Original version

BBC World Service Online

From Our Own Correspondent

News

Insight, wit and analysis from BBC correspondents, journalists and writers.

Insight, wit and analysis from BBC correspondents, journalists and writers from around the world.

From Our Own Correspondent: India and Austria

Two women wearing traditional Dirndl dresses

24/10/2012

India and Austria

BBC World Service - From Our Own Correspondent, India and Austria

Stories from correspondents in India and Austria. Presented by Pascale Harter.

Craig Jeffrey examines the Indian phenomenon of 'jugaad' – making do with what's at hand. And Bethany Bell tries on the traditional dress that’s back in fashion in Austria.

Stories from India and Austria, presented by Pascale Harter.

There are some countries where, when your radio or watch is broken, you throw it away and get a new one. There's no one to fix it, even if you wanted to. And then there are other countries where broken things have a hundred incarnations before  being harvested for any useful parts. India is considered to have a particular talent for improvising in this way. Craig Jeffrey has been talking to students in Uttar Pradesh who feel that this talent for fixing and making do, called 'jugaad' in Hindi, is a mixed blessing.

In Austria, wearing traditional clothes known as Tracht used to mark a person out as conservative, even politically far-right.  But now these national costumes - lederhosen for men and dirndl dresses for women - have recently become rather fashionable. Despite living in Vienna for a decade, Bethany Bell has just recently tried on a dirndl for the first time – so will she go for the apron?

(Image: Two young women wearing traditional Dirndl dresses. Credit: AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

Accessibility links

Programme Index

From Our Own Correspondent

India and Austria

Genres

Brand

BBC World Service Online

About BBC World Service