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My loves ;))

2012-01-23T18:33:00.002+08:00

I gave myself an awesome birthday gift last month. A trip to Chennai for the music season ;))

I was trying to pick the right time to go by waiting for the schedule but finally i decided to just let fate decide and got my tickets first and once again flying on my birthday. I must say flying on your birthday is a lovely experience. Being in two countries on the same day ;p

Well the flight got delayed three hours and I got to go our temple here before i headed to the airport. Only on the flight I realised there was a cyclone blowing across tamilnadu and Chennai was drenched and hence why the flight was delayed. We landed in the rain on one of my smoothest landings so far - thanks to the crew of Airasia. The rain refused to stop throughout the day and I regretted not bringing my lovely raincoat from Vietnam along and had to buy a worthless one in Chennai.

Nevertheless i'm gonna post about the main reason I was in Chennai in the first place - to listen to amazing music. ;)

30 December 2011

It was raining non stop in Chennai but that didnt stop me from heading to my first concert for the season in Chennai. KJ Jesudass by Bharat Kalachar at Kamaraj Memorial Hall.

What an awesome way to spend the birthday ;))

The hall brought back a lot of memories since i've performed here before ;)

S.R. Mahadeva Sarma (Violin),
Tiruvarur Bhaktavatsalam (Mrudangam),
Tripanithura Radhakrishnan (Ghatam)

31 December 2011

This was hands down the most amazing concert i've heard. My first love TN Seshagopalan in concert. it was absolutely amazingggggggg. He sang about 6 songs but each song was at least 45 minutes and the concert ended at nearly 11 pm ;))) what a way to end the year ;)

the most interesting thing was most of the musicians got stuck in traffic but the hooligan crowds who consisted of useless old folks were shouting disrespectfully. I was seriously gonna get up and scream at them. so TN sir started the concert without the mirdangist. he elaborated the raaga for more than 30 minutes - wow and this was followed by an equal rendition by my fav violinist M. Chandrasekaran. Just as they were about to finish the mirdangist arrived just in time to start the song much to the happiness of TN sir who praised Madurai Meenakshi for her grace.

How can you not love this man ;)))))

and those donkeys who made noise - all left after 30 minutes - %*^&^$@#. Seriously this happened in most of the concerts in Chennai. It will start with a house full and then people would leave!! Brilliance is a waste on these ppl.

M. Chandrasekaran (Violin),
T.K. Murthy (Mrudangam),
B. Shree Sundarkumar (Khanjira)

MFAC Hall, The Mylapore Fine Arts Club,

Concert review taken from Saroja Ramanujam

The very first was raga alapana of Poorvikalyani which flowed like the Niagara , with such force and expanse. The krthi was ‘meenakshi me mudham’ of Dhikshithar with the neraval at ‘madhurapurinilaye,’ with madhurasvara following. The whole exposition was full of maadhurya.

After ‘nenarunchinaanu,’of Thygaraja in raga maalavi, Sri TNS started a majestic kamboji and the krthi was ‘rathnakanchuka dhaariNi ,’ of HMB. The neraval –svara sung at the end was inlaid with gems (rathnakanchukam)

BSivaraman and Sundarkumar played an exuberant thani and Sri TNS sang the verse from kambaramayana, ‘vimminan bharathanum,’ in raga lalitha which brought out the bhava splendidly.
Then came the Kohinoor of the day , the RTP in senchurutti, pallavi and svaras in raga malika. The raga senchirutti made the rasikas wonder how one could take such a raga and make it into an RTP and the raga, like melted butter, pervaded all the hearts. The pallavi ‘guhaa murugaa shanmukhaa nee vaa kaa vaa kovE ,’ was sung in senchurutti, nadhanamakriyaa, punnagavarali, yaman kalyani, maNirangu and sindhubhairavi, all madhyama sruthi ragas, sung in most exquisite manner leaving the rasikas in ecstasy, feeling that if He is called in such a manner how could the Lord Muruga possibly fail to come. The changing of ragas in pallavi as well as in svaras was so swift that before on could catch a raga it changed into another and Sri TNS sang them in regular and reverse order in quick short phrases.

The Meerabajan that followed was also soul stirring and the way Sri TNS sang it like a ustad, brought Meera on stage with salangai on her feet and chipla kattai on her hands! The song was reverberating for a long time in the ears after the concert ended. The percussionists provided a suitable support for it in typical Hindustani style.

The concert came to an end with the thiuppugaz ‘vachanmigavEttri maRavaadhe,’ and mangalam. The rasikas would have left the hall thinking ‘what a way to end the year.’! So many remained till 11pm when the concert ended perhaps even wishing that he could continue till the ringing in of the New Year. Any way Sri TNS ushered in the New year by singing ‘wish you a happy New Year’ in sreeraga after sriyaH kanthaaya, the usual ending of all his concerts.

1 January 2012

Not getting enough of TN Sir, I ditched the original plan of watching Urmila Satyanaranan dance and headed to the beautiful Tamil Isai Sangam in the middle of nowehere ;p it took me some 15 minutes to get an auto back to the hotel as everyone who came to the concert arrived in cars.

I walked up to go find the ticket counter and the guy tells me its a free concert and I was like oh okay and he proceeded to give me the fifth row seat ;))) yayyy yep they decided who gets to sit where ;)

the concert was so beautiful and all were tamil songs as fits the location. seriously the hall was so beautiful both inside and outside ;)

Delhi Sundararajan on violin,
RRamesh on mrdhangam
Sundarkumar on kanjira.

Concert review taken from Saroja Ramanujam

Concert of Sri Madurai TNSeshagopalan at Tamiz isai Raja Annamalai manram on 1.1.2012
aparimitha rachanaa kouSalam

The amrthavarshini varnam with which Sri TNS started the concert was composed by him on the spot! Unimaginable! There is no limit for his brilliance! Fortunate are we who are blessed to enjoy his music because to recognize a chinthamani the grace of God is required. The music of Sri TNS is like chinthamani in providing whatever one looks forward as a rasika.Sri TNS was accompanied by Delhi Sundararajan on violin, RRamesh on mrdhangam and Sundarkumar on kanjira.

After the varnam Sri TNS sang the thiruppavai, ‘nayakanaai ninRa’ in nayaki and this was followed by exquisite panthuvarali and excerpt from Manonmaneeyam which he explained as thamizthaai vaaztthu in panthuvarali. Neraval -svara was sung at ‘uLLam elllaam kalai veLLatthaal nanaindhe ,’ which aptly described the feeling of the rasikas on hearing it.

The next was a brief sahana with the arutpaa ‘appaa naan vEndudhal kEttu arutpuridhal vEndum.’ This was followed by the GKB krthi ‘ennEramum undhan,’ in devagandhari.

Then came two rasikas’ favourites, ‘aNNalum nokkinaan,’ in hameer kalyani from Kambaramayana and ‘Ramanukku mannan mudi,’ in hindolam from Ramanatakam. The visual presentation through music in both are always delightful. The nOkku of Rama and Seetha differentiated and the words ‘kaNnodu kaNNinai kavvi,’ the bhava of which portrayed in various ways of singing it, are to be heard to appreciate it fully.

After this there were two unheard of pieces ( at least by me) one in kedaragoula with words ‘padma peedatthil mutthukkumaran’ and another , a composition of mutthuramalinga sethupathi in yadukula kamboji.

The main attraction was however the RTP in sindhubharavi and navaneetham. The sindhubhairavi was a real sindhu, an ocean. Combining it with navaneetham, a prathimadhyama, that too a vivadhi raga in RTP is possible only by TNS! The pallavi had words ‘veNNai thinna china thanamaa,(Sindhubhairavi) navaneetha naatyamaa( navaneetham) . The svara in the two ragas alternating with the two lines of pallavi was something unimaginable. The rasikas were really fortunate to have ended the old year and also started the new year with the inimitable unparalleled music of Sri TNS
Delhi sundararajan gave a good support on the violin and Ramesh and Sundarkumar excelled in percussion.

The next two days were spent travelling to Thiruvannamalai and Kanchipuram. I came back for my cousins performance in Chennai on 4 January 2012.

4 January 2012
Temple of Fine Arts, Kuala Lumpur in Chennai

Of course I couldnt miss my cousins performance but I nearly did because it was scheduled for much earlier. Somehow I managed to find out in time and rushed to the hall in a span of 1 hour which included getting back to the hotel and changing ;p

The singer Nandakumar Unnikrishnan sir is a brilliant singer and a regular artiste for the performances in KL. So it was also a beautiful treat to the ears. ;)

The rest of the photos can be seen here

4 January 2012

My second love Rajesh Vaidhya on the veena.

i nearly missed watching this amazing concert as my cousin was supposed to perform at the same time. turns out her performance was much earlier and I caught the next auto to the temple.

it was the eve of Vaikunda Ekadesi and Triplicane Partasarathy temple was surrounded by cops in preparation of the crowds from midnight onwards. This was probably the most beautiful concert I've seen as it was held outdoors under the moonlight and shade of a huge beautiful tree lit up with lights. I kept smilling and looking at the musicians the tree and the moon which was right above me in between leaves ;p

I have videos of this concert - will post it up as soon as I find time ;)

the raavan on veena created magic as his hands glided expertly and at break neck speed with his trademark smile. Best part of all was the playing of Bharathiyars beautiful songs which was so apt as his memorial house was just next door!

i think he played all my fav songs from Boh Sambho to chinan Chiru pen pohle, China Chiru Killiyeh and so on one after the other.

I think these were the musicians - sorry i have bad memory
Karukurichi N. Mohanram (Mrudangam),
D. Chandrajit (Tabla),
N. Subramanian (Ghatam)

Craving for bhajji on the beach i skipped the 5th and headed to the beach ;))

6 January 2012

I first listened to Sikhil Gurucharan sir at a photo exhibition here in KL and since have been a fan of his.

Delhi P. Sundararajan (Violin),
Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman (Mrudangam)
Rama Rao Kala Mantap, (Nungambakkam Cultural Academy)

7 January 2012

I began at Kamaraj and ended there as well with another Rajesh Vaidhya concert. Again brilliance at its best ;)))

My second love Rajesh Vaidhya on the veena. This was a fushion concert and was the start of a series of concerts. Brilliant stuff as usual. Beautiful songs from his latest album including one named expresso in kaapi raagam after a coffee session in coffee day ;p

I think these were the musicians - sorry i have bad memory but this was a brilliant team especially the mirdangist.
Karukurichi N. Mohanram (Mrudangam),
D. Chandrajit (Tabla),
N. Subramanian (Ghatam)

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32 ;)

2011-12-30T01:40:00.000+08:00

Thats gonna sound scandalicious in a few years heheh. So here i am awake for my 6 am flight only to find out its been delayed 3 hours. So i thought might as well post the birthday post.A month ago i discovered that my passport photo today looks much younger than the one taken 5 years back. Illusion? Nah being at peace with urself n being able to make urself happy without wanting someone else to make u happy sure helps. Travelling on the bday is one of those things ive decided to do as what more can give myself than the joy of doing what i love ;))Life is To be lived as fully as possible. Be proud of your choices, stand up for your rights and most importantly live your life. ;))) V-Eyez ImageryMy photography blog V-Eyez Imagery on Facebook

Sacrifice

2011-12-16T02:24:00.000+08:00

People often tell me the silliest things. Oh you’ve got so muchmoney, no responsibilities and you can do whatever you want whenever you want.

Sometimes I smile sometimes I get annoyed truth us I want to tellthem.

All I want to tell them is I challenge you to live one day of mylife in each of my 31years! For only then you’ll know what all I’ve done toachieve and be someone.

To be a dancer and singer I sacrificed every single Saturday Sundayof my life since I was 8 till 25 years old to go for classes. When we were oldenough to take the bus we used to sit 3 hours in a bus to get to class every weekend!

To be the writer and employee in the position I am today, I’vespent countless of hours working late, working weekends, working to hit mydeadlines just so I can go on holiday and gone through the craziest people andsituations.

To become the artist/photographer I am today I have sacrificed somuch time, money, health and more just to become good at what I do.

Its 2 in the morning and I’ve just finished my own work for theday after working the whole day at the office till 8pm. I don’t have weekends, Iwork most of them, either I’m editing or shooting. To go for one of my holidaysI have to work non stop so I can finish all my deadlines.

So it amazes me when ppl think my life is easy. Yes it is muchmore easier financially now but work wise this is the busiest ive ever been andthe most tired I’ve gotten.

No one gets living in your means, everyone wants the latestgadjet, the branded clothes this and that but no one wants to work for it. I haveonly lived within the boundaries of my own financial limits. I used the same oldphone for 6 years before I finally change it. I now use the cheapest phone onthe market simply because smart phones are too expensive and not worth themoney and the packages are daylight robbery. Instead because I needed to be inconstant contact with people, I got the ipad which I saved money for and gotthe cheapest 3g package.

I am a bloody proud cheapskate, I buy stuff on bargains, I knowthe best deals and would have done enough research to get them. I upgraded mypc in stages using the same monitor for some 7, 8 years till it finally died onme and only upgrading the hardware and software when ever needed. I don’t believein brands unless its electronics that too I wouldn’t buy a brand if they’reoverpriced no matter what the fanboys say.

I started working in the height of recession in 2001 for a supersmall salary and I still managed to make ends meet and no I did not live off myparents. Heck I’ve been supporting myself and more since then even after my dadpassed on. I never got a bonus in my life till 2004 that too it was a basicone. Every single thing ive purchased or spent has been in cash so that I don’thave to borrow from anyone. I used to say every single sen I could to get themand that’s how I bought my first camera.

I saved money to go on holidays. I don’t drink not just coz I don’tlike the taste, simply because its such a waste of money. I don’t gamble, I don’tsmoke, I eat when needed, I buy whats necessary.

I’ve lived a frugal, hardworking but happy and wonderful life for Iposses the most important thing I am satisfied with whatever I have at thatmoment. I aspire to be more but I have never wanted what others have and thathas made all the difference.

Stop spending on unnecessary stuff, don’t buy big amounts oncredit, pay up your credit card bills but not if it means you don’t eat butparty like crazy. Have a balanced life.

So stop telling people oh you have so much and learn to live inyour means.

I never was crazy rich and still am not but I am one bloodyhardworking person who knows how to live within her means.

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Thank you

2011-12-12T01:25:00.000+08:00

A fore note – I wrotethis weeks before during Thanksgiving after reading the letter by Joe. The wonderof this note is I’ve had more amazing opportunities and experiences in the lastfew weeks and once again I am thankful to everyone ;)

Joe Mcnally one ofthe world famous photographers I’ve had the rare opportunity to meet wrote abeautiful post on the things he was thankful for. It echoes my own sentimentsas I’ve written many times, notes of thanks for the many things in life be itgood or bad and I think it’s long overdue that I write another one.

Thank you for allthe opportunities I’ve had in photography, the people I’ve met, the amazingopportunities to meet extraordinary photographers who are even more outstandingas people, the friends I’ve made, the photos that have moved me, theexperiences I’ve learnt and many more than comes my way.

Thank you to allthe friends and the people who have loved my work and continue to spread thejoy to their circles of friends. Thank you for letting me be a part of yourmemory and treating me like family. Thank you for believing in me. Years downthe line I want those photos to represent you as person and most importantly acherished memory of love and happiness.

Thank you toeveryone who thought of me when they saw an opportunity present itself.Regardless of the outcome your positive thoughts and actions have been a greatencouragement for me. I am forever grateful and indebted to your kindness.

Thank you for allthe wonderful travel opportunities I’ve had this year and the one’s to come.Travel is an addiction I inherited from my father and I am ever grateful forthe experiences it has taught me.

Thank you to my ITexperts and Equipment experts, yes I do like being poisoned and your advicesand help has been an amazing support.

Thank you for thenever-ending work, it’s a boon to a workaholic like me.

