Wishing a Happy New Year 2009!! to all!! May god bless each one of us with lots of wisdom and prosperity!!
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Penang Trip 18th Dec 2008
On the 18th of Dec me myself, raj, viki and mein headed for a trip to Penang. It was suppose to be 6 of us, but vilves couldn’t make it last min because of work and novin couldn’t make it as well because of.. well I don’t know why. Anyway, the trip was something we were all greatly looking for and everything turned out well and we had a great great time.
Wednesday 17th
We started our trip on Wednesday itself. We all were suppose to meet up after work, and we had to meet a bit later as viki was doing a photo shoot for an Indian cultural nite at the TAR college in Setapak. We all met each other there at about 9pm and from there we had dinner, and headed straight to teluk intan in raj father's car. It was a Mahindra Scorpio and it was just nice for the 4 of us. There we stayed a nite at Raj's grandfathers house. We actually planned this so that we can save some hours traveling from KL, and of course we wanted to try Teluk Intan's breakfast. We reached Teluk Intan about 1.30 and by the time we settled down after chit chatting was about 3+. Woke up at 7, and we straight away headed for breakfast. We enjoyed the famous char koey teow, and wantan mee. and a good cup of Chinese kopi. From there we left about 9ish 10 straight to Penang.
Thursday 18th
Reached Penang’s ferry terminal about 1, and as we reached the island we went straight to Batu ferringhi where we were to stay. As we were on the way to ferringi from the jetty, we passed by this ancient cemetery that caught our eyes which was just by the road side. We parked at the side of it for a while, and viki to some shots there. Actually many people were walking at the cemetery. Perhaps they were checking if their grandparents were there :p hehe. So, after that welcoming site of the cemetery, we headed to our condo, the Eden Fairview Condominium. At the 10th floor the Condo was really nice and to our surprise was very very clean, and of course not forgetting the cekap view we had of the shores of Batu ferringhi and the nite market.
After settling down, we were all freaking hungry, and it was almost 3+. Our hunger dint encourage us to move far, so we went to the nearest nasi kandar "The khaleel", and to our disappointment, the food was just bad. I mean bad as in I could only take in 3 mouths, and that’s it. With a bad start on food, we decided to go for some good food later that nite at gurney. After that disappointing lunch, we went back to our condo for a short break and to freshen up.
At about 6, we left and went for some rounding around the town side, and when hunger called us, we went straight to Gurney drive and ordered oyster egg, ikan bakar, some fried items and more. After a good meal and some discussion on the pricy food of penang, we went for a walk along the pedestrian walk of Gurney. It was so lively and bright. Lots of people.. hmm.. I am missing that place now actually.. Well, as we were hanging out, me and mein were singing some songs... haha.. people who were walking pass us would think we are nuts.. ofcouse raj and viki were as usual busy with viki's cam. Soon after a while, viki's old house mate Lambotharan who is a penangite came to see us. Such a humble boy he was. He was just to appavi to hang out with us.. hmm :).. Anyway, after lambo came, he took us the Jetty as we wanted to go and look around. The jetty was so beautiful at nite. And it was only about 10pm then. After hanging out there, we went for a drive an checked out Little India and China Town.. most of the shops were closed actually. So after cruising around. We wanted to go for supper, and lambo took us to Yusof. As we were on the way to Yusof, lambo was telling us about penang, and to our surprise only then we realized, that none of the old building are allowed to be demolished, and if there is a new building to be built, they old/existing frontier of the building must remain and the new building can then be build from that. Only after that we realized most of the building were as such, and honestly the architecture was mesmerizing. Fantastic concepts and creativity was seen in each building.. After looking around, we were in Yusof, just thirsty and tired. At about 12+ we decided to go back, as we had a long day and wanted to have an early start the next day. And the best part was (it was only Thursday).. yuhooo 2 more days in Penang!!
Friday 19th.
After a good sleep, we left the condo at about 9 and headed straight to the famous nasi lemak daun pisang. Trust me i don’t know what the name of the road is, but mein guided us as she had been there before. It was like a food court, and they had piles of nasi lemak. After having that with a good cup of coffee, we headed straight to fort Cornwallis. Okay let me be straightforward, that place is just soo boring. There is nothing there! and to make things worst, they had canopies because of some event, and that kinda spoilt the mood of that place. But then we spent about 2 hours there. Hmm.. well, we were just taking shots after shots and that was the interesting part. We really had a good time, and yes thanks viki for teaching us lots of stuffs about photography. Viki was so kind enough to let us use his cam and test out and learn from it. We had lots of fun from there. After leaving fort Cornwallis with some unexpected remarks by viki on the guest book.. hehe, we were so thirsty that we started hunting for the best ice kacang and cendol. As we were clueless, viki got down and asked around, and we headed to Macalister road (i hope i typed it right :s). We had some good ice kacang and cendol there. (Oh ya forgot to mention.. the parking there was a freaking 50cent! I mean.. after all 50cent seem still usable in penang.. awesome). So after that we went to the Kek Lok Si Temple (Pagoda). Opps sorry, we headed straight to the Air Hitam Dam first actually, and that place was like one of the best places I’ve ever been. What a breath taking view it was. I just cant describe how it was. Even the pictures cant say much. Just feel thankful for being there at that moment. That will be a place always fresh in my mind. After taking some shots there, we went to the Kek Lok Si temple. Spent some time there. After that it was about 4 something and we were already hungry. Lambo called and told us there is this best stall nasi kandar in jelutong, but then they are only open from 6pm onwards. So, went to yusof first and had our nasi kandar there. After that we went to the Burmese temple and hanged out there. Before we could go to the Buddha temple at the opposite, it was already closed. So then we met lambo again and he took us to the famous stall. Hehe.. it was our second round of nasi kandar in less then 2 hours :s. But then we didn’t want to miss it. So after beating the Friday evening traffic jam, we were there right on time. To our amazement as we were queuing up to get our food, we were shocked with the queue after us. It was so long! and yes the nasi kandar was just so tasty... gosh I am feeling hungry now..
It was almost 8pm then, and we were all just tired and stinky. We went back to the condo for a quick shower, and by 10+ we were out again checking out ferringhi’s nite market which was just in front of us. We bought some stuffs there, but then the shops were unanimous. Every shop had the same thing. So, after that we felt like going for supper, so we went around looking for food and kept on driving until we ended up at the end of the world (as they call it) and there was nothing actually. The best part was as were driving around the breeze from the sea along the road was so nice and calm, By then It was almost 12, and we headed back to gurney for some nite supper, and to our disappointment again most of the stalls were closed! Hmm.. then i realized, you just cant beat KL for nite life and nite food. Well, with only about 4 to 5 stalls opened, we packed pasembur and rojak buah, and lambo took us to the beach nearby the Crown princess hotel. It was like a small pathway to the beach, and the view was so beautiful, we could see gurney and ferringhi at our left. We sat there and enjoyed the food and the breeze from the sea. The boys were having another drink.. shaishhh.. We were there till about 3am, and we had a great time chatting about lots of stuffs... After that we headed back to our condo so tired.. and the sad part was (it was Friday) and we have to go back the next day :(
Saturday 20th
After a good sleep, we woke up and left the condo straight at about 10. We went for some horrible cold roti canai for breakfast and headed to Tannermalai temple (Waterfall temple). We were suppose to meet Lambo there. Actually Lambo invited us for lunch at his home and we were so touched with his hospitality despite only knowing us for 2 days. After visiting the chettiar temple which they were just about to close, we went to the Tannermalai temple which was just near by. After that lambo took us around the moon gate, and we thought of seeing the Buddha temple. We then went to the Buddha temple, and bought some souvenirs there as well. After checking out the souvenir, we headed straight to lambo's house in Jelutong. It was a 22 story apartment and the view was amazing. From the kitchen u could see jelutong, from the balcony u could see Mother of Mercy standing high amongst the mountain (Pagoda), and from lambo's room you could see the penang bridge. What a location! that’s what you call a home with a view. There his mother served us fantastic home cooked food. It was motcha kotta kolumbe, thannisar, parepe kari, vanjerai meen sambal, netthili sambal, potato peratal, fried egg and appalam. After all the food we had in penang, nothing can beat that. We actually told lambo earlier, to not cook chicken and all, as it will be just a lot, and troublesome, but this home cooked food was just too good.. Thanks lamboo...
After having a full lunch and a great time with lambo's family and sister who was ever ready to give us some many poses (she was only 1 years old), we left penang with a heavy heart. It was 6pm then. Unfortunately it was raining as we were traveling back, so we were slow on the road. We reached KL about 12 and we had to drop viki at Taman connought. So we dropped by at the nearest Mcd and had our dinner, dropped viki and raj dropped me back home at cuepacs, and raj and his sister mein reached home about 2am. Luckily it was only Sunday morning, hence we had the whole Sunday to just sleep and sleeeeepppp..
Overall, it was an amazingly trip. We were excited and tired most of the time, and we were all glad the trip took place smoothly. Everything was good, we didn’t encounter any problem and mostly we had a great great time there. I still feel sad that vilves couldn’t make. I believe if she had come it would have been more fun. Its ok vil, next trip we will, sorry MUST go together k.
What a trip this was to end the year. Perfect. Cant wait to plan another trip :p
Wednesday 17th
We started our trip on Wednesday itself. We all were suppose to meet up after work, and we had to meet a bit later as viki was doing a photo shoot for an Indian cultural nite at the TAR college in Setapak. We all met each other there at about 9pm and from there we had dinner, and headed straight to teluk intan in raj father's car. It was a Mahindra Scorpio and it was just nice for the 4 of us. There we stayed a nite at Raj's grandfathers house. We actually planned this so that we can save some hours traveling from KL, and of course we wanted to try Teluk Intan's breakfast. We reached Teluk Intan about 1.30 and by the time we settled down after chit chatting was about 3+. Woke up at 7, and we straight away headed for breakfast. We enjoyed the famous char koey teow, and wantan mee. and a good cup of Chinese kopi. From there we left about 9ish 10 straight to Penang.
Thursday 18th
Reached Penang’s ferry terminal about 1, and as we reached the island we went straight to Batu ferringhi where we were to stay. As we were on the way to ferringi from the jetty, we passed by this ancient cemetery that caught our eyes which was just by the road side. We parked at the side of it for a while, and viki to some shots there. Actually many people were walking at the cemetery. Perhaps they were checking if their grandparents were there :p hehe. So, after that welcoming site of the cemetery, we headed to our condo, the Eden Fairview Condominium. At the 10th floor the Condo was really nice and to our surprise was very very clean, and of course not forgetting the cekap view we had of the shores of Batu ferringhi and the nite market.
After settling down, we were all freaking hungry, and it was almost 3+. Our hunger dint encourage us to move far, so we went to the nearest nasi kandar "The khaleel", and to our disappointment, the food was just bad. I mean bad as in I could only take in 3 mouths, and that’s it. With a bad start on food, we decided to go for some good food later that nite at gurney. After that disappointing lunch, we went back to our condo for a short break and to freshen up.
At about 6, we left and went for some rounding around the town side, and when hunger called us, we went straight to Gurney drive and ordered oyster egg, ikan bakar, some fried items and more. After a good meal and some discussion on the pricy food of penang, we went for a walk along the pedestrian walk of Gurney. It was so lively and bright. Lots of people.. hmm.. I am missing that place now actually.. Well, as we were hanging out, me and mein were singing some songs... haha.. people who were walking pass us would think we are nuts.. ofcouse raj and viki were as usual busy with viki's cam. Soon after a while, viki's old house mate Lambotharan who is a penangite came to see us. Such a humble boy he was. He was just to appavi to hang out with us.. hmm :).. Anyway, after lambo came, he took us the Jetty as we wanted to go and look around. The jetty was so beautiful at nite. And it was only about 10pm then. After hanging out there, we went for a drive an checked out Little India and China Town.. most of the shops were closed actually. So after cruising around. We wanted to go for supper, and lambo took us to Yusof. As we were on the way to Yusof, lambo was telling us about penang, and to our surprise only then we realized, that none of the old building are allowed to be demolished, and if there is a new building to be built, they old/existing frontier of the building must remain and the new building can then be build from that. Only after that we realized most of the building were as such, and honestly the architecture was mesmerizing. Fantastic concepts and creativity was seen in each building.. After looking around, we were in Yusof, just thirsty and tired. At about 12+ we decided to go back, as we had a long day and wanted to have an early start the next day. And the best part was (it was only Thursday).. yuhooo 2 more days in Penang!!
Friday 19th.
