nitrogen..acetylene gases and this cooking gas. Cooking gas; it is only gas. It is only like a wind.
Mark: Mm.
Swami: It is also like a wind. But if it burns you can see the form also.
Mark: Mm.
Swami: And when fire is burning, DRRRR you hear the sound.
Mark: Mm. Crackling.
Swami: And and and. The sound effects.
Mark: Mm
Swami: Hot air
Mark: The heat.
Swami: You have two senses and the third one is you can see the form.
Mark: Mm.
Swami: The glowing form. There is a form you can see. So your eyes have come into operation.
Mark: Mm.
Swami: Your ears were in operation for space for ether to hear the sound. Your skin was in operation.
Mark: For the wind.
Swami: For the wind to feel the touch.
Mark: Mm.
Swami: And now your eyes have come into operation and you can see the form.
Mark: Mm.
Swami: Three.
Mark: Mm.
Swami: And from fire comes water.
Mark: Water.
Swami: Water. When water flows, firstly you can see the streams are giving the sound. The first element is air and water; you can feel. Water; you feel wet if you put water on the body, you feel water. Two. And water you can see the form. Water is a liquid If you hold it in a … It can take the form of a river. It can take the form of an ocean. It can take the form of a small lake. It can take the form of your bowl in which you take it; in the form of a glass.
Mark: Mm.
Swami: Whatever form in which you can contain, it is in that form flexible. So water has form. And water has taste. You can drink it. Fire you cannot drink. Wind; there is no taste. Space anyway you cannot taste so you have the fourth sense of perception and that is the perception of taste. Your tongue has come into operation.
(Hindi or Pahari?)
Swami: Four. You have four elements. Water. And from water has ensued the earth.
Mark: Taste. Taste. Taste.
Swami: The earth. Water is sense of taste. Ok. Water is the fourth element. The fifth element is the earth, solid earth, which is the support for human beings to exist. It is support for these mountains. It is support for this vegetation. It is support even for water.
Mark: Mm.
Swami: Oceans rest on the earth.
Mark: Mm.
Swami: That is the fifth element; the earth. And the earth has… the earth can sound because … when mountains… when the earth moves you can hear the sound…. The earth has the sense of sound of the first elements.
Mark: Mm.
Swami: And the earth also has the sense of touch because if a stone hits you…If a stone hits you, you can see. You can feel too. And the earth’s form is there. You can see the form. These are all the forms of the earth; mountains, vegetation; everything is earthly form. And the earth you can touch also. You can taste also. It can be tasted because when you are tasting vegetation, you are tasting a piece of the earth.
Mark: Mm:
Swami: When we eat this sabji, when we eat this daal, when we eat this roti, it is but the earth. It is a produce of the earth only.
Mark: Mm.
Swami: It can be tasted and you can…and you can smell; the sense of smell; it is the fifth sense. The earth is… so your nose has come into operation. So you have the five senses.
Mark: Mm.


​

 

[Persia1]

There are Mormons All Over the World



Download audio file (mormon1.mp3)


Mark: I am in Phnom Penh and I am talking to Elder Swenson. You are from Utah?
Elder Swenson: I am actually from Montana.
Mark: Right. Ok. But you are a Mormon?
Elder Swenson: I am.
Mark: So there are Mormons outside Utah?
Elder Swenson: There are. There are Mormons all over the world.
Mark: Right. I thought most of them lived in Utah.
Elder Swenson: There is a large number of Mormons in Utah but they are not all in Utah.
Mark: Right. Ok. So you are doing..like…you are away for a year?
Elder Swenson: It is actually two years and they call it a mission.
Mark: Ok
Elder Swenson: Right now what I am doing is I am serving my mission here in Cambodia.
Mark: Um-hm.
Elder Swenson: And teaching people in Cambodia about my church.
Mark: Right. So you’ve learned Cambodian?
Elder Swenson: I have.
Mark: Is it very difficult?
Elder Swenson: It is very difficult. But I feel for the Cambodians who are trying to learn English.
Mark: How long have you been here now?
Elder Swenson: I have been in country for about nine months so… and then I studied Cambodian in America for three months. So I have got about one year left. Altogether I have been out about twelve months.
Mark: What do you want to do at college?
Elder Swenson: I want to study biology and I want to become a dentist.
Mark: Wow! Great.
​