Thank you toeveryone who has loved my work enough to drop me emails or personally found meto tell me, the million likes, favourites and words of appreciation. I trulycherish all of them. It’s an amazing feeling to wake up to all this everyday ;)

Thank you forshowing the light in the weirdest situations.

Thank you for thesetback that put into perspective life’s priorities.

Thank you forteaching me to forgive but not forget.

Thank you to theworlds greatest artist - nature for your inspiring beauty and magical art work.

Thanks you for thebounty of rain and sun although I do have a preference for rain ;p

Thank you for allthe choice of food we have, for there are many who have no choice.

Thank god I wasborn here for there is no where I would rather live or be a citizen of.

Thank you to allthose people who are neither friends nor family who have shown me kindness andcare. For all the times I was walked back to my car in my parking lot, my eversupportive and scary mechanics ;p, the various waiters and waitresses of therestaurants I frequent who treat me with extra care and provide me withentertainment, my dr’s who have taken the time to hear me out; drivers, middlepeople, coordinators who have been a helpful lot; the ever helpful hotelstaffs, the awesome masseurs I’ve met this year, my tailors who create my whimsand fancies, my printers who print and give me outstanding work every time, thestores who bring in essential stuff that I need and want, the service industrylot who get asked silly questions coz I want silly things ;p, Canon’s awesomeservice and ability to calm anxious me, Airasia for the cheap flights andlovely stewardess who don’t think they’re queens and you’re their subjects; Thankyou everyone.

Thank you for allthe wonderful music and dance I’ve had the opportunity to listen and watch.Music and dance moves me like nothing else and I’m grateful for theopportunities I’ve had to experience them.

Thank you for allmy friends good and bad. The good for being such supportive shoulders and forthe fun and laughter, the bad for proving to me my actions are correct and I’mbetter off without you. Peace is not underrated.

Thank you for allthe criticism, back stabbing, brick bats and unkind words for you are mybiggest encouragement. I work best in the face of adversity, for your actionsand words will only fuel me to do better and for that I am ever grateful. I amwhere I am today because of you.

Thank you for theundying inspirations that drive me to do the craziest things. Thank you to thepeople who have learnt to trust me in my craziness. You have no idea how muchit means to me.

Thank you forfilling my soul with dance and music. Thank you for that opportunity to notonly perform but to present one of those million ideas in my head that wouldhave never had seen the light if it hadn’t been for such opportunities.

Thank you for allthe sadness, fears, problems, blocks, disappointments and more for without themI wouldn’t be me. I am stronger only because of this.

Thank you for allthe love for life is nothing without it.

Mostly thank you togod for always being there, in my tears and laughter. You have always been astrong support and I’m not sure whose faith in who is much stronger for everytimeI think this is just too much you lift me up with your little miracles.

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Tsunami - the dance

2011-10-30T20:18:00.000+08:00

Early this year I was inspired to dance after watching a show. At first it was going to be a solo piece and as I was thinking of what to do, anger became the focus of my emotions. As I was looking for a story it slowly dawned on me to do Tsunami from the view point of mother nature. What started out as a solo piece became bigger and bigger and finally emerged as a group dance.

Tsunami starts with the evolution of mankind as mother nature dances and guides the birth of humankind. After a full cycle of life where she guides them, she returns to her meditative state. For a while they follow her path and soon they break away to create chaos in the world. We cut trees for no reason, we hunt animals for the joy of it and we kill our own people for greed and power.

Each time we do this, we are hurting mother nature herself and soon she boils in anger, anguished by the pain of seeing her own dead she erupts into the Tsunami.

Chaos reigns as mother nature terrorises land with her waves. As fast as it started it suddenly ends and she returns to her meditation only for the cycle to continue.

Choreographer and Dancer - Visithra Manikam

Dancers

Cheryl
Laveenia
Thineswari

Music: AR Rahman
Mixed by: Aravind AM, Chennai
Video by Jasnita

'Tsunami' was performed at KLPACs Short & Sweet: Dance from 12 - 15 October 2011 at Pentas 2, KLPAC, Malaysia.

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Deepavalli Nalvalthukal

2011-10-26T15:53:00.000+08:00

Ehlorukkum ehn inniya Deepavalli Nalvalthukal
Happy Deepavalli everyone ;)

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Dancing to the light

2011-10-24T23:42:00.000+08:00

Sometimes I forgethow much I love being on stage till I’m there dancing.

The costumes, thelight, the makeup, the transformation into character, how can I not likedancing?

The week long danceprogramme is finally over together with all its drama. The drama didn’t reallyaffect me as I knew it was going to happen but what was surprising was thenumber of people who knew it was going to happen. Now that was surprising and Iso wish someone had told me earlier. Seriously like one person? Arggggg well atleast it provided laughs and disbelief for some ;)

But it was theactions of everyone after it that touched my heart. KLPAC went out of its wayto ensure things ran smoothly for us, so many people had lovely words to tellus and most importantly it helped us get over things fast and focus on ourdance.

The dance has beenchoreographed to be different each night as parts of the dance are about thechannelling of emotions in the drama style of Bharatanatyam. Since the dancersweren’t trained in the style, I took essences of the dance and created a piecethat is neither contemporary nor traditional. It’s fully traditional in conceptjust not in execution but neither is it contemporary or fusion.

I had wanted a veryspecific look for the dance and I must say each gal looked like a devi with herred kunkumam shinning on the forehead and their red hands blazing in the light.And our black skirts with red underlining twirled and twirled just like Iwanted them to occasionally giving the audience a glimpse of red as we did ourturns.

This was my secondShort and Sweet and I truly love the festival simply because it brings so manypeople together and you meet such lovely people. The Aswara dancers are sotalented yet such humble people. Medula touched us with the story behind hisdance. So were the zombies from a local Univ I so cannot remember now. We hadlovely roomies once again with ours being the out of the world room with theKazakstan dancer, our Brazilian group and us with our Indian dance.

The moment we finisheddancing we’d head straight to the green room for dinner as we could never eatbefore our dance. That’s where we would meet and talk with the rest of thedancers. Oh since we share the room with the other bigger hall as well, weended up meeting with the lovely group of sweet old men of the quarters andsean ghazi and a few more people. I must say he is pretty cute ;p

Conversations inthe green room ranged from silly nonsense to conversations on how art can heal.Art can definitely shape you to be more confident and mend many things. I amwho I am thanks to all my years in the art world.

I think our biggestfan was the husband of our sweet Kazakstan dancer, everyday he will tell hersomething about our dance or notice something new and the next day she willrelate all of it back to us. From the emotions to the choreography to thelighting, he had so many praises for us. We finally met him on Sunday when wewere there to watch the gala night and once again he was full of praises.

To me emotions area very important part of dance. The audience needs to be able to feel theemotion of a dance and that’s why I am absolutely satisfied with the results.The first night I was standing out there looking for the director, someonestopped me to tell me how powerful our dance and message was, then they showedme their voting slips to show that they were supporting us. Every night someonestops us to thank us for the thought provoking dance. One Chinese man stoppedone of the gals and told her

“at first it was sosimple, and then you gave me a scare and then when I realised the message itmade me so sad and I understood the pain,”

Another couple said “our concentration was sogreat it was as if we were living each character”

u and your girls evoked every emotion in me at the show..it was remarkable..im still in awe!!well done!!

Some people wouldapplaud us as we walked out to go home and thanked us for the experience.

Others would giveus smiles of acknowledgement.

So many people havewanted to know where I got the inspiration or how. That is a story on its onand I shall leave it for later.

Of course to carryon the conversation I’d ask people were you scared? Some would admit it butsome wouldn’t. The tech guys were the best they’d be like are you adding morescreams? Isn’t it scary already? Heheh for that I added my own scream into thedance coz it needed to be done and also to scare the people who were watchingit everyday. The first night the gals got a shock when they heard it even thoughI had already pre-warned them about it. When we came out the other dancers werewondering was the scream recorded or live. Yeah it is one loud eerie scream ofpain. The second night I drained myself with the scream.

The dance wasphysically and emotionally draining. Each of us had a role to play and we eachlived it for that less than 6 minutes of the dance. For me I felt the pain ofthe loss each time a death took place and that’s why the scream was one of suchpain. The anger that followed was in effect of that pain. I remember I checkedwith the tech guys if I was sitting in the right spot for the light and he goesoh yes we saw mother earth boiling.

People walked up tomy mom and asked for our contact as they want the dance to be performed again.I’m truly honoured but I will only be open to performing it again if it was adance programme or an event that matches the message of the dance. I do wish itcould be performed again as the environmental message of the dance is so strongand it’s been done in such a simple manner anyone will be able to understandit.

Most of our friendsand family turned up on Saturday so it was like a party for us and for the castitself as the gala night finalist were announced that night. As soon as curtaincall ended, we said our hi’s to everyone as the cast started dancing away atthe centre of the stage. That’s when we spotted our monkey boys (which one ofmy gals wants to bring home – lol) and I called the gals to the dance floor tojoin them. We were gonna do a kuttu on the dance floor to some pop song ;p

The moment thephrase we were waiting for began we dashed into the centre much to the delightof the group who roared their approval only for the light to come on as one ofthe monkey boys went tsunami tsunami – tsunami masuk je lagu stop (the momenttsunami came in the music stopped) ;p

I had told the galsearlier lets pack up early so that we can go outside and join our friends andfamily. So the moment we were done, we headed back in to pick up our thingsonly to find some of the cast inside our room waiting to say goodbye to us. YesI think we were generally liked by all since we were always laughing around.Each time we were waiting for our turns, we’d wish good luck to all the groupsand they vice versa. That’s why this was such a beautiful time.

People were stillwaiting outside as we got out while I went to get our brownie. I had orderedthe most amazing brownie from my friend as a treat for the gals and our friendsand family but once again I had forgotten the spoon so I was wondering how togive it to them. At one point someone wanted a group photo of us and wanted usto give our scary stares and scream. I said are you sure you want a scream andthey all replied yes. So I said don’t tell me I didn’t warn you ;p

On the count ofthree, the gals and I roared and for a moment the whole foyer went silent ;p

Good times indeed.;)

As people finallystarted leaving, I found a makeshift spoon in the form of a tiny coffee spoonand we finally had our brownie party. People couldn’t believe how good it wasas in a matter of minute ¾ of the brownie was gulped down by all.

So another yearanother dance. I am extremely proud of the dance, what it means and how it hascome out. Once I get it running on youtube, I will post it up with the storybehind the dance, its inspiration and the message.

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eight

2011-10-23T13:32:00.002+08:00

I dreamt of dadtoday.

Not once but twicefunny coz I don’t dream and very rarely remember them.

The thing is todayis 8 years since he has been gone.

Maybe he thought I’dforgotten him.

But then how would Inot remember when I’ve never forgotten him.

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Getaran Jiwa

2011-10-19T01:21:00.002+08:00

Getaran jiwa

Melanda hatiku

Tersusun nada

Irama dan lagu

Walau hanya sederhana

Tetapi tak mengapa

Moga dapat membangkitkan

Sedarlah kamu wahai insan

The stirring of my soul

Overcomes my heart

Arranged by the notes

Of rhythm and song

If it's only modest

Nevermind

Perhaps it could stir

Realise all you mortals

Tak mungkin hilang

Irama dan lagu

Bagaikan kembang

Sentiasa bermadu

Andai dipisah

Lagu dan irama

Lemah tiada berjiwa

Hampa

Never will they vanish

Rhythm and song

It will bloom

It will always linger

If they be seperated

The song and rhythm and song

They'll be soulless and weak

And empty

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Tsunami

2011-09-28T01:13:00.001+08:00

I think I havealways been a dancer.

There’s this photoof me as a toddler wearing this cutesy white bell bottomed pajamas and grinningaway into the screen with my super curly locks framing my face. I look like Iwas dancing and posing for the camera.

Dance is like ameditation for me only instead of sitting in one place, I’m moving to theenergy of the music and dance.

Somewhere mid ofthe year, I had been toying with the idea of choreographing a dance piece whenI was inspired by the moody music of a dance showcase at an open stageperformance. A thought formed into my head and it slowly grew at first as asolo only to grow in size as I put in my imaginary dancers into their place inmy vision.

By then I knew thepiece was too big for the stage it had been initially conceived in and so Ilooked at my options at showcasing it. I had two ready places – one a festivalI was initially excited about but was slowly hating and the other at myfavourite place in KL, KLPAC. With time and persuasion (or more of blackmailfrom the director) the piece found its home as I submitted my paper and gotaccepted.

Hehehe I went forthe first meeting and asked so does this mean we’re in? And I got the answer Iwould think so which was followed by that golden email which meant I had tofind the music and choreograph the dance. Yes I need to have an end before Ican begin.

Then came thefrantic search for the song to fit the mood I wanted. I spent two days tryingto find the song. I knew what I wanted but didn’t know if it existed, my heartsaid it did and so I dashed to my favourite music person Aravind, who withinhours sent me the song that has now successfully haunted 5 women to do crazystuff on stage. I’m not sure if the kid knows how vital the song is to thechoreography and with his magic editing it became even more amazing. I owe youa treat! ;p

Music in hand youwould think the choreography would be easy right? No it doesn’t work like that.Music, art, choreography all needs inspiration, you can’t just start like thatit takes time and in dance you need to know your dancers and work according totheir skills. By the time the choreography emerged, the vision in my head hadchanged so many times it’s become something totally different from the firstspark.

But it was onlywhen I met everyone at the first rehearsal that it fell into place. Every weekthat we meet, it gets stronger and more beautiful and each person has their ownstrength.

Ah but first I musttell you how I found my dancers. I posted my requirements on FB and was lookingaround when 3 of my friends separately asked me about it (and probablyregretted the very next moment as) and I immediately said yes to all three. Thethird was the funniest coz all she did was ask and I said yes you can join andjumped in my chair gleefully. I had my five dancers! ;p

Two of my dancershave never performed on stage and I’m so impressed with them. The first timeone of them did the second half, I was stunned with disbelief at the energy andwhat they were doing till I had to tell them pace yourself don’t get injured.;p The other two are seasoned dancers so it’s not surprising to see them dowell. But I love the combination of the group as everyone works together tohelp the other, practices (even though I bully some about it) diligently, areconstantly thinking of it and most importantly everyone is excited.

It’s been such awonderful time watching all of them dance and dancing as well. The truth is atthe beginning of the choreography I was telling myself and another friend thatthis might be my last performance as a dancer and maybe I should retire asbuilding my stamina every few years once is super tiring and not to mention thelack of time on my side at this point. But thanks to the gals and the wholedance itself, I’m back to enjoying myself and I’m raring for the next eventhough we’ve not even performed this one! ;p

Last Sunday we gaveeach other names okay wait we got given names – so there’s psycho, cute, sexy,dirty and mama.

It’s a dark, darkdance, if you must know. A total opposite of what we performed in 2009. But thebest part is the team at KLPAC remember us from 2009 and are pretty excited tosee what we have in store this time. Oh and we get disco balls ;p hehehe

Dancing is quite aninteresting experience, at first you’re honing the steps and you go onrepeating the dance in a pretty mechanical way. Only after the 10^thfull dancing session will you be able to fully bring out the emotions as you’reno longer wondering what the next step is.

There we were atthe foyer of klpac as the haunting humm resonated through the halls. I walkedinto the centre of the stage and the music took over. As I sat there on thedias waiting for the drama and reacting to the actions on stage, my heart couldfeel the emotions of the scene taking place in front of me though I had my eyesclosed with just enough open for an idea of the cues. Each time I reacted tothose cues, the anger in me built up and the hair on my arms started tinglingas I got goosebumps.

When I got up towake the chaos in my dancers I could feel the vibrations of the anger as wetransformed into beings waiting to destroy and as fast as it started it endedand we were done. And so my vision is complete and is awaiting its staging aswe hone our skills and work into the magic of the haunting music.

