HoliBolly@Swara CAC

Its May 2017??

I have not sat to write the whole year! And that's not because there has been nothing to share but because there has been so much to write about..i didn't know where to start..

Anyway since it will be my first post for the year i will start with a colourful note!!

This year for the first time in my life i had an opportunity to be part of a Holi celebration. Ive seen pictures of friends all drenched and soaked in holi colours and always wished to experience it. Somehow i missed it every year. But thanks to Swara Community Arts Center, this year, our bharathanatyam teacher suggested we celebrate it in our center instead of joining the celebration elsewhere. So together we organized a simple event at the beautiful garden of the center in Petaling Jaya mostly with our students, committee members, family and friends. 

It turned out to be so joyful with music and dance splashed in TEN shades of colours...thanks to one of our students who provided those gorgeous colours!

Only after the event i realized what effect the celebration has on someone who was part of it..And that is what i wish to share here...with you all...

The shades of life....

We come into the world pure and white...uncolored, soul untouched by the elements of life on earth...and then gradually everyone leaves a mark on us, some brighter, some darker, some vibrant and some dull. Our lives are not necessarily touched only by people we know...sometimes its a complete stranger whom you might not even meet again...yet for that moment a connection happens...one shade is left on your white soul and it stays...sometimes it is someone you love, sometimes by little children ...or even by someone you dont really like maybe.. yet the beauty is, by the end of it you will not be able to say who made those marks but together they create a new you..all the colours come together and create a whole new picture of you. When you look at yourself at this point, you will be totally amazed at the creation that happened beyond your control, you did not plan it, you tried running away sometimes, you tried avoiding sometimes but it gets to you anyway! And the effect of the whole process is magical! You dont design such things...it happens of its own accord and the beauty is..it is different for every person!

While you think you look all messed up...you will be amazed to look at yourself in the end! Just like life...all that seemed random, finally fits like a jigsaw puzzle to make a whole...its magical...its beyond words...the shades of life within...reflected!

so here...thats exactly what happened during the holi celebration at Swara Community Arts Center...and i will let these pictures say the rest...

So...go with the game, take in the colours... trust the process and stay joyful to the end, you will come out AWESOME!! :) 

SwarAsia Malaysia

Define Malaysia? 

To me its impossible!

I will tell you why...

Its a southeastern country with substantial influences from the Chinese, Indian, Persian, Arabic and European culture where Islam is the official religion and yet celebrates some Hindu Festivals in a bigger scale then in India, and has most of its buildings missing the 4th floor and called 3A instead because the chinese believe number 4 brings bad luck!!!

When you zoom into families and individuals you will see Malay families with kids insisting on thosai and chutneys for breakfast and Indian families packing 10 roti canais and nasi lemaks for the whole family!

Every kitchen in Malaysian homes will have a mix of ingredients and pots and pans from various cultures... 

We can see Hindus putting up Christmas trees at home and Christians doing the rangoli on Deepavali!!!

You can stand next to stranger who looks originally Chinese until you hear them speak fluently in TAMIL!!! 

We have chinese kids learning Indian classical dance and Indian kids learning ballet. 

No matter what language we speak we are sure to add "LAH" "MEH" "AH" to it! 

SO...who ARE we??? 

WORDS will NEVER get you there!

ONLY MUSIC can do that! So,

Come watch SwarAsia Malaysia! and let the music define who we are! With all the mixes and matches of culture...beautifully composed and arranged! What you hear will not be the Sitar or Cello or guitar or tabla or cajoun...what you hear will be us! Because it has been arranged by a purely Malaysian musician who can feel from his soul all the flavours that makes us uniquely who we are!

Anything beautiful is beyond definition and so is 

"SwarAsia Malaysia"

a Fusion Band brought together by our very own Sitar Maestro Samuel Dass with 6 other talented musicians! 

A two hour music repertoire! 

with

Sitar: Samuel Dass

Tabla: Prakash Kandasamy

Cello: Mariamlisa Zainal Abidin

Bass: Eliezer Enan

Guitar: Marco Antonio Alonso

Cajoun: Selvendrrah Krishnan

Percussion:Dhivager Murahari

What better way to start 

TWENTY SEVENTEEN!

Heres a glimpse of the making, if you are not convinced :) 

https://www.facebook.com/SwaraCAC/videos/1395095003836629/

Call 0166820919/03-74969700 and reserve your seats to an unforgettable musical experience!

