Go by chapters :)

Its not the first time people have asked me, "How do you have the patience to read books that are almost a thousand pages long!" My answer has always been this "I just go chapter by chapter".

When you keep count of the pages, you would feel like you have a long way to go but when you focus on the chapters you get to the end before you know it! Thats the trick! My aim is not to get to the end of the book as quickly as possible. I just get indulged in each chapter and take in whatever that happens in those pages. I am never eager to know what happens in the end. I am more interested to know how it gets to the end page by page...chapter by chapter. 

Its quite interesting how the mind works with the same total no of pages having different effect on us just by way we approach it! Life itself is just like that! All we need to do is to be in the present and enjoy and do our best day to day...moment to moment..and one day we will get to the end feeling joyful and surprised at how beautiful the journey was. Otherwise, if we are obsessed about what comes next and how it ends ...we are going to miss life happening right now.

This is why i have NEVER approached an astrologist or bothered to follow numerology or palmistry or whatsoever! First of all it spoils the fun by telling us how our life will be! Secondly, i dont trust the accuracy of any readers. I wouldnt want my life to be misread by someone who missed certain nos or calculations! No way! I always loved to see my life unfold day by day with all the little surprises and hidden agendas that keeps me grinning all day! 

Also when it pushes me downhill and gets me rolling helplessly till i hit the bottom, at least i wasnt already expecting it!! It just happens while i am dancing through life like nothing will EVER go wrong! Then i gather my strength to climb the hill again...this time i know where i tripped! So i stay alert but i still dance my way up!

A whole life story is made of short chapters and every chapter is made of a few pages and every page is made of a few sentences...and every sentence is made of a few words! Stay focused on every word....and you will get to the end without any stress! Otherwise you will be drained by the time you get to it. Why be torn between the end and now, when you can just be in the now! Let it be! Whatever it is! And LIVE every word! In the end the chapters will be complete and the book will be done! Surely! 

So dare read books of a thousand page! Go by the chapters and enjoy the pages! And when you get to the very LAST page you will feel such satisfaction for having been through every line with ease and joy! You will never forget the experience....just like life! Live it all! 

See you in the next chapter!! :) 

  

Oh My India!

Last weekend i got this wonderful opportunity to be with SWARA Community Arts Center at Publika, Solaris Dutamas for a show organised by Prevail Productions and this time i was doing what i love most....yes, taking pictures! Since Swara's photographer guy was not available for the weekend i just came in to help take a few pictures for our documentation. I was absolutely delighted as i always felt theres something about taking pictures of dance and dancers or any kind of performances on the whole which is totally satisfying. For instance you catch a move which otherwise might only last a few seconds in life...you get to freeze their beautiful expressions to be admired again and again. Sometimes you in fact get to see a lot more in a picture then in life! But only problem was, at the moment i have a simple Canon powershot camera which though is good for zooming in 30X, it is not able to freeze movements clearly as the features of this camera isn't really meant for sports or movement. Still, since we had no choice and all we needed was some pics for the records i agreed to do my best.  

This show had 10 different genres of indian traditional dance, 9 of it being classical and one folk. Truly amazing performance from all dancers! And i was pretty satisfied with the shots i managed to take! I was so happy to know that everyone in Swara liked my pictures a lot  So, i will let my pics say the rest :)

This one is my fav pic of this amazing dance called Yakshagana, originating from Karnataka, India. as i was helping her, i was amazed at the number of accessories it required, it was all so heavy and took 3 hours to get dress with make up done!

As i was helping her getting dressed up, i told her that no Odissi or Bharathanatyam dancers should ever complain about having to wear too much for performances :) 

And here she is after 3 hours with her amazing performance

Below is the popular dance genre called Kathakali, a dance form of the Malayalees from Kerala, India performed by Geetha Shankaran Lam 

Below is a picture of the awesome Kathak dancer, Nitin Shirale. I am sure you can see how graceful he is from this shot, every turn and every pose is picture perfect though he swirls like a tornado! Truly breathtaking moves and grace. This is the third time i watched him perform and i am falling in love with Kathak already! 

Here's our very elegant and graceful bharathanatyam dancer, Neha Mondal Chakravathy. She does the most aggressive Shiva thandavas with such lightness, almost floating around the stage, simply beautiful!

The emcee explaining about the folk and classical dances with the folk dancers 

Joyous and fun to watch :) 

Below is Geetha Shankaran's son performing Odissi!

Here's the entire team!