While we’re takingpart in a festival which is also a competition, I told the gals from day 1enter this only coz you want to dance and not coz you want to win. I don’t careif we win or go to the finals, this will be an experience you will not forgetas you will dance your heart out there.

So this will be myoffering for Devi for Navarathri this year. We are evoking Kali ma in one ofher forms as Mother Earth. May god bless us and let us dance our hearts out eachnight, without fail and let fatigue only brush us with its long fingers whilethe goddess vibrates in us.

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Anang Malaysia sebaka tebu

2011-09-16T00:59:00.000+08:00

Inever got the fuss about Merdeka (Independence Day) and Malaysia day.

That’sbecause from the day I was born till today I’ve only known Malaysia as mycountry where we have 14 states. Never have I seen myself as better or moresuperior just coz I lived in the peninsular away from the Eastern states ofSabah and Sarawak. To me we were 14 unique states with our own slangs,traditions, culture and people united by one country.

Perhapsbeing born and having lived all my life in the capital of Malaysia has helpedas 90 percent of the people I know are from another state and apparently mostlyfrom Perak! ;p

Iused to have a theory that if I threw a stone it would drop on an Ipoh person,recently upon doing a survey on my Facebook Profile I realised I’d need tochange that to Perak since everyone seemed to be from some town in Perakwithout counting their respective spouses!

Nowthat I have successfully diverted the article to something else as usual let’sgo back. ;p

YesI count myself lucky to be in the capital as I have had the opportunity to meetso many wonderful people from all our states and learnt bits and pieces oftheir culture. Yes we’re a tiny country but each state is unique let alone thetowns. I am determined to put a foot into each town in Malaysia by the end ofmy lifetime. The problem is I keep finding favourites and returning to them.

Thethought of a barrier of states has never occurred to me. To put it in a cornyway, every Malaysian is a brother or sister to me regardless of race orreligion.

ButI understand why it’s a fuss. We just celebrated the 54^th Merdekaand in a few days we will be celebrating the 48^th year of theformation of Malaysia. The truth is for people like me Sabah and Sarawak mayhave gotten a latter independence but they have always been a part of us rightfrom the start so how can we separate them from us when they have always beenus?

Iwas inspired to read about Temenggung Jugah @ Tun Jugah the other day by my bigboss. Now my big boss is super inspiring, well both of them are. He’s beentelling me about wanting to send this message out for over a month now becausehe is so passionate and positive about being a Malaysian. He even knows thislegendary man and his family personally. They now run the Tun Jugah Foundationwhich educates people about the Ibans. The other day he walks in and tells mewhat he wants me to write and research. This man’s knowledge is justoutstanding, ask him about anything and he would probably know and here we arecomplaining of not having time!

NowI vaguely knew Temenggung Jugah from my days of reading history at school. I’ma history buff and I remember I loved this part of our history as we werefinally rid of the sultans who were all named Mohamed 1 to million! Imaginetrying to remember which Mohamed given I have a bad history of not rememberingnames that’s getting worse? Plus it made more sense to me as this was ourhistory.

Anywaywhile researching for a quote by him, I found two that I absolutely love. Thereis very little information about him actually which is really sad. The manrefused to wear a suit in all his meetings with the last of the BritishGovernors who ruled Sarawak and was always seen in his traditional clothes.

idup ka nyawa dulu. Udah urat tegap, barukitai ulih bejaku – Temenggung Jugah

Give life to yourself first. Once yourfoundation is solid, then you can talk and act.’ – Tun Temenggung Jugah

“Anang Malaysiasebaka tebu, manis di pohon, tawal di hujung” - Tun Jugah @ Temenggung Jugah

Malaysia should not be like the sugar cane, sweet at the head and getting less andless sweet towards the end - Tun Jugah @ Temenggung Jugah

For Tun Jugah @ Temenggung Jugah, the man who waskey to Sarawak joining Malaysia, he wanted to ensure the formation was not likethe sugar cane. I believe Malaysia has seen its fair shareof up and downs but the sugar cane remains sweet just like Malaysia.

I went on a merry-go-round looking for his autobiography and a fewothers. There’s also Datuk Amar James Wong Kim Min who sadly just passed awayin July 2011. He’s another man I would love to read.

Guess what it’s available on Amazon but not in the book storeshere and the distributor is ignoring my emails. Bah! I’m sure I can get it atthe National Library but I really want to own these books and read each book onour history from the eyes of these leaders.

Whatever anyone wants to say, groan or complain take it somewhereelse, I love this country and years ago while in a long distance relationship Iknew then that I would never leave for good, I may travel, work for shortstints elsewhere but this is home, this is where I will live and protect tillthe day I die.

To all my fellow Malaysians, let’s continue keeping the sugar canesweet as we are all Malaysians and no matter what happens, we are ONE nation.

Happy Malaysia Day everyone.

Ps:Anyone knows where I can buy these books in Malaysia?

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Yesterday was 9/11.

2011-09-12T23:57:00.000+08:00

I wanted to write something but my FacebookFeed was filled with mixed messages, the usual racists buggers spewing hatredand the usual ones posting memorial messages.

Yes I have racists buggers as friends.Definitely not my close friends, it’s just I haven’t come to the point oftelling them off. I’m legendary with the people I tell off and no I’ve notregretted it. Life’s really peaceful nowadays after being liberated from them.

It’s been 10 years but I know the pain isunbearable for many, the memories unforgettable.

Here I am, a so called non affected personbut I can remember every single thing I did in those two days. I can rememberwatching that man fall to his death, I can remember watching the building fall,I can remember feeling the pain of sensing the death of so many. I can rememberlooking through every single image the media spewed.

I don’t care which side you are on, I don’tcare who you support, I don’t care of the politics behind it, people lost theirlives both on that day and the war that commenced in retaliation.

Why is this 10 years relevant? Coz life hasnot been the same since. The airport securities, the reverse hatred,generations who grew up hating another religion just coz they placed theiremotions above rational, a generation of Muslim children grew up being tauntedby people, families were displaced, a decade of sadness for many, the fact thatnearly every country in the world had lost a citizen that day.

The Star ran a story about Muslim childrenwho grew up in the wrong decade.

We lost three Malaysians that day. Whocould forget the story of Vijayashanker who could have escaped had he notreturned to help his boss.

I have friends whose parents were supposedto have been on one of the doomed flights. That day thought us that life is notabout rushing through, life is to be lived and if you’re late or you miss aflight it’s not the end of the world it could have just been a blessing indisguise.

But it’s today that personally affects me. Iused to work next to the Petronas twin towers. One of the most beautiful sightsin KL, I never get sick of looking at it or photographing it. Imagine nothaving it in our skyline anymore, today 10 years ago it could have happened.

The next day after watching a repeat of thenights events I headed to the office solemn and still in disbelief of theevents that had unfolded.

Sometime later we noticed people walkingout of the twin towers towards us. It took us sometime to realise that therewas a bomb scare at the Petronas twin Towers. We looked at each other, not aword was spoken and we continued staring at the PC. I knew no one was workingas everyone was scared of what might happen. I remembered smsing my then bf andtelling him to come online. That’s when I told him what was happening and thatI was scared.

He was the only one who knew how scared Iwas. I called home just to talk but never said a thing. Everyone was still inshock at home from yesterday. I sat there praying and hoping today wouldn’t bemy last day and it would just be a bomb scare.

Thank god it had been just that. Did lifego back to normal?

Not really, 10 years down the road my heartstill beats frantically for what could have been.

So imagine what those who were there on9/11 feel today.

No matter where we were, it affected all ofus.

God bless the souls that were lost and thefamilies who are still at lost.

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54

2011-08-31T02:15:00.000+08:00

Malaysia turns 54 today ;)

Happy Merdeka to all Malaysians and Happy Birthday Malaysia ;)

Now I'm supposed to be packing and doing a lot of other things today but here I am finally editing videos and excitedly posting them. I had written this post way back then but never got to posting it. it's kinda usual these days so read it as it was told that day. And watch the video ;) My first edited video with the 5dmk2 ;)

I think I live in the most awesomest town. There I’ve said it ;p

You see I’ve been accused of loving my town a tad bit too much but then I’m not lying you see. It does have awesome food and you get everything there for great prices. But what I love most is the whole laidback feel and the people who live there.

People here are seriously hardworking. They’d hold jobs at the university, then have their own business on the side while lending a hand in their communities and their own religious movements.

What I really wanted to write about is the boys from my area. Now they’re typical Indian boys, naughty and flirty and full of Indian movie Bandha (think Rajinikanth) – the typical Macha.

But here’s the thing you would not expect from them. If there’s a temple function, these boys may not turn up to pray but they will be there to clean up, cook, help with the food preparation and finally to serve the food.

They’re all part of the local Youth Club which was set up by my uncle to get these boys to channel their energy in the right way. The boys pool their money to host the last evening before the temple thriruvila (festival) in our town.

I never miss going for their ubhayam (prayers) just to watch them and bask in proudness. Each year they pick representatives from the club to stand in front and be the ones who get to carry the idol around the temple. It is so cute to see those boys turn up in their veshtis and blink in embarrassment. They’ll pull their veshti to the left to the right and then when their eyes meet someone they know (which is probably everyone) they blush away. This is probably their first time ever wearing the veshti.

After the prayers these boys will start serving food with outmost efficiency. Be it as a buffet line or in a sit down style where everyone sits in rows on the floor. Nobody gets left out, everything is cleared in time and the service is done with sincerity and humbleness.

Yesterday afternoon during lunch, the boys were getting bullied by this aunty sitting next to me. She kept teasing them is this yesterdays food? Eh why you giving her more appalam than me? At one point my mom, me and the aunty ended up putting one boy on a merry go round of refilling our drink glasses. Not once did they sulk or get angry, it was all smiles and laughter and teasing protests.

The younger boys of our town look up to them in awe and wait for their turn to be able to serve. We’ve all done our time, once we get too busy with work, the younger boys take over and we watch with glee and pride.

Weekends before and after festivals the youngsters of the town will turn up to clean the temple. When I was younger I was one of them. I remember one year they wanted kolams painted all across the cement floors of the temple, so three of us who normally put the kolam turned up to paint 10 huge kolams around the temple on a Sunday morning. Throughout the day someone brought us food and drinks so we wouldn’t run away without finishing our work. Not that we would have.

All the temple brass items are usually gleamed by the community folks. Before big festivals the ladies of the town will turn up to cut the huge quantity of food. Let’s just say no one ever goes hungry in our town. That’s why on such festival times we’d have foreign workers turning up as well and we never decline them.

Everyones welcome to turn up as long as they behave themselves.

The best part everyone will patiently wait in line (ok most of the aunties don’t) to wash the plates and cups so that the temple folks don’t have to do it.

Last night as the chariot made its way across town, the boys were out in full force to help out and mostly have fun. We had already done our prayers in the temple itself but wanted to go chariot chasing. That’s where you hop into a car and stop people to ask where they are.

At one point I stopped the car and went boys where’s the chariot. They replied back “akka its at that corner.” The courtesy and the manners are always there. Of course the boys aren’t saints, they break rules, tease the gals (they are boys you know), flirt and such but they do know how to respect elder people and everyone in general. Just don’t pick a fight with them, the whole town might turn up in support for them.

They had set up a pantal or booth at one of the locations to provide food and drinks for the people walking with the chariot. The boys were dressed in their best and had decorated the place with coconut leaves and decorations.

By giving the boys importance, we had created a system to ensure they were an integral part of the community. It’s a simple theory trust them with responsibility and they will perform. Don’t undermine naughty boys, they just want attention, you can always talk to them nicely and trust them. Eventually they will become better people.

So to the boys of my town, I am so proud of you – you guys are awesome ;)

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Covers

2011-08-21T13:31:00.001+08:00

For the last few months people have been raving about Shanker Tucker. Now Ive been meaning to write this for sometime now but didn’t have the time.

Here I am sitting and listening to "O Re Piya / Rolling in the Deep" - Shankar Tucker ft. Rohan Kymal, Brendan Susens-Jackson on a loop since this morning.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipNB-ijxHiI&feature=player_embedded

Now the reason I’m listening to the song on a loop is not coz of how he merged them but it’s because of the amazing voice of Rohan Kymal. Like the lyrics of Adele’s song

You had my heart inside your hand
And you played it To the beat

He had my heart in his hands. I woke up today to fall in love with his amazing voice. Oh and I love those amazing guitar riffs in the song.

But the reality is in this second based on the youtube videos both Shanker and Rohan are cover artists.

In Shankers case he has sound knowledge of music, is a brilliant producer because he continues to pick the right singer for each song and he has introduced us to amazing singers like Rohan and the Iyer sisters and a talented instrumentalist.

The only instance I have seen his creativity as a composer is in this less listened to original song by him "Night Monsoon" - Shankar Tucker, Amit Mishra.

This is seriously amazing it feels as if you’re listening to the monsoon itself but sadly it has less hits as it is a more classical piece and most of the people listening to his songs are looking for the familiarity of the covers he has been doing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnyDwXmxwac&feature=relmfu

Take for example this cover of Micheal Jackson’s by Harmonize Projekt 2. It is a cover but wait till you get to the guitar riffs and the dude blows you off with his amazing skills moving away from the original composition and exploring the raaga and then as easily moves back to the original composition and we’re back to MJ.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-XINPCPoq0&feature=related

Here they have a perfect singer however the chorus to me borders on irritating so there’s no way I’m going to loop this. This is a talented band but they have the problem most bands have they can’t do all covers and need to come up with originals or have people nitpick on them coz it will be evident.

Of course this would be irrelevant if they were one of the thousands of amazing Filipino bands worldwide ;p

So why isn’t the merging of O Re Piya and Rolling in the Deep not great? Simply coz Shanker has identified that both songs are based on the same raga platform and merged them.

Here’s the original by Rahat Fateh Ali Khan.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5awZ9sOTA54

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It’s amazing but the arrangements use more classical instruments so the general public perhaps have not heard it. People like me who don’t follow the Hindi music scene definitely have not heard it. Listen to the song fully it gets better and better.

So how is a cover singer different from a cover director. It’s the originality of his voice that makes all the difference. With his voice Rohan has created a different experience to the song and the credit goes to Shanker for picking him. Like I said Shankers a brilliant producer.

Only time can tell if Shanker can truly be a creative composer or continue to be brilliant producer. He has a movie album coming out – let’s see where that goes.

I’m going back to looping Rohan ;)

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A Letter to our Tigers

2011-07-31T12:14:00.002+08:00

The first live football match I watched was the Manchester United game vs Malaysia in 2001. When I was younger my dad never let me follow my cousins to watch the Selangor games even though I was a huge fan of the Red Giants.

I was a Man U fan but no matter what I will always be a Malaysian fan so I was excited to watch the game. That day we lost 6-0 to Man United. It’s one thing to lose but another thing to be trashed. What hurt most was the moment the Malaysian team walked into the pitch you knew they had come prepared to lose and were there with not even a glint of hope.

That day I told myself I’m never gonna watch them plan against any EPL team coz I don’t think I could watch them looking so dejected.

I watched Malaysia play again last December. For months now we had been reading and hearing about their progress. The tigers were back in shape and in the best form they had ever been since my childhood. Harimau Malaya charged against an equally capable team of Indonesians as they scored 3-0 to the ecstatic cheers of the nation. More than the win, it was their walk of confidence that blew me away. This team didn’t know they were going to win but to hell with anyone who told them they couldn’t. You knew they were going to give their best.

Last Thursday I was back at the Stadium to watch them play the second leg of the Asian qualifiers for the 2014 World Cup against Singapore. They stadium was a blaze in hitam kuning as the crowd chanted Malaysia! Malaysia! They had lost 5-3 to Singapore.

