After arriving in Thanjavur and refreshing ourselves, we headed downstairs to get dinner at the hotel restaurant. Since the restaurant had an aircond section we headed there only to encounter a 2 tabled room. There was a family of 4 – the mother, a daughter and 2 sons already occupying the other table.

I sat facing the family and as I was giving our orders to the cheery old man. I realized the whole family was staring at us. One son had even turned himself to face us and was just staring.


Now I hate being stared at especially in a restaurant. If I had been in Malaysia I would have asked them what they were staring for. Usually I’d get a sheepish nothing.

Anyway since even after ordering I was still encountering the stares, I told my mom in Malay about the staring.

Immediately the four began boasting in Malay about who they knew, about caste, and their plans. There was one plan that had me in giggles. Now the one guy boasted about how they should go early at 5 am to attend prayers at the Thanjur Peria temple so they can watch the sangkalpanam (special prayers).



Now the reason I found it funny was since the temple was taken over by the central government, very limited prayers were done and most of it was structured as an office would function. So the best time to go would be after 7am which was the time we were planning to go.

And as predicted when we arrived at 7 the temple was pretty empty and there was abhishegam taking place but no one was allowed to see it. So we sat down and waited for the puja while singing the sivapuranam quietly. While we were waiting a bunch of telugu tourist and 2 busses of North Indian Shiva devotees arrived. Now why did I differentiate them? The telugu tourists were super bossy and rude, they came and stood right in front of us and after a while left coz they got bored waiting.



Where else the North Indian devotees, some who came brandishing Shiva tattoos broke into a melodious rendition of a Hindi Bhajan in praise of Shiva. The most amazing thing was everyone sang and that’s super rare in Tamilnadu. I rarely see people singing in temples or appreciating others. They were a noisy bunch but what else would u expect from such a huge crowd. Just then we all got a lovely darshan as the curtains opened to show us Brihadeshwarar himself.

Now back to that lovely family at the restaurant. The moment I spoke in Malay they could have sad something instead they decided to boast that too stupidly. Everytime I’m overseas we always spoke to Malaysians we would meet on our travels. I would have loved to have sat down and spoke to a fellow Malaysian, but then I don’t converse rude people.
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Falling in love with this voice - u learn something new always - just keep ur eyes open ;p

Legendary Salsa singer Hector Lavoe with El Cantante - The Singer

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I’d kill before I speak – then I’d tell them why I killed them while I watch them die. I don’t get why villains always have so much to say giving some hero the chance to find and finish them

I’d hit the destroy button first – again villains speak too much and waste brilliant plans

I’d have 3 escape plans for each destroy plan – I MUST live to destroy the world again

I’d use generic stuff – makes it harder for CSI to trace me

I’d not leave clues – this isn’t a game I’m here to kill

I’d get a dumb sidekick – better than one with a conscience or greedier than me

I’d dispose the body permanently – like 3 4 5 ways and I’d do it myself and not trust a sidekick

I’d kill the witness – including the sidekick
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(photo had nothing to do with the article and was not taken during the said performance)

The progression of Indian arts in Malaysia often leaves me with a bad aftertaste. Outsiders are often awed by the glittery jewellery and costumes, not knowing the industry has become a get rich quick scheme for so called teachers who are nothing but half baked opportunists.

There are probably more dance schools in the country then dancers itself. Most of these schools that seem to spring like mushrooms in the monsoon season teach only Bharathanatyam, even though India has another 6 official traditional dances Kathak, Kuchipudi, Odissi, Manipuri, Mohiniattam and Kathakali.

Prior to becoming a credible Bharathanatyam teacher, the individual should not only have mastered the 108 adavus (steps), hastas, bedas, jathis, karanas and more but it is essential that said individual be an apt choreographer who understands the basics of rhythm and is able to make their students comprehend, able to do the nattuvangam (rhythmic playing of cymbals) and has sound Carnatic music knowledge for dance is nearly impossible to execute without music.

Unfortunately not only aren’t these schools teaching all 108 adavus, they’ve shrunk it to a mere 40 or less steps for their convenience, rarely teach the theoretical part of Bharatanatyam nor are they accomplished choreographers or nattuvangist. Even worse most of the new breed of teachers aren’t even average skilled dancers.

They breed and grow in small towns, blindfolding innocent gullible families who know nothing about dance into thinking they are such amazing teachers and dancers.

