 How's everybody doing today? Happy New Year. It's Brandy, Brand New Bingo. And David and I would like to introduce Rob. Rob is actually the team captain of the band entry for the THONs. And I came to know you, I guess your band entry team started last year for the very first time. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, I think we're just about to start on our third or maybe the fourth THON. So next week, I think, yeah. That's how I came to know you. And I remember watching the long list that total tally that Alice gives us, Alessia gives us, and I was rooting you on. I was like, come on, you can do it. So it was great. And I think it might have been your first or second THON I reached out to you. And I said, there was some great scenes, such a great new team that I know they'll pull you out. Great in effort and smaller numbers, but I hope we can improve on that. I think you're doing well. And for everybody who just joined, I did just post the first bingo card. We'll get to it in just a second, but wanted to talk a little bit about India and about if Rob could educate us a little bit on the modern India genealogy, which if I'm correct, you've got the British rule in independent India, right? Yeah, yeah, that's right. So my family were four generations before me in India. I actually have never been to India. I was, my father had moved to Central Africa when I was born, or before I was born. And so the British rule extended up to 1947, the independence. So the records in British India are quite good, but not necessarily 100%. Especially if you have, like I have some Irish ancestors who were in India and were Roman Catholic. And for some curious reason, the British government didn't require the Roman Catholics to submit their birth, marriage, and death records to Britain. So I in fact have a great grandmother who, a lovely looking lady from the photos and bore lots of children, like many of them did, has absolutely zero records other than her death and jumbled poor in 1902. So I have had no records to go on other than that and Family Bible with some handwritten notes. But I managed to deduce where she fitted in the tree by using DNA, which is absolutely fantastic. But it's not 100% certainty. So, well, that's kind of interesting because then you bring in the DNA aspect. And we were talking about how large India is. And I'm gonna guess that most are not testing, DNA testing, but maybe the British rule immigrants, I guess they would be called. Do still do the DNA testing? Yeah, I think there's a lot of descendants of British India people of mixed ethnicity, like me, who can trace roots back to some in Britain, some in Ireland, and some unknown. If you look at the Indian ethnicity, the Indian content, the records that are around are pretty much British records. And one way to get around that is to contact the churches, which is not always successful, but can be done. So if I was somebody, let's say that my neighbor who happens to be from India would like to trace their heritage back. The best way that they would do is go back to contact their community where they are from, from India. Would that be, let's, I forget, I think there's 29 states in India. Would they contact their state or the region or would they contact other people off to contact their church or their local? To be honest, I'm not an expert in that. I would imagine that the church and the community would be your primary sources if they weren't in the records that do exist. Because there are records after the British left, after independence that are on resources like Find My Past. Slightly unfortunately, what's happened with Find My Past records and some other sources that the original documents are not available online. Whereas if you go back further in time, they were. And you could check the transcription, but it's kind of annoying that the modern ones, you don't get to see that and that's a shame. So the hope is that, like globally, I guess, I hate to always use United States as an example because we are talking about genealogy globally. But every day, I notice indexing occurs. And what I couldn't find on a grandparent maybe two years ago, I can find maybe today. So is that the hope? Is that what's going on for those records from Find My Past or they're just at a stall? I think you're right, the indexing is growing. Yes. That's great. But then the other side of it is that they're kind of holding back on some of the information they give you. And maybe it could be a copyright issue, I don't know. I notice Find My Past do have some records from Family Search and I don't really understand who's the lead there, but I guess sometimes it's Family Search, the FHL, so I don't know. I was fascinated because when I was researching this, they were saying Search Ancestry does have some records and Family Search has some records. So I was fascinated. My ancestors in genealogy does not go back to India, but I am really inspired by you coming in and starting the band entry, even with yourself or a few members. It's really inspiring because you're saying we're gonna do this. And then I was hoping, I think if it's anyone to talk a little bit about the 15 Nations Global Tour, and let me put that up. Twist my arm, because India's first. So we're really excited about this one. It was actually a suggestion when we asked how we can celebrate, because this is Wikitree's 15th anniversary year. And so it was suggested that we pick 15 of the more underrepresented countries and try and add their heads of state, figure out last name issues, things like that. So David Randall has taken a lead on this. It's our 15 Nations Global Tour and he's done an exceptional job so far. And I've seen a lot of excited people jumping