Our Tigers walked in with confidence and determination. They were there to do their best.

Finally after years of hoping, we have a team which gives its all for the game and the country. For once we have a coach who is a leader and not a boss.

A leader believes in his players and backs them up no matter what. A leader walks in and tells us no matter what the odds are that we will win. A leader says they gave their best but they can improve and they will. A boss blames them the moment they fall, a boss says I think we can draw, a boss says it was his fault.

Although we drew yesterday after that amazing goal that got us screaming to our feets, we thank you for giving your best. We need you to believe in yourself and to continue walking to that pitch with your heads held high and your spirits soaring. The whole nation is ready to back you up, the whole nation is ready to cheer you on. Just give us your best and never stop trying. You made people who don’t watch football cheer and watch you just because they believed in you.

The stadium filled with fans cheered our Tigers even after we knew we had lost. So let’s take our negative mentality and stop playing the blame game. Focus on believing in the team and its leaders. We all make mistakes, we all fall but we can rise above if only we believe and give our all.

My dear Harimau’s – I am so proud of you. Keep on reaching and one day we will get there.

Hitam Kuning! Hitam Kuning! Hitam Kuning! Go Tigers! Go Tigers!

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The magic hour

2011-07-28T05:39:00.001+08:00

It’s 5 in the morning. I’ve been awake since 3. Well I slept off at 10pm actually and woke up around 2am. So I guess I got sleep. This is undeniably my favourite hour though I see less of it nowadays.

Since I became a working photographer, I sleep by 1 wake by 8 am regardless of it’s a weekend or not. Of course I wake much earlier on a weekday but to wake up at 8 on the weekends???? Signs of age catching up I guess, time seems to have become more responsible. Bah.

But I miss the wee hours of the morning. It used to be my thinking time or the time I wrote nonsense like now. Sometimes I wish my brain will shut up and keep quiet but I think I’d miss the chatter if it went silent. How else can I annoy people? ;p

Two of my ideas might just see the light of the day. It’s an internal work thing, anyone can submit an idea, I just never tried it. So I was super excited to receive an email yesterday prompting me that my idea had gone to the next level and had comments just days after I submitted the idea. The Big Boss at the department I pitched it for dropped a comment saying he liked it. I was pretty tempted to skip and jump but quietly grinned at my pc instead. I really hope the other one lifts off too though there is a part I’m dreading.

Tomorrow evening we will know if Malaysia advances to the next stage of the World Cup qualifiers. Tomorrow I’ll be there with my flag and scarf to cheer the team on. The anxiety is crazy. This is the strongest we’ve been since I was a kid, and I hope and wish and pray we make it. The thing is I’m making plans to head to Brazil for the world cup and imagine having Malaysia play there. Wow. Dreams are meant to be achieved; I will never stop having hope. This is probably the furthest I’ve thought in life (another sign of age – grrr). Regardless of whether anyone I know goes with me, I just know I have to be there. I know I’m crazy – so don’t act surprised. ;p

Whether we make it tonight or not I am still proud of the team. We’ve come a long way and let’s not chide them whatever the results tonight.

Since we are at the mid-year point, let me just say 2011 has been a crazy bag of surprise filled year. Mostly it’s been great. Even the bad ones, when you put it in perspective and analyse they were also great and were needed. I would have probably continued kidding myself otherwise. Sometimes my level of acceptance and crap dealing capabilities amazes me even though I really need to get a grip on it.

One good thing about this early morning, I finally replied some important mails that I had been postponing. So probably that’s gonna be a deluge of replies in the next few days.

Two things most people don’t know about me – I love working and I never regret anything.

I’m pleased to have spent 31 years not regretting any decision/ action I’ve taken expect for one where I made one two many people cry all for a prank. Neither have I wished that my life was different or certain things didn’t happen. I am absolutely certain I am who I am coz of these unfortunate events.

My colleague told me something that took me by shock. She told me – I wanna be like you. When you go on holiday no matter how long it is, you nearly never leave any work for us to do. You make sure everything is done. Yeah workaholic. When I thought about it, it did seem correct but I never realised it. To me dad ingrained it into me at least that you must always be responsible. No one else can be that for you. Anyway I call her my sensible voice, the one that reins me in when I’m ready to burst out or there to give me advice.

Ah my magic hour is over, eyes are slowly drowsing to sleep, time to post this and bid good bye to this hour.

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I went snorkelling!!

2011-07-23T11:15:00.000+08:00

Ok this shouldn’t be a great thing for most people but it is for me coz for the life of me I CAN’T SWIM! ;p

I absolutely love the water and when I see one, I never come out but it all depends on how much of the floor I can feel, the moment I don’t feel it I will panic ;p

All this while I’ve been afraid to try snorkelling coz who in their right mind would jump into the deep sea when they can’t swim????

Anyway I was heading to Perhentian and figured it was about time I tried. So there we were zipping across the ocean on our speedboat filled with obnoxious kids, our lovely guide and my friend as someone passed me the alien looking snorkerling mask.

I had the basic knowledge of using it since I have so many diver friends but I was more concerned about the deep sea jumping.

We stop at this shallow part and he asked us if we wanted lessons. Obnoxious kids immediately said no without asking anyone. I figured it’s ok if I’m not up to it ill just enjoy the ride.

We reach our first spot and he asks who doesn’t know how to swim – 3 of us said we don’t while the rest jumped over. I looked down n all I could see was vast amount of corals and not even a bit of the oceans floor.

I’m finally the only one left on the boat. My friend and our old man guide who was probably 75 and looking real fit start urging me to jump.

And all I could think was – are you people crazy that’s the deep ocean!!

My friend who is a swimmer started showing me that it was the vest that was keeping her floating so I should just jump. So I finally jumped in and went straight into the water. I had my eyes closed and mouth closed and kept calm so I wouldn’t panic. I came out to find both of them next to me.

Then I was given a quick lesson on how to breathe with my mouth – trust me u need it. It took sometime and a bit of salt water consumption before I got it and that’s when I saw the gorgeous corals and beautiful fishes but I was still holding strong to my friends hand as I was still afraid after a while she let go and at first I was afraid but then I slowly got the hang of it and before you know it I was hooked!

Wow the fishies (my name for fish) are so pretty and the coral formation was amazing. In the first place it was filled with pretty zebra fishes. There were a different variety of zebra fishes near our shoreline. Every noon the wave brings them in and if you’re quiet enough and the sand settles down you’ll get to see them right at the shore.

We got back on the boat and by then my friend had become seasick and was for the rest of the trip. The next spot we jumped in to look for turtles but couldn’t find any that day so we headed to the next one.

Our third spot was amazing. There weren’t corals or we couldn’t see them as this place was much deeper but there were so many fishes. One guy handed me a fried banana fritter and told me to show it at the fishes. It took a while but soon the fishes were flocking towards my hands to nibble on the banana. One fella accidentally nibbled on me ;p

Here there were more variety, sizes and colour. Our last stop for the evening was to look for sharks. We stopped near the rocky waters of the island and our guide jumped in. he told us to follow him closely and watch closely. He had a dead fish in his hands and was slowly ripping them to release the blood. Since I can’t swim I was left behind with the bigger variety of fish.

The next thing I know our guide tucks my arm into his and takes me along for the shark ride.

Wheeeeeeeeee. That was an experience but I must have been tired coz I was swallowing a lot of water. It was exciting and tense to think we were looking for a shark. I wasn’t too concerned coz the sharks in our waters are harmless. We attracted a long brown fish which looked like a mini shark or cat fish but still no shark.

And then we saw a glint of silver and the shark emerged – it was about a metre long – probably the baby. I saw it or others in the same size 4 times. Seriously amazing experience and all thanks to my lovely guide who decided I should see as much as possible ;p

When we got out of the water with me grinning ear to ear, he asked me so how many did u see I said four 1 metre long ones. Then he asked me so you didn’t see the big one? Lol that freaked me out for a second hehehe

So now Im definitely hooked to snorkelling and can’t wait for the next one.

The one thing I did realise from being in Perhentian, the place is gorgeous but it’s not my paradise. My paradise is still in Bali and I’m heading there again next year. Paradise is calling my name ;p

Ps: Oh just a note I’m as noisy under the sea as on land ;p I was singing to myself throughout my snorkelling adventure ;p

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I needed to sing

2011-07-07T00:44:00.002+08:00

It had been a long day (and it was only mid day). It was one of those days when I needed my space.

I needed my stress outlets. Just as I was heading out for lunch alone (stress outlet 1) my dancer friend emails me this sweet mail and there begins the smile of happiness. The power of words is unbelievable. You need to feel it to understand.

I spent lunch messaging her and slowly I was out and relaxed but my soul needed something. I knew I needed to sing. Most of all I knew I needed to sing for her – this one song. I just knew she would be able to dance to it.

So I asked – wanna bring Shiva?

It was a resounding yes and my soul smiled a bit in anticipation.

The next few hours flew right pass as I drowned into work, before I knew it, it was already pass eight and I needed my ceaser salad. (I have a thing for them). I had been at work for more than 12 hours.

I’d been to the café before or so I thought. I drove straight there to find it missing. Google map didn’t help either and before I knew it 40 mins had passed. I tried the map again, this time it pointed me to the direction of a road I had been before and there it was the café I was looking for.

It couldn’t be coincidence, and I knew later I was meant to be late.

I walked in to find my friend dancing but I needed a drink. Our drummer boy was missing and at first I was apprehensive. Did I really want to do this? Can I back out?

As I sipped the drink it became clear to me we didn’t need the drum, just the beat of my bangle tapped in rhythm to the song.

Bho shambo siva shambo shyambo

I started softly and was probably heard by the dancer only. She was dancing with fire and we were slowly merging. The song got louder as the melody intensified. The fire was put out and its place the dance and music began to merge in a fiery rise.

That’s when the café went silent and the music got louder and stronger. The vibrations grew stronger and stronger thimita thimita thimi thimikida kida thom

By the end of the song I could feel it in my bones. I gently brought it back to the beginning pallavi

Bho shambo siva shambo shyambo

And then we were done.

And now at 1 am I’m wide awake, still on my music high, soul energised and mind drowning in creative juice.

Shiva came in the glory of Raaga Revati – to the sounds of bangles and the sway of the eternal dance.

Bho shambo siva shambo shyambo

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We are but the instrument of fate

2011-06-28T22:40:00.000+08:00

We are but the instrument of fate
flying across the ocean of time
soaring above the depth of its memories
landing in the islands of calm
as a new chapter begins
and you fly to soar once again

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if you go away

2011-06-19T10:16:00.000+08:00

In love with this haunting song

If you go away
On this summer day
Then you might as well
Take the sun away
All the birds that flew
In the summer sky
And our love was new
And our hearts were high
When the day was young
And the night was long
And the moon stood still
For the night bird song
If you go away, if you go away, if you go away
But if you stay
I'll make you a day
Like no day has ever been
Or will be again
We'll sail on the sun
We'll ride on the rain
We'll talk to the trees
And worship the wind
And if you go
I'll understand
Leave me just enough love
To hold in my hand
If you go away, if you go away, if you go away
If you go away
As I know you will
You must tell the world to stop turning
Till you return to me
If you ever do,
Oh what good is love without loving you?
I can tell you now, as you turn to go
I'll be dying slowly
Till your next hello
If you go away, if you go away, if you go away,
But if you stay
I'll make you a night
Like no night has ever been
Or will be again
I'll sail on you smile
I'll ride on your touch
I'll talk to your eyes
That I love so much
But if you go
I'll understand
Leave me just enough love
To hold in my hand
If you go away, if you go away, if you go away, if you go away

If you go away, as I know you must
There is nothing left in this world to trust
Just an empty room, full of empty space
Like the empty look I see on your face
I'd have been the shadow of your shadow
If you might have kept me by your side
If you go away, if you go away, if you go away

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Amazing Phuket

2011-05-15T15:11:00.002+08:00

When I was doing my research on Phuket the main word I kept hearing was how commercialised it was. So I did have my reservations. We arrived at Phuket late at night famished and absolutely loving our hotel room which came with a kitchen patio and a wall sofa which I absolutely loved.

Once we finished taking in the room, we headed downstairs to find food. We were staying in the non entertainment district of phuket on what we later realised was one of the best beaches in Phuket. There was a family mart right next to us which is something like 7-eleven an opens 24 hours. The one Italian restaurant was already closed. That’s when we spied a restaurant with a dubious sign saying Thai food. Since we were hungry we decided to just head there and try to get some food since it was past 10pm.

We walked in to find a long haired dude and asked if the restaurant was still open.

He answered us back with a question “where are you from?” We said Malaysia and he went not India? We laughed and said no and then he told us to sit down and immediately tells us “NO FOOD” and starts laughing away. We were gobsmacked for a moment and tickled by his antics when he brought us the menu.

We got him to recommend a curry as well as our favourite green curry. Yes I know who eats two curries? Two crazy gals of course ;p

He comes back a while later with two bowls of curry one reddish and another greenish. They looked yummy but looks can deceive right?

One sip of the curry and we were in heaven, that was the best curry I had ever tasted. It was just so amazing. Spoon after spoon of the delicious curry went into our systems as we oohed and aahed. We knew immediately that this was going to be our favourite restaurant in Phuket.

He came back later and entertained us with his antics and stories of being a singer and even sang a thai song for us. He turned out to be the cook who had learnt his skills from watching his mom cook!

We ended up going back there for lunch everyday ordering more green curry and tomyam which was as great. I even got him to pose for my camera though he suddenly turned shy on us.

We never got the same taste anywhere else after and I’m afraid that curry is never gonna taste the same for me again. I so want my tomyam now! ;p

Phuket was absolutely lovely, I wish we had stayed longer and not headed to Bangkok. The trip felt too short. Our part of the beach was absolutely stunning, we drove around the beaches to check out the other beaches and I can still say ours was the best. It was quiet not too crowded and the best part there was this one cove that was protected by a hill so you got shade throughout the day. The only thing was our hotel wasn’t on the beach but they were such lovely people.

We spent most of the time in the water either at the beach or in our lovely pool on the top floor.

Loved the routine of waking up and having American breakfast with yummy bacon and runny eggs (missing them so much now) before heading to the beach and lazing in the water and swimming with the fish! Yes this was the first time I swam with fishies and they were the pretty yellow blue ones. At one point we got surrounded by 3 schools of fishes, kinda freaky though I kept imagining killer piranhas attacking me ;p hehehe

Then we’d head back, rinse of the sea water, have a yummy lunch, circle the island a bit before heading up to the pool to laze and soak around. The best part of the pool, it had shady spots so you didn’t end up getting sun burned as well as the pool bar where your drinks come straight up to the pool side. Ah life was awesome.

We did head to patong one night to check out the night life. More on that later about the amazing band we got to hear. But patong was so different from our side. It was like two different worlds on one island. We did take forever to get there as we followed a dubious signboard that took us through super steep hilly roads and winding towns before we finally reached Patong only to get back via a super easy, short but lonely road past the beaches.

Sigh I wish I was still in phuket swimming with the fishies and having awesome curries! ;p

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I'm a KLPA Finalist

2011-03-31T20:15:00.000+08:00

My photo Urban Goddess which was my first and only submission to KL Photoawards has been chosen as a finalist for the 2011 Competition.

http://www.klphotoawards.com/klpa11top453slide/index.html

My photo will be exhibited together with the rest of the finalist at Annexe Gallery at Central Market beginning the 19 April to 4 May 2011. We will only find out the winners at the awards night on 19 April 2011. I am so excited to be a finalist ;)

You can help me win the People's Choice award by going here and voting for me.