When I started learning dance as a kid there were just a few main schools in the Klang Valley. The quick study set of adavus had already begun but the one thing I can attest is most of the dancers and the teachers made sure the quality of dancers were at least average and their performances were usually accompanied by live musicians were the teacher was always the nattuvangist.

There was however one school that often got dished by the other schools as her students were always less than average and she was not a nattuvangist.

Last Saturday I attended a Salangai pooja of this new breed opportunist who made that school’s dancers seem like the best dancers in the country!

Now the Salangai Pooja scam was probably created by one of my ex teachers who was one of the leading dance schools then. The truth is salangai poojas are supposed to be simple poojas for the salangai (bells) done at the teachers home/school in front of the Lord of dance Nataraja which will then allow the students to begin performing.

However Malaysian teachers created a new tradition where a function is held in a temple or hall just like an Arangetram (debut solo performance) but for a group of students who share the cost among themselves. It is usually done with 5 to 7 dancers where an Alarippu, Jathiswaram, Sabdham and Thillana are performed together with at least one solo padam for each dancer. A total of 7, 8 dances are performed. The students are usually accompanied by musicians and the dance teacher helming the position of a nattuvangist.

The Salangai Pooja on Saturday had 5 dancers and 5 dances. None of the children were ready to perform, they had no sense of rhythm or coordination, they didn’t know where to begin or where to take a step as the music progressed, they weren’t familiar with the music, each adavu and hand gesture was a mess, there was no aramandi, there was no 90 degrees holding of arms. Was it their fault, NO it is entirely a teacher’s responsibility to prepare a student for a performance. Not everyone was born a dancer but they can be taught the nuances of a proper dancer. While excellence is a students responsibility, the sharpening of basics is a teacher’s responsibility.

And there’s that so called teacher, not only was she singing off key much to the displeasure of the amazing violinist she held the nattuvangam in her hands for show, played 1 minute of a 1 2 3 4 beat and stopped. Oh and guess what she teaches music as well!

The poor children and their unsuspecting parents had been made a laughing stock to fill the teacher’s coffers. Ah the story doesn’t end there. Let me explain why I am so angry and have titled this article as such.

Bharathanatyam is by no means an inexpensive hobby. Every single item needed for a performance can cost a sizeable amount of money but there are cheaper alternatives. Originally dance costumes were sewn out of Kanchipuram silk sarees (RM 250 and beyond) which can cost an arm or leg depending on how much you can spend. To cut cost people began using the cheaper but still costly Dharmavaram sarees (RM 180 – RM 250), people have now begun to use imitation silk sarees that cost between (RM 50 – RM100) to further cut cost. The cost for stitching this costume in Malaysia usually comes to about (RM 180 – RM 200). So the cheapest with an imitation silk saree will cost about RM 300 max.

Then there’s the jewellery. There are 3 kinds of dance jewellery. The most expensive being Temple jewellery which can cost from about RM 700 – RM 1200 for a full set depending on the number and kind of pieces you purchase. Temple jewellery is actually jewellery made of silver and plated in gold. Every 5 years depending on its wear and tear, the sets can be re-plated in gold and stringed for a fee to bring back its lustre hence why its worth purchasing. My set is about 20 years old now and I’ve only reset it once.

Then there is the new imitation Temple Jewellery which looks nearly as same as the Temple Jewellery from afar but is clearly different when inspected closely. There is also the fake stone dance sets. Both these sets cost nothing more than RM 300 for a full set and can be easily purchased in one of the cash and carry outlets in Malaysia in Brickfields and Klang.

Guess what the parents were charged from Saturday’s function? A solid RM 2000 just for the imitation silk costume and an imitation temple jewelery set. Even if you minus an RM100 for the bells, hair and flowers that’s a RM 1300 profit from each student. The parents were told the costumes were pure silk and it was a temple jewellery set.

The debacle doesn’t end there, each student was made to pay RM 750 as guru dakshina (teachers special fee) which doesn’t include the extra fees for intense training that they paid for the last 2 months. Not enough each student was told they must present the teacher with a saree. You know what’s the best part, the guru dakshina which is supposed to be given on the day or after was collected during Navarathri about 1 and a half months ago. Perhaps she needed money for Deepavalli?

When I did my Salangai Pooja 20 years back, the pool was split into 5 for the 4 artist and teacher and we each paid RM 500. That’s a total of RM 2500.