 

[Persia1]

I Was Doing Yoga




Download audio file (travelagent.mp3)


Mark ran into a Japanese guy at a travel agent in Rishikesh.
The Japanese Guy: Do you think I ought to take a local bus all the way?
The Travel Agent: No no no. It is open at five o’clock. Four o’clock. From this time. (There is a direct bus at four or five o’clock)
The Japanese Guy: Today?
The Travel Agent: Yeah, every day.
The Japanese Guy: Every day.
Mark: Where are you going?
The Japanese Guy: Dharamasala.
Mark: Dharamasala.
The Japanese Guy: You been there before?
Mark: No, I want to go.
The Japanese Guy: Too hot right now..here.
Mark: Yeah.
The Japanese Guy: It is no time for yoga now.
Mark: Yeah.
The Guy: I was taking a yoga class.
Mark: Where are you from?
The Japanese Guy: Japan.
Mark: Which part?
The Japanese Guy: Tokyo.
Mark: Right.
Another Customer: Do you how much I can get a…?
The Travel Agent: Seven hundred.
The Other Customer: Seven hundred?
The Travel Agent: Yeah.
The Japanese Guy: (to travel agent) So that is it? Thanks.
Mark: (to the travel agent) Do you have a ticket to…an air ticket from Delhi to Calcutta and also from Delhi to Bangkok?
The Travel Agent: Yes.
Mark: How much?
The Travel Agent: From Delhi to Calcutta and from Delhi to Bangkok. I will check.
Mark: Ok.
​

 

[Persia1]

When the Khmer Rouge was in Power



Download audio file (pahlinterview.mp3)


Mark: So Pahl what part of Cambodia do you come from?
Pahl: I come from Kompong Cham Province.
Mark: Kompong Cham. And you were born there?
Pahl: Yes, I was born there?
Mark: How far is it from Phnom Penh?
Pahl: It is about two hours.
Mark: Two hours by bus, by car?
Pahl: By taxi.
Mark: Mm-hm.
Pahl: Yes.
Mark: Is it on the coast or inland?
Pahl: No, not on the coast or inland. It is inland but along the Mekhong River.
Mark: Ok . Its on the river. Ok.
Pahl: On the way to Laos.
Mark: Right ok. And you come from a village or a big town?
Pahl: Yes. yes, I come from a village.
Mark: Uh-huh. How many (are there) people in the village?
Pahl: Now, I am not sure of the population in my village because I have been away and I do not know how many people now.
Mark: But like a few hundred, a few thousand?
Pahl: Must be like one thousand people.
Mark: That is quite big. And everybody is rice farmers or…?
Pahl: Most people they do like small business and some people they do, yes, rice.
Mark: And when did you leave,..like.. how old were you when you left?
Pahl: When I left there?
Mark: Yeah.
Pahl: In 2000..I moved to Phnom Penh and I went to high school.
Mark: Right. Did you come down by yourself or with family?
Pahl: I came to Phnom Penh and lived in my sister’s house.
Mark: Uh-huh. So you finished your high school and then you got a job?
Pahl: Yes. No. After I finished high school I could not find a job because in Cambodia (there is) unemployment, you know?
Mark: Is really high.
Pahl: Yeah it is so hard to get a job so I just do small jobs and just get a little bit of money.
Mark: Casual jobs here and there like little things. Right. Ok. That is tough. A lot of people (are) in that situation.
Pahl: Yeah sure because we just woke up from genocide.
Mark: Yeah yeah. The war. How old were you when the Khmer Rouge were in power?
Pahl: I was not born
Mark: You were not born.
Pahl: But my parents lived through that situation.
Mark: What did you learn about the war?
Pahl: About the war I learned from school. But most documents are not open.
Mark: Uh-huh.
Pahl: They do not talk too much about the genocide.
Mark: Have you been to the prison? Tuol Sleng.
Pahl: Yes. I have been many times there.
Mark: It is horrible.
Pahl: Yeah. It is a horrible place to see there. You can se a lot of equipment they used to torture people..
Mark: Yeah
Pahl: And different years, different torture.
Mark: Mm.
Pahl: Yes. Come there. You will see. They had photos also. And they are arranged year by year.
Mark: Ten years ago I lived here. I was working here as an English teacher. And I visited a friend’s house. He was living in an apartment. The war was over but in that apartment many people were killed. And in the bathroom there was a bloodstain on the marble.
Pahl: Yeah. I see.
Mark: It is a very strange feeling.
Pahl: And even now there is still a stain on the floor?
Mark: Mm. Yeah.
Pahl: They did not want to clean it and make it new?
Mark: Even? It was like a stain. I guess they cleaned it but they couldn’t change the color.
Pahl: I see.
Mark: Mm.
Pahl: It sounds like a spirit.
Mark: Yeah it sounds like a ghost. Yeah. Do you see ghosts? Feel ghosts?
Pahl: Ghosts?
Mark: Yeah. Ghosts. Spirits.
Pahl: No, I never saw one but I just heard about people..they talk about this.
Mark: M-hm. In Thailand everybody talks about “Phi” they say “Phi”
Pahl: “Phi” in Thai language. “Phi”?
Mark: Say again.
Pahl: “Phi” is Thai language?
Mark: Yeah.Yeah.
Pahl: Some people if they don’t see something with their own eyes, they do not believe it.
Mark: Yeah.
Pahl: But for me I heard many times that people saw ghosts or spirits. Like that. But I cannot believe.
Mark: Until you see with your own eyes?
Pahl: Yeah.
Mark: Some people are very visual. Like they..
Pahl: Yeah. They see. yeah.
Mark: Other people like..sometimes you don’t see… but you feel.
Pahl: It can depend on the atmosphere around you. Something around you.
Mark: Yeah.
Pahl: Sometimes you don’t feel that but to see a movie that shows something horrible.
Mark: It has an effect on you.
Pahl: Yeah.
Mark: Yeah.
​