Click on the drop down menu and look for

(34) Visithra Manikam

http://www.klphotoawards.com/about.html#vote

Please vote for me ;))))))))))

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Goodbye crazy week

2011-03-13T23:57:00.000+08:00

it's been a whirlwind week - but im super tired to give a full account - will update soon i hope

beautiful start at the Kakiseni launch - watching stunning performances - my photo and profile is in the prog book (get a copy asap!),

first car prob of the week,

my photo gets published in the sun AS usual they freaking dont credit the photographer ,

lovely time watching Ang Tau Mui twice - the performance I photographed - having the director sek tim and marion d cruz - telling me they loved it ;)

- car remote going bonkers that i had to get the car towed back home for the first time ever! stupid security feature can will not start if the alarm doesnt work - stupid little battery cost me a bomb

watching a full butoh performance n came out mesmerised by the flutist n percussionist

- attending little sebastians first bday ( ive seen this kid since day 1!) seeing three little juns ;p

- n shopping like crazy for curtains ;p crazy crazy deals ;p i will not need to buy curtains ever ;p nothing like retail therapy yo ;p

- so goodbye crazy week n hello new week

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A post

2011-03-08T00:26:00.001+08:00

of something else.

This is going to be a proper blabber as im forcing myself to type eventhough im dead tired.

Loads happening just dont have the time to blog it - plus some things i dont want to share yet.

Tomorrows an exciting day - wish i could be there in the afternoon but the timings not right - plus i was just on leave on Friday for a very fruitful reason. hopefully enough details are released tmrw so i can share with the world ;)

yes its been a great start to the year - hopefully all plans work out. God bless ;)

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65

2011-02-17T01:52:00.002+08:00

The day my dad passed away, I was left with the realisation that the one person who had loved me most had left me for good. As I cleared his things, I’d find little trinkets of notes and gifts I had given him, tucked somewhere in the mass amount of files and diaries dating back to his days as a politician. I had just been born then and it would seem I had inherited his hoarding habit.

I braved myself as I realised here was a man who had never told me how much he loved me just like most Indian dads holding on to homemade gifts from a twelve year old kid. And I was the kid who had to learn how to hug and say I love you to friends only after he passed on.

Not a day goes by without me wishing he was still around. I finally stopped wishing that I would hear the impatient horn of his car so that one of us will open the doors for him. Not a day went by without us fighting over same trivial thing because we were probably the world’s most stubborn people. Unless for that one last year. But I’d be in denial if I told you; life wasn’t easier in some ways without him.

For one, I wouldn’t be who I am if he hadn’t gone. The bravery, confidence, independent streak would not have been possible if he had been around to look after me. Dad used to take care of nearly everything for us; I had never even renewed my car road tax by myself. Somehow I think he knew his time was up as weeks before, he handed me the details and chased my to the post office to get them renewed.

Today I change tires, terrorise irritating bankers, tell of people (who deserved to be), run my finances and all legal requirements and even travel the globe alone. If dad had been around, world war 3 would have taken place on the mere mention of travelling without him!

Without him, I’d become self reliant. Without him, I was free to explore so many possibilities.

Without him, I had no hero to look after me.

A lost is a lost no matter how many years pass. I would trade all these to be able to fight with my dad again. At least I’d hear his voice again right?

The last 7 years haven’t been easy. You can wait in line with the rest of us (billions or so people) in wishing life was easy. When I look back at every single happiness, betrayal and sadness, I know there’s nothing I regret, nothing I want to change or nothing I wish I could change except for my dad’s loss.

What I do know is, he’s always around looking out for me. He knows just what to send over my way whenever I need help. It’s just his method is a bit quirky. I’d see trouble blinding me from miles away before I finally realise the message behind everything.

Dad got back into his protective saddle a few days shy of his 64^th birthday slamming and closing doors all around me. It wasn’t until today, that I realised he had set all the plans up for the clock to move in motion. Yesterday dad turned 65.

Today I finally cried for the father I lost 7 years ago.

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The hamsap bunny

2011-02-04T01:07:00.000+08:00

They say the new year day would determine the events for the rest of the year. If that was the case, the year of the bunny is gonna be one horny fella!

Weirdness and me have much in common but this was just way out of the ordinary. Determined not to sleep my long holiday away, I ventured out to seek sources of inspiration to shoot and arrived smack at the centre of Kuala Lumpur.

The streets were filled with foreign workers obviously enjoying their long weekend with gust and vigour. That’s when i spotted the old man dressed in the usual apek fashion of old shirt and shorts sitting atop a motorbike parked in front of a seemingly empty looking shop lot. Stuck in traffic (why was there traffic in the first place!!! Its supposed to be the best time to be in KL!!), I watched him as i contemplated parking and shooting the old man and his surroundings.

That’s when i notice the stream of foreign labourers walking gloomly into the darkened stairways of the building only for another bunch of them to come out into the hot afternoon sun grinning away. Only once i reached the second doorway did i realise what was going on. I had arrived at pimp street. One moment i was amazed at the number of people streaming into the hideouts and the next i pitied the women who were servicing them in those hot dingy shoplots.

I quickly left the city centre as more people arrived in packed buses and taxis for their holiday in the city. Ah but the hopping bunny had more plans in store for me. In my travels across the state i ended up in Kepong and was quickly enamoured by a row of wooden shop houses by the road. I parked and took out my camera to shoot.

As i was shooting this Indonesian lady sitting outside what seemed like a mah-jong place, out walks this 70 year old spiffily dressed grey haired man to talk to the lady. As i was shooting with my 85 mm i was standing quite a distance and had no idea what they were talking. Just as he was heading back into the mah-jong joint, he spots me and grins at me. As usual i grin back and continue shooting.

Old man returns back with an angpow in one hand and a bag of oranges in another and hands it to the lady. Just as i was about to go (awww so sweet) the old man starts caressing the womans arm right up into the sleeves!!!

Now I can’t help to wonder why the old man grinned at me! Double ewww!!!

Just as I thought that I’ve had enough of the horny old rabbit, i get online and read the funniest link of the era??

Good Pakistani Boys Decide Not To Masturbate To Veena Malik

ROTFL I was still laughing when 5 minutes before the first day of the bunny year ended, my friend sends me a link to a hot lungi ad from 1978!

Now we know why the bunny is the mascot for playboy! So hope everyone had a wonderful hopping bunny new year if not a hamsap one! ;p hehhee

Apek – old men

Angpow – money packet given on festive occasions
lungi – sarong
hamsap - horny

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Shylah

2011-01-15T22:04:00.000+08:00

I have a photo of them smilling at the camera but i love this shot - when they noticed me pointing the camera at them they immediately closed their faces - so i took a few shots and showed them -n they then decided to smile at the cam ;)

So adorable - btw happy ponggal everyone -inniya pongal nalvalthukal as well as Happy new year

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RIP Bill

2011-01-08T12:41:00.006+08:00

Dear Bill

I don’t know you, neither would most of the people who would someday read this letter you have left behind.

i understand how the darkness had taken over your life. The whole world might criticise your actions but the truth is very few people understand the severity of sexual abuse. It isn’t about how severe the actions were or if it were only words or taunts or molest, abuse is still abuse regardless of its form because it toys with emotions, trust and leaves people entirely changed never to be the same. It is taxing emotionally and it leaves scares so deep, most people like you are unable to escape the hands of that darkness only they can understand.

I hope your letter will help thousands of people out there who battle with trust and their emotions daily never knowing who to trust or how to escape. I wish you had found someone you could trust enough to talk. The truth is it would have helped you heal if only one person believed you enough to trust and listen to you. But the truth is it is nearly impossible to trust anyone. I understand why you felt you were unable to share with anyone, coz people can be such nasty idiots who would use that information against you.

I hope you finally found peace.

Read his letter, I hope it helps the thousands of victims out there who live in the darkness not knowing what to do. I hope you find someone you trust who will listen and believe in you, for that’s the only way you can escape the darkness. RIP Bill Geller.

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Home

2011-01-07T22:13:00.003+08:00

I live for holidays. I’d probably go nuts if I didn’t travel in 12 months. But everytime I’m away and having fun, the last day always excites me eventhough I know my holiday is coming to an end. Because you see it means I’m going home. The moment I get into the plane, I’m all smiles especially if the crew is Malaysian. I smile and greet them in Malay every single time as if the language would bond us closer. Somehow it does, not my favourite language in anyway but its what I use when I miss home.

But the moment I really wait for is for the announcement by the pilot just before we land. ....and to all Malaysians, welcome home! Those words pull the strings of my heart every single time as I unabashedly grin back in happiness to no one in particular but the little me jumping in joy in my head.

I walk out of the plane and smell the Malaysian air and once again I’m all smiles. I’m home baby! I’m home sweet home!!!!

ps : I turned 31 at the turn of the decade in two countries at midnight in Malaysia and through the evening in amazing Bali, Indonesia. Hence the lack of posts for the end of 2010, as I just got back home today morning! Happy New Year to all and I will be back with stories of how I’ve fallen in love with Ubud and a stunning Indonesian island I’m going to call paradise that’s never gonna be named here ;) I’m going to be selfish and horde it to myself ;p

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Dragons sleep here

2010-11-22T23:57:00.000+08:00

Halong Bay the land of the sleeping dragon. What an amazing place. Despite the grey skies I was absolutely in love with the place. The money I spent there was definitely fully worth it.

Now when we were planning to head to Vietnam, Halong Bay was on my must visit list coz I just wanted a relaxing time and plus I’ve heard of its beauty and seen photos. The problem was there was so many horror stories about trips there. Around 600 ships offer the “same” packaged tours to live on board a ship for a night or two and see the surrounding views. The whole harbour is filled with similar looking junks, so how was one going to find a trust worthy tour agent given how much I hate tour companies?

This was also one of the trips I had the least amount of time to research, the last few days being the only time I had to properly find info but in that time I realised the only way I was going to get a good trip was to:

Book a tour with a company that owns the ship
Pay nearly double the usual rate
Meet the tour agents
Ask as many questions possible

I pretty much knew who I was leaning towards but to give us an idea and since we were staying at the Old Quarters, we walked into a few tour companies and came out feeling pretty turned off. The thing is, they recite what they’ve probably memorised and sit there with a dull face staring back at you and offer no other info.

The office of the tour we picked wasn’t in the main area so we took a cab towards the place and walked in to find the loveliest chap who could actually speak English. We liked him so much we just sat there chatting with him for a while and obviously booked them for US 215 per person for a 3 days 2 night trip.

The usual prices were going between US 100 to less and there was no way I was going to live on a ship in the middle of the ocean and put myself at risk coz I was stingy to spend. I’m a practical flashpacker, I like a tad bit comfort where safety is my top priority.

We couldn’t book their own boat as theirs was undergoing service (woohoo they serviced their ships) so they got us on their sister companies ship. He gave us a run through of the services, the ship and the itinerary. He assured us we could contact him asap if we needed and gave us his contacts and such.

He was such a charming guy and told us about his travels to Malaysia and his experience there. After I paid him I casually asked him about the weather there this time around and he tells me

“oh by the way its typhoon season! “

I was like what!! The funny thing is this is peak season in Vietnam! I was determined to go so we left and waited for the day to come.

On Monday they arrived sharp on time to pick us up in one of those nice looking but super small seat space vans. Lets’ just say most of us were suffering the my-legs-are-too-long syndrome. Not fun for such a longgg journey – it takes about 3 hours to get to Halong Bay from Hanoi. Good thing the view is amazing, miles of golden paddy fields, too bad we couldn’t stop.

We did stop half way at a pretty pricey handicraft shop. Everything was expensive but for the traditional dresses. You could order one or buy from the racks at the same price and collect them on your way back. Since I had gotten one in Hanoi which was much more expensive, I thought what the heck and decided to get 2 tailormade dresses there. And so began the impossible task of choosing materials as well as to convince them I knew what I wanted ;p

One of the tops prices was different from the one I had seen (a misprint) so I refused to buy it. Anyway when I went back they had both ready for me to wear. I think they figured my size could be worn by all and just got it done. I just prefer getting tailor made clothes trust me it’s easier to shop across Asia than in Malaysia ;p

Superb marketing tactic since I ended up buying the other piece as well.

Back to our story we reached Halong Bay port just before 12 and were made to wait before we were pointed towards our captain who was taking us to our ship. We drove down the blue waters towards the ship and what a sight! I must say the ship looked stunning from the outside, I was hoping fingers crossed it would look great from the inside as well.

Our ship had an interesting doorway; one of the floors had a door that opened straight into the ocean. It ended up being my favourite place to hang out and catch a fish or two ;p

We were ushered into the dining area and that was impressive as well. It opened into a small balcony overlooking the ocean and wow the winds were strong. While we waited for the second boat of passengers to arrive we enjoyed our welcome drinks and chat up the bartender and hostess.

The bartender turned out to be a cheeky guy who kept teasing me while the hostess was impeccable and lovely throughout our stay.

The guide arrived with the second boat passengers and proceeded to give us info on our day ahead as well as handover the keys. The rooms were lovely and we had such a beautiful view given we were on the ground floor that opens into the sea. The only problem with the bathroom was there’s a huge window in the shower and half of the shower wall is covered by a textured glass wall. I also checked for life jackets! Hurray we had them!

Given how easy it was to get connected in Vietnam, even in the fields of Sapa, the first thing I did was check to see if there was an internet connection on board. Hehe alas there wasn’t.

The Singapore gal who was also on tour with us was as gobsmacked as I was. We sat down for lunch and were perplexed to see our first dish. A wholly intact crab had been placed in front of us and we were wondering how was one going to open this one up. Our hostess came to our rescue and proceeded to break them up for us. Yeah talk about service!

Food was probably one of the best I’ve had on the trip so far and they took note of the fact that I didn’t eat beef and only served it twice after I mentioned it. Our cheeky bartender would tease me over it every now and then ;p

Now while everything is inclusive in the bill, you will need to pay for your own drinks throughout the journey and you could rake up a huge bill given the drinks are delivered everywhere for you. By the way lunch started while the boat was making a trip across the whole stretch of the bay, what an amazing sight.

Anyway we got ready to go the Amazing caves which were a beautiful set of caves in one of the larger limestone formations around the bay. It also had an amazing view of the area. Though for the life of me I couldn’t imagine a single of the animals the guide pointed out to us besides the obvious looking turtle on the floor of one of the caves.

We headed back to our ship and the guide asked us if we wanted to swim in the open sea. One of the Australians decided they wanted to jump off the second story of the ship and he was followed by the dutch guy. I asked the guide a few questions before jumping into the water myself. I was a bit afraid of becoming dinner for a lonesome shark ;p since I can’t swim and this was the middle of the ocean which he claimed was only 5 -7 metres deep, I got him to bring out a floater. He got one and tied it to the boat so I could jump in without being afraid, though I was kinda freaked out. Ohh the water was pretty warm, though the weather was cold and chilly.

As the sun started setting, I got out of the water and got ready for dinner.

Dinner was just absolutely stunning! Yes stunning and delicious too. The presentation was artisticly done with carrot roses, tomato swans and prawn bouquets and such. They tasted amazing too. At one point they switched of the lights to bring in a fiery lit pineapple with Vietnams signature snack – spring rolls.

Those were the best spring rolls I’ve ever eaten in Vietnam. Lip smackingly delicious.

After dinner, the guide enticed us to a spot of squid fishing. He set up a light that was shown into the ocean while we sat down waiting for something to bite. Now I took hold of the net and decided to try my luck, what do you know I catch a tiny long fish that had jumping tendencies. Sometime later I catch a baby squid/ octopus. At first we thought it was just a leaf but when it started squirting ink everyone got excited. We took it out to have a look before we released it back.

Then I decided to jingle the fishing rod and before you know it I attract a small crab which I promptly caught. Everyone gave me a – what the heck look as the more seasoned fishing guy (the aussie) took it out from the net so I could get a photo ;p after a while we released him back and bugger decides to swim around us!

Should have caught him again and sent him to the kitchen for evening snacks!