While times have changed and cost has definitely increased, the last I heard a teacher was being paid about RM 1000 while the artist (usually only 3) were each paid between RM 500 – 800. That’s a total of RM 2800 max.

While I’m not sure how much the musicians were paid (total of 3), I do suspect the singer was paid a larger sum than usual. The teacher got a total of RM 3750.

Now the singer whom I once knew, laughed at me for doing a Salangai Pooja years ago saying such things don’t exist, she also made fun of my ex teacher. For the numerous times she made fun of other teacher’s students in her old establishment, she sure sang and guided such an amazing production by this great opportunist who apparently is her disciple. I am sure she is mighty proud of herself.

Of course the cost of food and other event related fees hasn’t been added. The opportunist just made a total of RM 10 000 from one Salangai Pooja. While I do suspect some of the money did go to a third party for the purchase of costume and jewellery, the bulk of it has gone to the opportunist.

Fees is one thing, cheating people is another. If you had quality I could have toned down this post, you had neither that nor integrity. I wonder how you sleep at night? After cheating unsuspecting parents of so much money?

They say cheated money never sticks. Trust me I have seen people lose their health and wealth as much as they scronge from others.

So if you’re planning to enroll your child, sibling or even yourself in Bharatanatyam, perhaps its best you enquire about their future extra costs, ask around about the teacher, find out if they teach the shortcut dance or the full syllabus, or ask me and I’ll gladly recommend a few institutions in Klang Valley and Ipoh.

If you’re reading this on Facebook and you are from my town, there is only one good master and he teaches in the Kali temple. I have watched his class and seen one of his students Salangai Pooja. The rest are a bunch of clowns just like the opportunist above.

I didn’t need to write this, what concern is it to me if someone gets cheated? The thing is I rather be the horrible person who tells off others for their scam then sit and do nothing. Trust me this article will make its way to the opportunist. I could write her name and schools name but I’m reserving it for now. If you must know who it is I’ll message you.
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I guess I am a super patient person. Well it took me 6 years to actually start celebrating Deepavali again. Since Dad passed away I’d totally stopped celebrating. Even the year I had gone to India and did my usual shop till you drop workout, I came back and didn’t bother wearing any of the new clothes and just went on with life.

But it was about time I moved on, with sil at home, it wouldn’t be nice to continue mourning. Pothys Chennai kinda joined in on the plan. While shopping there we kept eyeing the same colours and finally decided to colour coordinate our silk sarees. So we got me, mom and sil a similar shade of green saree. The sarees looked awesome ;p

We were super pooped from our holiday, what with the baggage drama on the eve of the eve. The next day we had to clean the house, get stuff and decorate the place. We even got time to visit the Brickfields Deepavalli fair for some last minute bargains. The good thing is we finally found bangles that matched our green sarees. I had searched the whole of India for that green but since everyone was shopping, colours were limited.

Mom and I were falling asleep throughout Deepavalli day though every now and then someone would pop in and we would wake up to entertain them. Since bro and sil had to go back to sil’s mom’s house our usual routine was disturbed and we left our Deepavalli visits for the evening. The good thing is we got to watch awesome fireworks.

We spent the next day finally sleeping off our holiday fatigue. Yeah you always need one day to recover from holidays ;p

A week later we were off for Deepavalli at a family friends place while preparing for our own open house celebrations on Sunday. At some imaginary point between ourselves we had all decided we’d only do our yearly parties if someone got married.

Earlier in the day I had actually gone to the Thrill the world and so when I got back I got busy decorating the house. Of course we all donned our lovely green sarees. Kerv of course was the earliest, should have told him a later time! Lol I wasn’t even ready yet! Everyone had fun and the food was a hit – vege, yummy fried chicken, mutton peratal, sambal and dhal ;p

The good thing is people arrived in batches though at around 8.30 the house was super full and I had no time to take photos of ppl. One of my brothers friend who was coming to the house for the first time was hesitantly standing in front of the house peeking for my brother.

So I told him “Come on in - Don’t worry you’re at the right place” Poor guy blushed away. Humm guys still blush? ;p hehehe

I had my nephew and nieces to play with, all three have become so much cuter. Unfortunately they got bullied by my cousin, had to do constantly keep an eye on the big kid from bullying them. She was actually going to lock them up in a small dark room! So cruel!