After a good sleep, we left the condo at about 9 and headed straight to the famous nasi lemak daun pisang. Trust me i don’t know what the name of the road is, but mein guided us as she had been there before. It was like a food court, and they had piles of nasi lemak. After having that with a good cup of coffee, we headed straight to fort Cornwallis. Okay let me be straightforward, that place is just soo boring. There is nothing there! and to make things worst, they had canopies because of some event, and that kinda spoilt the mood of that place. But then we spent about 2 hours there. Hmm.. well, we were just taking shots after shots and that was the interesting part. We really had a good time, and yes thanks viki for teaching us lots of stuffs about photography. Viki was so kind enough to let us use his cam and test out and learn from it. We had lots of fun from there. After leaving fort Cornwallis with some unexpected remarks by viki on the guest book.. hehe, we were so thirsty that we started hunting for the best ice kacang and cendol. As we were clueless, viki got down and asked around, and we headed to Macalister road (i hope i typed it right :s). We had some good ice kacang and cendol there. (Oh ya forgot to mention.. the parking there was a freaking 50cent! I mean.. after all 50cent seem still usable in penang.. awesome). So after that we went to the Kek Lok Si Temple (Pagoda). Opps sorry, we headed straight to the Air Hitam Dam first actually, and that place was like one of the best places I’ve ever been. What a breath taking view it was. I just cant describe how it was. Even the pictures cant say much. Just feel thankful for being there at that moment. That will be a place always fresh in my mind. After taking some shots there, we went to the Kek Lok Si temple. Spent some time there. After that it was about 4 something and we were already hungry. Lambo called and told us there is this best stall nasi kandar in jelutong, but then they are only open from 6pm onwards. So, went to yusof first and had our nasi kandar there. After that we went to the Burmese temple and hanged out there. Before we could go to the Buddha temple at the opposite, it was already closed. So then we met lambo again and he took us to the famous stall. Hehe.. it was our second round of nasi kandar in less then 2 hours :s. But then we didn’t want to miss it. So after beating the Friday evening traffic jam, we were there right on time. To our amazement as we were queuing up to get our food, we were shocked with the queue after us. It was so long! and yes the nasi kandar was just so tasty... gosh I am feeling hungry now..
It was almost 8pm then, and we were all just tired and stinky. We went back to the condo for a quick shower, and by 10+ we were out again checking out ferringhi’s nite market which was just in front of us. We bought some stuffs there, but then the shops were unanimous. Every shop had the same thing. So, after that we felt like going for supper, so we went around looking for food and kept on driving until we ended up at the end of the world (as they call it) and there was nothing actually. The best part was as were driving around the breeze from the sea along the road was so nice and calm, By then It was almost 12, and we headed back to gurney for some nite supper, and to our disappointment again most of the stalls were closed! Hmm.. then i realized, you just cant beat KL for nite life and nite food. Well, with only about 4 to 5 stalls opened, we packed pasembur and rojak buah, and lambo took us to the beach nearby the Crown princess hotel. It was like a small pathway to the beach, and the view was so beautiful, we could see gurney and ferringhi at our left. We sat there and enjoyed the food and the breeze from the sea. The boys were having another drink.. shaishhh.. We were there till about 3am, and we had a great time chatting about lots of stuffs... After that we headed back to our condo so tired.. and the sad part was (it was Friday) and we have to go back the next day :(
Saturday 20th
After a good sleep, we woke up and left the condo straight at about 10. We went for some horrible cold roti canai for breakfast and headed to Tannermalai temple (Waterfall temple). We were suppose to meet Lambo there. Actually Lambo invited us for lunch at his home and we were so touched with his hospitality despite only knowing us for 2 days. After visiting the chettiar temple which they were just about to close, we went to the Tannermalai temple which was just near by. After that lambo took us around the moon gate, and we thought of seeing the Buddha temple. We then went to the Buddha temple, and bought some souvenirs there as well. After checking out the souvenir, we headed straight to lambo's house in Jelutong. It was a 22 story apartment and the view was amazing. From the kitchen u could see jelutong, from the balcony u could see Mother of Mercy standing high amongst the mountain (Pagoda), and from lambo's room you could see the penang bridge. What a location! that’s what you call a home with a view. There his mother served us fantastic home cooked food. It was motcha kotta kolumbe, thannisar, parepe kari, vanjerai meen sambal, netthili sambal, potato peratal, fried egg and appalam. After all the food we had in penang, nothing can beat that. We actually told lambo earlier, to not cook chicken and all, as it will be just a lot, and troublesome, but this home cooked food was just too good.. Thanks lamboo...
After having a full lunch and a great time with lambo's family and sister who was ever ready to give us some many poses (she was only 1 years old), we left penang with a heavy heart. It was 6pm then. Unfortunately it was raining as we were traveling back, so we were slow on the road. We reached KL about 12 and we had to drop viki at Taman connought. So we dropped by at the nearest Mcd and had our dinner, dropped viki and raj dropped me back home at cuepacs, and raj and his sister mein reached home about 2am. Luckily it was only Sunday morning, hence we had the whole Sunday to just sleep and sleeeeepppp..
Overall, it was an amazingly trip. We were excited and tired most of the time, and we were all glad the trip took place smoothly. Everything was good, we didn’t encounter any problem and mostly we had a great great time there. I still feel sad that vilves couldn’t make. I believe if she had come it would have been more fun. Its ok vil, next trip we will, sorry MUST go together k.
What a trip this was to end the year. Perfect. Cant wait to plan another trip :p
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Rajkumar & Eden's - Yenna Solla Pogirai
Finally the music video by Arkay Productions & Eden Studioz - Yenna Solla Pogirai is out!
I don wanna say more.. just check out the clip and drop some comments ya.
Song: Yenna Solla Pogirai
Direction: Rajkumar C. Kopalan & Denesh Kumar
By Arkay Productions & Eden Studioz
I don wanna say more.. just check out the clip and drop some comments ya.
Song: Yenna Solla Pogirai
Direction: Rajkumar C. Kopalan & Denesh Kumar
By Arkay Productions & Eden Studioz
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Cookies & Cake
Again I shall blame myself for leaving my blog unattended for almost 2 months. Knock on the head "piak" :p
Hi all today we are talking about cookies & cake, and below are some cookies and cake that i made for deepavali. Well actually i was suppose to blog and post the recipes right after baking, but then was so tide up with deepavali, and my newborn nephew and of course eating the cookies that i missed blogging about it.
Well, perhaps this recipes could be useful after this for anyone who is going to celebrate Christmas, or Chinese New Year or ponggal or which ever la..
The butter biscuit was of course a family recipe, it’s so super simple to make, and it just melts in your mouth so fine with its buttery and vanilla flavor.
The second and third, is a recipe i plucked from Anna Olson. Usually, something might turn out wrong when you try celebrity recipes, but Anna Olson's recipes turned out perfect! The chocolate chip cookie and Chocolate Mint Truffle Cake was really nice and easy to make. Her instructions were clear, and her recipes are just too tempting to resist.
The pictures below were taken after i prepared them. (It’s my own photo’s okey: p).
So check it out, try them and enjoy.
P/S Some who may read this blog had tried these desserts for deepavali. So please feel free to comment ya :D.
Well, here they are :-
Butter Biscuit – Vegetarian
Ingredients
7oz / 196g - Butter (cream butter without oil)
3oz/ 84g - Icing sugar
8oz / 224g - Plain all purpose flour (wheat flour)
2bsp - Cornflour
½ tspn - Vanilla essence
Baking time
- 180 Celsius.
- Regulo 4
- From 5 to 15 minutes (depending on the oven).
- Make sure the corners of the biscuit is lightly browned after baking.
Method
1. Beat butter and icing sugar till smooth.
2. Add vanilla essence.
3. Add flour and mix to a dough.
4. Cut / press to design and bake.
Chocolate Chip Cookie by Anna Olson
Ingredients
¾ cup - Unsalted cream butter
1 cup - Brown sugar
¼ cup - Granulated sugar
1 - Egg
2 tspn - Vanilla essence
2 cups - Plain all purpose flour (wheat flour) – (Sieve flour)
2 tspn - Cornflour
1tspn - Baking soda
½ tspn - salt
8oz/224g - Bitter sweet chocolate sweet chips
Baking time
- 180 degree Celsius
- Regulo 4
- From 8 to 10 minutes.
- Make sure the corners of the cookie are slightly brown after baking.
Method
1. Preheat oven.
2. Cream butter with sugar. Once mixed well add egg, vanilla essence and blend all together.
3. Add flour, cornstarch, baking powder and salt to the mixture and blend all together.
4. Stir in the chocolate chips and mix lightly, not smashing the chips
5. Prepare tray with parchment paper (or spread of butter).
6. Spoon dough to the tray. Bake, cool and serve.
Chocolate Mint Truffle Cake
This picture above was taken from Anna Olson's website.
This was made by myself. I just created a star cutout and sprinkled icing sugar for decoration.
Ingredients
Cake
*(The cake recipe below is for 1 layer. Need to make 2 layers (twice the cake recipe below, for the outcome as per the picture above)
3/4 cup hot brewed coffee
1 1/2 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup regular cocoa powder (not Dutch pressed)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp fine salt
1 large egg
1 large egg white
6 tbsp vegetable oil
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp peppermint extract
Truffle Glaze
* (This glaze is for 2 layers of cake. If you are only making 1 layer, then divide this recipe to half the amount)
18 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped
1 cup + 2 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into pieces
2 tbsp golden corn syrup
1 tsp peppermint extract
Baking time
- 300 degrees F
- Regulo 4
- From 1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes
Method
Cake
1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. and grease and line a 10-inch springform pan with parchment, then grease paper.
2. Pour freshly brewed coffee over chocolate and gently stir to melt. Set aside.
3. Sift sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt and set aside. In a large bowl, beat eggs on high speed for 1 minute.
4. While beating, slowly add oil, buttermilk and extracts. Alternate adding flour mixture and chocolate mixture and beat until combined.
5. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 1 hour to 1 hour and 10 minutes, until a tester inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean. Allow cake to cool for 20 minutes in the pan, then remove to cool completely.
Truffle Glaze
1. For truffle glaze, place chocolate, butter and corn syrup in a bowl over barely simmering water and stir gently until melted and glossy. Stir in extract.
Assembly
1. To assemble, trim barely ½-inch from outside of cake and slice in half horizontally. Place one layer of cake in bottom of clean 10-inch springform pan. Spread a third of the truffle glaze over the layer, pushing it over the sides of the cake. Top with second layer and spread all but ¼ cup of glaze over top layer, pushing glaze over sides. Chill cake for at least 3 hours before unmolding.
2. To unmold, press a hot towel around the sides of the cake to melt slightly. Loosen springform ring carefully, and run a spatula around side of cake smooth, if needed. Melt reserve glaze and drizzle over top of cake. Slice cake with a hot, dry knife and enjoy!
Hi all today we are talking about cookies & cake, and below are some cookies and cake that i made for deepavali. Well actually i was suppose to blog and post the recipes right after baking, but then was so tide up with deepavali, and my newborn nephew and of course eating the cookies that i missed blogging about it.
Well, perhaps this recipes could be useful after this for anyone who is going to celebrate Christmas, or Chinese New Year or ponggal or which ever la..
The butter biscuit was of course a family recipe, it’s so super simple to make, and it just melts in your mouth so fine with its buttery and vanilla flavor.
The second and third, is a recipe i plucked from Anna Olson. Usually, something might turn out wrong when you try celebrity recipes, but Anna Olson's recipes turned out perfect! The chocolate chip cookie and Chocolate Mint Truffle Cake was really nice and easy to make. Her instructions were clear, and her recipes are just too tempting to resist.
The pictures below were taken after i prepared them. (It’s my own photo’s okey: p).
So check it out, try them and enjoy.
P/S Some who may read this blog had tried these desserts for deepavali. So please feel free to comment ya :D.
Well, here they are :-
Butter Biscuit – Vegetarian
Ingredients
7oz / 196g - Butter (cream butter without oil)
3oz/ 84g - Icing sugar
8oz / 224g - Plain all purpose flour (wheat flour)
2bsp - Cornflour
½ tspn - Vanilla essence
Baking time
- 180 Celsius.
- Regulo 4
- From 5 to 15 minutes (depending on the oven).
- Make sure the corners of the biscuit is lightly browned after baking.
Method
1. Beat butter and icing sugar till smooth.
2. Add vanilla essence.
3. Add flour and mix to a dough.
4. Cut / press to design and bake.
Chocolate Chip Cookie by Anna Olson
Ingredients
¾ cup - Unsalted cream butter
1 cup - Brown sugar
¼ cup - Granulated sugar
1 - Egg
2 tspn - Vanilla essence
2 cups - Plain all purpose flour (wheat flour) – (Sieve flour)
2 tspn - Cornflour
1tspn - Baking soda
½ tspn - salt
8oz/224g - Bitter sweet chocolate sweet chips
Baking time
- 180 degree Celsius
- Regulo 4
- From 8 to 10 minutes.
- Make sure the corners of the cookie are slightly brown after baking.
Method
1. Preheat oven.
2. Cream butter with sugar. Once mixed well add egg, vanilla essence and blend all together.
3. Add flour, cornstarch, baking powder and salt to the mixture and blend all together.
4. Stir in the chocolate chips and mix lightly, not smashing the chips
5. Prepare tray with parchment paper (or spread of butter).
6. Spoon dough to the tray. Bake, cool and serve.
Chocolate Mint Truffle Cake
This picture above was taken from Anna Olson's website.
This was made by myself. I just created a star cutout and sprinkled icing sugar for decoration.
Ingredients
Cake
*(The cake recipe below is for 1 layer. Need to make 2 layers (twice the cake recipe below, for the outcome as per the picture above)
3/4 cup hot brewed coffee
1 1/2 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup regular cocoa powder (not Dutch pressed)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp fine salt
1 large egg
1 large egg white
6 tbsp vegetable oil
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp peppermint extract
Truffle Glaze
* (This glaze is for 2 layers of cake. If you are only making 1 layer, then divide this recipe to half the amount)
18 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped
1 cup + 2 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into pieces
2 tbsp golden corn syrup
1 tsp peppermint extract
Baking time
- 300 degrees F
- Regulo 4
- From 1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes
Method
Cake
1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. and grease and line a 10-inch springform pan with parchment, then grease paper.
2. Pour freshly brewed coffee over chocolate and gently stir to melt. Set aside.
3. Sift sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt and set aside. In a large bowl, beat eggs on high speed for 1 minute.
4. While beating, slowly add oil, buttermilk and extracts. Alternate adding flour mixture and chocolate mixture and beat until combined.
5. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 1 hour to 1 hour and 10 minutes, until a tester inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean. Allow cake to cool for 20 minutes in the pan, then remove to cool completely.
Truffle Glaze
1. For truffle glaze, place chocolate, butter and corn syrup in a bowl over barely simmering water and stir gently until melted and glossy. Stir in extract.
Assembly
1. To assemble, trim barely ½-inch from outside of cake and slice in half horizontally. Place one layer of cake in bottom of clean 10-inch springform pan. Spread a third of the truffle glaze over the layer, pushing it over the sides of the cake. Top with second layer and spread all but ¼ cup of glaze over top layer, pushing glaze over sides. Chill cake for at least 3 hours before unmolding.
2. To unmold, press a hot towel around the sides of the cake to melt slightly. Loosen springform ring carefully, and run a spatula around side of cake smooth, if needed. Melt reserve glaze and drizzle over top of cake. Slice cake with a hot, dry knife and enjoy!
Thursday, October 9, 2008
The Heat is On - Arkay Production's - Psychomantra's Video
It will be very very unfair if i dont post any stuff about Arkay's productions current affairs rite. Well here are some insights to the making of the video clip.. Iam very glad that i was a part of the crew as well and ofcourse it came togehter with a buch of talented ppl and lots of hardwork and help from all.. below are some shots.. check it out..
Director : Rujjcoomarh of Arkay Productions
Asst Director : Eden of Eden Studios
Track : Psychomantra - Single's after his first album of Oru Kirukanin Kaviyam
Photographer : http://www.vickneswaran.com/
Make up Artist : Maneka Kopalan
Production Manager : Hanusha Janendran
Artist : Pyscho, Pricilia, sharmila (UPM), GArY the breakdancer (UPM), Kosh (UPM), Murali (UPM), Geo (UPM), Suzanne (UPM), Miracle
Equipments & Crew members : F.E.G (M) Sdn Bhd and crew (Friends of Eden)
Location : The great Putrajaya @ka no mand land.
Here are some of the on location snippets.. enjoy..
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Subramaniapuram - Kangal Irandal
You know sometimes, a song will come and sit in your heart and it just wont move away. Well it has happened to me again today after a long time ( a long time i meant by was after the song en anbe from the movie satyam which was just a week ago :p)
I bet all know about this song Kangal Irandal from the movie Subramaniapuram. It's surely a heart catcher... deep.. and such a purely beautiful song! Damn.. I am so into this song now. I mean, i have heard it many times before on the radio, but after watching the movie.. i really just fell in love with it.
Its 80's touch with its simple classical music, and an easy going way of singing(semi-classical style of singing) surely is a treat for anyone of any age.
Here it is... Surely one of the best songs of our time.. Enjoy (Attached below are the lyrics of this song)
kangal irandaal un kangal irandaal
ennai katti izhuthai izhuthai podhadhene
chinna sirippil oru kalla sirippil
ennai thalli vittu thalli vittu mudi maraithai
pesa enni sila naal
arigil varuven
pinbu parvai podhum enanaal
ninaipen naguzhven ne maatri
kangal ezhudhum iru kangal ezhudhum
oru vanna kavidhai kaadhal daana
oru varthai illaye idhil osai illaye
idhai irulilum padithida mudigiradhe
iruvum alladha pagalum alladha
pozhudhugal unnodu kazhiyuma
thodavum koodatha padavum koodatha
idaiveli appodhu kuraiyuma
madiyinil saindhida thudikudhe
marupuram nanamum thadukudhe
idhu varai yaaridamum solladha kadhai
kangal irandaal un kangal irandaal
ennai katti izhuthai izhuthai podhadhene
chinna sirippil oru kalla sirippil
ennai thalli vittu thalli vittu mudi maraithai
karaigal andaatha kaatrum theendatha
manadhukkul eppodho nuzhaindhitai
udalum alladha uruvam kolladha
kadavulai pol vandhu kalandhitai
unnai indri ver oru ninaivillai
ini indha vonuyir enadhillai
thadaiyilai saavilume unnoda vaazha
kangal ezhudhum iru kangal ezhudhum
oru vanna kavidhai kaadhal daana
oru varthai illaye idhil osai illaye
idhai irulilum padithida mudigiradhe
pesa enni sila naal
arigil varuven
pinbu parvai podhum enanaal
ninaipen nagurven ne maatri
kangal irandaal un kangal irandaal
ennai katti izhuthai izhuthai podhadhene
chinna sirippil oru kalla sirippil
ennai thalli vittu thalli vittu mudi maraithai
I bet all know about this song Kangal Irandal from the movie Subramaniapuram. It's surely a heart catcher... deep.. and such a purely beautiful song! Damn.. I am so into this song now. I mean, i have heard it many times before on the radio, but after watching the movie.. i really just fell in love with it.
Its 80's touch with its simple classical music, and an easy going way of singing(semi-classical style of singing) surely is a treat for anyone of any age.
Here it is... Surely one of the best songs of our time.. Enjoy (Attached below are the lyrics of this song)
kangal irandaal un kangal irandaal
ennai katti izhuthai izhuthai podhadhene
chinna sirippil oru kalla sirippil
ennai thalli vittu thalli vittu mudi maraithai
pesa enni sila naal
arigil varuven
pinbu parvai podhum enanaal
ninaipen naguzhven ne maatri
kangal ezhudhum iru kangal ezhudhum
oru vanna kavidhai kaadhal daana
oru varthai illaye idhil osai illaye
idhai irulilum padithida mudigiradhe
iruvum alladha pagalum alladha
pozhudhugal unnodu kazhiyuma
thodavum koodatha padavum koodatha
idaiveli appodhu kuraiyuma
madiyinil saindhida thudikudhe
marupuram nanamum thadukudhe
idhu varai yaaridamum solladha kadhai
kangal irandaal un kangal irandaal
ennai katti izhuthai izhuthai podhadhene
chinna sirippil oru kalla sirippil
ennai thalli vittu thalli vittu mudi maraithai
karaigal andaatha kaatrum theendatha
manadhukkul eppodho nuzhaindhitai
udalum alladha uruvam kolladha
kadavulai pol vandhu kalandhitai
unnai indri ver oru ninaivillai
ini indha vonuyir enadhillai
thadaiyilai saavilume unnoda vaazha
kangal ezhudhum iru kangal ezhudhum
oru vanna kavidhai kaadhal daana
oru varthai illaye idhil osai illaye
idhai irulilum padithida mudigiradhe
pesa enni sila naal
arigil varuven
pinbu parvai podhum enanaal
ninaipen nagurven ne maatri
kangal irandaal un kangal irandaal
ennai katti izhuthai izhuthai podhadhene
chinna sirippil oru kalla sirippil
ennai thalli vittu thalli vittu mudi maraithai
Sunday, September 7, 2008
UPM Natyanjali - Video Clips
Hi all... Atlast we got the video of the UPM Natyanjali performance uploaded in youtube!! First is the video of the Semi-classical team followed by the video of the Contemporary team.
Fire & Water - Semi classical, choreographed by myself
P/S Fire & Water is the title of the Instrumental Music piece by Ganesh & Kumaresh. The concept of the choreography was about Naragasuran and Brahman.
Samba Samba - Contemporary, choreographed by Rujjcoomarh
For info please read my previous blog http://hanusha.blogspot.com/2008/08/upm-natyanjali-clean-sweep-ka-sapu.html
Fire & Water - Semi classical, choreographed by myself
P/S Fire & Water is the title of the Instrumental Music piece by Ganesh & Kumaresh. The concept of the choreography was about Naragasuran and Brahman.
Samba Samba - Contemporary, choreographed by Rujjcoomarh
For info please read my previous blog http://hanusha.blogspot.com/2008/08/upm-natyanjali-clean-sweep-ka-sapu.html
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Last Holiday
Yesterday as i was planning to doze off early, but i was caught by this movie that was shown coming next on HBO. Last Holiday. When i checked the info it was an interesting story about a women who will die in the next 3 weeks time, and how she will outlive her best holiday before the day comes.
So i decided to watch this movie cause its been sometimes since i watched some good movie, and too add more spice to this.. it was none other than Queen Latifah who was the main cast. We all know her for the good sense of humor and she really did a fantastic job in this movie. Happily enjoying her holiday while she knows she was going to die soon.
Well coming to the story, she was actually working in a store and one day she had a bad headache as she was over working. When she got to the hospital she was actually diagnosed of having a brain tumor and her doctor told her that she will die in about 3 weeks time. With that, she packed her bags and took all the money she had to Switzerland. She started everything with luxury, where she took the first class flight, a helicopter to the hotel, stayed in a 7 star hotel and of course in the presidential suite. Everyone in that hotel was all filthy rich.. so some thought she was somebody too. As she was living in luxury everything about the place she stayed was different. It was like heaven. It was during New year and the snow filled each and every corner of the place. It was so beautiful that in one part of the movie she will say "God where was i all this while, this place is so beautiful.. and.. why cant i life longer.. i don't want to die"
This actually made me think. If i was in her situation i guess i would have done the same thing too. Travel around the world and love everything like its the last day. Isn't this how we all would have reacted. Why we don't do that now. Why we do go around the world now.. love everything now, cherish everything now, rather than waiting for our doomsday or our old age to come when we might not even have the energy to travel. I don't want to waste my time anymore.. i think I'm gonna start to travel even more now. Actually I've been doing it often, but now i want to see more.. and have more adventures. Anyone care to join.:p
Well, coming back, as usual since this is a movie..the story goes on and she writes her letter in which she says "I have enclosed some cash for my cremation. Please don't bury me as i wont was to live in a box forever, so please cremate me." and with that she packed her bag to go back home for her last day, but she was sent back to the hotel as there was a snow landslide and no one could get to the airport. After that, all of sudden as the climax of the movie comes.. this doctors found out that there is a problem with the CT Scan in the hospital, and that actually gave the wrong print of the brain. With that her diagnosis was false. And with a quick fax to her hotel, they manage to pass her this info, and she was happy ever after....
Haaaa how nice.. Of course the movie is 100 times better than my narration plus this is not a very new movie either. It's a 2006 movie. But it made me think.. How precious life is that, the earth we are living on has given us so much and is still giving us everything everyday. Thank you mother earth!
So i decided to watch this movie cause its been sometimes since i watched some good movie, and too add more spice to this.. it was none other than Queen Latifah who was the main cast. We all know her for the good sense of humor and she really did a fantastic job in this movie. Happily enjoying her holiday while she knows she was going to die soon.
Well coming to the story, she was actually working in a store and one day she had a bad headache as she was over working. When she got to the hospital she was actually diagnosed of having a brain tumor and her doctor told her that she will die in about 3 weeks time. With that, she packed her bags and took all the money she had to Switzerland. She started everything with luxury, where she took the first class flight, a helicopter to the hotel, stayed in a 7 star hotel and of course in the presidential suite. Everyone in that hotel was all filthy rich.. so some thought she was somebody too. As she was living in luxury everything about the place she stayed was different. It was like heaven. It was during New year and the snow filled each and every corner of the place. It was so beautiful that in one part of the movie she will say "God where was i all this while, this place is so beautiful.. and.. why cant i life longer.. i don't want to die"
This actually made me think. If i was in her situation i guess i would have done the same thing too. Travel around the world and love everything like its the last day. Isn't this how we all would have reacted. Why we don't do that now. Why we do go around the world now.. love everything now, cherish everything now, rather than waiting for our doomsday or our old age to come when we might not even have the energy to travel. I don't want to waste my time anymore.. i think I'm gonna start to travel even more now. Actually I've been doing it often, but now i want to see more.. and have more adventures. Anyone care to join.:p
Well, coming back, as usual since this is a movie..the story goes on and she writes her letter in which she says "I have enclosed some cash for my cremation. Please don't bury me as i wont was to live in a box forever, so please cremate me." and with that she packed her bag to go back home for her last day, but she was sent back to the hotel as there was a snow landslide and no one could get to the airport. After that, all of sudden as the climax of the movie comes.. this doctors found out that there is a problem with the CT Scan in the hospital, and that actually gave the wrong print of the brain. With that her diagnosis was false. And with a quick fax to her hotel, they manage to pass her this info, and she was happy ever after....
Haaaa how nice.. Of course the movie is 100 times better than my narration plus this is not a very new movie either. It's a 2006 movie. But it made me think.. How precious life is that, the earth we are living on has given us so much and is still giving us everything everyday. Thank you mother earth!
Friday, July 18, 2008
A cup of coffee
Its so weired that i struggle to wake up early when i have to go to work, but when it comes to weekend's i end up waking up extremly early! I mean i really wanna sleep even more long hours than the usual, but I guess my body's clock gets too excited friday nite, that its not willing to waste its precious sat's and sunday's. Well isn't that the same for all of us...
Still woke up a little groggy today as it was only 6.50ish, well.. went down straight to the kitchen (Shower was not anytime soon btw)..took the pot, filled the water up and straight on the fire it went. Went to the counter, Open that precious looking nescafe bottle took a deep breath of that godly aroma, close the cap and wait for mr.water to boil up. Boiling, took my must have, my mug, my only mug, only my own mug alrite
Anyway i can't wait for my Saturday. Lots of things to do today. Firstly meeting rujjy boy at 9.30 in brickfields. Going for some good mamak breakfast. Then going to midvalley. Some minor shopping. We are getting something for his dad's birthday which was the 16th this past wed actually. We still have no idea on what to get. Its always difficult to get stuffs for guy. The gift are just to limited for them. After that oh ya need to get the ticket for movie at 9.30pm.. That new 3D movie. I must watch it, well i always had this facination for 3D. Weired huh. Again, after that we have to go to MPH its been a long time and wanted to get some books from there. Iam so excited.. hmm... and then.. looks like thats about it. Will be back home by evening. Oh ya, i am making the dessert of the week which is White chocolate mousse, with dark chocolate sauce. This time i will post it on my blog with the recipe, ofcourse if it turn successffull. After that rujjy will be fetching me to go for the movie. After that we are meeting up some friends for some catching up.. Phew.. what a saturday.. its gonna be..