I always loved photography but somehow never took it seriously. This recent opportunity and the feedback from Swara members, family and friends made me realise that i should take it further :) 

Big thanks to my sitar master Samuel J Dass who trusted me with my tiny camera for such a huge and important show!! It was quite funny to be standing next to the"canggih manggih" (Malaysian term for professional/ Hi Tech)  camera persons with their huge cameras balanced on tripod taking pictures and video!! One of the photographers actually smiles at me, looks at my cam and says "that's nice" which clearly sounded like... "what are you trying to do with the toy, lady" hehehhe....but well, you just wait OK?? ;)  

The Master Plan

How often do we pause to wonder "how did i get to this point?" to realise that we did not plan it to be what it is currently. While we planned something else, with some idea about how we want to go about life and what we want to do, let it be work or family, something interferes here and there, blocks your route, puts the lights out, gets you groping in darkness, bump into walls till we find an outlet somewhere desperately and take the chance (mostly because there's no other choice!). 

Then on this new route we find some light again so we keep going in that route though it might seem blurry, but we are once again stopped! and the whole process repeats itself leaving us exhausted beyond our limits. We drop! and pick ourselves up even if its with the last ounce of courage that's left. Again groping in darkness to find another door, this time the light gets a little brighter. 

So we keep going almost believing that this will be the final route only to be blocked again! The interesting thing is, by now we have become immune to these obstacles that even the boulders on our path begin to look like little pebbles....we have gained that much strength with all the work out we got on the way. So, we stop calmly at the boulders, knowing that something or someone will soon remove it....for that's how its has been all the way, and we wait patiently instead of knocking our heads on it, unnecessarily. Soon enough, the boulders magically roll away, leaving the path free and bright for us to continue. This time we take the route knowing there will be more boulders, and yet we are not distressed by it as we also know that they too will be removed :)

It is at this point, we gain the presence of mind to pause and think about where we are! And we are surprised that we just love the place and couldn't have planned it ourselves to get there! And we wonder in amazement..."How did that happen?" 

Well if you could draw a map of these series of routes, diversions, obstacles and blackouts in our life, we will SEE that they fit perfectly into a MASTER PLAN.  

We are meant to get there but since we did not have the wisdom to find our path in early stages, we keep resisting and trying to adamantly stay on a less difficult route. But no one escapes the Master Plan.

LIFE is WHOLE, there are no individual life as it seems to be. The system is WHOLE. Every ant needs to be in its place for the system to work. The universe cant afford to let us choose our paths. Or it will be in total chaos. So, all we need to do is to learn how to fit into this master plan. The best way to avoid much injuries would be to let ourselves flow in with it. By being joyful despite the chaos of the moments. By making every point of our life a memorable one. By enjoying the simple pleasures. By knowing that the "bad" people in our lives are put there to divert our routes and emotions. By learning as much as we can from every situation. By not repeating the same mistakes. By trusting the Master Plan who always knows better! 

When we practice these things, life instantly gets lighter...this is what the scriptures refer to as SURRENDER. Leave it to the Master Plan. Stop resisting and hurting unnecessarily. 

LET GO! and DANCE with LIFE :) 

  

Mirror Mirror On The Wall!

Most girls grow up knowing who Snow White is and they also all know that her skin is as white as snow. But what some fail to realise is that it is not the skin that the magic mirror saw to be fairest of them all. It was Snow White from within, the gentle, loving, innocent and humble being that she was that made her fairer then the wicked and vain queen. The magic mirror is nothing but our conscience. We recognize who we are within. And whatever is reflected within shows in our appearance too. That is why sometimes people with the most perfect features could look ugly and those with very ordinary features look beautiful. Though most of us do not realise it, what we see in another person comes from within...its not the eyes, the nose or the slim figure or the skin tone. No, what we see is beyond all these. We see the person as reflected from within. 

I am sure, we have all experienced this, we meet someone for the first time and think they are absolutely gorgeous or handsome but then after getting to know the person suddenly they seem very ordinary, or even ugly! While some that we thought looked very ordinary, gradually look prettier and prettier day by day until one day you think they are the most beautiful person you have ever met. Ever wondered how that happens??

Obviously, it is the inner beauty that overpowers the outer physical appearance. The more human one is the better they look. This is why i neither believe that "Black is beautiful" nor "White is Lovely"! It has got nothing to do with colour. We need to recognize people beyond colour to see who really is good looking!  