After everyone left the whole family decided to go on a photo spree which eventually turned into a photo lesson for the cousin and bro’s friend. Phew we had fun all right, tiring but it was fun ;)
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... my weekend ;)



It was such an MJ weekend. The moment I got back from India I had purchased tickets for MJ’s This Is It. While most people were watching the premier show, I was patiently waiting for Saturday to come.

The sad part of watching the movie is it makes you wish even more than MJ hadn’t passed away. And then I envy everyone one of those dancers, crew and musicians, everytime they weren’t on stage they’d be watching MJ perform in awe. There was so much new material, a new Thriller, a new Smooth Criminal, the awesome set for Pretty Young Thing, and the wow inspiring march for my ever favourite song They Don’t Care about us.

As expected MJ was hands on every detail from choosing the dancers to minute details in the production. Evertime there was a mistake he’d go “That’s ok that’s why we have rehearsals”.

There was this one part when Ortega questions why the music hadn’t started and the music crew goes “He’s sizzling.”

MJ had a message for all – “The world has forgotten to love its time we relearn how to love” ;)

Earth song is the one point where you might tear up if you’re a fan. The other times you’d be ooh aaing the amazing sets, his singing, dancing and laughing at his antics ;p

At 50 he was still an amazing dancer, frail but amazing, his voice was still awesome, his clarity still as sharp and ever awe inspiring. I might just go watch it again ;) Loved every bit of the movie. I still wish a million wishes MJ hadn’t left us.

Right after having the most expensive mixed rice ever, we headed home in time to get ready for our Halloween party – Skool Daze with Red FM at the Rain Club in Kelana Jaya. We’d gotten tickets courtesy of a friend. Thanks babe. ;)



Since it was a school themed party, I dug out my only white blouse, black skirt, wore 2 pony tails with pink ribbons, and went as a half faced zombie. But it kinda looked like face art lol. Ish ish

The location was pretty nice and since it was about sunset there was a lovely orange sky to shoot. The club is wuite nice too with a huge revolving door and funky lights. Wanting to beat the Saturday night jam, we had left early and arrived right on time only to be the first people at the party. Lol oh well at least we beat the jam.



The good thing is we got to mingle with the DJs who actually came up to the early birds and chatted us up. That’s when we met Britney ;p

I made the mistake of telling my friends we should smack him ;p The next second it was arranged and we were posing for photos ;p hehehhe

People started trickling in an hour later, in that time I found a few victims to pose for me at my fav little spot with the red walls ;p

The party started with the DJ’s introducing themselves and starting of the first game – Bobbing for apples. We cheered for all 5 contestants as they tried to get them apples. The first 2 actually didn’t get any! The 2nd game of the night was guess the old school hit and because the headmaster wouldn’t let anyone copy or approve ½ marks the highest score was 4! There was also lots of lucky draws and yummy gifts, Kerv won himself a Reebok goody bag. The Red fm team also secretly learned up dance choreography for a mix of old Skool music. Really good job ;)



Then he had to push me into the next game and what do you know, it was a MJ dance impersonation and they picked Thriller. I was like at least I know the moves. 6 of us were put to test and while everyone danced well, they were looking for MJ moves. I came this close to winning and lost out to the guy who grabbed his crotch and I’m like what the heck do I grab? Lol Darn but he did deserve to win ;p Anyway thanks to the awesome crowd who cheered me to second place.

All in all it was a super enjoyable party. This is the second time I’ve been impressed with the Red Fm team. Not only don’t they have huge egos like a few radio stations, they’re pretty funny too. I’m changing radio stations man!

We headed of for a drink at Old Town Kopitiam. Since it was super bright there I was getting weird looks from the patrons, ermm zombie makeup was still in place ;p lol

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This is super funny lol. The Indian condom song (its telugu i think). Have fun laughing ;)


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I have been envious with my friends all over the world who get to shoot and dress up in weird characters. Unfortunately costume and being weird isn’t that popular over here.

That’s when I heard about Thrill the World 2009 at Shah Alam. Thrill the World is a simultaneous event across the globe done as a tribute to Michael Jackson and this time it involved 37 countries. I had no idea how to dance to Thriller but I knew I was definitely going.


Unfortunately for me everytime they had a practice before and after I got back from India, I couldn’t attend coz I had other things and events to go to. We were also busy getting ready for our open house the same evening. They even had a session the evening before the 25th of October but since I had to be at 2 functions at the same time, I figured I’d just have to learn it myself. So that night I checked out the official site and found this super easy breakdown videos on dancing the Thriller. So there I was in the middle of the night learning the moves. I quickly shred one of my tops for my zombie costume and tried to sleep.