After sometime everyone decided to head to the roof veranda and chill out. We spent the evening yakking away and exchanging travel stories. It was just so relaxing to laze on the deck chairs and enjoy the chilly cold weather. There I was decked in a shawl at a beach holiday! Lol totally a first time for me I did love it though. Oh the winds are super strong, it even pushed down a metal bin on one of the floors.

That’s when we realised things getting dark around us. So the rumours were through pay less and they switched off the lights at night! So now you know why you pay more, for good food, service and electricity!

Breakfast was at an ungodly hour of 7.30. That’s the one thing I didn’t like about the whole cruise thing, the schedules! I know it makes their life easier for them but I’m on holiday – I’d like to sleep in ;p

I woke up and headed for breakfast, we had a whole day to explore the place. As there were 2 different groups one leaving that morning and us staying another night, we had different activities to do. So while we waited for our smaller boat to arrive, I lounged up on the deck with a book in hand.

The boat finally picked us up together with another bunch of people from another boat. Now this is where the service got a bit downgraded. We spent the day on a smaller day boat with a deck but the overall look and feel was unpolished. The boats wood work was rough to the skin and I ended up getting scratches.

But still it took us around the bay and gave us some amazing views. We reached our kayaking spot and got into the kayak boats. Now I’ve never kayaked before so let’s just say the learning experience wasn’t fun and I was just waiting to get out of the boat.

Anyway we kayaked under limestone caves into open lagunas which will be inaccessible once the tide rises. It was pretty beautiful but that’s just an understatement of the whole bay.

Once done, I was trying to get out of the kayak but ended up cutting myself – just one of the many incidents that happened during this trip. Like I said the trip was nice but with a lot of ups and downs.

Lunch was served sometime later and while it wasn’t bad it wasn’t as good as what we had on our own boat. Naturally we were all missing our meals on the ship; p

The boat then drove us to an island for a swim and for a view of the place. I was dying to get into the water and opted out of the climb. Most of them opted out of swimming, the water was warm and lovely and the beach was nice and sandy. But then I could waddle and swim anywhere ;p

We got back to the boat and I was freezing away. Yes I told you its freezing there. Most of the westerners were disappointed as they wanted to get tans!

We got back to the boat to find the boat empty; we were expecting to see some newcomers. As I was taking my shower as discreetly as possible (remember the windows!) I realised the boat was rocking which was unusual. The boat hadn’t rocked before this.

Anyway they popped in just as I was lingering at my favourite spot at the doorway to the water. Well I was trying to get a photo of myself there but since I tend to attract people. A mother and daughter boat shop turned up at our door and the gal decided to hang on to me and try to get me to buy her shells. I wasn’t in a shopping mood so I said no and just talked to her. Kid wanted my earrings! You would be surprised how many people wanted my cheapo but nice looking earrings.

Being Indian and slightly superstitious, I declined the offers to exchange them with even silver earrings! ;p I mean given how popular I was there, I wonder why they wanted my earrings.

I headed up to the deck work on my editing. Yes I worked throughout the trip to meet deadlines but since the nights were pretty quiet it gave me something to do. But this was probably the best way to work what a view man!

I finished in time for dinner as curious little children from the newcomer families walked around me wondering what I was doing!

Dinner was lovely but not as beautiful as the night before. We headed to bed early as everyone was tired plus the boat was still rocking. Surprisingly the doorway to the ocean was closed. I had noticed they rarely closed the doors even late at night just the night before. I guess with all the rocking, they didn’t want to freak us out with a view of the waters.

The next morning breakfast was as usual at 7.30am. I had woken up and immediately peaked out to shoot some photos. I opted out of morning kayaking coz I really wanted to have a peaceful last day on the boat! Peace is sometimes underrated but you must do what’s best for you. We were to check out by 9.30 in the morning so that the cleaners can clean up for the next group. We were of course welcome to order more drinks and lounge around before lunch.

I knew I was gonna miss my favourite deck chairs on the top with the amazing sight. Though we had been anchored in the same spot, I seriously loved being there. So with a heavy heart we went through our lunch. As the boat cruised back to the harbour, I said a goodbye and hoped I’d be back soon. ;p

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Thalaiva rocks!

2010-11-21T01:34:00.000+08:00

This is such a long overdue post - just haven't had time.

Now most of you who know me and who haven’t been teasing me mercilessly during the 2 weeks I was in Vietnam must be wandering where’s the much awaited post.

Let’s just say I’m been caught up with work, more work and life.

During the launch I had made sure and prayed the dates wouldn’t coincide with my trip. Unfortunately for me the movie gods had other ideas, they changed the release date 3 times and I ended up being in Vietnam when they launched Endhiran.

Arggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg

Now that I have screamed my heart out, I can continue writing. That was not the only thing I missed coz, the company was also having its annual dinner on the same date. Humm wonder what I would have done?

Actually I probably would have caught and early show (since we got half the day off) and headed for the dinner ;p hehe

I actually wanted to write this after my second watch but I just haven’t had the time!

My dearest darling friends who I once loved but for a period of a week I hated, spent the whole 2 weeks I was there teasing me with visuals, words and boasting information on the tickets they had and such! Imagine being away and already pinning to watch the movie and getting all this! Bah I totally dislike all of you! I’m serious! ;p

Anyway I got back and stayed off the internet before I headed for the movie. Wow wow wow I absolutely loved it!

Thalaivaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa you rocked!

The movie was amazing. Rajni was beyond words superb. Wow I loved everything about the movie except for Aiswarya. This is probably the only movie I’ve hated her performance. More on that later.

I had such a light bulb moment when I finally realised one of the lines for Kadhal annukal said Sen thenil wasabi...... hehehe who’s the Japanese food addict! Or were they adding it in coz of Rajnis popularity in Japan?

I loved how he looked in the beginning, older and more subdued with his long messy hair. I was a tad bit disappointed it was a quite introduction to Thalaiva but it suited the movie so it was fine for me. But the music added to the scene and I just loved it. OK I loved all the songs especially Irumbileh or idhayam and Boom Boom robo da ;p

The lyrics of the songs are just amazing like – brilliant work!

yen thandai mozhili thamizh allava ;p

Irumbileh or idhayam

Sen thenil wasabi

Rajni played three different characters superbly, as the nerdy scientist, the robo Chiti and the villainous side of Chiti. I was always a huge fan of Rajni as a villain so you can imagine how excited I was. The ranguski scene was priceless; p I liked seeing robo do all the dance scenes.

I think if any other actor had done this movie they would have overdone some of the characters, Rajni put in the right dosage of oomph for all three characters. His villain side being my favourite.

I loved the ideas that were in the script, the cloning the way the villain kept finding ways to win. The final scene – I don’t think I’ve seen those in an sci-fi movie.

Now madam Aiswarya looked so old and overly made up. Plus err her acting and dancing was just too freakish. I liked her in Raavan but in this she was just bad n seriously she is a good dancer but she was awful in this movie. Such a pain to watch. ooh but checkout the women dancing behind her - wow such beautiful ladies ;)

Anyway I really need to go watch again ;p I’m dying to go but sigh time is not on my side.

I’m truly impressed with the movie in all angles – kudos to the team and as usual thalaivar rocks ;p

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Bowled out!

2010-11-15T22:22:00.000+08:00

I think I can count the number of times I’ve played bowling with my hands. Still I decided to join our sports clubs Bowling tournament just for the fun of it! ;p

My colleague and I decided to focus on two prizes mainly, the happening team and the loser team. Well we knew we weren’t going to win as there were a lot of great players and teams so why focus on the wrong side of the pole! ;p

Anyway 48 teams turned up at 8 am on Saturday morning! Who the hell goes bowling at 8!!! Apparently we do. The awesome nasi lemak woke us all up and we were gearing up to play. Each team had 4 people unless for us as one of our members had to fly to our state branches.

Now the last time I played was probably 6 or 7 years ago. Well I’m not that bad a bowler, but it takes time for me to warm up, also I’m easily distracted and before you know it I could be hitting strikes one minute and rolling into the drains the other!

Which was exactly what happened in our 3 games – scored 49, 69 and 51 respectively and scored three strikes! That mark was of course not even close to the top female and male scores – I think each scored around 580 – 590 points! And the winning teams total scores were about 1700 points! Yikes!

Since we finished our game early, we decided to visit the rest and cheer them on. Mid way we spotted a fusbol table and decided to play. From one game it ended up to 4 games – and I won 2 n tied in 1 game.

Anyway I have a theory, I’ve never won lucky draws, anything I win I have to earn it! Like dancing in front of a whole mall for a goodie bag! Heheh well it was a dare ;p

So they announce the lucky draw winners and as usual the number were real close but no where near.

We won! we won! we won!

Well not the lucky draw but the last team prize! It took me sometime to realise we had won! Since I kinda know a lot of people – we got cheered! My teammate was a bit shy to come out but I of course was lapping up the cheers ;p

Some of my other colleagues were envious we had won since they were aiming for the same thing! ;p

Hehehe who says it doesn’t pay to be last! ;p

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Together

2010-11-05T00:26:00.000+08:00

Early this year I joined a big organization with over 1000 employees. Now I had never worked in such a huge company before and so when I had two offers in hand – I decided to go for this one to feel the difference. I must say it’s been a pretty interesting time and I picked the right huge company to work in.

It is definitely nice to see a company care for its employees and actually do things for them and with them in mind. It’s also pretty interesting to see how loyal the employees are because of how they are treated right from the management to fellow colleagues.

It took some time for me to get used to having perfect strangers saying hi or chatting us up but that’s the working culture here. Also everyone seems to know our department. Naturally coz of what we do for them and more.

Anyway in the spur of the moment, we decided to make a rangoli kolam for Deepavalli outside our customer service centre and get our colleagues to join in the process. So after we got all the necessary approvals, we sent out the email and started preparing the design and rice.

Tuesday arrived and as I started drawing the design, people gradually began dropping by to help us. I had drawn a simple design coz I wanted to get everyone do it. It was a blast, so many colleagues dropped by to help or see, even though it was during lunch. People even turned up from our branches to lend a helping hand.

The beauty of it all was, it was truly Malaysian as regardless of race, people came down to help. This is what I think makes us as a company special. It never occurs to us that this was for one race. If we have a company event or activity everyone knows it’s for everyone. Any activity we do or branding exercise we create, everyone is always eager to take part. There’s no need to force anyone to do anything.

We’re a foreign company with a local heart. I really do believe we’ve got somewhat of a balance between both ends and its pretty endearing. Probably explains why no one ever leaves here.

So with a warm heart, I wish all of you a lovely Deepavalli. Stay safe people ;)

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Viet Blues

2010-10-22T00:53:00.000+08:00

Ok I’ve rewritten the first line so may times, I’ve decided to just do what I do best have a conversation with this blog. The thing is I was trying to come up with a great opening for my post on my much awaited trip to Vietnam. However I’m not sure where to start.

There was just so much that happened there, things I enjoyed, things I’m still confused off, things I hated, things I loved, things that irritated me, things that took me by surprise I don’t know to laugh or hit my head on a wall (I opted to escape and laugh by the way) and not to mention all the things that happened around me during the trip.

I must say I’ve fallen in love with Vietnam and wouldn’t mind going back to the same places albeit with some changes. I still truly hate tours and tour groups.

Oh most important information and my proudest moment. Driving a bike in Hanoi! Dear god the traffic there is crazy, I think I spent one morning just staring at traffic before I decided I must take the bike! I had earlier driven in Sapa (the highland town) but that was a different ballgame to Hanoi. I knew the risks. So when I got my bike from the hotel, they asked me are you sure you can drive. I said yes I can I drove in Sapa. But this is Hanoi! It’s different. I assured them that if I couldn’t I’ll bring the bike back. Anyhow it turned out well and will write on that later.

Vietnam reminded me of India, the good and the bad. Vietnamese people are generally nice and even though most of the time we couldn’t communicate since nearly everyone doesn’t speak English, we somehow managed to have short conversations. Perhaps it did help being the second biggest attraction in Vietnam. For the love of god I am still confused with the reaction I got there.

People gawked, tried to talk to me, took my photos, tried to take photos with me, touched my skin (yes seriously so weird), rub my skin against theirs, followed me around to take photos of me, stopped to pose for me so they could get a better look, sang to me, held my hand and refused to let go and so on, got invited into homes (which I politely declined and ran as fast as I could), got boyfriend offers (eww) and so on.

The few people who could speak English told me they loved the colour of my skin, they loved the texture of my skin, they liked my nose ring (mukkuthi), they liked my smile and they thought I was very pretty.

Everyone wanted to know where I was from and refused to believe I was a Malaysian. You must know I am very proud of saying I’m a Malaysian, it used to irritate me when Indians in India didn’t know my country but knew Singapore! Bah!

Anyway I’d explain my Indian heritage and I would get an oohhhhhhhhh. Lol

I walked into a bank to get money changed and this beautiful lady at the counter goes “you’re so pretty”. Super flattering I tell ya, makes me want to move there! What gal wouldn’t want to be showered with adoration!

The thing I didn’t get was, I was sans make up (not that I wear too much), my skin had gone three shades darker and was peeling here and there (my skin peels on holiday, I was dressed for comfort more than style, so I would love to bottle whatever these people saw and spray them around me so I can continue to be adored! ;p

Good thing I love Malaysia and for now cannot imagine living anywhere else. Plus food there is pretty bland though we did find some nice places which we decided to stick to nearly everyday!

On the same note, most of them thought I was 25. They would ask my age and I’d tell them to guess and they’d say 25 and I’ll just nod. Lol its always awesome to seem younger.

One thing i didn’t like about all the attention sometimes it got a bit too much like all the winking i was getting from men and some dubious invites for drinks and such. I met another gal who had similar winking encounters also and when i googled it turns out its universal winking is suggestive! Thank god i had the sense to walk the other way everytime someone winked!

Besides that they’re probably the most best dressed people I’ve seen in Asia as they’re usually wearing something nice and rarely in crappy looking shirts and shorts. On weekends you would see them wearing their traditional dress and heading out to take photos. Oh yes posing for photos is probably the national pastime for them. Everywhere I went someone was holding a bouquet of flowers and posing for handphones, pns cameras and dslrs! The whole city has been caught in a photo frenzy!

Oh service at most places come with a smile but be prepared to wait even if the restaurant is empty!

I was saying Vietnam reminded me of India right. The small lanes, the chaotic traffic, the droves of people everywhere, the closely placed houses built as they wish, the rubbishless streets and the not so nice peeing all over the country out in the open all reminded me of India.

Now the streets were pretty rubbish free not coz its cleaned up but more coz there are scavengers waiting to get them to be sold like in India. Now the peeing was way worse than in India. People would do their business in front of their houses at the main porch facing the world!

There was one time I was driving in Hanoi and as usual I stopped to check my location on the map since I have a habit of wandering as I please. Only after I stopped I realised I had made a mistake as there right in front of me there was a guy facing the main highway in Hanoi which is always super busy and manhandling his wiener!!! What the heck!! I quickly drove away while the man continued having a go at it – I don’t think he was just peeing! Ewwwwww

The homes in most of Vietnam are narrow and tall, must have something to do with tax I think like in Melaka. Homes were built taller in the olden days as you were taxed by the width of your property.

Also throughout the weeks I was there I never saw blue skies or a sunset or sunrise as the skies were always grey and dull.

The thing that had us gobsmacked is the phone obsession! The first they do when they get behind the wheel whether it’s on a four or two tyre vehicle was to flip out their phones and yak away even if they’re on their bikes!

Our airport bus driver was on the phone from the time we left the airport to the time we reached the city centre near our hotel which was 40 minutes away! Freaky I tell ya.

The one other thing I totally hated about Vietnam – the nose diggers! People dig their noses in public 24 hours a day, at the restaurant, in the park and every other god damn place. You could be talking to them and they would just casually have a go at their noses right in front of you! It is just plain disgusting! And I’m sure they don’t wash their hands!

