Syria

Coordinates: 35°N 38°E / 35°N 38°E / 35; 38

Syria (ⁱ/ˈsɪ.rɪə/; Arabic: سوريا‎ or سورية, Sūriyā or Sūrīyah), officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in Western Asia. De jure Syrian territory borders Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest, but the government's control now extends to approximately 30–40% of the de jure state area and less than 60% of the population.

A country of fertile plains, high mountains, and deserts, Syria is home to diverse ethnic and religious groups, including Syrian Arabs, Greeks, Armenians, Assyrians, Kurds, Circassians,Mandeans and Turks. Religious groups include Sunnis, Christians, Alawites, Druze, Mandeans, Shiites, Salafis, and Yazidis. Sunni Arabs make up the largest population group in Syria.

In English, the name "Syria" was formerly synonymous with the Levant (known in Arabic as al-Sham), while the modern state encompasses the sites of several ancient kingdoms and empires, including the Eblan civilization of the 3rd millennium BC. Its capital Damascus is among the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. In the Islamic era, Damascus was the seat of the Umayyad Caliphate and a provincial capital of the Mamluk Sultanate in Egypt.

Faryal

Faryal (born in Syria) is an Indian film actress and dancer of mixed Indian and Arabic descent working in Hindi films. She was a popular Bollywood cabaret dancer and actress in the 1960s and 70's.

Early life and background

Faryal was born in the Damascus area of Syria to an Indian father and a Syrian mother. She completed her education at Loretto Convent, Simla, Cathedral High School and St. Xavier's College, Bombay. Faryal worked for a while as an air hostess in Air India before joining films. She is a product of the FilmaIaya School of Acting.

Career

Faryal entered Bollywood in 1965 in the black-and-white film Zindagi Aur Maut, as a lead role opposite Pradeep Kumar. This film contained famous song "Dil Laga kar hum ye samjhe" sung solo by Asha Bhonsle and Mahendra Kapoor; both these songs are available on YouTube. Faryal was liked by people and resulted in her getting lead role in film Biradari opposite Shashi Kapoor. The movie was a total flop. She was noted for her role as a cabaret dancer in the movie Jewel Thief released in 1967. After the movie's release, offers started pouring in. In an interview in 1973, Faryal stated that "Ever since Goldie cast me in that glamorous dancer's role in Jewel Thief, film makers have looked upon me as an "excellent cabaret dancer". "Whereas in reality I have never learnt dancing,". "I don't even like dancing; I rather hate it". She was also noticed for her roles in Rajesh Khanna-Mumtaz starrer 'Sachcha Jhootha' and Dharmendra-Waheeda Rehman starrer 'Man Ki Aankhen'. At first afraid of being typecast, Faryal was reluctant to accept the numerous offers that she received soon after the release of Jewel Thief. But gradually she realized that if she refused the roles there were ten others ready to replace her. And now the bath tub scene in Apradh released in 1972 had given me an even worse image". Faryal retired from movies in 1984 after her performance as the girlfriend of Jeetendra in Gold Medal.

Jewel Thief

Jewel Thief is a 1967 spy thriller Hindi film directed by Vijay Anand. The film stars Dev Anand, Vyjayantimala and Ashok Kumar in the lead roles. It also features four bond girl-like actresses portrayed by Tanuja, Helen, Faryal and Anju Mahendru with other actors appearing in supporting roles. It was produced by Dev Anand's home production, Navketan Films, following their biggest hit in 1965 – Guide.

The film became a box office hit.J.M. Barot also received the Filmfare Best Sound Award for this film. Tanuja received a Filmfare nomination as Best Supporting Actress.

Plot

Vinay (Dev Anand), is an ordinary young man who finds himself constantly mistaken for a look-alike jewel thief named Amar. Vinay works with the police to impersonate Amar and crack his crime ring, but it seems that Amar has decided to impersonate Vinay, as well, and soon their true identities are thoroughly muddled.

Vinay lives with his father, a Police Commissioner, and his mother in Bombay. Vinay's dad is quite upset with him as he has not learnt any skills, and spends all his time examining stones and jewellery. The city is being held at ransom by a daring jewel thief, who continues to baffle them to no end. They do get a pleasant surprise when they find out that he has secured employment with a leading jeweller by the name of Vishamber Nath. Vinay also gets to meet Nath's attractive daughter, Anju, and there is romance budding in the air. This is short lived when several people greet Vinay as "Amar" or "Prince Amar". Things come to a boil when a young woman named Shalini comes forward and claims that Vinay is her fiancé. Vinay is able to prove to them that he is indeed Vinay, and co-operates with them to locate this elusive Amar – only to find himself embroiled in a devious scheme – that robs him of his sanity, makes him lose his memory, identity, and makes him a target of every policeman in India, particularly in the then-independent Kingdom of Sikkim.

Belly dance

Belly dance is a Western-coined name for a type of Middle Eastern dance. Originally a "solo, improvised dance involving torso articulation," belly dance takes many different forms depending on the country and region, both in costume and dance style, and new styles have evolved in the West as its popularity has spread globally.

Names and terminology

The term "belly dance" is a translation of the French term "danse du ventre", which was applied to the dance in the Victorian era, and probably originally referred to the Arabic tribe Ouled Nail dancers of Algeria, whose dance used more abdominal movements than the dances described today as "belly dance". It is something of a misnomer, as every part of the body is involved in the dance; the most featured body part is usually the hips.

In Arabic, the dance is known as "Raqs Sharqi" ("Eastern Dance") or "Raqs Beledi" ("Country Dance" or "Folk Dance").

Technique and movements

Belly dance is primarily a torso-driven dance, with an emphasis on articulations of the hips. Unlike many Western dance forms, the focus of the dance is on relaxed, natural isolations of the torso muscles, rather than on movements of the limbs through space. Although some of these isolations appear superficially similar to the isolations used in jazz ballet, they are sometimes driven differently and have a different feeling or emphasis.

1945

1945 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday (dominical letter G) of the Gregorian calendar, the 1945th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 945th year of the 2nd millennium, the 45th year of the 20th century, and the 6th year of the 1940s decade.

Events

Below, events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix.

January