 

[Persia1]

Who was the real Hannibal?



Download audio file (ishtar.mp3)


Syrian Guy: There. What happened there? You know?
Mark: You were talking about Ishtar. The old Assyrian goddess.
Syrian Guy: Ishtarte. Ishtarte.
Mark: Ishtarte. Yeah.
Syrian Guy: She was the goddess of the sun. The sun-goddess.
Mark: Right. This is in ancient Assyria.
Syrian Guy: Ancient Syria and there was Baal.
Mark: Yeah.
Syrian Guy: Baal too. There were like a few gods. You know?
Mark: Yeah.
Syrian Guy: There were even older gods. One of them was (phew!) I forgot but they were really old (huh!) like the Babylonians and old stuff.
Axel: I heard that the Carthaginians worshiped a god called Baal.
Mark: Ishtar Astarte.
Syrian Guy: Where?
Axel: The Carthaginians.
Mark: That was a colony of Phoenicia.
Syrian Guy: They were Phoenicians too.
Mark: Yeah yeah yeah yeah.
Syrian Guy: So they had to worship the same gods.
Mark: They had Baal, Ishtar, Astarte.
Syrian Guy: Hani-Baal! Hannibal. You know Hannibal?
Mark: Hannibal. Yeah. yeah.
Syrian Guy: He is from there.
Mark: Ah right. Ok. The name is connected.
Syrian Guy: Yeah. And he went to…anyway…You have seen the movie? You have seen the movie about him?
Axel: Ah, N..
Mark: Hannibal?
Syrian Guy: Yeah, Hannibal. The real Hannibal, not Hannibal the…
Mark: The historical Hannibal.
Axel: Oh yeah. Yeah.
Syrian Guy: Not that movie, the horror movie: Hannibal.
Mark: Hannibal and the elephants.
Syrian Guy: So yeah? Where were we?
​

 

[Persia1]

In those days it was called the Western Transvaal



Download audio file (isabel1.mp3)