What inspired me to write this is the recent posts on FB trying to prove that those with darker skin tone are beautiful and to be proud of it and so on. But it made me wonder....what has the skin got to do with beauty?? Dark or fair, tall or short, plump or slim doesnt capture the attention of the magic mirror for the mirror recognizes only the person inside! While we are desperately trying to improve our appearance on the outside the mirror goes on reflecting from within. And it does not only recognize us but also superimposes that image from within for everyone to see. We can never hide it! We can hide the marks on our faces maybe...but never whats inside!

This doesnt mean i dont believe in make up or dressing up. That too is necessary but we have to remember that it is just the toppings....you can make the cupcakes with the most beautiful toppings but the moment people eat it, it is the taste of cake itself that matters, right??! Toppings are only for viewing pleasure which may look good in photos too but the review will surely be based on the taste!! Just the same, we need to work on the inside more then the outside if we want to look good :)

So keep your magic mirror polished for it reflects who you really are :) 

When Moths stick to you!

Two weeks ago i was in Fraser Hill, Pahang for a holiday organized by my music school, Swara Community Arts Center. It was my first time at this lovely hill resort. Unlike Cameron Highlands which has been commercialized to the level where the nature of the hill has been altered totally, it was relieving to see Fraser untouched with its greens and misty hills intact! 20 of us including children, parents, students and our Sitar Master's family stayed in a huge bungalow perched amidst the serene hills. We all fell in love with the environment the moment we stepped out of the car and started breathing in the fresh, cool air.

There were nothing but hills all around us....and the sounds coming from the jungle was absolutely soothing, below are the pics of the views on the right, left, front and back of the bungalow.

The garden and view

While we were all indulged in the surroundings...something interesting happened. Master's brother in law came walking to me with a grin pointing his index finger and i noticed a small moth on his finger. And i said "hey lets take a pic of it before it flies off! but he coolly said...it is stuck to my fingers, wont fly off!...then he walked around trying to get the moth to fly off....but it stayed comfortably on the tip of his finger. So he walked into the bungalow and placed his finger on the dining table and tried pushing the moth so it would shift itself away from his finger...and it finally did. Then i was watching the moth...and touched it lightly to see if it would fly off but instead of flying off she decided to stick to my index finger! hahhaa....i was delighted. Can you blame me? I mean how often do we get moths sticking to you like magnet? Most of the times it is us stuck in the traffic jams of KL! So i happily walked around the bungalow with the moth, showing it off to my other friends and everyone was amused!

So here she is....first time meeting a leaf moth up so close! she sure looks like a leaf with wings!! so pretty! I couldn't help talking to her. Asked her to reveal the secret behind her beauty. And she told me this..

"Just stick to nature...she is the secret of all secrets"

Simple! right?? And that explains why everything seems haywire in the city....we are so far from nature...what do you expect! The moths cant even get anywhere near you through the concrete walls! We have blocked ourselves from all sources of energy and then we go on complaining about life! 

After having a few minutes with her, i decided to put her back home, reluctantly walked to the garden and placed her on the leaves of a plant and said....thank you for the message. And i will see you again...sometime, somewhere...in some form ...till then...bye with love :)

There she is....happily one with nature...  

So that was one experience at Fraser Hill...theres more to share. To my delight, our master took us hiking in one of the many beautiful trails in Fraser. Will share pics and the experience in my next post :) 

Till then....just stick to nature and watch out for the moths :)

The Places In Between

 

We often have an overview about everything in life. We look at it from a broad point of view where we think we see it all and we make conclusions without even getting close to it. We say things like life is beautiful...or Life is difficult...or Life is a mystery and so on but how many of us are able to SEE why exactly it is "beautiful" or "difficult" or "Mysterious" ?? 

This book is a true account of a traveller who WALKED across Afghanistan, from Herat to Kabul merely accompanied by a dog in 2002 (just after 911) to see what was really going on between these places. Before i go any further i would like to share a quote from this book which is stated as an introduction to the story.

"The country is quite covered by darkness, so that people outside it cannot see anything in it; and no one dares go in for fear of the darkness. Nevertheless men who live in the country round about say that they can sometimes hear voices of men, and horses neighing, and cocks crowing, and thereby that some kind of folks live there, but they do not know what kind of folk they are." 