I walked into a government tourist centre (total waste of time) to get some info and the lady acknowledged me and immediately started digging her nose. Perhaps it’s a sign of respect?? I think not! Don’t dig noses in public. Just don’t.

Overall I loved Vietnam with all its setbacks. Travelling through 3 different weather was also pretty interesting. I quite liked the cold chill of Sapa and the windyness of Halong Bay. I could do without the heat in Hanoi though! Sigh I’m missing Halong Bay in the bucket loads!

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Is life worth the risk?

2010-09-28T22:31:00.002+08:00

Is this view worth risking your life? expecially one that's accessible by road?
NOoooooooooooooooooooooo

Nearly fell off a cliff when i slipped in the mud trekking down a trecherous path to a commercialised fake village which is accessible by road. found out later when i refused to go on n took a bike ride back - gd thing is decided to spend some time just basking in the view - the best part of my day.

Besides trekking for 6 hours in mud, i'm fine n happy travelling in Vietnam more pictures when I get back.

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Syawal menjelang tiba....

2010-09-08T22:49:00.001+08:00

Hati berdebar ingin pulang beraya bersama sanak saudara.Di saat keriangan, izinkan saya menghulur

Salam Aidilfitri – maaf zahir dan batin

Pulang beraya, berjaga-jaga di jalan

Biar lambat asalkan selamat!

Selamat Hari Raya ;) Eid Mubarak ;) Happy holidays

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Merdeka

2010-09-01T00:53:00.001+08:00

I actually had a post written for Merdeka - but somehow today I felt it had a slight lecturing tone and I didn't feel like posting it. Since I've been on a sleeping, working, eating, editing (I've got deadlines to meettttttttttttttttttt) and shooting mode for the last few weeks (yes nearly no break in between) I haven't been able to think of anything else to write and so I decided to do what I do best, blabber as I wish ;p

The one break I gave myself was to break fast with my friend and to watch My name is Khan. It was a well deserved break and what a movie. This is perhaps Shah Rukh Khans best movie so far. The beauty of the story and its relevance to our current time. I wish everyone would watch that movie. If you haven't please do.

There's been a spate of racist remarks flying around this past few weeks, nothing surprising, everyone is racist to some degree - but the percentage matters and unfortunately some people cannot be helped. Now one guy releases a video against it and the saddest part of it all were the incidents thereafter. All you have to do is read the list of comments on his FB page and you'll cringe at each comment. Here you are protesting about a racist slur and you do the same? So how are you different from the other person?

Just because someone made a comment you have to do the same? Well all of you are worse than the person who made the first comment coz they never pretended to be anything but racist while you're a closet racist just waiting to come out.

How many times have you judged a person based on their skin colour, nationality or religion?
How many times have you insisted on talking to someone based on their race, language or hired a person on similar grounds? look at your friends circle who do you see?
how many times have you spoken in your mother tongue while in the presence of other races?
how many times have you evaluated the percentage of a race in any field and bickered about it?
how many times have you blamed your incompetency to everything but yourself?
how many times have you preached against nepotism and racial profiling and blindly continue to do the same?
How many times have you chosen a charity based on religion, race?

If you really want to make a difference, you need to look at yourself first.

I'm Starting With The Man In The Mirror
I'm Asking Him To Change His Ways
And No Message Could Have Been Any Clearer
If You Wanna Make The World A Better Place
(If You Wanna Make The World A Better Place)
Take A Look At Yourself, And Then Make A Change

..... Man in the mirror - Michael Jackson

And so with the words of a man who would have been 52, I wish everyone Happy Independence Day.

Happy 53rd Birthday Malaysia. Love you lots.

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Customer service

2010-08-09T23:21:00.000+08:00

(This uncle is a darling by the way ;p)

Most of us don’t believe in our own rights. Most of the time we’re too afraid to stand up for what is right coz we’re too lazy to make a deal out of it.

Unfortunately for some people I’m not like that. I HATE bad service. When i go out for meals, i pick places not just based on the food but mostly because of the service. Unless I have no choice I won’t return to a place with horrible service.

It was because we didn’t have a choice that we ended up at Zen (secret Recipe) restaurant at Sooka Sentral last Thursday. The few times I was there I was pretty irritated by their lack of service and delays.

The four of us placed our orders. My friend and I ended up ordering the same item. So we wait for our food to arrive. Sometime later we notice the table next to us that arrived after us and put in their orders much later than us received the exact meal we had ordered. I figured the waitress had given the order by mistake and decided to ignore it.

Sometime later my friends started getting their orders and after a while I figured I better ask about my food or I’d never get it. The moment I asked about my order, the waitress heads to the kitchen (which is in full view from our table) and asks about my order. The dude tells her oh its finished. Some 30 minutes after arriving they realise they no longer have my order.

That’s when I got angry. Not only had they given my order elsewhere, they had not bothered about my meal till I enquired, they had no courtesy to inform me and ingredient in my meal (a kind of pasta which can be easily replaced) was no longer available, that i had to ask to find out my meal wasn’t even being prepared!, they were just going to ignore my existence! And I was riled up even worse after seeing how casually the kitchen staff dude answered the waitress.

So waitress comes over to let me know. I ask her why didn’t you tell me earlier, why did i have to ask first to find out if i was even being served, as usual there was no answer. All i got was do you want us to change the pasta?

I said ok change it but i want your feedback form and i also want to see your manager.

Food arrives sometime later looking quite pathetic and tasting pretty mediocre but there was no sign of a feedback form or the manager. So I ask again and I still get ignored. I finally tell them i’m not paying if i don’t see the manager.

Then the gal tells me the manager and the assistant manager are not around but i was pretty certain they were around (you’ll be surprised who it turned out to be) and they had no feedback form available. What the heck??

To compensate my displeasure, the gal brings us the bill and omits my meal and tells me sorry but i’ll pay for it. Now i know for a fact that some of these franchise outlets make their staff pay for such meals when its usually the irresponsibility of the manager, the outlet being ill prepared for the lunch crowd and the lack of proper training for such incidents to happen. So i refuse to totally blame the wait staff. So i asked her again who is paying for this you or the company. She said me (though I’m not sure if she understood). I told her please put back the meal on the bill i will pay for it. Paid and left.

I told my friends this is not the end of this issue.

So after watching the Slash concert that night, i got home searched for Secret recipe’s site and only found their FB page, left messages criticising their service. Waited for 2 days and on Saturday after failing to find a contact number or email at their website, I wrote to Malay Mail about the incident.

Monday arrives and I’m sitting in a meeting when my phone starts ringing non stop from an unfamiliar number. After the eight ring I pick it up and who do we have on the phone but the illusive manager of Zen Sooka Sentral. I tell him to wait and I’ll call him back.

After my meeting I call him back and he tells me he called to apologise. He wasn’t aware of the situation and such. I told him this is not the first time you guys have had bad service, you’re not a hawker stall with minimal staff. Lunch time is a horrible excuse and such.

Anyway I thank him for apologising and he tells me can I offer you something in return. Apparently the usual procedure is to give a cake or a meal voucher. Actually this should have been done the moment there was an error on their part. Given I never wanted to go back I said fine you can send me a cake and gave him my office address.

Minutes later the lovely people at Malay Mail call to check on the status of my case. I thanked them for reading my email and responding so swiftly. A million thanks to Malay Mail for always being a voice for Malaysian consumers. I can vouch for them that they really care about getting your problem solved. Thanks again.

Sometime later my receptionist calls to let me know there are 2 guys waiting with a cake. Guess who was the manager/ assistant manager? The Pasta dude. A million dark clouds were on his face, i was seriously feeling a bit threatened looking at him. He was apologising but had a look of fury. Though he kept insisting he didn’t know about it. I quickly pointed out but you were the dude who told the staff there was no more pasta. He just kept quiet. Seriously nothing about his apology was sincere, still i told him thank you for coming by.

I still don’t think he got the message, i think he was just angry i got him into trouble. He left the cake on the table and pointed to it and said sorry and left. Probably the most insincere apology i’ve heard. I shall not even talk about the quality of the cake. I’m 100 percent sure i’m never gonna go there. He might just spike my food or worse.

Seriously then paying so much money for their food, I’m better of eating at my favourite mamak, who will serve us with smiles and even a joke or two. Of course there are other outlets offer such lovely services and food too. That’s why I head to the same places always.

So moral of the story, service is important, if its crap, complain and take it elsewhere if they ignore you. Don’t sit and complain to your friends on facebook and such without making an effort to change the situation.

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Gadis Daun Plastik

2010-08-08T14:48:00.001+08:00

This is dedicated to all the girls who are bugged every other day by every other person about getting married. Our friend has found the best retort ever. UNfortunately the essence of it will be lost if translated to english.

in a nutshelf : if someone tells you all leaves will one day wither (gals are leaves now) tell them you're a plastic leaf - just add detergent you'll be brand new ;p

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Thalaivaaaaaaaa

2010-08-01T16:28:00.001+08:00

Where should I start?

Should I start on the fact that I somehow was standing inches away from him or the fact that I got to go to the launch by luck???

OMGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

When they announced that Endhirans launch was going to be in Malaysia, I started looking around for tickets. I had whispers of offers here n there but nothing permanent. So by Saturday I was still hopeful but nearly giving up that I won’t be able to go. Still i made sure i made no plans for Saturday night. I think all the positive thinking must have turned into luck or god just decided i should always have thalaiva luck ;p

Remember i got tickets to go watch the movie launch of Chandramuki in Colisuem in 2005 just by waiting at the theatre though I ended up there by accident.

Most of you would know how crazy i am about Rajni. I mean the man is the epitome of style and humility how can you not love him!!! (Kamal fans stay away ok ;p)

Anyway around 1 pm a friend of mine calls for photo tips, since she was heading to the show. I was like omg omg ure going?? I’m so jealous!!!! I’ve been looking for tickets and so on ;p you know normal vaitherucals pohlamburanings ;p

Anyway at the end of the conversation i told her have fun and if by any luck she has tickets call me i’ll run to PICC (that’s where the event was). I put the phone down and just screamed in the car – i wanna go tooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ;p

Around 3.30ish while I was in a meeting with a prospective project manager (that’s good news too – I’m so happy i got the green light, now i just need to plan everything), when my phone starts buzzing, and somehow I only remembered my friend (alppa asai I was wishing she would call).

Just as I was walking out the phone rings again and it was her!!! And if you guessed tickets!! Yee hawwwwwwww she had 1 ticket for meeeeeeeee. Omg Omg I don’t think I can thank her enoughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

So I rushed out, rushed to KL Convention Centre, saw my photos on exhibition (will write on this later), took some photos, and walked out to rush back home. Got dressed in a saree (it’s a launch you have to look good!!) and rushed to PICC. I reach there to find myself the only one in a saree ( i was super early ;p) and I was like err hello ppl its a launch. Thank fully soon ppl started arriving in sarees. I mean at least dress up properly la – you should never go to a formal event in t-shirts or Bermuda shorts.

Some places will actually kick you out! Go try that at Petronas philharmonic hall and Istana Budaya – heh they will kick you out no matter how expensive your ticket is ;p

I had no idea where I was sititing, or what seats all i know i was going to be at the launch! I hadn’t taken my camera coz they ticket said no cameras but everyone turned up with cameras n no one was checked- what the hell! Grr stupid Astro.

Our seats turned out to be just awesome, right before the VVIP seats and in front of the launch podium. So we got to see everyone pretty close and everytime they walked in they had to pass us. ;p

The crowd went crazy when they saw Rajini and Rahman arrive on the red carpet. Wowwwww

Punnagai poo geetha was as annoying as usual. I was pretty surprised to see Simbu, coz I always assumed he was shorter and smaller, i must say he did look super cute and he did a marvellous job dancing on stage, he was even joined by ramya Krishnan.

Besides the many goof ups on Astros sides everything was pretty entertaining expect for some long winded speeches by Radha ravi and Vijays father. The best speech was by the treasurer dude from the South Indian actors association, he came up said a few words and left to thunderous applause from the crowd.

Viveks jokes were awesome, so was vadivelu, karunas and the other dude i cannot remember at the moment. I love the tribute they had for Rahman with clips of him accepting his Oscars included with the most famous line in history – ehla pugalum iraivahnukeh.

I loved his speech, the simple man as usual said a few lovely words and a personal story on his daughters involvement in one of the songs. Shankar was lovely thanking everyone including his crew. But of course i was just waiting to see Rajni on stage. Throughout the show we had a good view of his reactions to the performances, somehow we were sitting in such an angle we could see him clearly. He really enjoyed the performances, viveks jokes and the shaolin monks. I think we were watching him more than the performances ;p

Did I tell you I met yogi B again, the crowd went wild when Shankar mentioned him in his speech. I was just waiting for a mention of Yogi B – he is like our best export. Plus the mans super nice, I had a long chat with him a few years ago ;p

Vairamuthus beautiful tamil was amazing as usual.

You know what I love about Rajni, that style in his movies, its not fake, its not made belief, it is precisely him. You have this old man, with balding head (yes yes i think rajni is hot even when he is bald ;p), but still looking pretty good and lean. What amazes me is the way he sits and enjoys the show with style, they way he strutted on stage and stood on his trademark one leg slant – omg so much style. And that laugh – wowwwwwww. And such humility, i loved the way he praised Rahman whom he called a saint. It was just brilliant, anyday, anytime i will always be a crazy fan of Rajni.

I cannot wait for the movie, the trailer was amazing , and the songs were pretty good, i loved arima and kadhal annukal. Like I said I wasn’t really concentrating on the performances.

Astro really screwed up the launch, there was so many technical glitches, i mean if you wanna bicker with each other, try not to include the audience im sure theres a mute button somewhere! We could here every single nonsense bickering throughout the show! And protocols, did you forget to plan a route for them to go to the loo? And where were the guards, there was this bunch of kids from the same family who went right up to rajini and stood in front of him during the show to take photos, and the stupid family was so proud of it.

The kids kept doing the same things. I mean hello teach your kids some manners please! Where was security then? And did you forget to plan a proper escape route after the show? I mean you practically hearded them onto the stage like goats in such a rude way? I mean who hired the dude who cant even speak proper English??? ( elo you you come up come up! ) Seriously AStro you just embarrassed the nationla. Thankfully Rajni is a gem and he just smiled throughout – i would say he was quite delighted with the fans.

Unless for a few idiots the fans were pretty well behaved. Vairamuthu even praised us for our behaviour, he said he had never seen fans who clapped at all the right moments, and remained silent when was necessary. Besides one dude sitting behind us who kept trying to get everyones attention, everyone was pretty well behaved.

So event ends and the starts leave the hall i said goodbye to my friend and my way out. Since i was alone i didin’t want to be in the building alone for too long so i decided to take the lift out when i saw it open as i was exiting the hall. Now here’s where lady luck smiles at me again. We reach the concourse floor and find ourselves locked, so we head back to G floor to try and get out. There i find my friends again and none other than a bunch of stars coming down the stairs with security. Now when i saw a lady in red i assumed it was Ramya, so i waited to check her out up close. Seconds later i stood stunned coz actually Rajni was coming down the excalater with his daughters. Omg i was so stunned i froze and just stood there gawking only after he passed – i meekly said Rajni sir (damn of all times to lose my voice!!! Slaps self).

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa he was so close and still smilling. He just really enjoyed being with the fans!

So as you can see I was in cloud nine, i just blurly walked behind him to the main area to see him leave the hall. I then had to find a way how to get out of the building by walking around alone. Shit that was scary – lol the things i do! I finally found my way back to the car and left and headed straight to my favourite mamak (hawker stall) near home and the anne immediately asked (seeing me grinning non stop) “did you just come back from the launch??”