Weirdly I couldn’t so with barely an hour of sleep woke up around 6.15 am and got ready to go. My only concern was that we’d get lost finding the place since it was in confused land the one we call Shah Alam.

Kerv and I finally found the place and got super excited to see fellow zombies getting ready. Just as I finish my makeup it starts to rain. So everyone gathered into the one roofed place just as the organizers arrived with a yummy bucket of blood.



All the zombies lapped up the blood, some even rolled on the floor to not waste any blood. Minutes before 8.30am, we gathered at the field even though it was still raining. Most of us wanted one more practice session but we didn’t have time for it.

As complicated as Thriller looks surprisingly its neither tiring nor hard to do. But remembering the sequence is another thing. Lol I think I was 2 seconds behind everyone for most of the steps. I was diligently following the bandaged mummy at the front ;p



We finished the first round and everyone wanted to dance again so we had a second session. Then TV3 decided to finally turn up and since I didn’t want to be on TV and I wanted to shoot the dancing, I opted out. Right after we ended up singing MJ’s Heal the World. ;)))

Hungry for food most of the zombies headed to a mamak in town for breakfast. We actually got lost finding the place.

Thanks to the organizers for organizing this, I had an amazing time. I hope this becomes an annual affair and not just a one time thing. One note though next time please draw a map to the location, quite a number of ppl got lost or never found the place and had to turn back. The Google map was pretty useless.

For more information on packages and schedule. Please contact

Visithra
visithra(@)gmail.com
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Before I start my stories on India, I’m going to tell you the last drama we had at LCCT. We were waiting for baggage when two of our bags arrived at the same time. So I headed for the bigger bag while mom headed for the smaller one. Once we collected our bags we got out, got a taxi, called home and headed back. We got back and were busy yakking when mom decided we should start unpacking about an hour after arriving – groan.

There we were taking out things from one of the bags and sarees we hadn’t purchased began appearing. We dug further only to find a silver lamp inside the bag. Our bags had somehow mixed up with someone elses, we quickly searched the whole bag for a name or address but got nothing. All we got were more things that seemed for a wedding. We panicked, what if the wedding was in 2 days or even worse tomorrow??

We had to find the owners. While scanning the bags we realized our bags had different codes. We started calling Air Asia enquiry to get the baggage section. Alas we kept getting forwarded to different sectors but the lost and found section.
Then I tried the Sales hotline only to be told I should head back to the airport.

Then my brother found LCCT’s number and from there we were transferred to a few places before someone finally gave us the Lost and Found department. I was connected to Mr Vicky. I quickly explained my situation and told him the urgency of the situation. In a matter of minutes he confirmed my information and found me the other persons information and number.

Unfortunately the number couldn’t be contacted and I was getting a fax line on the fixed line. So I called Mr Vicky again and he game me another number to try. That number worked but ended up at what was the persons travel agents house. After explaining my situation to the wife, she promised to contact her husband in India and get back to me.

She kept her promise and contacted her husband who then contacted his clients in Malaysia. The family finally called us and it seems they were looking for us as well. We made arrangements to meet at a halfway point and we had been right the old couple were here for their son’s marriage. The good thing was it was a month away and not the next day and we just got invited to that wedding ;)

Without the help from AirAsia staff Mr Vicky we wouldn’t have managed to locate them. Thanks a lot for your help and incase anyone needs the LCCT Lost and Found department’s number : 03-87776604.

A suggestion to Airasia please add a lost and found section on your enquiry number and update your sales staff on the right instructions.

So that’s one drama ;p more to come later.


Visithra
visithra(@)gmail.com
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Before I start yakking let me wish everyone Happy Deepavalli. It’s been a whirlwind 2 weeks travelling in India, getting back and finding ourselves in another drama and then last minute preparations had to be done. Mom and I were just so super pooped. Finally got my well deserved sleep last night.

Anyway I’ll get back with a post tomorrow for now enjoy this photo taken at the Madurai nayak Mahal, beautiful palace with gigantic columns.


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People always categorise dancers in one mould and are often surprised when dancers out of the mould do well. Though I’ve left the school years ago, I usually go back to watch kids I’ve taught, performed or the ones I’ve watched every Navarathri. It’s nice to see improvement, sad to see the same mistakes and quality being repeated by the same people and amazing to see new talent sparkle.