See you at Temple of Fine Arts, Kuala Lumpur this

JANUARY THE SIXTH

8.15PM

Brought to you by

SWARA COMMUNITY ARTS CENTER

To UK For Sardines :)

My father, being the eldest in the family, had to quit school and go to work to support the family when he was just about 13 years old. One by one, his brothers and sisters finished schooling, started working and also got married. They moved to their own houses and my father was finally settled down with my mom, me and my elder brother when he was into his 30s. He is a government servant an a very disciplined person. All my life i see him waking up at 6.30 am, having breakfast by 7.30am, going to work, having lunch at 1PM, back to work till 5PM, then off to go play football, and in the later years, walking. He comes home, takes his bath and has dinner at 8pm, watches TV till 9PM sharp, and off to bed!! Believe me i have not seen this pattern change EVER!!

Even on Sundays, except for the afternoon nap, meal time would not change. 

Now, he is 77 years old, still working full time at my uncles law firm and still follows the SAME routine. Everything else and everyone else in the family has changed and yet he remains the same. I dont know if that is good or bad but i know for sure that he is content! Never regretted anything about his life, never mentioned he wishes things were different at any time. Despite the family getting chaotic with all sorts of problems, he simply lives in his own world, in the same routine and that kind of annoys my mum at times...hahaha..she will say...look at your father...with all these problems in the family, he does not respond in anyway. But isnt that just great! Untouched by your surroundings, simply happy with his motorcycle, job, a few friends, his home cooked happy meals! No ambitions, no cravings, simply being what he can within his capacity and doing what he can for the family. No loans, no debt...in his own little house in a beautiful housing area. He needs nothing more than that. 

But, theres one thing i hear him talk about ever since i was a little girl...ENGLAND. Probably because his younger brother went to work and study in England and he has seen the pictures and heard stories about the place. He finds everything about England amusing. "The shirts are good over there, the cut is different" he would say. "The quality of food is good over there" "The Shaving set is of good quality over there" "There is this canned sardine in a tin with a blue cross on the top, its very tasty" he would say. And 4 years back when i had the opportunity to visit England with my aunt and cousin, he told me to look for this canned Sardine with a blue cross on top...and i did look for it everywhere i went, from Sainsbury's to Marks & Spencer food outlets, Waitrose and every other supermarket i came across but i couldnt find this sardine!! When i got back from the trip i told him, i couldnt find it. I also tried looking for the kind of shaving set he was talking about and managed to buy it though he said it was not exactly the kind he was referring to.

In  my family, there is always someone travelling to UK every year. Cousins studied there, uncles and aunties would visit their friends there and everytime they came back, they would buy something for him, a shirt or socks or shoes and so on. He would be pretty delighted to receive them.

And after all these years of hearing him talk about England, i just suddenly had this thought....since he so adores this country, how would he feel if he had a chance to go there himself. So he could go look for all those stuff he wants to buy himself! But making a trip to UK was a BIG budget plan. So i kept that idea to myself, not wanting to get him all excited and then dissappoint him if i couldnt work it out. Just waited for the right moment...and after about 2 years, finally, I was able to plan it. With the support of my husband i managed to plan a two weeks' trip to England and Scotland with my parents!! It was unbelievable...but true!!

When we landed at Heathrow, my mum said..."cant believe we are walking in England!" Neither could i believe i actually brought them there! I kept telling myself "I am here with my parents" and it still didnt seem real! It was 2nd week November and England was all golden filled with Autumn leaves...my first time experiencing Autumn and my parents first time ever in Europe!

My father was all calm as always, but i knew he was excited. And from the moment we touched down, i kept a silent prayer going on in my head for the next 13 days to go on smooth, having a 66 and 76 years old parent in a temperature touching 0 and below was like taking babies on a tour. I needed to take care of myself too, cant afford to fall sick having both my parents to take care, but somehow deep within i knew this whole thing was meant to be and it will be alright...

Just before the day i left to UK, my cousin asked me, "Are you super excited?" and i took about 10 seconds to answer that as i coudnt decide if what i felt was "excitement" or "a mission to accomplish" and I needed this trip to go on well for it was a gift to my parents who both have seen lots of troubles from a very young age, mum was 14 when she got married. Dad was 13 when he went to work. They deserved this treat! And i thank the Universe a million times over and over for making it happen!