in to participate, which is super awesome. And our first stop on the tour, as Stanley said, is India. And so they have been hard at work trying to add different heads of state, different notables. And partly the goal is to connect to the tree, but more than that, it's just to have really nice, well-represented profiles for these countries. So they're really focused on the biographies and getting those stickers and categories and really making some nice profiles too. This brings up something interesting too, because if you notice the font, the text, the language is gonna be in, I believe, is this Hindu? I'm not sure. I think my apologies for possibly getting that wrong, but I love seeing the global part of Wiki. It's a nice thing. Yeah, yeah, it's exciting. And I'm really glad it was suggested. I wish I could remember who suggested it, but I don't off the top of my head. But I think it'll be a great project. So each country has three weeks. If you get into a country you're really into, you can keep working on it for sure. Some of these we hope kind of develop into their own projects that continue on, but we'll be doing a new country every three weeks and just see what we can get out of. I think that's great. I was thrilled that India was put first, not only because we're talking to Rob today, but I'm still fascinated by this country because it has so many inhabitants. And as Rob had mentioned prior to us going live, that a lot of inhabitants have moved and migrated. And there's a lot of history here. And it would be just amazing if everybody wanted to help out, pick a family, research, help research. And I know Rob would not mind if anybody was looking for a THON team. Yeah, yeah, please come and join us. He definitely would not mind that. And then keep an eye on this 15 Nations Global Tour because as we said, this is going on, this is continuing. So this is really a cool project to go. So Rob, why did you decide to start the THON team? Well, my first THON I volunteered for the British Oaks or Royal Oaks, a British team, because I live in Gloucestershire. I'm fairly familiar with that. So I signed up for that. And then the next THON came along. I thought, well, yeah, nobody's doing India. We could have a go at that. I mean, I really didn't know what to do. I got fantastic help from you guys how to put the tree together, the space page for the tree team. And then I had to think of a name. And well, what's a well-known Indian tree? And it's a Banyan tree. And I'd heard the word, but I didn't really know what a Banyan tree was. And one of you lovely artists drew that picture. Was that you, Sandy? Oh, you pulled the screen? Yeah, that beautiful picture. That was Sandy or Mandy or somebody. One of you guys on the THON team. Oh, this one. Yeah, that blue one. No, anyone, was that you? No, no. That's beautiful. Beautiful picture. I wanna guess Mindy then, because Mindy does it. Mindy, Mindy, yeah. I was going Mandy, Sandy, yeah. Mindy, yeah, Mindy did that. And there's a real Banyan tree, just if you scroll the other way. There we go. Oh, yeah, yeah. So it was just fun to do. I mean, these THONs are crazy because you're just going flat out. And we never came last. We came pretty close to last. It's not any way. It's not about that. It's about just contributing. It really is. And I will tell you, I tell this every fun. People are sick and tired of me saying it, but usually I'm one team Virginia. And one year, we almost did not win. We were 25 short. And with the people who didn't add the one profile or the two profiles, if they did not do it, we would not have won because we barely got this 25 in. We were working at like 6 a.m. Eastern time. So you're right. You're so right. The THON is, I love the THON because I think it's about camaraderie. Yeah. I love talking to everybody. I love seeing what everybody else does. And I love the Hangouts. I love seeing people in the chat tell us what they're working on and things like that. So it was great here. So for those of you that even if you decide not to join the THON, the Band and Tree for the THON, there's still, India is still on the 15 passport tour. And anytime you can come over to this page because Rob has given you his go-to sources that he mentioned by my past in Fibby Wiki. Did I say that? Yeah. So look at that if you can click on that because it's a fantastic resource. It's free to use for anybody. If you're a member, you can get a few extra benefits. But the kind of thing that's happened there is that I remember I was talking about the Roman Catholics. Records are not necessarily available. Some of the Fibbis members have been over to India. They've got permission to photograph the records of a church. For instance, there's a church in Lucknow. You may know that Lucknow was the scene of a massacre where my great-great-grandfather died, incidentally. But they photograph these records and they're available to members for a small fee. And that's just fantastic. Just finding a gravestone of an ancestor or a relative it's just fantastic and adding to the records. So there's a really great bunch there and we have tuition talks and a fantastic Facebook page. So all of those things are free, it's great. But you're right. The membership is very reasonable. Yeah, yeah. 12 pounds a year is very reasonable. And it not only does it come with the research, but a member's area, you also get the journals. And the journals can be a wealth of information as you're researching too. I have written an article in it. Oh, okay. See, word learning isn't much about you. Okay, well, if everybody's ready, let me give you the bingo part. We're gonna do the first bingo part and I've already warned Rob that I will not be pronouncing these