There was this Odissi group performance where I was entranced by a plump dancer. She stood out as her eyes sparkled and glowed everytime she looked at the audience. That is showmanship something that a lot of dancers take for granted. You have to smile, you must engage the audience.

Then there was Saswati Sen, renowned Kathak dancer who decided to delight us with her performance. Perhaps in her early 60s, she held the audiences attention with her expressions and twirls. Wow I was mesmerized.

I was recently accused of ignorance and ill heart on one of the reviews I’d written. The gist of the objection was I had no knowledge of music and dance, to me dance was only about fast numbers and I was on some vengeance to defame.

Saswati Sen re-emphasied what I had written back to him, it is not age or looks that justifies a dancers seniority or capability. You will be a great dancer at any age in any number if you were always a good dancer. She gracefully slide across the stage, twirled like a teenager and entranced with her expression. It was as if Devi herself was dancing that night. And what a humble person.



I’d also pointed out stage appearance. All dancers are strictly prohibited from fiddling with their costume or jewelry during their performance. The Odissi performers front piece was slowly dismantelling though not at the risk of exposure, but not one dancer touched their costume throughtout the duration of the performance. The front piece slowly expanded and danced its own dance, yet they did what they were supposed to, ignored everything.



It’s always easy to claim greatness with the number of years you’ve been a dancer or a musician, but trust me a lot of musicians and dancers in this country don’t deserve it. Neither do they have the humility to realize one is always a student in the vast ocean of knowledge that is music and dance.

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With all the editing I’d been doing , squeezing in Navarathri seemed a chore. Still I decided to head to the usual place only to reach there and realize the event had started hours earlier and had just finished. So instead of sulking we decided to head to my favourite temple instead. Perhaps it was meant to be.

There was a different ring to the manthras. Devi looked gorgeous and there was a new vigraham decorated as Shivashakti. But it was the nadaswarams playing of Ayingiri Nandhini that sent a vibration through me. The simple verse took a form of its own as they increased the tempo, sending magic across the floor. The beat pulsated as the priests made their rounds with the arathi and vibuthi. What a moment.













There's always a reason for everything,good or bad. I guess that was where I was supposed to be.
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Selamat Hari Raya @ Eid Mubarrak to all friends and everyone else have a wonderful and safe holidays. Don't go crazy on the roads.

I was watching this kid with his father for some time, he still didn't want to smile eventhough the dad let me take their photo. ;)
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I owe this site an update. The problem is I have been blogging but over at V-Eyez since all I do there is post photos.

Well to recap a few things I changed the other blog's look, had a lovely holiday in Kuantan, had a lovely road trip to pahang in the same week ;p, enjoyed and shot a 9 day wedding of a very close family friend.



Right after my brothers wedding, we were all waiting for this wedding and they had a seriesof events set for everyone picking the Merdeka weekend to host the events.

It started of with a 5 day nallangu ceremony or cleansing ceremony which was pretty tame compared to my brothers. He got bullied because of me, she kinda escaped. Oh well woman get away with things ;p The cerenomies were super fun though Mehendi night was my favourite since everyone was laidback and we were having conversations.

Became friends with a couple of kids, a particular one became my photography model for the duration of the event. The things I made him do and he would gamely do all but only for a mere few seconds. Boys are impossible I tell you.

One the last night before the wedding, they had a Mehendi Station set up so that everyone could get dolled up for the wedding. Guess who were the first one's up? The little boys! The ladies had to make way for the gentlemen. By that evening everyone was pretty tired and since it was a morning wedding people started leaving as soon as they got their hennas done. Since I was suffering from my usual wedding-shooting-wrist-pain I opted out since I needed my daily hand massage.

Oh yes I forgot to update over here, I got myself a few new toys, a Canon 40d, 2 lenses, a new bag, light, light stands and more. All work awesomely though one lens was bought just for the coming trip to India.

Yessiree people I'll be in India - Tamilnadu at the end of the month. To be precise I will be in Chennai on 1, 2, and 5 October. Hope to see some of you then.