Mark: What part of South Africa were you born in?
Isabel: In those days it was called the western Transvaal.
Mark: Right.
Isabel: These days it is called the Northern Province.
Mark: The Northern Province.
Isabel: Yes. It is west of Johannesburg. About a hundred and sixty kilometers west. Due west of Johannesburg.
Mark: Countryside?
Isabel: Countryside. Mining towns. Gold mining towns.
Mark: So you grew up in a mining town?
Isabel: Yes, I did.
Mark: How many people?
Isabel: I certainly didn’t know at the time how many people but I guess there were not too many. In our school there were about a thousand students which I thought was a hell of a lot. Ahm. I cannot estimate how many people.
Mark: I grew up in a mining town.
Isabel: I would say about twenty thousand. Twenty five thousand. Something like that.
Mark: I grew up on a mining town in Australia.
Isabel: Oh did you?
Mark: Twenty five thousand. Copper lead silver and zinc.
Isabel: Oh right. Ok. yes. They have a distinctive flavour; a quality of their own. I would hardly call it a flavour. My father was in the uranium plant.
Mark: An engineer?
(the sound of a match being struck) (the sound of a cigarette being lit)
Mark: So like, most people were white or most people were black or?
Isabel: Most well one wasn’t even so much aware of the population then. Most of the people who mattered in those days were white and then the mines of course…
when I say “mattered” it is certainly in inverted commas. (laughs)
Mark: Yeah. I know what you mean. Yeah.
Isabel: And then of course the mines had these huge compounds where they had imported labor from Mozambique and Zulu-land and all over and these men lived on their own in these huge compounds without their wives. (inhales) And they had curfew at nine o’clock at night. The sirens would go throughout and every black person in town would scatter for their little rooms at the backs of the homes of the people that they worked for.
Mark: How old were you when you left there?
Isabel: I was fifteen, sixteen. I left there as soon as I could. I couldn’t wait.
Mark: You went to the city to go to school?
Isabel: Mm. I carried on my schooling in Johannesburg. Stayed with my grandmother in an apartment and finished matric in Johannesburg.
​

 

[Persia1]

Hitching Around Australia



Download audio file (dahi.mp3)


Mark: So… so Dahi, what part of Ireland do you come from?
Dahi: I am from Cork. It is in the very south.
Mark: Is it the southern most part?
Dahi: It is the southern most county. It is not the southern most city.
Mark: Right ok so you are from Cork City?
Dahi: Yes.
Mark: So there is County Cork and also the City of Cork.
Dahi: Yes.
Mark: And were you born there?
Dahi: Yeah. (I was) born in Cork or thereabout.
Mark: And did you study there as well?
Dahi: Yeah I studied media there for two years.
Mark: Right. Ok. And then you went to Australia?
Dahi: Yeah, then I went to live and work in Australia for a year.
Mark: Right. And where did you go in Australia?
Dahi: I was living mostly in Melbourne. And I took a few months off as well to travel the whole country.
Mark: Right. Ok. Did you hitch-hike at all?
Dahi: Yes, that was mostly how I got around.
Mark: Did you have good luck or was there any trouble?
Dahi: Fantastic luck. (There were) only two days in six months of hitchhiking that I didn’t get a lift. (There were) some very friendly people there.
Mark: That is pretty good luck because I have heard stories of hitchhikers dying of starvation on the side of the road.
Dahi: (laughs) I have heard similar stories too but luckily it was never that bad.
Mark: Well I am glad to hear it. When I go back, I am going to do some more hitch-hiking myself.
​

 

[Persia1]

Kath from Surrey



Download audio file (kathsurrey.mp3)