Ok then its gonna get let, have to get ready now... adios amigo..
Dasavatharam
Though i have watched "Dasavatharam" for more than i think a month ago now, the story keeps making me to hunt for more information on the screenplay. Some or rather this movie gave me the chill’s and the interest to find out more about the hidden meaning as how "Da Vinci Code" made an impact to me. Mystery, History and hidden secrets are something that can pull us in to another world, in which both of this movie's did. In the beginning i had no idea that Dasavatharam will be revolving around the 10 avatharams of Vishnu. I was completely ignorant about it, which of course i blame myself for it. I just watched it as a big fan of Kamal. But after watching the movie only i received an email (Which i have attached below) that explained what the hidden meaning of the movie was all about, and coincidently i watched the movie again. Then, i understood the initial base or the hidden brilliance of this movie dasavatharam.. I wonder how can i miss to understand, to remember that this man Kamal Hassan would have made a movie with 10 roles in it, without a hidden meaning, or a historical background or something uniquely different. He was always different and i thought this was maybe just another movie. Well shame on me for thinking like that.. and thank god i changed my opinion immediately.. Well folks,
Check out the explanation below... i guess many have read already.. but do check it.. its a nice read and explanation..
---------- Beginning Of Mail ---------------
Dhasaavatharam rocks.....the truth about this super movie....
Message: If you knew the real dasavatharams of Lord Vishnu and their characters you can appreciate the script more. Let me explain, starting with the best adapted role:
1. Krishna avatar - Vincent Poovaraghavan
Lord krishna is actually a dalit, he is dark-skinned [shyamalam]. He saved draupadi when she was being violated and he was the actual diplomat in mahabharatham. Lord krishna dies of an arrow striking his lower leg. Now look at how vincent was introduced.. he appears when asin is about to be molested and he saves her like draupadi. Vincent is the dalit diplomat, fights for land issue [soil issue to be exact] and dies from the metal rod striking his leg. Oh even five of vincent's men are drugged at P. Vasu's.. sounds familiar???
2. Balarama avatar - Balarama naidu
This is an easy given. as the name suggests and the role personifies you can easily get it.
3. Mathsya avatar - Ranagaraja nambi
nambi is thrown into water in an act of trying to save lord from being thrown into sea, though vainly. what more clue do you want?
4. Varaha avatar - Krishnaveni paatti
During the mukunda song, krishnaveni paatti does varaha avatar in the shadow puppetry. The frame freezes on it for a second. there is the clue. Moreover, in varaha avatar lord actually hides earth so as to protect life forms. Here too krishnaveni hides the germs - life form inside the statue so as to protect.
5. Vamana avatar - Kalifulla khan
remember in vamana avatar, lord vishnu takes the vishvaroopa, that is the giant form! Hence the giant kalifulla here symbolises vamana avatar.
6. Parasurama avatar - Christian Fletcher
Parasurama is actually on an angry killing spree and killed 21 generations of the particular kshatriya vamsa. Hence the real KILLER... Guess what thats what our Fletcher is! He comes around with the gun [modern upgrade for axe] and kills everyone around. I have to check if he kills 21 people though. :-D
7. Narasimha avatar - Shingen Narahashi
first of all the name itself is a play on the words singam [means lion in tamil] and narasimha [the avatar being symbolised]. Lord Narasimha manifests himelf to kill the bad guy and he also teaches prahaladha. In the movie, he shows up to kill the killer fletcher! and is also a teacher.. Lord Narasimha had to kill the asura with bare hands and hence the martial arts exponent here.. get it?
8. Rama avatar - Avatar Singh
Lord Rama stands for the one man one woman maxim, kind of symbolising true love.. Here Avatar portrays that spirit by saying that he loves his woman more than anything and wants to live for her.
9. Kalki avatar - Govindaraj Ramasamy
As you know, the hero in kaliyug can be none other than the Kalki avatar!!!
10. Koorma avatar - Bush
This is the most loose adaptation I couldn't clearly comprehend. But if you look at the real koorma avatar, the lord is the turtle/tortoise that helps in stirring the ksheera sagara and bringing out the amruth. This essentially creates war among the devas and asuras. Similarly today Bush facilitates war between you know whom... May be Kamal also indicates that this avatar is a bit dumb like the tortoise...
you see...now u knw what does the movie trying to tell you....a super-duper movie.....kamal rocks.....
---------- End Of Mail ---------------
Check out the explanation below... i guess many have read already.. but do check it.. its a nice read and explanation..
---------- Beginning Of Mail ---------------
Dhasaavatharam rocks.....the truth about this super movie....
Message: If you knew the real dasavatharams of Lord Vishnu and their characters you can appreciate the script more. Let me explain, starting with the best adapted role:
1. Krishna avatar - Vincent Poovaraghavan
Lord krishna is actually a dalit, he is dark-skinned [shyamalam]. He saved draupadi when she was being violated and he was the actual diplomat in mahabharatham. Lord krishna dies of an arrow striking his lower leg. Now look at how vincent was introduced.. he appears when asin is about to be molested and he saves her like draupadi. Vincent is the dalit diplomat, fights for land issue [soil issue to be exact] and dies from the metal rod striking his leg. Oh even five of vincent's men are drugged at P. Vasu's.. sounds familiar???
2. Balarama avatar - Balarama naidu
This is an easy given. as the name suggests and the role personifies you can easily get it.
3. Mathsya avatar - Ranagaraja nambi
nambi is thrown into water in an act of trying to save lord from being thrown into sea, though vainly. what more clue do you want?
4. Varaha avatar - Krishnaveni paatti
During the mukunda song, krishnaveni paatti does varaha avatar in the shadow puppetry. The frame freezes on it for a second. there is the clue. Moreover, in varaha avatar lord actually hides earth so as to protect life forms. Here too krishnaveni hides the germs - life form inside the statue so as to protect.
5. Vamana avatar - Kalifulla khan
remember in vamana avatar, lord vishnu takes the vishvaroopa, that is the giant form! Hence the giant kalifulla here symbolises vamana avatar.
6. Parasurama avatar - Christian Fletcher
Parasurama is actually on an angry killing spree and killed 21 generations of the particular kshatriya vamsa. Hence the real KILLER... Guess what thats what our Fletcher is! He comes around with the gun [modern upgrade for axe] and kills everyone around. I have to check if he kills 21 people though. :-D
7. Narasimha avatar - Shingen Narahashi
first of all the name itself is a play on the words singam [means lion in tamil] and narasimha [the avatar being symbolised]. Lord Narasimha manifests himelf to kill the bad guy and he also teaches prahaladha. In the movie, he shows up to kill the killer fletcher! and is also a teacher.. Lord Narasimha had to kill the asura with bare hands and hence the martial arts exponent here.. get it?
8. Rama avatar - Avatar Singh
Lord Rama stands for the one man one woman maxim, kind of symbolising true love.. Here Avatar portrays that spirit by saying that he loves his woman more than anything and wants to live for her.
9. Kalki avatar - Govindaraj Ramasamy
As you know, the hero in kaliyug can be none other than the Kalki avatar!!!
10. Koorma avatar - Bush
This is the most loose adaptation I couldn't clearly comprehend. But if you look at the real koorma avatar, the lord is the turtle/tortoise that helps in stirring the ksheera sagara and bringing out the amruth. This essentially creates war among the devas and asuras. Similarly today Bush facilitates war between you know whom... May be Kamal also indicates that this avatar is a bit dumb like the tortoise...
you see...now u knw what does the movie trying to tell you....a super-duper movie.....kamal rocks.....
---------- End Of Mail ---------------
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
SICK.. but not because of DANCING
I feel pathetically sick today after a long time. I've been sick since Sunday.. and it got worse this Monday.. today i am feeling a lil better. Most of them that i know are sick.. the virus was hopping around happily with its ugly teeth and fierce eyes as i could imagine.. "sigh" this is so de-motivating..
Last Sunday was my first bharathanatyam class with Master Sri Anand. My new Guru whom is going to polish me into my pre-arangetram training. It was a tough, but an awesome class. Though i came back with that famous thigh-breaking pain.. i enjoyed every single minute of that 2 hour class.. oh and yes, He is actually my fourth Dance Guru.
I started my dance journey at the age of 6 to 9 with Geetha shankaran under the school Fine Arts, but i was learning Oddissi at that time. After about 3 years of moving the oddissi moves dad suggested me to learn the art of bharatham. Of course at that time anything was ok for me when it comes to dancing. But the actual reason i moved to another variety of dance was because Dad claimed that oddissi was a bit to slow and for 3 years i was still doing the basics. Well no prejudice here, but if many noticed.. oddissi is performed by dancers whom are almost 11 and plus. This is because there is a need of maturity when you dance oddissi as oddissi is heavily based on "rasa" and "perfection". Well that is why when you start young as a child you wont perform but the Guru's will train and polish you so that you will be just nice when your at the age of showing and portraying that art, as an involved and mature dancer. Sometimes i do regret why i didn’t continue to learn oddissi. Well at that time, i was not able to make any justifications but i am still very very happy to be a bhratham dancer. Luckily i stood for my rights to continue this art no matter what. But of course all this would have not appeared just like that. I have great motivating parents that encouraged me to dance and perform till today. This is something i can't thank them much. To give me this freedom to be in a different world when i dance.. and dance and dance...
Well coming from where i left earlier. After my last day with Guru Geetha, dad enrolled me under the school of Jeya Nirtha Kalalayam when i was trained under Guru Sironmani Sri Kumuthini Sivanathan.. I was learning under her for 11 years. It was under her that i performed my solo "salangai pooja" dance performance at the age of 16 ' year 1997'. Btw "Salangai poojai" is a ceremonial dance performance where the dancer will be wearing the "Salangai" or leg bell ornaments which will be worn by her Dance Guru for the first time. This ceremony is to tell the audience that this is my first school graduation and from now onwards i am allowed to perform infront of many people, Because without having the salangai pooja, we are not allowed to dance with the salangai in front of people (Ofcourse now many of these traditions have change ;) ) hence after the ceremony i performed 7 songs in between 3 hours to potray my knowledge in this art... That was a day i will never forget. Together with excitement and nervousness i danced.. with all my heart.
After learning under Guru Kumuthini, i had to pause my classes as i was pursuing my degree course. And after 3 to 4 years i joined another Guru under her dance school Jeyashree Bharatha Alayam as Kumuthini teacher was not teaching much due to her age catching up on her. I was 23 then. Wasn’t i only 23 but i think i gained about 10Kg's to 15Kg due to my Degree Course break. Damn! that break of 3 to 4 years changed my lifestyle. Well nothing much actually, i was not doing anything else but studying, eating and sleeping.. and all the pounds creped on me easily. At that time when i joined Jeyashree teacher even worst complications came that i could not continue my classes as usual because of my ridiculous shift hours at work. I was in Shell by then after my degree. Due to that i attended classes inconsistently. Though i could still perform in temple's and in school dance drama's for the last 3 year i was inconsistent with my weekly classes that left me with doubt on whether i would be able to perform my arengetram. At that time, which was about few months ago my dance Guru Jeyashree whom was 6 months pregnant said that she might not have classes anymore due to her future new born, and that took me by shock. But the best part was before i could tell jeyashree akka about my dream she quickly told me “i will suggest you to My guru Master Sri Anand, and he will prepare your for your arangetram” and so on. I was overjoyed with happiness. Although i received many warnings that he is extremely strict, i only had one thing in my mind.. well all Guru's are strict and I am going there to learn about being an arangetram student.. perhaps a dance teacher one day... so what.. i put their scary statements aside and attended class last Sunday. And to my amazement, with my respect to him... he was teaching me with much happiness. I think he could see in my eyes that i had passion for this dance.. thank God...
Well coming back to my first para, why am i pulling my dance story in.. hmm.. oh ya.. because my mom said that i got sick because of my dance class.. i was like what!! No way.. it can't be it.. and all.. I was actually sick, but to proof my mom wrong about the dance part, i practiced my dance on Monday evening.. During that practice i was perfectly alright.. i was back to normal.. that i was prepared to go to work the next day. But it didn’t seem so. Tuesday told me to stay on bed completely. Mom’s warning was true.. but there goes another day.. ”Well I told you.. but you don’t listen to me.. miow miow miow” and I got even worst. Medication surely did help me today though. I am much better now.. just that my throat is aching. Luckily i only had to type here.. not talk or else i think there will be vomiting blood.. "isk isk"
Anyway this is my personal note.. sick sick go away, please don’t come another day...i can't wait to practice my dance.. or else i might get that scolding that i am trying to avoid this Sunday.. go away .. go away.. hush hush…
Please go away.....
P/S Arangetram is a dance performance that has tough beats, steps, deep expressions and moves with a challenging stamina that tests a dancer to proof to the audience and her Guru that she/he is a qualified dancer. From there she/he could choose to undergo training of nattuvangam (a musical instrument to be used in dance performance) to be a Guru. From there on this qualified Guru can begin to run her own school to nurture this art.