So while he was cooking my food ( i was so hungryyyyyyyy) i told him everything ;p

I’ve met both Rahman and Rajni on one night!

Thailaivasssssssssssssssssssssssss you rock ;p

Sighhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I can’t wait for September!

Moral of the story positive thinking works and never give up! ;p

ps: my dear friend - thank you thank you thank you ;p

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FemmeCity Exhibition

2010-07-29T21:05:00.001+08:00

Canon Malaysia will be exhibiting some of my photographs at the Canon booth during The Star’s Clove Magazine’s FemmeCity Exhibition at KL Convention Centre starting July 30 – Aug 1 2010.

Works of prominent Malaysian female photographers will also be showcased at the exhibition. So don’t forget to head over there to check out our work. The fair is open daily starting on Friday from 11am – 7 pm.

I will write more on the exhibited photos and the rest of the participants once I head there and get a look ;)

ps: anyone who wants to meet me there - i may be there on Saturday afternoon ;)

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Usher! Usher! Usher!

2010-07-28T00:53:00.000+08:00

That was the mood in the office for a week when I decided there was no way I was missing his concert. 2 colleagues jumped on the bandwagon and 4 of us were set to head for the concert. One of them was going Usher! Usher! Usher! For the whole week so we joined in for the heck of it. Okay I admit it was super fun. Then our boss brought a cd of his songs to loop on the day of the concert. Yeah the mood was electrifying in the office.

Anyway I was supposed to take the train to the concert just to miss the jam, plus I needed to come back to KL to drop the gals. But the rain played havoc, it was actually freezing on the day of the concert and then I heard the train station at Bukit Jalil was flooded. So we ditched all plans and we decided to rely on my super driving capabilities. Surprisingly besides the usual jam it was pretty clear and there was ample parking at the stadium.

The concert was the bomb. He was really an awesome performer but unbelievably naughty. Let’s just say he was strutting around ;p

Anyway the 4 of us were a bunch of screaming and non-stop dancing fans. Plus we had really good seats at the centre of the stadium from the top. Since we walked in we kinda got on the bad side of this family sitting in front of us. I mean we’re at a concert you’re supposed to jump around and scream. The moment we walked in screaming usher, usher, the family of 4, 2 teenagers and 2 mothers crinkled their nose at us and moved away.

As far as I knew it was a pretty full concert so I told the rest wait they’ll have to move back ;p As I had predicted they had to move back and gave us a look again only to have all four of us burst out laughing.

We had so much fun screaming our heads off. Next up we’re heading to Slash’s concert ;p

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Aathi Dravidian

2010-07-24T12:59:00.001+08:00

When I first heard these songs on air, I fell in love with them, but it took me sometime to find out who the singers were, coz they didn't announce the singers. Anyway its by Dr Burn and Masta K.

Aathi Dravidan just leaps in its tamil patriotism.

What I love most is the use of the bharathanatyam sollkatus in the rap. Amazing combination.

The lyrics is also pretty interesting see if you can find the reference to Ravanan ;p

Enjoy listening to Aathi Dravidan and Tamilachi.

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Do I know you?

2010-07-13T22:13:00.001+08:00

Do I know you? Have I seen you somewhere?

I think my feet were off the ground for a few minutes when one of my favourite artist, approached me with these questions recently. I was at the Winds of Desire – Contemporary art work by Malaysian Indian and Sri Lankan artists exhibition forum in Annexe on one fine Sunday. I had gone because a few of the artists I adore were exhibiting but I come back with a room full of favourites to adore. Back to the artist who was talking to me, it was none other than renowned artist Syed Tajudeen.

Not knowing how to react, I told him about my dance background and photography. The sweet man decided he should introduce me to the whole room of artist, every time he bumped into me he’d introduce me to them and that’s how I ended up getting an introduction by most of the artists on their exhibited works. Probably explains why I spent 4 hours there.

During the forum, one of the country’s major collector and art lover explained his love and why he collects. It was quite interesting to hear him speak on his passion for arts and how he feels it’s his duty as the owner to maintain these art pieces as a tribute to the artist.

Next up was artist Jeganathan. Now I was introduced to his work in 2005 when he presented his Ganesha collection at a temple I used to frequent. I fell in love with his work and the intricate meanings of each symbol he puts into the painting. This man paints his thoughts on to canvas with the stroke of a brush. Just amazing. So I’d look out for his name every now and then so I could see more of his work. That’s how I ended up at the Stirring Odissi exhibition at Galeri Petronas in 2008.

That was such an awe inspiring exhibition and where I fell in love with the works of Syed Tajuddin. His female figures have distinct lips and no eyes yet are bursting with colour. Some of those works were shown again at the exhibition in Annexe. Syed said he loved making people happy and entertaining them hence why he loves colours. You could almost feel the dancers in his paintings sashaying across the canvas.

The curator of the show was also showing some of his pieces that were exhibited at the Stirring Odissi exhibition. Though I personally loved his works especially the photographs that were shown in the previous exhibition more than the ones on display at Annexe. I had gone for the exhibition with another photographer friend and I remember the both of us standing there drooling over the work. Perhaps the ones I liked were sitting pretty at some collectors house.

This was the first time I was seeing the stunning pen art of Khrishnan. Yes these works were done with the stroke of the pen. He took the time to explain each of his pieces. One which I particularly was about the many faces in the story of Jentayu and how they’re all connected by the evolution of mankind. In another the unassuming man depicts childbirth. It’s interesting to listen to him talk.

Then there was the stunning Indian portraits by Dr Chandiran which emphasised on ornaments and temples. He also had 2 works on budha and I was blown away with the simple idea. Budha seemed to radiate from the Bodhi tree.

Since I knew my friend Dilip would be arriving in KL in time for the final week of the exhibition, I was hoping we’d decide to visit the exhibition. Dilip was keen on going and so we headed there after lunch on Saturday. I wasn’t expecting to see the artists there so I was pleasantly surprised to see them and to see they hadn’t forgotten me.

As we were walking down the gallery, a beautiful and simple version of one Bharathiyars song streamed out into the gallery. We just had to know who it was and it turned out to be Sikkil Gurucharan and pianist Anil Srinivasan. Wow just brilliant. Just listen to this one piece - wow wow.

We sat down to talk to the artists for a while and before we knew it, it was time to leave.

Dr Krishnan

Michel Anthony

Some of the pieces by the other artists that I also liked.

The exhibition is worth seeing more than once, plus its always nice to be able to meet the artist and pick their brain.

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Nerves

2010-07-03T01:25:00.002+08:00

Now that I’m done sulking and being devastated. Let’s take a look at the game.

It was a good game in terms of excitement, nerve wrecking moments and such but to say Netherlands ousted the Brazilians because they were great– that I cannot accept. They won coz Brazil was careless in missing all those goals in the first half, careless in the second half, a confused wreck after that own goal and for taking it for granted after the disappointing performance of the dutch in the 1^st half.

We scored an own goal coz of a misunderstanding by the goalie n player – arg. We were wrecks in the second half after that goal and worst of all we gave up after that second goal. Which is so sad, we were all still rooting for you guys.

Felipe Melo deserved a red card – what the heck was he doing stamping the other guy! How stupid was he to jeopardise the team. There was just too much anger and frustration – something alien to a team that usually never gives up. The dutch were good and suddenly sprang into life after that bloody own goal but were pretty crap before that.

The Dutch were lucky, they were playing against a stumbling careless nervy team in the second half. Gone were the calculated moves. They lost their cool and lost the game to a team full of dirty tactics and slides.

I’ll accept the defeat but I refuse to accept that the Dutch were great. We were just plain stupid on the field! Sigh

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Sigh :((

2010-07-03T00:01:00.000+08:00

Sighh I really really have tears in my eyes - my samba boys are out :(((((((((((( yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy
yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

though i had a feeling this would happen - they played such a gd first half - sighhh

whuaaa

it was a gd game though

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Inspiring

2010-07-01T23:57:00.000+08:00

Art has always inspired me and pushed me in the best and worst moments. I don't think I can live without any of my artistic expressions be it writing, dance, music or photography.

Renowned classical Indian dancer Ananda Shankar Jayant was diagnosed with cancer in 2008. She tells her personal story of not only facing the disease but dancing through it, and gives a performance revealing the metaphor of strength that helped her do it.

I have no words to express how powerful her speech is and the fact she channels her energy from what I have always looked as as my personal energiser - Ayingiri Nandini. Listen and be inspired.

No matter what life's throw at you, it is not the end of the world. Cry as much as you want but get up and move on. Only you are capable of fighting life's battles.

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Living Life

2010-06-30T22:49:00.000+08:00

They say the best experiences are based on who you meet and travel with. I have to agree 100 percent. I had such an amazing time in SG not only because of the stuff we did but it was the people we were with. First up was our lovely tour guide Yusoff. The jokes that come out of him are just totally impossible. Just before going for a Thai Dance performance he showed us how you can know each race/ country economic position depends on their dance moves.

The Thai dance: the hands go in 3 and come out as four – in 3 out 4
The Chinese : Pull in a fist of 5 and let out a 2 fingered gesture – in 5 out 2
The Indians/ Malay: it goes in and out equally on both sides ;p

He has totally spoiled Thai dance for me, I kept remembering the quote go in 3 come out 4 throughout the performance ;p He kept repeating jokes throughout our trip on the bus or while we were waiting for anyone.

Interesting thing about him, he actually enjoys watching theatre, musicals and dance just not so much on contemporary. Everytime we came out of a performance, we’d all sit and discuss our views of the performance and also get him to give us his opinion. He also knew a lot of general information that’s not related to Singapore so on our short trips (there’s no traffic jams!) to different locations, we’d have a host of conversations going on.

Then we had the 12 of us which consisted of Australians, New Zealanders, Canadians, Chinese and Malaysians. We did have one MIA guy who interestingly wasn’t from any of the countries above who kept saying he was waiting for us but was on neither of the 2 lobbys but finally joined us for lunch one day and then refused to join any of the events on the list. He kinda became our guy to use for jokes ;p

Sometimes when I go out to review a performance and start feeling WTH but notice a lot of people are cheering the performance/ dancer, I used to wonder am I being too critical.

So it was such a relief to have everyone around to share their views, now I know I’m not over critical and the points I look at are relevant. It was also very refreshing to discuss the performances with people who truly enjoy dance. Our theme for the trip was – music is good! ;p you’ll understand when you read the reviews which have already been written but yet to be published by my editor.

We always made sure everyone was back on the bus and no one ever complained about the occasionally late person. And it is such a joy to see people genuinely enjoy life and show their youthful side.

On the last day together we were taken to the Malay heritage centre for a walkthrough of different Malay arts related to the Zapin. When they gave us this little map to collect stickers at all the places we stopped I wasn’t expecting everyone to be so diligent about it. Ah you could learn how to live life from them.

And they were ever willing to try learning some of the steps to the Zapin and try out the costumes. The Silat showcase was the highlight of the day as we got to see some cool moves and short battles by the young kids. I’ve always felt silat has a dance touch to it and wouldn’t it be lovely if it was developed for a dance performance. I shall wish and wish.

That night after watching our last dance performance we decided to go colonial and stopped at the Raffless hotel bar to have the famous Singapore sling and since I don’t drink alcohol the waitress suggested the Virgin Sling which looks exactly the same minus the alcohol. Erm it was tad too sweet for me and I’m wondering why it came with an unripe pineapple!

Ah but the hotel and atmosphere is quite nice. We sat down talked and had a good time before we walked back to our hotel. Thank god it was a nice night for a walk. Lovely make absolutely perfect company. Now to make sure we stay in touch.

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Err

2010-06-28T01:59:00.000+08:00

I was waiting for the lift at Mid Valley to head to my parking lot when a Chinese lady in her mid 50s who looked like one of those rich ladies arrived to wait for the lift as well. Then she started a conversation with me on the parking lot areas coz she couldn’t remember where she parked.

Then she wanted to know where I parked and if she could follow me. So I said ok though I was hesistant – she told me it looked familiar but she wasn’t sure where her car was so could I drive her there. I decided not to coz I’m not used to letting strangers into my car unless they are really in trouble or injured.

Now this isn’t the first time something like this has happened, I’ve had parents leave their kids with me and wander off at temples and even shops. So I wonder do I look trustworthy or just too innocent?

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One year :(

2010-06-25T00:17:00.001+08:00

Sigh a year has gone by - still missing you MJ ;(((

Born To Amuse, To Inspire, To Delight Here One Day Gone One Night

Like A Sunset Dying With The Rising Of The Moon

Gone Too Soon….gone too soon….

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There's no blog

My loves ;))

32 ;)

Sacrifice

Thank you

Tsunami - the dance

Deepavalli Nalvalthukal

Dancing to the light

eight

Getaran Jiwa

Tsunami

Anang Malaysia sebaka tebu

Yesterday was 9/11.

54

Covers

Here I am sitting and listening to "O Re Piya / Rolling in the Deep" - Shankar Tucker ft. Rohan Kymal, Brendan Susens-Jackson on a loop since this morning.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipNB-ijxHiI&feature=player_embedded

Now the reason I’m listening to the song on a loop is not coz of how he merged them but it’s because of the amazing voice of Rohan Kymal. Like the lyrics of Adele’s song

You had my heart inside your handAnd you played it To the beat

He had my heart in his hands. I woke up today to fall in love with his amazing voice. Oh and I love those amazing guitar riffs in the song.

But the reality is in this second based on the youtube videos both Shanker and Rohan are cover artists.

In Shankers case he has sound knowledge of music, is a brilliant producer because he continues to pick the right singer for each song and he has introduced us to amazing singers like Rohan and the Iyer sisters and a talented instrumentalist.

The only instance I have seen his creativity as a composer is in this less listened to original song by him "Night Monsoon" - Shankar Tucker, Amit Mishra.

This is seriously amazing it feels as if you’re listening to the monsoon itself but sadly it has less hits as it is a more classical piece and most of the people listening to his songs are looking for the familiarity of the covers he has been doing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnyDwXmxwac&feature=relmfu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-XINPCPoq0&feature=related

Of course this would be irrelevant if they were one of the thousands of amazing Filipino bands worldwide ;p

So why isn’t the merging of O Re Piya and Rolling in the Deep not great? Simply coz Shanker has identified that both songs are based on the same raga platform and merged them.

Here’s the original by Rahat Fateh Ali Khan.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5awZ9sOTA54

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It’s amazing but the arrangements use more classical instruments so the general public perhaps have not heard it. People like me who don’t follow the Hindi music scene definitely have not heard it. Listen to the song fully it gets better and better.

So how is a cover singer different from a cover director. It’s the originality of his voice that makes all the difference. With his voice Rohan has created a different experience to the song and the credit goes to Shanker for picking him. Like I said Shankers a brilliant producer.

Only time can tell if Shanker can truly be a creative composer or continue to be brilliant producer. He has a movie album coming out – let’s see where that goes.

I’m going back to looping Rohan ;)

A Letter to our Tigers

The magic hour

I went snorkelling!!

I needed to sing

We are but the instrument of fate

if you go away

Amazing Phuket

I'm a KLPA Finalist

Goodbye crazy week

A post

65

The hamsap bunny

Just as I thought that I’ve had enough of the horny old rabbit, i get online and read the funniest link of the era??

Good Pakistani Boys Decide Not To Masturbate To Veena Malik

Shylah

RIP Bill

Home

Dragons sleep here

Thalaiva rocks!

Bowled out!

Together

Viet Blues

Is life worth the risk?

Syawal menjelang tiba....

Merdeka

Customer service

Gadis Daun Plastik

Thalaivaaaaaaaa

FemmeCity Exhibition

Usher! Usher! Usher!

Aathi Dravidian

Do I know you?

Nerves

Sigh :((

Inspiring

Living Life

Err

One year :(

You had my heart inside your hand
And you played it To the beat

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