Mark: Sorry what did you say your name was again?
Kath: My name is Kath. Short for Katherine.
Mark: Katherine. Katherine. Mark
Kath: Hello. (laughs)
Mark: What part of England are you from, Kath?
Kath: I am from a place called Surrey which is just south of London. I live in a horrible little town called Woking.
Mark: Woking?
Kath: Not very nice but I lived in Leeds for three years before I lived back there for six months.
Mark: Woking is that spellt W-o-k-i-n-g?
Kath: It is indeed. Yes.
Mark: I would say “Woking“.
Kath: Ah you would?It is a bit of a ghetto.The ghetto of Surrey we call it.
Mark: Right.
Kath: The ghetto of Surrey.
Mark: Why is that? Coz it is just..?
Kath: It is just horrible!
Nick: (laughs)
Kath: It is like full of either pikies… Do you understand “pikies”?
Mark: No.
Kath: Like horrible “chavvie” people. Do you understand chav?
Mark: No I don’t know that word either.
Kath: How would I describe a chav? Like a townie.
Mark: Pikie, townies. Yuk! Sounds awful.
Kath: Or just like “pretentious people”.
Mark: Pretentious?
Kath: I am probably more of a pretentious person than a Pikie, I would say.
Mark: It sounds there is a big subculture of gangs.
Kath: It is not that bad. To be honest I over-exaggerate it but like a lot of the south is very nice very like posh especially Surrey where I live but then you have got the horrible part but then you go up north and you go to some of the places up there; they are a lot worse. (laughs) So it is kind of all relative because I grew up there and then moved out of there I kind of didn’t like it so much.
Mark: And you moved up north?
Kath: Yeah. I moved up to Leeds because I was at university there.
Mark: And what did you study?
Kath: Psychology. So, yes, I am reading your mind. That is what many people
so they tell me and I just go “No, I am too busy thinking about myself.”
Don’t worry about it. I am only joking. (laughs). So yeah…
​

 

[Persia1]

They could have broke the back of OPEC



Download audio file (OPEC.mp3)


A guy from Indiana talked to Mark about the war in Iraq.
Mark: Which oil cartel?
Guy: OPEC.
Mark: OPEC. Right. And they were gonna like stop everything being hitched to the dollar and like..?
Guy: No. We could have broke…. When they went into Iraq they could have broke the back of OPEC. The biggies are Saudi Arabia, Iran. Syria does not a have a place. Venezuela. Kuwait.
Mark: Indonesia.
Guy: Yeah, they are not a big enough supplier.
Mark: Twenty per cent. Twenty per cent they have.
Guy: They could have broke them if we could have got Iraqi oil. If we got Iraqi oil then if we had control we could produce enough oil out of Iraq, if it was stable to manipulate, to…
Mark: OPEC?
Guy: To stop OPEC from saying “Oh well we need more money blah blah blah. We will shut down.” They could have cranked it up. They could have done it. And they did it. There were no weapons of mass destruction. That was a joke. If you are going to do it then fine. Go ahead and break OPEC. See what happens later. The problem is…it was Rumsfeld. Rumsfeld had never talked to a policeman to know that when you go into a country, take over a country and you disband the military, you disband the police; how many police officers do you need on the street to control Chicago or New York? How many police officers do you need to do this? This is not…This is New York, Chicago, LA. Any city. This is not a city with all the obvious (going by…I read a book) ethnic difficulties of Iraq. They had no way of controlling Iraq. They had like …what?!…one tenth of the…


​

 

[Persia1]

People and Places – The Swami 2 – Twenty-four hours I am on the job



Download audio file (swami2.mp3)