Last Sunday was my first bharathanatyam class with Master Sri Anand. My new Guru whom is going to polish me into my pre-arangetram training. It was a tough, but an awesome class. Though i came back with that famous thigh-breaking pain.. i enjoyed every single minute of that 2 hour class.. oh and yes, He is actually my fourth Dance Guru.
I started my dance journey at the age of 6 to 9 with Geetha shankaran under the school Fine Arts, but i was learning Oddissi at that time. After about 3 years of moving the oddissi moves dad suggested me to learn the art of bharatham. Of course at that time anything was ok for me when it comes to dancing. But the actual reason i moved to another variety of dance was because Dad claimed that oddissi was a bit to slow and for 3 years i was still doing the basics. Well no prejudice here, but if many noticed.. oddissi is performed by dancers whom are almost 11 and plus. This is because there is a need of maturity when you dance oddissi as oddissi is heavily based on "rasa" and "perfection". Well that is why when you start young as a child you wont perform but the Guru's will train and polish you so that you will be just nice when your at the age of showing and portraying that art, as an involved and mature dancer. Sometimes i do regret why i didn’t continue to learn oddissi. Well at that time, i was not able to make any justifications but i am still very very happy to be a bhratham dancer. Luckily i stood for my rights to continue this art no matter what. But of course all this would have not appeared just like that. I have great motivating parents that encouraged me to dance and perform till today. This is something i can't thank them much. To give me this freedom to be in a different world when i dance.. and dance and dance...
Well coming from where i left earlier. After my last day with Guru Geetha, dad enrolled me under the school of Jeya Nirtha Kalalayam when i was trained under Guru Sironmani Sri Kumuthini Sivanathan.. I was learning under her for 11 years. It was under her that i performed my solo "salangai pooja" dance performance at the age of 16 ' year 1997'. Btw "Salangai poojai" is a ceremonial dance performance where the dancer will be wearing the "Salangai" or leg bell ornaments which will be worn by her Dance Guru for the first time. This ceremony is to tell the audience that this is my first school graduation and from now onwards i am allowed to perform infront of many people, Because without having the salangai pooja, we are not allowed to dance with the salangai in front of people (Ofcourse now many of these traditions have change ;) ) hence after the ceremony i performed 7 songs in between 3 hours to potray my knowledge in this art... That was a day i will never forget. Together with excitement and nervousness i danced.. with all my heart.
After learning under Guru Kumuthini, i had to pause my classes as i was pursuing my degree course. And after 3 to 4 years i joined another Guru under her dance school Jeyashree Bharatha Alayam as Kumuthini teacher was not teaching much due to her age catching up on her. I was 23 then. Wasn’t i only 23 but i think i gained about 10Kg's to 15Kg due to my Degree Course break. Damn! that break of 3 to 4 years changed my lifestyle. Well nothing much actually, i was not doing anything else but studying, eating and sleeping.. and all the pounds creped on me easily. At that time when i joined Jeyashree teacher even worst complications came that i could not continue my classes as usual because of my ridiculous shift hours at work. I was in Shell by then after my degree. Due to that i attended classes inconsistently. Though i could still perform in temple's and in school dance drama's for the last 3 year i was inconsistent with my weekly classes that left me with doubt on whether i would be able to perform my arengetram. At that time, which was about few months ago my dance Guru Jeyashree whom was 6 months pregnant said that she might not have classes anymore due to her future new born, and that took me by shock. But the best part was before i could tell jeyashree akka about my dream she quickly told me “i will suggest you to My guru Master Sri Anand, and he will prepare your for your arangetram” and so on. I was overjoyed with happiness. Although i received many warnings that he is extremely strict, i only had one thing in my mind.. well all Guru's are strict and I am going there to learn about being an arangetram student.. perhaps a dance teacher one day... so what.. i put their scary statements aside and attended class last Sunday. And to my amazement, with my respect to him... he was teaching me with much happiness. I think he could see in my eyes that i had passion for this dance.. thank God...
Well coming back to my first para, why am i pulling my dance story in.. hmm.. oh ya.. because my mom said that i got sick because of my dance class.. i was like what!! No way.. it can't be it.. and all.. I was actually sick, but to proof my mom wrong about the dance part, i practiced my dance on Monday evening.. During that practice i was perfectly alright.. i was back to normal.. that i was prepared to go to work the next day. But it didn’t seem so. Tuesday told me to stay on bed completely. Mom’s warning was true.. but there goes another day.. ”Well I told you.. but you don’t listen to me.. miow miow miow” and I got even worst. Medication surely did help me today though. I am much better now.. just that my throat is aching. Luckily i only had to type here.. not talk or else i think there will be vomiting blood.. "isk isk"
Anyway this is my personal note.. sick sick go away, please don’t come another day...i can't wait to practice my dance.. or else i might get that scolding that i am trying to avoid this Sunday.. go away .. go away.. hush hush…
Please go away.....
P/S Arangetram is a dance performance that has tough beats, steps, deep expressions and moves with a challenging stamina that tests a dancer to proof to the audience and her Guru that she/he is a qualified dancer. From there she/he could choose to undergo training of nattuvangam (a musical instrument to be used in dance performance) to be a Guru. From there on this qualified Guru can begin to run her own school to nurture this art.
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Here In My Home
In the mood today to watch this video again. Something so simple and straight forward but yet so powerful and special.. I salute to each and one of them whom made this video a success. Actually it was not only the video but the whole idea of actually doing something like this to tell and educate each one of us that this is a small world so why not we just be together.
We may not love each and everyone, but we should have love for all.... and Here in My home surely proved us right...
Saving our world by being united and civilized and all.. is something that many have been doing from our ancestors time... but nothing changed.. and to make matters worst.. Its all getting bitter and uglier now..
Everyone knows how disunited we have been including childrens. They are talking about politics. A child now days are too smart that they have their own opinion’s and views. Well, they didn’t just come up with it and politics was not among them, but its from how their teacher's are treating them. How they are seeing their parents condemning each and all, what they are seeing on screen, and trust me even kids now days know what’s hidden on TV’s and who is lying and not... Gosh... answering their questions are not easy but crucial as what we see out of them now.. is what parents of “that time” didn’t see in their kids.. which made them the type of leaders they are today...
What goes comes back to us. Just imagine.. having a huge cannon ball chasing at the back of you.. and your running at the face of earth.. where there is no end and your taking rounds and rounds around the earth trying to escape from the huge cannon ball squashing on you and then when you turn to take a glimpse of it.. Puff!! your dead. Well who unchained the cannon? The person who was chased by the cannon did. Law of life. What you do comes back to you. When you look at the sky and throw a stone straight up.. its not going to escape to the air just like that.. it will take a U-turn and hit your nose straight!. This is how I always picture many of them.. Them I mean is "THEM". Every time you see them bulls!@#! ing on screen, you can see that fear in them.. sometimes I have a laugh when I image them running being chased.. being chased with large balls of money.. huge balls of anger from the people.. huge balls of what they've cheated.. huge balls of “vaithe erichal” they say that as “stomach burning” in tamil. Just name it.. I have imaged much and it just disgust me, thinking how they can do this. Don't they have the same heart like all.. How did these sweet children turn to become angels and the rest devils.. Who is to be blamed? The teacher who was showing biasness to the kids at that time are doing the same now. Just that someone else has taken over that role and doing the same to the kids now. Parents who we condemning at the time are doing the same now with their children in front of their grandchildren...
It's revolving, so do you think we will see peace and harmony any time soon? Well, I don’t think so at least not for the time I am still going to be alive in the world. I am only highlighting the bad here, which obviously doesn’t means I don’t eagerly wait for the good, but as how the bad was revolving over the years.. the same goes to the good to.. well hopefully.
Lucky the kids who have learnt the goodness to be loving and giving, and unlucky the kids who have mastered the bad.. to make things even worst for the future..
I always feel we are living in Hell with a few islands around us, which is Heaven. A place where the Bad is conquering and the Good is surviving...
All I can say is... I don’t love you, but I have love for you my brother..
Peace
We may not love each and everyone, but we should have love for all.... and Here in My home surely proved us right...
Saving our world by being united and civilized and all.. is something that many have been doing from our ancestors time... but nothing changed.. and to make matters worst.. Its all getting bitter and uglier now..
Everyone knows how disunited we have been including childrens. They are talking about politics. A child now days are too smart that they have their own opinion’s and views. Well, they didn’t just come up with it and politics was not among them, but its from how their teacher's are treating them. How they are seeing their parents condemning each and all, what they are seeing on screen, and trust me even kids now days know what’s hidden on TV’s and who is lying and not... Gosh... answering their questions are not easy but crucial as what we see out of them now.. is what parents of “that time” didn’t see in their kids.. which made them the type of leaders they are today...
What goes comes back to us. Just imagine.. having a huge cannon ball chasing at the back of you.. and your running at the face of earth.. where there is no end and your taking rounds and rounds around the earth trying to escape from the huge cannon ball squashing on you and then when you turn to take a glimpse of it.. Puff!! your dead. Well who unchained the cannon? The person who was chased by the cannon did. Law of life. What you do comes back to you. When you look at the sky and throw a stone straight up.. its not going to escape to the air just like that.. it will take a U-turn and hit your nose straight!. This is how I always picture many of them.. Them I mean is "THEM". Every time you see them bulls!@#! ing on screen, you can see that fear in them.. sometimes I have a laugh when I image them running being chased.. being chased with large balls of money.. huge balls of anger from the people.. huge balls of what they've cheated.. huge balls of “vaithe erichal” they say that as “stomach burning” in tamil. Just name it.. I have imaged much and it just disgust me, thinking how they can do this. Don't they have the same heart like all.. How did these sweet children turn to become angels and the rest devils.. Who is to be blamed? The teacher who was showing biasness to the kids at that time are doing the same now. Just that someone else has taken over that role and doing the same to the kids now. Parents who we condemning at the time are doing the same now with their children in front of their grandchildren...
It's revolving, so do you think we will see peace and harmony any time soon? Well, I don’t think so at least not for the time I am still going to be alive in the world. I am only highlighting the bad here, which obviously doesn’t means I don’t eagerly wait for the good, but as how the bad was revolving over the years.. the same goes to the good to.. well hopefully.
Lucky the kids who have learnt the goodness to be loving and giving, and unlucky the kids who have mastered the bad.. to make things even worst for the future..
I always feel we are living in Hell with a few islands around us, which is Heaven. A place where the Bad is conquering and the Good is surviving...
All I can say is... I don’t love you, but I have love for you my brother..
Peace
Thursday, July 3, 2008
My missing self...
I can't believe it, the eagerness i had to setup my own blog isn't there when it comes to filling up the pages. Gosh i've missed so many updates that i wanted to write. well shamelessly i am going to blame my job, for all the time that i don’t seem to have these days to update my own blog!..
Actually I’ve been working in Shell for almost 3 1/2 years. Turning 4 this coming october25 to be precise. For the last 3 and a quarter year i've been working as a Unix Linux Administrator, in which was a job that i could easily find at least about 2 hours of free time out of my 9 hours of work.. to blog and watch youtube and friendster and malaysiakini.. and ..well just name it. I had been to work with the comfort that i'll always have plenty of time to explore everything i wanted to (which is not what shell is paying me for la, but i still had to do justice with the equipment's and facilities give aite :p ).. but all of that kinda took a backseat now.. gosh...
Sometimes we fight so much to move forward.. you know.. i want a better job and a better salary and all of that.. and with all my hard work in pushing my bosses to promote me after a good 3 years.. i at last got a better job.. i wont say its my dream job... cause my dream job is to settle at home and run my very own bharathanatyam class.. but i did get promoted.. quite high than i expected. Well of course it didn't come easily. Now i am happily a Unix/Linux Systems Engineer.. and i am not proud about it but I am happy about it. I am stressing happy here because i feel there is a difference of being proud and happy, and i always choose the latter cause i feel proud is nothing else but self boast that comes with a huge ego and self centered happiness that could not be shared with anyone.. like being in a no man’s island.. Where else happiness is something each person naturally get when they personally achieve something.. and it is here where we should be always happy and humble with our achievement even though it is as big as the mountain’s, as only by being happy and humble other’s will respect us and most importantly when we succeed one day.. the same loved ones will be beside usto pat on our shoulder and say we are still here for you… so what’s the point being proud.. rather be happy with a light heart right..
so coming back.. well actually this job was surely much better and everyday is a new day.. so much to learn.. so much of fun... good bunch of guys to be with and surely.. more exciting.. and best of all is, well this is something everyone or anyone who is working would surely love.. i don’t have a boss (well the boss i mean is like some big china man or china women conquering everyone and running the company you know.. the kinda boss who says.. sit and stand and all that s#!+ !!) and that is so great. I've just got a new boss and she is none other than Vilves.. closer than i thought, she is actually one of the authors in Mindsblog...hehehe.. how small can the world get!! But I am so lucky that I’ve got a manager like vilves.. one of the most most understanding and easy going manager's I’ve ever come across...the good part of this new department was the flexibility they have given us...as in i can come in whenever i want and leave whenever i want as long as the work is complete.. and adding on to that.. i could also work from home if i want. I was in shock.. happy.. then a bit worried.. then a bit confused.. then i was clear and then i was really really happy. I actually found freedom to do my work my style and that is what i call as freedom. it's not about not doing work. i mean i can imagine myself dying out of boredom if i don’t work... but it's about working my way , my style with in my own pace.. which is so much better.. because i can work things out better my way because of this flexibility... but the thing about me not having time to blog comes to the part.. where i am still learning lots of stuffs that my free time is spend in catching up more stuffs and commands and techniques in google..