- The Travels of Sir John Manderville

chapter 28

3 years ago, when i was flying from Malaysia to England i remember how amazed i was when we flew over Afghanistan. All three of us (my aunt, cousin and i) walked to the rear end of the plane to look out through the big window so we could have a better view of the landscape below. That felt pretty amazing...as i watch the endless stretch of mountains with its deep, narrow valleys in between, all looking dry and brown everywhere ...no hint of green with its villages here and there which mostly looked like boxes made of stone and mud-brick, the first thing that came to my mind was an image of a little kite runner, hahaha..couldn't help it! It was truly weird having an overview of a piece of land which contained SO much history!! I was wondering....all these people living below....how do they feel about life? what do they know about whats beyond this land? how do they think? what do they want?? And even more disturbing thought was how many were walking around with guns and bombs at the moment while we were looking from above? 

Though we have some idea of how life is there, from reading Afghan based novels, seeing the place for real, though from a few thousand feet above made a disturbing impact! Wished i was able to snap a pic of the landscape then....but my camera was all packed in the luggage. So here's some pictures from the net i found which looks almost like the view we had. 

So anyway, that experience was like having an overview of a place and knowing that i would most likely never step on the soil to know the real thing, i decided to grab this book the moment i spotted it at big bad wolf sales early this year. And it was great that the story was based on journey by foot!! So, u cant possibly miss anything in between! The villages...the people, the pets and other animals, the landscape...routes, paths, rivers, mountains...historical buildings, food, the culture...language, dressing, religion, political views (if they had any) and understanding of life, believes, traditions and daily conversations....yes EVERYTHING! You get a feel of everything that is going on between these places...from one village to the next...for months after months...by foot. Now i am satisfied! The overview i had now makes a complete picture with whats inside!

Somehow the conclusion i came to was, people in there have absolutely no idea of how life is beyond their land...they live in their own world and don't look to be any likely to being convinced about an alternative view of life. Right or wrong...they are SURE about what they believe in. 

Thanks to the this unbelievable traveller, Rory Stewart who dared take this dangerous journey which gives the world a clearer and detailed picture of life inside of Afghanistan. 

Just like him, we ALL need to take such journeys into life. Not necessarily by foot but by heart and soul. Feel the places in between the moments...touch it...experience it ...live it! Don't glance through life in a hurry! Be into EVERY moment! Walk it barefooted...feel the ground! Make it REAL! Enough overviews...enough blur visions...enough dragging! Get to LIFE now! And....

See you somewhere in between :D 

LOVE UNLEASHED

We grow up hearing words like "family is important" "Love your neighbours" "Take care of your little brothers and sisters" "Be nice to your friends in school" " Respect your teachers" and so on. And thats exactly what we try to do....we obey these rules as much as we could and then when we become adults we say the same things to our children. So our mind is conditioned to love a certain group, care for certain people in our lives and we go on thinking we are truly a loving human being. 

Then, what happens is, we meet new people...we move to a new environment, maybe into a different culture and atmosphere. And suddenly we are lost. How do we love strangers?? how do we care for things that doesnt belong to us. How do we deal with situations? Now comes the trouble! We judge one another...we hate people...we think the world is cruel and ugly and evil. Then these feelings spreads into our daily life and it takes over all those LOVE YOUR FAMILY...LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOURS chantings! Then suddenly we are choking with emotions! We feel betrayed, lost and angry! Most of the time we cant even figure out the reasons either because theres too many or theres none at all. 

Somehow we human beings forget that we are made of love and nothing but love. Theres no need to teach a child to love. It is their natural state..until we interfere and confuse the child with all these restrictions. Let the child be...and they will love everyone and everything. 

When we grow up in love ...we can only attract more love. We can connect to everything and everyone around us because the whole universe is made of this energy called loved. Now dont ask me questions like....should we love the robbers or rapists then? Coz that is my whole point. If we let a child grow naturally they will not become a rapist or robber. When we teach them to hate, they attract people to hate ...and they dwell in hatred and their contaminated soul looks for an outlet by doing evil things. 

It is not about love something or someone...it is simply about being love itself. Then you attract love like a magnet. Be love itself, no separation between the feeling and you. You are it! It is you! Love unleashed :) Then watch what happens...

See how the music flows through every vein....watch how much brighter the flowers in your garden looks, watch how the butterflies flutter around you...watch how people even look at you in awe. They cant help recognizing themselves when they look at you. Watch how you feel like dancing whenever it rains. Watch how thankful you are for the sunshine. Watch how your world changes! Feel the joy that it brings...feel the excitement! Feel rejuvenated! above all FEEL LIFE! 

Why contain Love when it can be unleashed! let it go! and go wherever it takes you! It always knows the best routes of life :) 
BE LOVE!