Swami: If you are meditating anyway there is a lot of heat.
Mark: Mm.
Swami: I have a lot of heat so that is why I wear very little (very few) clothes.
Mark: Do you meditate all night?
Swami: Not all night but in between I get up. I take tea and then I sit. Like that.
Mark: What time about?
Swami: There is no timing. There is no timing (time). Twenty four hours I am on the job. So if I am tired, I sleep for a couple of hours.
Mark: M-hm.
Swami: And then if I get up I quickly make a cup of tea. Fresh. On three stones like that.
(tapping sound) (whacking sound) (the sound of breaking firewood)
Swami: Three stones and a small quantity of firewood.
Mark: Uh-huh.
Swami: And the tea gets made in less than twenty minutes. I take tea and then I sit.
Mark: Uh-huh.
Swami: And if I am tired…
Mark: Chai? Chai tea?
Swami: Chai. And if I become tired I sleep and as soon as I wake up I take some cold water and make a cup of tea and then I sit. The idea is to keep the tempo on.
Mark: Mmh-hm. What kind of meditation are you doing?
Swami: Oh we do just whatever. The scriptures are there.
Mark: Chanting mantra?
Swami: Chanting only during the day. Only when I am in the wakeful state.
Mark: Mm.
Swami: When you are involved (?) there is silence. Silence.
Mark: Mm.
Swami: The essence of all these mantras; the essence of all these various hymns and all, and the essence of the truth of the higher truth; there are also mantras. But this is for the Gods. What you hear; it is meant for a particular god.
Mark: Mm.
Swami: But there are mantras which are meant for the supreme truth, which is formless. Formless, pure, resplendent and spirit. That is the infinite reality.
Mark: Mm
Swami: The supreme spirit.
Mark: Mm.
Swami: It is only spirit. It has no form. (Sanskrit?) God! His body is like space.
Mark: Mm.
Swami: But these gods; they have specific forms. Somebody is holding a chakra. Somebody is holding a (?) Somebody is holding this. Somebody has matted locks. Somebody has… They have specific descriptions.
Mark: Mm. Specific characteristics.
Swami: They are forms of the infinite. They are forms. They have assumed forms. The infinite. The formless infinite has assumed these forms for the sake of devotees so that they can identify themselves the particular form.
Mark: Mm.
Swami: It is easy to pray; easy to tune in, easy to meditate, easy to approach.
Mark: To focus.
Swami: When there is a limited form.
Mark: Mm.
Swami: When there is no form, it is formless. If you only hear my voice the effect will be much less.
Mark: Mm.
Swami: Suppose you hear my voice and I am not appearing. You hear my voice only in space. You can record it no problem but you cannot see me. You can’t see this colour. It is difficult for you to visualize. It is difficult for you to record.
Mark: Mm.
Swami: So God knows; he has created human beings in a very limited capacity. Our brain is limited. Our vision is limited. Our ears are limited.
Mark: Mm
Swami: Our physical strength is limited. You can smell only for a little distance
Mark: All our senses are limited.
Swami: It is limited. Yeah. We are alpha. “Alpha” means “low”. God is the infinite and we are very limited.
Mark: Mm.
Swami: So to suit this limited nature of our minds intellects of our heart and of our sense perceptions of our physical abilities to suit this limited creation which is of course a microcosm, a limited but a true sample of the infinite lord…. You have the same elements. The same five elements are there in the body. You have the same (?) You have the same intellect. You have the same mind.
Mark: What are the five elements?
Swami: Ah ah…ah ah
​

 

[Persia1]

Nick from Manchester



Download audio file (nickmanchester.mp3)


Mark ran into Nick from Manchester in the village of Malana in Himachal Pradesh.
Mark: So Nick you are from Manchester?
Nick: Yeah.
Mark: How long is it since you left there?
Nick: About three weeks we have been in India now. Yeah.
Mark: Right. You came straight from England to India?
Nick: Yeah. Straight into Delhi. Yeah. It was a bit of a culture shock but we have got used to it now. It is great.
Mark: Oh good. What were you doing in Manchester before you came here?
Nick: In Manchester I was a landscape gardener.
Mark: Oh yeah.
Nick: Yeah.
Mark: That is a nice job working outside.
Nick: Yeah definitely. I enjoyed it. It is ah I definitely enjoyed it. It is totally different being away out here though. It is a totally different environment. (laughs)
Mark: Yeah yeah. India is a great teacher, isn’t it, isn’t she?
Nick: Yeah, definitely. It has definitely opened my eyes to the world a lot more. It is ah.. I would not say “narrow-minded” but a lot is closed off to the rest of the world I would have thought a lot in England so being out here has opened my eyes massively.
Mark: Oh good.
Nick: Yeah it is a really good experience.
Mark: Yeah me too.
Nick: Like we say every day is a school day.
Kath: (laughs)
​

 

[Persia1]

People and Places – The Swami 1 – What is your first language?