Anyways back to the story so far. The wedding was just beautiful, she is not just a pretty lady but a lovely person too. Loved the decor for the wedding and the make up. The priest was also a very close family friend, he's practically known me since I was a 3 year old tot. He kinda bugged me about getting married everytime we met. Lol everyone bugged me! ;p



The thing I love about weddings is there's so much that goes on and in that time so much emotions are exchanged. we followed the couple back home for the welcoming ceremonies at both houses. Oh yes thank god they had police escorts, since they were roadblocks everywhere on the eve of Merdeka. Oh well!

The cops kinda enjoyed the trafficless roads most of the way and since I had a videographer in the car we played catch ;p

The next night was the wedding dinner at Prince Hotel. And another dinner at their home 2 nights later. Now that was a long day since they had a welcoming ceremony at their new house just that morning. The next day was the day we were all waiting for. The ceremony that seems to get cut nowadays, manjal neeratham where tumeric soaked water is splashed on everyone.

I assumed I had immunity with the camera on me. Unfortunately once they got bored of splashing each other they decided I was the next victim, the aunty came after me with water with an ultimetum, take of the camera or get drenched with it! I had no change of clothes! Anyways once i got the cameras off 20 people attacked me at once. so not fair!

They even called people to rush from school and work to get drenched. Thanks to some ingenious lies the unsuspecting victims arrived home where we waited outside their cars ready to splash ;p

My mom was a victim too, with me devicing the plans. I got her to take the cameras in and the moment she got out she got her royal splash ;p

Anyway we drove home all wet with newspaper covered seats and got back for the final ceremony where the bride finally leaves home. Usually super early on all the other days she was surprisingly late. As she finally walked out saying bye to everyone and hugging all, the youngest brother got us all in tears as he refused to let go. There I was clicking away with tears flowing down.

Told you weddings are an emotional rollercoaster.

Alrighty to check out some of the tonnes of photos head to V-Eyez and I'll get back to editing.
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We were standing in a fishing village in Kuantan, Pahang watching the sunrise as fisherman set out to sea.

We exchanged casual greetings and went back to doing our own things.

A lone figure was walking towards us in the distance. As he got closer, I realized he was a peculiar old malay man, wearing a suit perhaps to protect himself from the slight morning chill.

He greeted us and I smiled back. Grinning away he asked us where we were from, who we were, about the family, why I wasn’t married yet ;p, about dad and everything under the sun. He was a bit perplexed on why I wanted his photo. I chuckled to myself, thinking I wasn’t about to give away my obsession to shooting and chatting up older people. He walked us back to our car still chatting away.

Fridays incident that rocked the country wasn’t as shocking as everyone thinks. There will always be racist s and politically motivated people trying to steer trouble and disrespect others. But that in no way reflects the people or a religion.

Years ago when I stepped into the same primary school I had attended to send of my cousin, it had occurred to me that her generation was missing the integration that we had as youngsters. Trouble could brew in the near future.



This independence day, I’m reminded of the old man, he is the face of the many Malaysians I know. Just over the last weekend we were in a perhaps 99% Malay populated village and later a 90% populated Chinese village, both times we were greeted by some and cautiously looked at by some. And I think the cautious looks had nothing to do with my religion or skin colour.

It’s easier to dwell on the negativity than to look at the positive side of things. Mom used to tell us stories from 1969, stories which to me told how a community helped each other regardless of race in one of the most tragic moments this country has seen. On one side my mom’s family would cook in abundance for the bachelors who were stuck in curfew without food and they in return would purchase whatever possible to be cooked by the family. They knew some of the lives that were lost in those months yet in the worst of times they still lived in harmony helping each other survive.

Perhaps my vision is impaired but to me Malaysia will always be home and I will always be proud to be a Malaysian.

Happy 52nd Independence to all Malaysians.

Happy Merdeka Malaysia.
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Happy Birthday MJ, you're still missed 2 months down the road. You would have been 51today. A kid told me today he wants to grow up and be you. I decided not to dash his dreams and tell him no one's gonna replace you.

I know you're rocking the afterworld. ;p
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wow what a day yesterday. I went sunset chasing yesterday, looking for blue skies and perhaps more and what a reward. It was just so beautiful ;)




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KL was a blaze in blue yesterday a sight we haven't seen for a long time. It is day's like this that you realise how lucky we are to be able to enjoy such little wonders of life. It makes you grateful to be alive and well, loved and happy despite everything we go through daily.

Be thankful life bestows you with little pleasures and you have sight to see such wonders.











Ignore the people who hurt you or push you to the brink look up to the sky and smile - it is your life and live it to the max.


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