Well with all this new job happening i don’t seem to have time to check my yahoo!! which is something that i've been doing every 5 days a week without missing them and now i have like 500 emails to clear..
Well this is it.. i better stop here. I think Iam already mumbling to much.. well this is obviously because of my long gone writing skills.. which is going to the drain day by day.. but nevertheless its about time i update this blog at least every 2 days.. oh well at least once a week for a start...
Hope i have something to write about.. adios..
Actually I’ve been working in Shell for almost 3 1/2 years. Turning 4 this coming october25 to be precise. For the last 3 and a quarter year i've been working as a Unix Linux Administrator, in which was a job that i could easily find at least about 2 hours of free time out of my 9 hours of work.. to blog and watch youtube and friendster and malaysiakini.. and ..well just name it. I had been to work with the comfort that i'll always have plenty of time to explore everything i wanted to (which is not what shell is paying me for la, but i still had to do justice with the equipment's and facilities give aite :p ).. but all of that kinda took a backseat now.. gosh...
Sometimes we fight so much to move forward.. you know.. i want a better job and a better salary and all of that.. and with all my hard work in pushing my bosses to promote me after a good 3 years.. i at last got a better job.. i wont say its my dream job... cause my dream job is to settle at home and run my very own bharathanatyam class.. but i did get promoted.. quite high than i expected. Well of course it didn't come easily. Now i am happily a Unix/Linux Systems Engineer.. and i am not proud about it but I am happy about it. I am stressing happy here because i feel there is a difference of being proud and happy, and i always choose the latter cause i feel proud is nothing else but self boast that comes with a huge ego and self centered happiness that could not be shared with anyone.. like being in a no man’s island.. Where else happiness is something each person naturally get when they personally achieve something.. and it is here where we should be always happy and humble with our achievement even though it is as big as the mountain’s, as only by being happy and humble other’s will respect us and most importantly when we succeed one day.. the same loved ones will be beside usto pat on our shoulder and say we are still here for you… so what’s the point being proud.. rather be happy with a light heart right..
so coming back.. well actually this job was surely much better and everyday is a new day.. so much to learn.. so much of fun... good bunch of guys to be with and surely.. more exciting.. and best of all is, well this is something everyone or anyone who is working would surely love.. i don’t have a boss (well the boss i mean is like some big china man or china women conquering everyone and running the company you know.. the kinda boss who says.. sit and stand and all that s#!+ !!) and that is so great. I've just got a new boss and she is none other than Vilves.. closer than i thought, she is actually one of the authors in Mindsblog...hehehe.. how small can the world get!! But I am so lucky that I’ve got a manager like vilves.. one of the most most understanding and easy going manager's I’ve ever come across...the good part of this new department was the flexibility they have given us...as in i can come in whenever i want and leave whenever i want as long as the work is complete.. and adding on to that.. i could also work from home if i want. I was in shock.. happy.. then a bit worried.. then a bit confused.. then i was clear and then i was really really happy. I actually found freedom to do my work my style and that is what i call as freedom. it's not about not doing work. i mean i can imagine myself dying out of boredom if i don’t work... but it's about working my way , my style with in my own pace.. which is so much better.. because i can work things out better my way because of this flexibility... but the thing about me not having time to blog comes to the part.. where i am still learning lots of stuffs that my free time is spend in catching up more stuffs and commands and techniques in google..
Well with all this new job happening i don’t seem to have time to check my yahoo!! which is something that i've been doing every 5 days a week without missing them and now i have like 500 emails to clear..
Well this is it.. i better stop here. I think Iam already mumbling to much.. well this is obviously because of my long gone writing skills.. which is going to the drain day by day.. but nevertheless its about time i update this blog at least every 2 days.. oh well at least once a week for a start...
Hope i have something to write about.. adios..
Thursday, April 10, 2008
"Naana Neeya" - Latest Hit Movie in Malaysia
A rough experience by the Director and Producer of the Latest Hit Movie in Malaysia "Naana Neeya"
After reading this, I hope that everyone realise that why we should support our local indian entertainment industry. By rujjcoomarh
Thanks to Novin for the article.
By Dharmavathi of Crresendo Productions
Hi I am writing this to reach the ears of some who are unaware of Malaysian Tamil Movie Industry. Itis critical that Naana Neeya the movie makes it in terms of collectionsbecause it means that our Malaysian movie makers can bring in the moneyfor GSC. Why am i supporting GSC? Here is my story of why Naana Neeyais late to hit the screens ….LastSept, Crresendo (our company) approached Saimira Pyramid or is itPyramid Saimira to give us 7 theatres to screen our movie. The chargesthey quoted was RM 13,000 for Digital Transfers, RM 1500 for one keycode only usable at one particular cinema @ 7 which means another 10,500 for the key codes and the normal either 50:50 from the ticket salesafter the 10% tax deductions. Although, it was pretty exorbitant, inthe hope that the movie will bring in the collections we agreed.However, 2 days before the HD is to be forwarded to them, i was told ofnew terms that on top of these charges already existent we have to forkout another RM 500 for each show that is screened at each cinema!!Thatmeans assuming that i want to screen at 7 cinemas @ 3 showing daily ihave to pay them 73 500.00 a week!!! I would be a real STUPID businessperson to agree to these terms. These are the same persons who claimedthemselves here to contribute to the Malaysian movie industry.Theworst of the worst of this whole experience is the meeting we had withMr Chitra Lakshmanan of Pyramid Saimira wherein he expressed himselfvery clearly that they will never consider going on any sort ofpartnership with our venture and all payments must be made before thetransfers takes place in India.Not enough, to add insult, without even having seen our movie, he goeson that all Malaysian Movies are substandard and it is better for allthe local producers and directors to not produce substandard movies andhurt the local industry.Iwas shocked with his comment, i agree our local movies may not be atpar with Kollywood production, but we cannot forget that Tamil MovieIndustry is still an infant industry in Malaysia.Nevertheless, we have seen efforts like Aathma, Ivanthanda Heroetc…..personally i think Director Naga is a great movie maker and wouldbe able to perform even better if he had the same millions of ringgitto work with.The sad part is that Kollywood being at least 50-60 years industry still produces substandard movies compared to Hollywood and Hong Kong.I was pretty devastated that the local tamil movie producers are at themercy of vultures like these people…obviously i was forced to declinetheir offer. However, i stepped back to observe. I realised all themovies that was released by them barely survived a week at the theatres.Iwas totally down and demoralised because i have already spent about RM300K in terms of production and promotions for the movie and oursoundtrack album. It is my hard earned savings over the years which Ithought i had blew away just because of passion for Malaysian TamilMovie. I simply wanted to give up, i had already invested too much oftime and money and I wanted to abandon this project totally. The 2years i had spent on this had led me to neglect my duties as a motherto my kids, I was hardly there for them as my focus was totally ongetting this project of the ground and i really felt that i was anutter failure.However,upon the insistence of my distributor who is more like a brother to me,Kumar, i decided to give Golden Screen Cinemas a try. Kumar sent in ourpreview copy to the person in charge and after 2 weeks we received thecall saying that they were interested in the movie. Imagine my shockcause the person who viewed the movie are mainly Chinese who dont evenunderstand the language but they still decided to give it ago.Theyhave no charges, apart from the transfer charges which is not muchbecause it is in tapes, and we were given 3 weeks starting of with 5showings a week and the rest depended on the response from the public.I was truly humbled by this experience. The people whom i thought willnot support us because of color and race actually did because it is tothem business. They were not prententious that they are here to helpthe industry grow and all that crap neither are they interested to ripus just because the poor movie makers are so very passion driven.Infact, one of them even gave me hints as to how to further cut downthe costs. They are basically business driven. If a product haspotential earning power they are willing to invest in it, in the leastto give it a try. That is how we got this deal. I am beyond speechlessat their integrity and principles as compared to our people in thisindustry.Nowit is up to our Malaysian Indian public to keep this platform for usgoing. If GSC finds this deal not profitable it will definately effectwhatever following Malaysian Tamil movie lined up to be screened. So ihope with that in mind all you people please keep the word going aboutthe movie and help save our industry for without public support thereis never going to be an industry in this country.Recently,on one of my trips to GSC Mid Valley, I had the opportunity to peekinto the cinemas where Ah Long Pyt Ltd (A Malaysian Chinese Movie) wasbeing screened. I was overwhelmed by the Malaysian Chinese audience forthis movie. They were packed to the brim. I was moved to tears becauseI was totally taken by their support for their movie makers. In matterof no time the Malaysian Chinese Movie Industry is going tobreakthrough the International platform. It is simply too obvious.Their secret of their success is UNITY AND SYNERGY.However,I am truly sad that that will never be the same for us. When is theMalaysian Indian public going to change its mindset that Malaysian mademovies are no good compared to the ones from India.How many NS Krishnas, GANAs and Shans are going to become victims tothis industry just because they are passionate about wanting to seegrowth in our industry. There are 1.8 million Indians inthis country and we do not even have 10K viewers for our movies butmovies like Shivaji the Boss can collect the same amount like Lord ofthe Rings……Asfar as the people in the industry are concerned they are simply notunited, not even capable of thinking beyond themselves. The playersthemselves mostly anyway, think they are the best, refuse to accepttheir shortcomings and improve on it. They think they are the greatest.This mindset has to change at least I hope it will. I am willing, forthe sake of the industry growth. I would love to see a Shanker, aManiratnam, a P Vasu or KS Ravikumar of our own. I would love to seeInternational Standard productions and Film Festivals and AwardsFestivals in honour of these people and I truly PRAY that it willhappen one day but the glaring truth is that it will simply not betoday, not with the attitude of the existing ones I am afraid. Weneed more of the younger generation to get involved and we need to haveproperly trained people who feel that movie making as a passion not aplatform just for fame, money and women.As far as the Indian cinema chains are concerned, they would rather cash in on movies from India.They would rather keep buying at exorbitant prices and further spend interms of marketing as in advertising etc but when it comes to theMalaysian movie makers they would rather RIP THEM OFF. What more can Isay about this whole sad scenario. I am left speechless and maybe ifthis project fails in terms of collections I am going to join the otherdirectors and move on to Malay movie productions. What’s the point oftrying to work something that is going to be a failure? Sadly, being atamil movie no sponsor will sponsor us nor fund us in any way and Iknow of a few who had to finish up the productions by loaning moneyfrom banks and loansharks. I am truly glad that I did not follow suit.I worked within what I had and this is the limit. The worst part of it,my dad told me it will be so….and I refused to listen hoping to make achange…….HAVE I MADE THE CHANGE?Dharmavathi Crresendo Productions
After reading this, I hope that everyone realise that why we should support our local indian entertainment industry. By rujjcoomarh
Thanks to Novin for the article.