Download audio file (swami1.mp3)


Swami: Where are the cricket grounds in Australia … where test cricket is held?
Mark: Every city.
Swami: Every city?
Mark: I am from Brisbane.
Swami: Ah-ha Brisbane! Queensland.
Mark: That is right. Yeah.
Swami: Aah Adelaide, Perth and Sydney.
Mark: Where are you from?
Swami: I come from the south of India.
Mark: Where? Which state?
Swami: Andhra Pradesh.
Mark: Adhra Pradesh.
Swami: Yes.
Mark: So what is your first language?
Swami: That is Telegu.
Mark: But this morning you were chanting.
Swami: That was Sanskrit.
Mark: Sanskrit?
Swami: That is straight from the Vedas.
Mark: Right.
Swami: Vedas is the ..the..
Mark: The holy books?
Swami: The holy books.
Mark: Which mantra were you chanting?
Swami: That was..they were all in praise of the lord, Sun.
Mark: Surya.
Swami: The morning. Surya. The morning sun.
Mark: Gayatri aso?
Swami: Gayatri too and the Gayatri instead of just the one single mantra I chanted the whole stanza complete.
Mark: The long one?
Swami: From which this Gayatri was taken.
Mark: Uh-huh.
Swami: Gayatri was taken by some sages of yore so they said out of that…this bulk of stotras in praise of the lord Surya; this particular mantra has special potency.
Mark: Uh-huh.
Swami: So this is Gayatri. So that they gave to us. So that is what we chant. But I chanted the whole.
Mark: Is that the Rigveda?
Swami: This morning what I was chanting was from the Atharvaveda.
Mark: Atharvaveda?
Swami: Atharvaveda. Right.
Mark: It was very beautiful.
Swami: And Gayatri of course occurs in all the Vedas. All the four Vedas. The Rigveda. Rigveda is poetry. Yajurveda is prose and you have the Samurveda which is music. And then you have the Atharvaveda the fourth one. Like that.
Mark: Wow beautiful. Thank you.
Swami: (laughs)
​

 

[Persia1]

People and Places – Adrian – A German in India



Download audio file (adrian.mp3)


Mark: So Adrian, what part of Germany do you come from?
Adrian: I’m coming from the southwest of Germany.
Mark: What’s the name of the area?
Adrian: It’s called Palatinate.
Mark: Palatinate. And you come from a village or a city?
Adrian: Uh, I’m coming from a little village in the forest.
Mark: What’s the nearest city?
Adrian: The nearest city is Kaiserslautern.
Mark: Kaiserslautern, OK. Do you have a strong dialect in your village?
Adrian: Yes, very strong….yeah.
Mark: Alright, OK. And what are you doing now? Have you finished your study?
Adrian: Yeah, I…I did finish my civil service.
Mark: Uh-huh. What did you do for your civil service?
Adrian: I was working as a paramedic-cal…paramedical.
Mark: Uh-huh. In a hospital?
Adrian: Uh, in a hospital and as an ambulance driver.
Mark: Right, OK. And then you came…when did you come to India?
Adrian: Um, at the end of March.
Mark: Right. And now you’re traveling on a motorcycle?
Adrian: Yes.
Mark: Where did you go?
Adrian: Um, from here I’m going back to my home base in Dharamshala.
Mark: Uh-huh. And before you came here to Nagar, where were you…where did you go on the way to Dharamshala?
Adrian: Um, my first stop was in Rewalsar Lake.
Mark: Rewalsar Lake.
Adrian: Then the second stop was near Manikaran.
Mark: Um-hmm.
Adrian: And third stop was in Keylong.
Mark: Keylong, I don’t know that.
Adrian: It’s on the way to Leh.
Mark: Uh-huh, ah right, right. Is it in Kashmir or Himachal Pradesh?
Adrian: In Himachal Pradesh.
Mark: Right, OK.
Adrian: It’s just before the border to Kashmir.
Mark: And then you went up to a very high pass.
Adrian: Yeah.
Mark: What’s the name of the pass?
Adrian: It’s the Rohtang Pass.
Mark: Rohtang Pass. Was that only recently opened?
Adrian: Yeah, it was just opened ten days before.
Mark: You mean ‘opened’ because of snow or ‘opened’ because of the Indian government?
Adrian: No, opened because of snow.
Mark: Right. OK, great. Was it dangerous?
Adrian: Uh, sometimes a little bit, yeah.
Mark: I hope you have a safe trip.
Adrian: Yeah, thank you.
​