After 9 days in London, Bath and Manchester, we took a domestic flight to Aberdeen, Scotland as my cousin who is studying there invited us to spend another 4 days with her. Good news was, we had delicious home cooked Indian food!! And lots of laughters!

From day one, i made sure my parents wore enough layers of clothes to keep them warm, proper food and a good night's sleep. Thankfully weather in London was bearable...the sun was out though for a few hours, pretty bright and no rains. What more can i ask for! 

So, after visiting his fav team, taking the Stadium tour at Old Trafford...and walking the streets of Bath which looked like a painting altogether, taking a ride on Thames through the Tower Bridge, and posing in front of Big Ben and Buckingham Palace and above all walking around the unbelievably beautiful gardens and paths at Greenwich Park, and then to the Castles at Aberdeen, and yet just a day before we left Aberdeen for Malaysia, he tells me   "Anu i looked for the canned sardines with the blue cross, but couldnt find it :) :) hahahhaa...and i thought with a smile..."Pa do have you any idea what else you have been seeing over here?" and felt so happy that he had a chance to look through the shelves of the supermarkets for the Sardine he has been talking about for over 20 years...at least now he is convinced they dont sell that particular brand anymore and will not be hoping someone buys for him when they go to UK :) :) 

So it was a dream come true, not just for my dad but even more for me...! Nothing is as satisfying as making someone's dream come true...they joy you see in their faces...priceless! And here are some magical moments captured in my camera...for you :)

The pic above was while we were waiting for the transit at Amsterdam Airport....while i was waiting and still praying everything goes well, a clear rainbow appears with the sun shining bright against the clouds, and as i saw my father sitting there looking at the rainbow, i thought " Thank you God, thats a very clear sign and i know for sure thats how beautiful the next 13 days is going to be" :) 

Mum, looking at the North Sea of the Atlantic Ocean in Aberdeen, Scotland

My father holding a frozen leaf in Aberdeen

The cutest picture of the trip! 

At Dunnottar Castle Aberdeenshire

Choose your world

Where do you live...?

How often have you answered that question? And how differently have you answered it? All of us would give the location...like, in this particular street, area, town, state and so on. But is that where we are living for real? Ever thought about it?

When you wake up in the morning, what is your first thought? Your office matters? The file that's missing. The payment due? The appointment with client? The jam? The groceries you need to get? Getting your kids to school...The argument you had with someone yesterday? The neighbour you hate?? 

OR

The sunrise, the colour of the sky, the chirping birds, the dew on flowers, the soft grass, the new blooms in your garden, the happy moments yesterday, your favourite music, your favourite book, or how you are going to dress up for the day?? Your best friends, your loving aunt?? Your cute puppy!!?

Both person maybe waking up from the same bed, and yet living in a completely different world. What occupies every moment in your head makes your world. 

And when we live in every moment, we live in our own unique world coz no two person's moments could possibly be the same at any point of their lives. Everyone has to deal with different moments, let it be good or bad, happy or sad, funny or angry...every moment is uniquely YOURS to experience! Your own respond, your own feeling, your own understanding, your own joy! No other person will experience it the same way!

So each person actually lives in their OWN world! There is no ONE WORLD...but billions of worlds colliding, merging and splitting every second of the day. 

Sometimes we are thrown into a certain world without our consent. While sometimes we deliberately step into a certain world. But what we choose to LIVE in becomes the real world. And by real i don't mean, what you can see, touch, hear or smell but what you can feel within you. One might be living in a horrible condition, congested town, with little facilities and yet feel the joy of their little new born baby in their hands and their world would be as soft and as pure as the new born baby despite the environment. While someone else could be living in a palace and yet craving for love and their world could be as cruel as hell.

And the beauty of life is, no matter where you live or what the circumstances are, there is ONE thing that is available for all...LOVE. You can love in a prison, you can love in a palace, you can love in hut or mansion and when you learn love, you love it ALL. We, human beings are made of LOVE, we are LOVE.

Its that secret potion you can add on to ANYTHING you want, the only ingredient needed to grow your own beautiful world. The more LOVE you add the more beautiful your world gets...

So wake up to your own loving and beautiful world...never mind whats going on around you. Do whats necessary to face it, but stay in love within and simply watch how your life changes...

There are millions of realms to live in, choose yours!!! and LIVE IT!! NO, we don't share the same world as many say....on the contrary, we CREATE our own unique world!! 