By Dharmavathi of Crresendo Productions
Hi I am writing this to reach the ears of some who are unaware of Malaysian Tamil Movie Industry. Itis critical that Naana Neeya the movie makes it in terms of collectionsbecause it means that our Malaysian movie makers can bring in the moneyfor GSC. Why am i supporting GSC? Here is my story of why Naana Neeyais late to hit the screens ….LastSept, Crresendo (our company) approached Saimira Pyramid or is itPyramid Saimira to give us 7 theatres to screen our movie. The chargesthey quoted was RM 13,000 for Digital Transfers, RM 1500 for one keycode only usable at one particular cinema @ 7 which means another 10,500 for the key codes and the normal either 50:50 from the ticket salesafter the 10% tax deductions. Although, it was pretty exorbitant, inthe hope that the movie will bring in the collections we agreed.However, 2 days before the HD is to be forwarded to them, i was told ofnew terms that on top of these charges already existent we have to forkout another RM 500 for each show that is screened at each cinema!!Thatmeans assuming that i want to screen at 7 cinemas @ 3 showing daily ihave to pay them 73 500.00 a week!!! I would be a real STUPID businessperson to agree to these terms. These are the same persons who claimedthemselves here to contribute to the Malaysian movie industry.Theworst of the worst of this whole experience is the meeting we had withMr Chitra Lakshmanan of Pyramid Saimira wherein he expressed himselfvery clearly that they will never consider going on any sort ofpartnership with our venture and all payments must be made before thetransfers takes place in India.Not enough, to add insult, without even having seen our movie, he goeson that all Malaysian Movies are substandard and it is better for allthe local producers and directors to not produce substandard movies andhurt the local industry.Iwas shocked with his comment, i agree our local movies may not be atpar with Kollywood production, but we cannot forget that Tamil MovieIndustry is still an infant industry in Malaysia.Nevertheless, we have seen efforts like Aathma, Ivanthanda Heroetc…..personally i think Director Naga is a great movie maker and wouldbe able to perform even better if he had the same millions of ringgitto work with.The sad part is that Kollywood being at least 50-60 years industry still produces substandard movies compared to Hollywood and Hong Kong.I was pretty devastated that the local tamil movie producers are at themercy of vultures like these people…obviously i was forced to declinetheir offer. However, i stepped back to observe. I realised all themovies that was released by them barely survived a week at the theatres.Iwas totally down and demoralised because i have already spent about RM300K in terms of production and promotions for the movie and oursoundtrack album. It is my hard earned savings over the years which Ithought i had blew away just because of passion for Malaysian TamilMovie. I simply wanted to give up, i had already invested too much oftime and money and I wanted to abandon this project totally. The 2years i had spent on this had led me to neglect my duties as a motherto my kids, I was hardly there for them as my focus was totally ongetting this project of the ground and i really felt that i was anutter failure.However,upon the insistence of my distributor who is more like a brother to me,Kumar, i decided to give Golden Screen Cinemas a try. Kumar sent in ourpreview copy to the person in charge and after 2 weeks we received thecall saying that they were interested in the movie. Imagine my shockcause the person who viewed the movie are mainly Chinese who dont evenunderstand the language but they still decided to give it ago.Theyhave no charges, apart from the transfer charges which is not muchbecause it is in tapes, and we were given 3 weeks starting of with 5showings a week and the rest depended on the response from the public.I was truly humbled by this experience. The people whom i thought willnot support us because of color and race actually did because it is tothem business. They were not prententious that they are here to helpthe industry grow and all that crap neither are they interested to ripus just because the poor movie makers are so very passion driven.Infact, one of them even gave me hints as to how to further cut downthe costs. They are basically business driven. If a product haspotential earning power they are willing to invest in it, in the leastto give it a try. That is how we got this deal. I am beyond speechlessat their integrity and principles as compared to our people in thisindustry.Nowit is up to our Malaysian Indian public to keep this platform for usgoing. If GSC finds this deal not profitable it will definately effectwhatever following Malaysian Tamil movie lined up to be screened. So ihope with that in mind all you people please keep the word going aboutthe movie and help save our industry for without public support thereis never going to be an industry in this country.Recently,on one of my trips to GSC Mid Valley, I had the opportunity to peekinto the cinemas where Ah Long Pyt Ltd (A Malaysian Chinese Movie) wasbeing screened. I was overwhelmed by the Malaysian Chinese audience forthis movie. They were packed to the brim. I was moved to tears becauseI was totally taken by their support for their movie makers. In matterof no time the Malaysian Chinese Movie Industry is going tobreakthrough the International platform. It is simply too obvious.Their secret of their success is UNITY AND SYNERGY.However,I am truly sad that that will never be the same for us. When is theMalaysian Indian public going to change its mindset that Malaysian mademovies are no good compared to the ones from India.How many NS Krishnas, GANAs and Shans are going to become victims tothis industry just because they are passionate about wanting to seegrowth in our industry. There are 1.8 million Indians inthis country and we do not even have 10K viewers for our movies butmovies like Shivaji the Boss can collect the same amount like Lord ofthe Rings……Asfar as the people in the industry are concerned they are simply notunited, not even capable of thinking beyond themselves. The playersthemselves mostly anyway, think they are the best, refuse to accepttheir shortcomings and improve on it. They think they are the greatest.This mindset has to change at least I hope it will. I am willing, forthe sake of the industry growth. I would love to see a Shanker, aManiratnam, a P Vasu or KS Ravikumar of our own. I would love to seeInternational Standard productions and Film Festivals and AwardsFestivals in honour of these people and I truly PRAY that it willhappen one day but the glaring truth is that it will simply not betoday, not with the attitude of the existing ones I am afraid. Weneed more of the younger generation to get involved and we need to haveproperly trained people who feel that movie making as a passion not aplatform just for fame, money and women.As far as the Indian cinema chains are concerned, they would rather cash in on movies from India.They would rather keep buying at exorbitant prices and further spend interms of marketing as in advertising etc but when it comes to theMalaysian movie makers they would rather RIP THEM OFF. What more can Isay about this whole sad scenario. I am left speechless and maybe ifthis project fails in terms of collections I am going to join the otherdirectors and move on to Malay movie productions. What’s the point oftrying to work something that is going to be a failure? Sadly, being atamil movie no sponsor will sponsor us nor fund us in any way and Iknow of a few who had to finish up the productions by loaning moneyfrom banks and loansharks. I am truly glad that I did not follow suit.I worked within what I had and this is the limit. The worst part of it,my dad told me it will be so….and I refused to listen hoping to make achange…….HAVE I MADE THE CHANGE?Dharmavathi Crresendo Productions
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Harihara
Harihara was beautiful.
I was and rujj were there at 7.45 pm and they place was already full. Surrounded by many guru's the show started at about 8.15.
Lights went off and only the orchestra was shown with a spot light. A calm and peacefully atmosphere it was. And then the beautiful melody of the flute and Bhavani's opening song took off the show.
She started of with the speed that was astonishing. What a dancer she is. I could not move my sight away from her. All the song pieces was beautifully expressed and performed with I can say "no flaws". She had the speed that was so catchy following with the uniquely jathi beats given by Mavin khoo... it was a dance that everyone had to hand their applause during every jathi for her varnam..
Many of Mavin's jathi was so different and not heard off that it surely took people to amazement with the choreography. Their collaboration was like a bird singing in the rain. So much of involvement, depth and essence were captured. It was a deep and so meaningful.
No words can express her amazing performance that day.
Looking forward for more shows from Daisy....
One word to describe her performance and the overall presentation of the show…. "Beautiful"
I was and rujj were there at 7.45 pm and they place was already full. Surrounded by many guru's the show started at about 8.15.
Lights went off and only the orchestra was shown with a spot light. A calm and peacefully atmosphere it was. And then the beautiful melody of the flute and Bhavani's opening song took off the show.
She started of with the speed that was astonishing. What a dancer she is. I could not move my sight away from her. All the song pieces was beautifully expressed and performed with I can say "no flaws". She had the speed that was so catchy following with the uniquely jathi beats given by Mavin khoo... it was a dance that everyone had to hand their applause during every jathi for her varnam..
Many of Mavin's jathi was so different and not heard off that it surely took people to amazement with the choreography. Their collaboration was like a bird singing in the rain. So much of involvement, depth and essence were captured. It was a deep and so meaningful.
No words can express her amazing performance that day.
Looking forward for more shows from Daisy....
One word to describe her performance and the overall presentation of the show…. "Beautiful"
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Harihara - in Love with Vishnu and Shiva
There will be a Bharathanatyam Performance by Daisygarani Vijayakumaran on the title " Harihara - in Love with Vishnu and Shiva" this coming Sunday at the Malaysia Tourism Centre. Daisygarani has been known by her graceful performance of My Body, My Temple in 2006, which was her first solo performance.
This time she will be collaborating with the renowned Bharathanatyam Dancer Mavin khoo who as been a devoted dancer for the past 20 years. Mavin khoo himself has performed all types of dances ranging from Ballet, Natyam to contemporary in Britain, Europe, United States and India.
This time she will be collaborating with the renowned Bharathanatyam Dancer Mavin khoo who as been a devoted dancer for the past 20 years. Mavin khoo himself has performed all types of dances ranging from Ballet, Natyam to contemporary in Britain, Europe, United States and India.
Mavin has guided Daisygarani Vijayakumaran and has been a part of her preparation for the performance this Sunday. For this show, Mavin has directed Daisygarani to explore deeper the core theme of love between the soul and the immortal spirit.
The show will be on live orchestra music and Mavin will be on the nattuvangam.
Daisy has attended master classes in bharatanatyam by some of the best of Kalakshetra: Professor N. S. Jayalaksmi, Adayar K. Lakshman, and Srimathi Kamalarani. She is also the disciple of Geetha Shankaran-Lam under the Temple of Fine Arts and has recently received instruction from renowned Guru Durga Charan Ranbir of Orissa.
Harihara will talk about the expressions on different possibilities of this relationship between the human and the divine, dramatically revealed through some of the most beautiful compositions of Carnatic music.
In Harihara, Daisygarani will delve into a series of five works from the bharatanatyam repertoire that embraces the concept of love for the immortal Hindu gods, Vishnu and Shiva.
The show details as below :-
Venue :- Auditorium Tunku Abdul Rahman, Malaysia Tourism Centre, Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur
Date :- 23 March 2008
Time :- 8 p.m.
Ticket prices are RM30 & RM 50
Tickets are selling fast. So, for more information please contact the organizer below :-
Kalpana017-6725672 & 016-6087310
The organizer will be selling the tickets on the 19th from 7pm to 9pm and on the 22nd from 3pm to 6 pm; this week at the Vivekananda Ashraman in Brickfields.
But please do call the organizers before going there to avoid any disappointments or change of ticket sales location.
See you there!!!
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Books!!
Books i've read and bought...
Suddenly after seeing rujj's list i was wondering that maybe i should come up with a list of my own. Well you can say that I am copying but i bet he wont mind...:p
Recently i've been buying more books and paying more visits to MPH and Borders and of course i dont go alone.. so i tag along rujj to come. At first I thought he may not be interested, but to much of my amazement he is cought into this walls of knowledge as I am too, and now this has become one of our latest get together activities with much excitement..
So here is a list of books i have read, and i am going to start cracking my head to see if i can recall the books i have read since god knows when. So if someone passes by this site coincidently and think they have read the same book as i did ... then please do drop me a note :-) cause there is nothing than the feeling of knowing that someone had shared the same experience of reading a book as another person had.. so lets share the experience...
The list of book I've read... in random..
1. The magic Brush
2. Preety star the Pony
3. Lat the Kampung Boy
4. Lat & Lot
5. Cinderella
6. 20,000 leagues under the sea
7. Planet, Stars and the Universe
8. The Da Vinci Code
9. Lost Girls
10. Atic
11. Doraemon
12. The Mahabaratha
13. Vedantha Treatise
14. Hinduism and Rituals
15. The tale of ramayana
16. Bhagavat Gita
17. Eat, Pray Love
18. Huckle Berry Fin
19. Wizard of Oz
20. Carry me home
21. The Empire of the Peocock Throne
22. The GOD of small things
23. The monk who sold his ferrari
24. 7 habits of highly effective people
25. Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus
26. Rich dad... Poor dad
27. The Fall of the Human Intellect
28. Childhood ryhmes - no specific title
29. Prabupada
30. Buddha
31. The Lost Boy - hmmm... weired i have the Lost Girl at 9
32. The Child called it.
33. King Arthur
34. The Anderson fairy Tales
35. Umber to Eco
36. Who moved the cheese
37. The magic safe
38. The inheritance of loss
39. Black Lane
40. The swans
41. To kill a mocking bird
42. The 5 people you meet in heaven
43. The knights of Bushido
44. Beyond coincidence
45. The life of Mahatma Ghandi
46. Living the 7 habits
47. Tun Perak
48. The Bandersnatch
49. Shockwave
50. Rumah
I hope i can continue this.. ofcourse it all depends on my memory.. yaiks...
Suddenly after seeing rujj's list i was wondering that maybe i should come up with a list of my own. Well you can say that I am copying but i bet he wont mind...:p
Recently i've been buying more books and paying more visits to MPH and Borders and of course i dont go alone.. so i tag along rujj to come. At first I thought he may not be interested, but to much of my amazement he is cought into this walls of knowledge as I am too, and now this has become one of our latest get together activities with much excitement..
So here is a list of books i have read, and i am going to start cracking my head to see if i can recall the books i have read since god knows when. So if someone passes by this site coincidently and think they have read the same book as i did ... then please do drop me a note :-) cause there is nothing than the feeling of knowing that someone had shared the same experience of reading a book as another person had.. so lets share the experience...
The list of book I've read... in random..
1. The magic Brush
2. Preety star the Pony
3. Lat the Kampung Boy
4. Lat & Lot
5. Cinderella
6. 20,000 leagues under the sea
7. Planet, Stars and the Universe
8. The Da Vinci Code
9. Lost Girls
10. Atic
11. Doraemon
12. The Mahabaratha
13. Vedantha Treatise
14. Hinduism and Rituals
15. The tale of ramayana
16. Bhagavat Gita
17. Eat, Pray Love
18. Huckle Berry Fin
19. Wizard of Oz
20. Carry me home
21. The Empire of the Peocock Throne
22. The GOD of small things
23. The monk who sold his ferrari
24. 7 habits of highly effective people
25. Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus
26. Rich dad... Poor dad
27. The Fall of the Human Intellect
28. Childhood ryhmes - no specific title
29. Prabupada
30. Buddha
31. The Lost Boy - hmmm... weired i have the Lost Girl at 9
32. The Child called it.
33. King Arthur
34. The Anderson fairy Tales
35. Umber to Eco
36. Who moved the cheese
37. The magic safe
38. The inheritance of loss
39. Black Lane
40. The swans
41. To kill a mocking bird
42. The 5 people you meet in heaven
43. The knights of Bushido
44. Beyond coincidence
45. The life of Mahatma Ghandi
46. Living the 7 habits
47. Tun Perak
48. The Bandersnatch
49. Shockwave
50. Rumah
I hope i can continue this.. ofcourse it all depends on my memory.. yaiks...
Thursday, March 13, 2008
The first signboard in Tamil in Malaysia.
Ahhh.. after a long long time... some changes are making its way....
Thanks to YB Teresa Kok
Thanks to YB Teresa Kok
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Ink chat...
Gov : mai kita beli ink
SPR : kenapa pulak Pak?
Gov : nak saje je ambik sikit duit dari rakyat sebelum di tendang pulak..
SPR :ooo.. cam tu.. boleh boleh.. berapa nak charge.. kita 50 50 yeh
Gov : 2.5 milllion cukup la
SPR : ok - mari kita announce kat TV.. sebelum tu kena check dengan tok dulu..
Tok Masjid : oh sah ink ni takde minyak babi.. boleh kita proceed...
SPR : semua rakyat kena sapu ni ye.. ni warning ni..
Gov : Alamak.. kalau ada ink.. cam mana nak buat "Vote - hantu" tu.. alah lupa la. Suruh SPR kata taknak pakai la
SPR : Ye ke.. ok la.. kita buat je apa you cakap Pak
Gov : Bagui.. sekarang kita ada duit ada vote jugak
SPR : Rakyat tidak akan mengunakan ink. Ini kerana semua akan gaduh.. kita tak mau gaduh. kita nak aman dan damai
SPR dan GOV : Baguilah sekarang.. semua settle... mari kita jual balik ink tu dan bikin lagi 2 juta...