 

[Persia1]

Japanese Popular Culture – Children



Download audio file (aili1.mp3)


Aaron: Hey Aili, what movie did you watch tonight?
Aili: Totoro.
Aaron: Totoro? Did you like it?
Aili: Yes. Makkuro Kurosuke.
Aaron: There was a makkuro kurosuke in it?
Aili: Yes, here.
Aaron: Really?
Aili: Right here.
Aaron: What is a makkuro kurosuke? What color is it?
Aili: Black!
Aaron: It’s black? And…
Aili: All black and it have white eyes and brown…and black…oh…black…white…two eyes.
Aaron: Really? What’s your favorite movie?
Aili: Totoro.
Aaron: Totoro? Yeah? Who’s in Totoro?
Aili: Nekobasu.
Aaron: The Neko bus?
Aili: Totoro.
Aaron: Yeah? Have you ever seen a totoro?
Aili: No.
Aaron: No? Would you like to see a totoro?
Aili: No.
Aaron: No? Would you like to see a makkuro kurosuke?
Aili: Look! My makkuro kurosuke is over there.
Aaron: Oh, good.

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[Persia1]

People and Places – Annette 1 – Where are you from?



Download audio file (annette.mp3)


Mark: What’s your name?
Annette: Annette.
Mark: Annette. And where are you from, Annette?
Annette: I’m from Denmark.
Mark: Oh really? What part of Denmark?
Annette: Jutland.
Mark: Jutland. That’s near…that’s on the European mainland?
Annette: Yeah, kind of.
Mark: Close to Germany?
Annette: Yeah, it is.
Mark: Can you speak German?
Annette: Yeah.
Mark: OK.
Annette: A little bit.
Mark: A little bit.
Annette: Yeah.
Mark: Ok, thanks a lot.
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[Persia1]

People and Places – Aaron 1 – “Actually he was born in Mississippi.”



Download audio file (aaron1.mp3)


Mark: You were born in..What state were you born in, Aaron?
Aaron: I was born in Tennesee.
Mark: What part of Tennesee?
Aaron: Memphis, Tennesee.
Mark: Memphis, Tennesee. Right. That is where Elvis comes from.
Aaron: Actually, I believe he was born in Mississippi.
Mark: Was he?
Aaron: Yeah, originally and, um, he sort of took up residence in Memphis when he was doing all of his recording and performing.
Mark: Right.
Aaron: So that is where he based himself and he made, you know, “Elvis” synonymous with Memphis.
Mark: Right. Memphis that is a pretty big city, hey?
Aaron: Ahm. I don’t know a whole lot about Memphis. I would not call it a big city but I would call it a … I would say a small-size big city.
Mark: It is kind of famous for music, isnt it?
Aaron: Yeah blues.
Mark: Country music?
Aaron: No, country music is more east Tennesee. Nashville.
Mark: Nashville. So is Memphis west Tennesee?
Aaron: Yeah, it is west Tennesee. It is right on the Mississipi River across from Arkansas and very close to Mississipi.
Mark: Across from Arkansas?
Aaron: Yeah.
Mark: Right next to Arkansas?
Aaron: Yeah, that is where Bill Clinton is from, actually.
Mark: And the capital of Arkansas is Little Rock, isn’t it?
Aaron: That is right.
Mark: Right. Ok.
Aaron: I believe I have an uncle living right there somewhere.
Mark: Right. I would like to go there.
Aaron: (laughs)
Mark: So you were born in….
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[Persia1]

People and Places – Burke 1 – Grew up on the road?



Download audio file (burke1.mp3)


Mark: Did you say…? Burke! Did you say you were…? Did you say you grew up on the road?
Burke: Ahm. Well. Actually I grew up in the back of a backpack but that is because … I was born in … in West Africa.
Mark: Wow!
Burke: … in Kumasi, a small town in Ghana.
Mark: Uh-huh.
Burke: And left there when I was about two years old.
Mark: Uh-huh.
Burke: … went through Europe for about a year, with my parents, and then returned to Canada at the age of two and a half or three years old to Ontario. Toronto.
Mark: Wow!

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