So, where do YOU LIVE??

THE FEET OF A GURU

Why do we prostrate "fall on the feet" (as the Indians call it) of a Guru?

To seek blessings? To show respect? Out of  love? or is it simply a culture which we got used to without questioning?

Every year, on the 10th day of Navarathiri celebrations, which is called Vijayadasami in India, parents will take their children with a tray of fruits, flowers, sweets, clothes and money to be offered to their gurus (teachers/masters) as an expression of gratitude. They will tell them to fall on the feet of their guru to seek blessings. And the children do it year after year. But do they know, why they are doing it? 

The Indians strongly believe that  a person is destined to learn from a particular guru and unless and until they meet that particular one, they maybe distracted. It is said that the bond between a student and their destined Guru is created long before they actually meet. Life after life a person is directed and redirected into a path that finally meets somewhere, when the student is ready. The gurus maybe spiritual or gurus of artforms.

When such students and gurus meet, somehow they will both know it. Coz no one can possibly miss the joy that follows. And again, the question is, why do we fall on the feet of a Guru?

Its a surrender. Like saying, i am done searching, ive been directed and redirected. Ive been drowned and saved, ive been lost and found, again and again over God Knows how many life times and here, finally i am standing right before you! Its unbelievable! Its overwhelming! so, what else can you do if not fall on their feet!! A surrender, saying now, you guide me! Now you show me the light, you teach me, tell me what i should learn next. Whats the next step? whats the next move, whats the next expression, whats the next note, mood, feel, emotion?? You tell me! And what i place on your feet is my trust and love and what i ask in return is your blessings. Its a flow of energy....so, the Divine can flow into the Guru continuously for energy can never be stocked..it has to flow. Everytime a Guru blesses someone, they themselves receive multiple blessings from the ever abundant universe. The students are a way, the Gurus could renew their blessings.

So, when you touch the feet of a Guru, a flow of energy is created, from the Universe to the Guru, and from the Guru to their student. Its like a switch which allows the flow of electricity. Thats what the feet of a Guru is..... 

A switch To bless and be blessed!

Have a blessed and joyous Vijayadasami!

Theres no need to understand

Most people who are in search of the truth are trying to "understand life" but my question is..."What is there to understand?" What difference would it make?? Would you laugh a little more...would you be more forgiving? Would you do what you love? Would you appreciate every moment you are breathing? If yes...then why wait to "understand life"? Why bother asking SO many questions? Why confuse yourself with a thousand contradicting answers. Why do research on neverending scriptures?? Do you need a Buddha to tell you to laugh? Didnt you laugh as a child way before you even knew who Buddha is?? Then, why cant you do it now!!!? What exactly are you waiting for? Stop wasting precious moments trying to find an answer to something you cant question! No questions ( no matter how intelligent you are) can have the RIGHT answer to LIFE. Every answer will be different when it comes from another source. Then, are you going to spend another few more lifetimes finding out which answer is right?? When exactly do you intend to LIVE your LIFE...even Hinduism only gives you 7 lifetimes to get it right. But at the rate you are going, 7 thousand lives wont get you there! so DROP IT! like right now! and get on with life as it is. Enough rituals, enough rules and regulations and systems! Be you! at least give it a try...what have you got to lose! You dont get any bonus lifetime if you spend it on doing research on it! Are you???

When you start living your life, the meaning emerges out of your being, effortless. The answers flow into you without any questions. You will know it and yet will not be able to explain it. You will not be able to put in words coz its not meant for words. It is meant to be felt, loved, lived, be amused, amazed and surrendered to! 

And what does "living" mean? Does it mean you have to do the most extraordinary things or to achieve the unachievable..or to travel the world? Or to do social service? No, its not even that. Its just to be in line with life. To embrace the moments it brings to you without a fuss. To feel the moments in the depth of your soul. To remember who you are (i dont mean your name, or your fathers name...but who you are from within!) Stop being trapped in a routine...live spontanously. Fall graciously...get up again and again! Stop fussing, ranting, complaining, being frustrated (at EVERY single thing that you see, hear or experience!) be ready for the surprises, accept changes and above all LOVE your life!