P/S Apologies for the bad malay :p
Our goverment can't even make a simple decision on the usage of INK!! Just think about how they are using our money.. our tax and our expertism for their own gain all this while and possibly after this too!!
SPR : kenapa pulak Pak?
Gov : nak saje je ambik sikit duit dari rakyat sebelum di tendang pulak..
SPR :ooo.. cam tu.. boleh boleh.. berapa nak charge.. kita 50 50 yeh
Gov : 2.5 milllion cukup la
SPR : ok - mari kita announce kat TV.. sebelum tu kena check dengan tok dulu..
Tok Masjid : oh sah ink ni takde minyak babi.. boleh kita proceed...
SPR : semua rakyat kena sapu ni ye.. ni warning ni..
Gov : Alamak.. kalau ada ink.. cam mana nak buat "Vote - hantu" tu.. alah lupa la. Suruh SPR kata taknak pakai la
SPR : Ye ke.. ok la.. kita buat je apa you cakap Pak
Gov : Bagui.. sekarang kita ada duit ada vote jugak
SPR : Rakyat tidak akan mengunakan ink. Ini kerana semua akan gaduh.. kita tak mau gaduh. kita nak aman dan damai
SPR dan GOV : Baguilah sekarang.. semua settle... mari kita jual balik ink tu dan bikin lagi 2 juta...
P/S Apologies for the bad malay :p
Our goverment can't even make a simple decision on the usage of INK!! Just think about how they are using our money.. our tax and our expertism for their own gain all this while and possibly after this too!!
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
EAT PRAY LOVE
I read this book call “EAT PRAY LOVE” by Elizabeth Gilbert a few days ago and I was profound to buy it after she was interviewed by Oprah on how amazingly her life had changed and how good the book was (as recommended by Oprah) .
I have only read the book halfway but something made me to think that I should summarize this book as I read along and put them in the blog as a part of a research. Yes, the research part of it is that her story and her thoughts are almost alike to me.. ( I feel)
Well the book,
The book is about her life and her journey to the 3”I’s” Italy for EAT, India for PRAY and Indonesia for LOVE. She talks about her marriage dispute’s and how she ended up coming to and idea of traveling to this 3 countries with 4 months in each and how the travel had shaped her live and that she found “LOVE” at the end.. or so can say at the beginning of her new life now.
Coming to the point, I only read a few chapters actually and what really captured me is the part from the book where she say’s,
“Saving for later the argument about whether God exist at all (no-here’s a better idea: Let’s skip that argument completely), let me first explain why I use the word God, when I could just as easily use the word Jehovah, Allah, Shiva, Brahma, Vishnu or Zeus. Alternatively, I could call GOD “That”,” which is how the ancient Sanskrit scriptures say it, and which I think comes close to the all inclusive and unspeakable entity I have sometimes experienced. But that “That” feel impersonal to me-a thing, not a being-and I myself cannot pray to That. I need a proper name, in order to fully sense a personal attendance. For this same reason, when I pray, I do not address my prayers to The Universe, The Great Void, The Force.. or even the most poetic manifestation of God’s name, taken, I believe, from the Gnostic gospels: “The Shadow of Turning.”
I have nothing against any of these terms. I feel they are all equal because they are all equally adequate and inadequate descriptions of the indescribable.
Another para of her has attracted me as well, which was amazingly described as below,
“I was born a Protestant of the white Anglo-Saxon persuasion. And while I do love the great teacher of peace who was called Jesus, and while I indeed He would do, I can’t swallow that one fixed rule of Christianity insisting that Christ is the only path to God. Strictly speaking, then, I cannot call myself a Christian. Most of the Christians I know accept my feelings on this with grace and open mindedness. Then again, most of the Christians I know don’t speak very strictly. To those who do speak (and think) strictly, all I can do here is offer my regrets for any hurt feelings and now excuse myself from their business”
Ref :- Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
Well this is what my next Para is going to be about ...
“GOD”
As some of all of us would say… “The divine”, “The one” and so on, well this is surely not the same to one and for all, as there any so many god’s and goddess out there that causes confusion to some on which to believe and which is to not.
Before I go on I would want to clarify here that this topic is of my own personal thoughts, which I don’t want any one who think,they have better or less knowledge about this topic to comment on. I don’t want any opinion about your version of “GOD” because it will surely be different than mine which will be less important to me.
This matter has always been running in my mind. What are rituals? How do they change a person’s lifestyle, till some live and die for it. Some just can’t pass a day without it. Why? Why cage yourself for it? Is it because you’re walking on your 1 leg and need all the other support to walk? What happened to other one? It’s still with you right?
The rituals that I am talking about are not just about a particular religion but also in general. For example; what we are doing at home or at our current country will not be the same when you travel to another country. Which means the rituals do not have a global effect.
I would like to talk about the Hindu rituals here to quote as an example as this is the religion I was born into (not chosen). I am a devoted Hindu but I disagree to most of the Hindu rituals. Rituals are they to guide but not to decide on how your life will be. Belief’s and superstitions such as breaking a coconut and lighting the oil lamp and buying fruits and flowers for the goddess and over spending lots of money unnecessarily for items to the fire is purely a blind folded way of spending money which at the end of the day goes to waste.
Don’t get me wrong here, but let's say you are so used to doing this rituals with the assurance from the priest that your life will be better (with payment) and one day you move to another country where there is no temple or priest. Here is my question “WILL YOU SURVIVE?” or sit and complain each day that you can’t go to the temple to spend your money and to bribe GOD for all the good you need. What would you do?
Well let me guess, you will probably make an alter at home and pray or plan to build a temple somewhere there? Perhaps rite, well so where is GOD? Did you just decided to tell GOD” Dear LORD, there is no temple in this country so would you mind coming to my house, if you can’t it’s ok, I will try to build a temple for you”. What just happened there? You bend the rules of the rituals to allow your self centered self to mould your very own GOD!
Okey… now I dint say temple’s are not necessary. They were built for a community purpose thousands of years ago to gather people with the idea of, “With the presence of GOD” all will act obediently and respectfully, and magically that idea is still well maintained in most temple’s but other than then where did the rituals come from and why did they? To run a temple you will need people to manage and to clean. To do that, no government will pay the priest like a day job, so the temple survives thru donation. Donations come thru the donation box and of course (RITUALS!). Now, if we are visiting a temple and gaining knowledge and utilizing the temple then we should provide a certain amount of token for acknowledgement or to thank the temple and the priest for their service (Isn’t that what they teach us in all the religion – to be thankful) but instead some say “don’t have to give them any money cause they are misusing it” well to bad some don’t know how to appreciate what’s given, but the worst kind’s are some who are the total opposite's. They spend so so much recklessly with their eyes blinded thinking they will attain perfection in life with the more rituals they attend and the big money given to the temple and priest! But, well that’s your loss cause no GOD who created you wants your money for you to learn and live your life properly. The money or ”archanai’s” you are buying is a part of a donation to the temple, and the temple thanks you for your donation by providing you a “coconut with flower and more as a token of appreciation to your kindness”. You can’t just go to the counter at a temple and buy a note for 2.00 to get blessed. You can’t get blessing from 2.00 or thousands or what so ever.. Rituals are there to help the temple and the priest and member of a temple NOT to bring you to GOD!!
HE gave you to this world to do your duty not search and find for HIM back!! Why must he create you to find HIM?
So please decide and think wisely before spending unnecessarily for lame rituals that most temple’s and priest these days mistreat. They are over empowering your weaknesses and so-called giving you the strength and confidence which you already have been gifted by GOD since birth.
What's above is not only for Hindu's.. but its happening for all, everywhere..
More about God..
To be continued…
I have only read the book halfway but something made me to think that I should summarize this book as I read along and put them in the blog as a part of a research. Yes, the research part of it is that her story and her thoughts are almost alike to me.. ( I feel)
Well the book,
The book is about her life and her journey to the 3”I’s” Italy for EAT, India for PRAY and Indonesia for LOVE. She talks about her marriage dispute’s and how she ended up coming to and idea of traveling to this 3 countries with 4 months in each and how the travel had shaped her live and that she found “LOVE” at the end.. or so can say at the beginning of her new life now.
Coming to the point, I only read a few chapters actually and what really captured me is the part from the book where she say’s,
“Saving for later the argument about whether God exist at all (no-here’s a better idea: Let’s skip that argument completely), let me first explain why I use the word God, when I could just as easily use the word Jehovah, Allah, Shiva, Brahma, Vishnu or Zeus. Alternatively, I could call GOD “That”,” which is how the ancient Sanskrit scriptures say it, and which I think comes close to the all inclusive and unspeakable entity I have sometimes experienced. But that “That” feel impersonal to me-a thing, not a being-and I myself cannot pray to That. I need a proper name, in order to fully sense a personal attendance. For this same reason, when I pray, I do not address my prayers to The Universe, The Great Void, The Force.. or even the most poetic manifestation of God’s name, taken, I believe, from the Gnostic gospels: “The Shadow of Turning.”
I have nothing against any of these terms. I feel they are all equal because they are all equally adequate and inadequate descriptions of the indescribable.
Another para of her has attracted me as well, which was amazingly described as below,
“I was born a Protestant of the white Anglo-Saxon persuasion. And while I do love the great teacher of peace who was called Jesus, and while I indeed He would do, I can’t swallow that one fixed rule of Christianity insisting that Christ is the only path to God. Strictly speaking, then, I cannot call myself a Christian. Most of the Christians I know accept my feelings on this with grace and open mindedness. Then again, most of the Christians I know don’t speak very strictly. To those who do speak (and think) strictly, all I can do here is offer my regrets for any hurt feelings and now excuse myself from their business”
Ref :- Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
Well this is what my next Para is going to be about ...
“GOD”
As some of all of us would say… “The divine”, “The one” and so on, well this is surely not the same to one and for all, as there any so many god’s and goddess out there that causes confusion to some on which to believe and which is to not.
Before I go on I would want to clarify here that this topic is of my own personal thoughts, which I don’t want any one who think,they have better or less knowledge about this topic to comment on. I don’t want any opinion about your version of “GOD” because it will surely be different than mine which will be less important to me.
This matter has always been running in my mind. What are rituals? How do they change a person’s lifestyle, till some live and die for it. Some just can’t pass a day without it. Why? Why cage yourself for it? Is it because you’re walking on your 1 leg and need all the other support to walk? What happened to other one? It’s still with you right?
The rituals that I am talking about are not just about a particular religion but also in general. For example; what we are doing at home or at our current country will not be the same when you travel to another country. Which means the rituals do not have a global effect.
I would like to talk about the Hindu rituals here to quote as an example as this is the religion I was born into (not chosen). I am a devoted Hindu but I disagree to most of the Hindu rituals. Rituals are they to guide but not to decide on how your life will be. Belief’s and superstitions such as breaking a coconut and lighting the oil lamp and buying fruits and flowers for the goddess and over spending lots of money unnecessarily for items to the fire is purely a blind folded way of spending money which at the end of the day goes to waste.
Don’t get me wrong here, but let's say you are so used to doing this rituals with the assurance from the priest that your life will be better (with payment) and one day you move to another country where there is no temple or priest. Here is my question “WILL YOU SURVIVE?” or sit and complain each day that you can’t go to the temple to spend your money and to bribe GOD for all the good you need. What would you do?
Well let me guess, you will probably make an alter at home and pray or plan to build a temple somewhere there? Perhaps rite, well so where is GOD? Did you just decided to tell GOD” Dear LORD, there is no temple in this country so would you mind coming to my house, if you can’t it’s ok, I will try to build a temple for you”. What just happened there? You bend the rules of the rituals to allow your self centered self to mould your very own GOD!
Okey… now I dint say temple’s are not necessary. They were built for a community purpose thousands of years ago to gather people with the idea of, “With the presence of GOD” all will act obediently and respectfully, and magically that idea is still well maintained in most temple’s but other than then where did the rituals come from and why did they? To run a temple you will need people to manage and to clean. To do that, no government will pay the priest like a day job, so the temple survives thru donation. Donations come thru the donation box and of course (RITUALS!). Now, if we are visiting a temple and gaining knowledge and utilizing the temple then we should provide a certain amount of token for acknowledgement or to thank the temple and the priest for their service (Isn’t that what they teach us in all the religion – to be thankful) but instead some say “don’t have to give them any money cause they are misusing it” well to bad some don’t know how to appreciate what’s given, but the worst kind’s are some who are the total opposite's. They spend so so much recklessly with their eyes blinded thinking they will attain perfection in life with the more rituals they attend and the big money given to the temple and priest! But, well that’s your loss cause no GOD who created you wants your money for you to learn and live your life properly. The money or ”archanai’s” you are buying is a part of a donation to the temple, and the temple thanks you for your donation by providing you a “coconut with flower and more as a token of appreciation to your kindness”. You can’t just go to the counter at a temple and buy a note for 2.00 to get blessed. You can’t get blessing from 2.00 or thousands or what so ever.. Rituals are there to help the temple and the priest and member of a temple NOT to bring you to GOD!!
HE gave you to this world to do your duty not search and find for HIM back!! Why must he create you to find HIM?
So please decide and think wisely before spending unnecessarily for lame rituals that most temple’s and priest these days mistreat. They are over empowering your weaknesses and so-called giving you the strength and confidence which you already have been gifted by GOD since birth.
What's above is not only for Hindu's.. but its happening for all, everywhere..
More about God..
To be continued…
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