names. So let's bring up the very first word. Now, a few things about bingo wanna mention that you can get bingo up, down, diagonal. To win bingo, you have to be the first person to type bingo in the chat. And as soon as anyone's dog sees bingo, a bark will happen or a paw, right? So you have to be the first to say bingo and keep saying if we missed it, because sometimes we get to chatting. So don't worry. And you can only win once every six months. But if you've already won, you still can play and have fun. So don't worry. And I don't have my coveted bingo mug, but if you win, I recommend the bug. Okay, so the first one, I can do this one, Rob Cashmere and Bamboo. You gave me these words, so shampoo. Shampoo, yeah, yeah. And thug. Is thug mean what I think it means? Well, it does. Yes, yes, heavy guys who would give you a hard time. And avatar, why avatar? Ah, I've forgotten the derivation of that. That's terrible. But yeah, you know it as a movie name and you know it as an English phrase, but it is originally an Indian word in one of the languages. And you know what word I forgot to add since you mentioned movie? And you guys can probably guess. I'll let you guess and chat. There's one word that has, India is famous for movies that I forgot to add. Yeah. Pajamas. Pajamas, yeah. This one I get. That one I understand. I don't know. I don't know. Especially, right now, it's blighty. So what's it used in England, Scotland, India? Blighty, do you know what blighty means? No? It's what the soldiers in India referred to England or Britain as dear old blighty. Yeah, when they were. So the Indian soldiers would call the British soldiers blighty? No, no, the country, going back to dear old blighty. Oh, okay. There's a song. I'm sure there's a song. I wouldn't totally get that one. Bungalow. No, do you use that in America? Probably not. It's a single story house. And so that's an Indian origin word. Oh, I see. I see. Thank you, John. That's the one I forgot to put in. Yeah. I will tell you, I'm a huge fan of Bollywood. So I forgot that. I am such a, I mean, they even have a pride and prejudice version in Bollywood. So. Now you know what a no-busy means? That is like an eggplant. Yes. Yeah, or brinjal. Yeah. It's a popular, right? Now, this is a pop group, but it's, or was, and originally an Asian word. Yeah, the, I'm not sure of the meaning, but I'm sure someone will know. Someone lives in a bungalow. We'll lose. Oh my gosh. Yeah. Does that mean what we think it means? Money? Yeah. Yeah, I think so. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. People think of this as associated with Hitler and the Aryan race, but it's, it's he borrowed it from Asia, really. Interesting. So it was originally Asian, Indian, Yeah. part of the Aryan area as well. Pakistan, probably. Vandana. This one. I don't know that one. Oh, tell us. Well, if it means what, Vandana means, then I know if it's, you know, Vandana. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. As in me and Bobby McGee. Oh, yes. Great song. Great song. Chutney. That's like a mango dish, right? Yeah. Yeah, it can be mango. You can have mango, Chutney. Yeah. Yeah. What do you want me to eat? A lot of English speakers will know these words, but they may not be aware where they came from. Is this to pull your mouth down from the heat or is it just something on a plate? Just an additional, additional something to add to curry or anything, really. We got a bingo. We got a bingo. We got a bingo. Yay. Okay, Patty. So what you need to do is you need to email someone very special because she will get you your prize. And I highly recommend the bingo, Friday Night Bingo mug. I love it. I left it by the teapot. So I don't have it now. Or a t-shirt, right? You got a t-shirt or a mug. Uh-huh. So either one will go. Can we perhaps, Patty? That was pretty good. Pretty cool. Okay. Does anybody have any questions for Rob about India? About India, I was fascinated a little bit with the whole British Empire leaving in the transition as well. But there were a lot of wars that were fought there. That the British came, I guess to the Scots in the Irish go to India as well. Yes. Yeah. When I was researching my great-grandmother whose last name at birth was Toomey, in a desperation trying to find something, I listed every single Toomey I could find on Find My Past. And there's a massive number. And pretty much all of them were young soldiers who lived and died there. And so, yes, huge numbers of, sorry, that was my computer making noise. Yeah, there's vast numbers of Irish, Scottish. And then during World War II, a lot of soldiers from other parts of the world, including my father who was living in Central Africa then. He was born in Jabalpur in India, but went out as a mining engineer to Africa and then joined up the army and was sent to Burma via India. Yeah, he met up with his family there in... So when he was living in Africa, he was a British citizen and then got sent to India? Yeah, and then Burma, yeah. Yes, he was a British citizen. In modern times, he wouldn't be because his last British ancestor was three or four generations behind him. But now you have to, I think you have to show more recent parentage than that. I know. But so he probably may not even have been allowed to enter Britain, but we got there. And I just had a special delivery. It's nice when your husband works from home on Fridays. Come on. Oh, absolutely. Come on. I would recommend Pat to get some of... Unfortunately, he drank the hot chocolate. So there's nothing there. So, well, that's interesting. So John had mentioned that he has a second great-uncle in the Zulu War and make sure everybody that if I posted the second bingo part up, we're gonna give you a minute