Stop trying to change the world, stop accusing and blaming others, shift your focus into your own being instead of every other thing in the world. Feel yourself, know yourself, remember where you are (i dont mean the state or the country, but where you really are!) Watch everything, judge no one (i know its easier said then done, but keep reminding yourself and it slowly becomes a habit) There are no good or bad..but just whats necessary to keep life going, in line with the whole. 

Trust the amazing nature of life, it has been going on for billions of years. Stop resisting everything that comes your way just because it is not in your "Plan" coz you have no idea what surprises life could bring if you surrender to her.

Dont fake happiness. Find that joy within and be happy for real! Cry when you have to and then let it go! Live it all. Stop running away from negativity...the whole universe is made of both negative and positive. You cant run away from it. Find a balance and keep still. Stop swinging from one extreme to the other. Look at both sides and create your own center. Watch it and live at that center. 

be light and easy....life is so amazingly mysterious...stop grumbling about traffic jams (For heavens sake!) Talk about everything else thats amazing...the skies, the stars, the galaxies, the planets, moons...the streams and oceans, bugs and butterflies, the sun and wind...the breaths we take...the feelings, the joy and the love we share! Take it all in and live it all!

Then, theres no need to understand life :) 

Sadhana 2016 DAY 1

Sadhana 2016, Day 1, was my first time on stage with my Bhairavi :)

Who is Bhairavi? My sitar of course :) Two years ago when i got my brand new sitar from Calcutta, India, especially chosen, tested and brought to Malaysia by my guru himself, i fell in love with her. And, knowing she is going to be my best friend for life...i named her Bhairavi! Why Bhairavi and not any other raag? Because that was the first raag i heard my guru play life in a concert titled PRANAM and i was moved to the core by it. Of course he played the other raags first and Bhairavi comes as the finale. Yet...there was something about this raag that got to my soul. Especially that particular piece which i had been listening over and over in one of his youtube videos and the difference it made when you hear it LIFE...the echoes, the vibrations, the energy and magic of it!! It was an experience i will never forget. That is why i decided to name her Bhairavi! 

As i went on for the weekly classes, i had no such goal or ambition to perform in shows. I just loved learning the notes...i just love the sound that comes each time i pluck the strings. Even the first notes and fingering exercises got me excited...haha! i would practice it as though they were some masterpieces. I would even record and listen to the simple Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni ..over and over...simply because i was so amused that it was ME making those sounds... :) And that's what kept me going, not caring how long i might take to learn a whole song in a particular raag. I never even thought about it. Because it was so joyous all the way! It was like..who cares what i might play in five years...when every note is so beautiful!!

And today, after exactly two years...i have learnt one whole song ( about 6 mins long) in raag Bhairavi and will be performing this Sunday in Swara CAC's Students concert, Sadhana 2016. While rehearsing with my group today, i was in the verge of tears as it was so joyous to be able to play the raag myself..especially such a beautiful composition and it seems more like a miracle that i am going to perform with them. 

Last Sunday, my group played raag Yaman (picture above) and surprisingly i did not feel nervous on stage though it was my FIRST sitar performance. With all the spotlights, the people and the mics attached, i somehow felt calm. Just before the curtain went up, i told my Bhairavi..."never mind whose watching or listening, its just about you and me here...so stay with me please!" and know what? she did!! :) 

So, here's another round of rehearsals going on till this Sunday and i pray, once again she stays with me through the notes of Raag Bhairavi!

 

I have to mention this, when the MCs announce that the next performance is by the students of this guru, we walk in with pride, knowing we have learnt from the best of the best gurus and absolutely confident of ourselves. Performing well, will be the best guru dharchana we can offer to such dedicated master who would go all out to make sure we get EVERY note absolutely RIGHT! No compromises...and no excuses!!No matter how tiring it is for him to check each and every one of his students in EVERY class and yet he doesn't give up on us. You get it right or you dont play at all! That is how every note is learnt by every student. 

So, just saying thank you will not be enough for all the joy that is brought into our lives through music. As i said before, this performance is a dedication to our guru, master Samuel J Dass.  

We hope to give the best we can! :) And all the best to my most wonderful sitar gang who are performing this week! Love you all! 

 

The picture above snapped by my friend Usha with her HP...she was upset it turned out dark....but i so love it.  Because i wasn't aware she was taking this picture...and i am looking somewhere beyond this world...I've no idea what was on my mind...i cant recall this moment...and it only seems like it all happened in another realm :)

So, hope to see you this Sunday at Temple of Fine Arts, 6PM!!