to get the bingo part up. And Betty Lou has a question. How stable have the borders been over the years? Europe has had several wars that cause boundary changes every few decades. Great question. Absolutely. Again, I'm no expert, but you'll probably be aware of the partition between India and Pakistan during the mid 1940s. And then other country borders between India and Nepal, India and various other neighbors like Myanmar or Burma have changed over the years. Yes, there's always been, well, for many years there've been those problems. Afghanistan was a big disputed area. My grandfather was involved in the second Afghan war and he got mentioned in dispatches for that, for which his children were very proud. Yeah, so it's been torn by trouble over many years, yeah. Do you have the, your grandfathers, do you have dimensions of the dispatches and on the wiki tree profile? Yes, I do, yeah. And we'll have to see, we'll have to see if I can bring that up because that's fascinating to read dispatches. So for all you military and war fans, a lot of us in the States tend to stick with civil war a lot and then we'll venture out to war one or two. We're talking about different wars here. So military war fan, this India is a great area to investigate in that profiles to wiki tree as well. So you've got it all for everybody. You got a little bit of something that might interest everybody with us. Okay, let me bring up the bingo card. Everybody got your bingo card? I'm ready. Okay, I kind of winged this one. This one Rob gave me some words and then I fully flew them in before I bring this up that I did go to one of my favorite local Indian restaurants. Oh, I mentioned this one. Yeah, right, honestly, they helped me with some of the words. But this one I think might be yours, Rob. Lucknow? Lucknow, yeah. That's where my great, great, great grandfather was killed. He suffered wounds to his shoulder and died a few days later. And there's no known burial for him. He was disposed of somewhere. And but his wife and three children escaped. And it was a very arduous journey to Calcutta. Well, I don't know what became of his wife, his widow. But the fascinating thing is one of the daughters, she married twice, had 13 children and lived on three continents. So a pretty amazing lady. A mustard lady. Yoga, okay, that's it. You'll know this one. Yeah. Oh my God. Where's the puppy? Because I will say, my dog every morning does what we call puppy yoga. Does the stretch this way? Oh yeah. That way. Your dog does it? She sleeps in her crate. So every time I open the crate, she takes two stoves on and she... Structures. I don't think you guys are finding out about puppy yoga too. Oh my God. Yeah, we just talked about this area, right? Jaipur, yeah, that's in the Northwest region. Yeah. This is a yogurt drink. Ah, okay. I saw it. Oh yeah, I lost it. Oh, you got it. Okay, good. Is it good? I never had it. I just recommend the word. Mumbai. The modern word for Mumbai, yeah. There we go. Thank you for that. Jasmine, a smell, a spice, a flower. It's my favorite kind of rice. I know, I don't know what it is, but it's so good. Okay, Rob. Oh, I don't know this one. No. We'll have to look that one up. Oh, goodbye. Okay, I'll take the hot or cold. Oh, it's a city in India. Okay, there we go. And these are just places that the owner, the chef owner said that they commonly use, which I thought was kind of interesting because we just came back from a trip from New Orleans about two months ago and they use this a lot. So I'm starting to see spices are very global as well. Yeah. I don't know. I don't know. This is a dish. Paneer naan. It's bread, right? Yeah. Samosas. Love. Nice little triangular package. Yeah, better fried with peas and carrots. Tandoori. That's another cooking style, yeah. It's a clay. I know when I was first married for a wedding gift, somebody thought that this would be a great wedding gift for me to cook. I did it once or twice. It's great, but it takes a lot of time because you gotta have that steam. And masala. Yeah, spice. Oops, John's on four. He's close. Just the regular naan. I think I spelled this wrong. That should be it. That's funny. That's funny. Also a really good race. Kolkata is a dish as well. This one. It's a town, a city. A dish. I actually, a person sitting in the booth next to me was kind of- You got a bingo? Tommy, you got a bingo? Tommy got a bingo. Oh, okay. So Tommy, and Tommy hasn't won bingo yet, right, everyone? I don't think so. This is your first time, right? Pretty sure. So with this, you're gonna do the same thing. You're going to email and make sure that you, everyone give you all the details, but make sure that you either pick a really cool T-shirt or a really, really cool mug. Love this mug. It's kind of fluorescent, glows. I will tell you, I've laughed and people find it funny. I've had an offer for this mug, and then- Oh, my God. Just go to the store and buy it. That's awesome. So I guess as a wrap up, congrats to Tommy, congrats to Patty on winning. It thanks you, everybody, for joining in this new year. I'm fascinated to learn about the different cultures as well and to see, I guess, where the research is and how many people we can engage in different ways. And I think your favorite one, Rob, would be the Thon. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That'd be good. So I- Let me join us. Left a couple of the websites there for the Thon and also the 15 Nations. And he is first, if you have any questions. Also reach out to Rob and let him know if you have any questions because he's been a wealth of information for us to learn. And I appreciate you joining us from England. Very interesting. Yeah, thank you very much. Okay, so thanks guys. Bye.