Saturday, November 12, 2011

Farrah Fawcett

   
Farrah Fawcett or Farrah Leni
Fawcett is a movie star who rose to
 fame for her roles in the TV series,
 'Charlie's Angels.' She was born on 
 2nd February 1947, to Pauline Alice 
 Evans and James Williams Fawcett.
 In late 1960's and early 1970's, she
 appeared in TV commercials. After 
 achieving TV fame, she advertised 
for her own brand of hair care 
 product...marketed by faberge, as 
 she was noted for her beautiful hair 
and style.
   She married actor Lee Majors of
 the 'Bionic Man' fame in 28th July
 1973 but divorced in 16th
 February 1982. After the divorce 
she lived with Ryan O'Neal and had
 a son, Redmond O'Neal. In 
September 2006, Farah was
 diagnosed with Anal Cancer and
died on 25th June 2009 at 62 years.
 Here are pictures of Farrah Fawcett
 depicting stages in her life
                                    
         
Charlie's Angels
 
     
 
With Ryan O'Neal
    
With Ryan O'Neal and Redmond O'Neal
  
Farrah Fawcett
Living with Cancer 

Saturday, November 5, 2011

Music that Haunts

   Music appeals to the senses. Some like hot music that accompanies dances like foxtrot, Cancan, Cha-cha, Bolero and Rock and Roll. Still there are others who can withstand the metallic sound of really hot metal rock music. Yet there are those who like music that  is soft and more  suitable for ballroom dancing and candle light dinners or just for a quiet relaxing evening admiring the beauty of nature.There is music for all seasons from around the world that can be haunting and enchanting. It is not easy to compile all of them here in this blog, but I am going to introduce some that may appealto some the way they haunt me. The music that haunts, is one that plays in your mind, even after you have finished hearing it. Language is no barrier for appreciating music.  
   Readers can pick and listen to any of the collections here. 



Song from Afghanistan

 
Beethoven's 'Fur Elise' 

Loreena McKennit's 'The Mystic's Dream'

Kitaro's 'Matsuri'

Beethoven's 'Moonlight Sonata'

Theme music for 'X Files' by Mark Snow

Mysterious Gothic music

Mozart's greatest violin piece

Ravi Shankar and Yehudi Menuhin

Relaxation Music- Lunar Khandro







My Early Family Photos

EARLY FAMILY PHOTOGRAPHS
 I am seated on My Mother's lap. That's My Father and Elder Brother
 My Brother and Me in India
 My passport photo
My Younger Sister's passport photo
 The Three of Us with Our Mother, Paternal Grandmother and an Uncle in India
 My Father and Me in India
 My Maternal Grandfather with My Elder Brother and Younger Sister in India
 My Elder Brother and Me in Malaya
 My Elder Brother and Younger Sister in Malaya
 My Father, His Brother and Nephew together with My Elder Brother in Malaya
 The Three of Us in Malaya
 My doting Father with My Younger Sister in Malaya

 My Mother and the six of Us in Malaya
 Can We ever be 'Charlie's Angels?'
 My Mother, Elder Brother and Younger Brothers
 Sharing a swing and having a jolly good time

 Closeup of My mother and Younger Brother

 My Mother and Four of My Younger Siblings

  Eight is Enough

 With Our adorable Ford car

 That's the end Folks. I hope I did not bore you with these ancient material that would otherwise turn yellow with age. No doubt it brings back bittersweet memories of the yesteryears for my family and me. I hope to pass it down to the generations that follow.Thanks for going through them.













































 



Friday, April 8, 2011

Adventures Into Immortality



This is an out of the body experience which scientists are still sceptical of.

Adventure can take place not only when one moves about from place to place geographically. It can even take place within the four walls of your room. Reading a book, thinking when alone, meditating or even when one is asleep one can be taken away, far, far away from where one is. I had this rare experience, where I felt I was out of my corporal body. This happened many years ago when I was in my teens. I was away from home and in my room in my university hostel. I went to bed as usual, but wished I were back home in my lovely room and bed. I was not asleep at the moment when a strange thing happened!!! I felt something moving upwards from the tip of my toe and up towards my chest and lo and behold I was out of my body through my mouth. I was formless!!! I peered at my body laying on the  bed and it wasn't me but matter!!! Oh my God, I realised in that spiritual form that I was out of my body and travelling within earth's atmosphere over tops of trees and buildings and in no time I was in my warm bed in my home!!! I knew too that if I didn't return to the body in the room far, far away, I would be classified dead..... in this material world. 
   The next day, I searched for answers in books in the university library and other resources. I just wasn't satisfied with the answers I got from the books. When I met a Buddhist monk a few years later, he gave me a sound and reasonable answer. He clarified it was astral travel which can be done through meditation. But it takes a person a long time to attain it. I wondered how it happened to me!!!
   Being a student of science, I still did not accept the monk's views, until one day many years later, I saw the spirit of an  ex-student of mine who died in a fatal road accident. The spirit communicated telepathically with me in broad daylight!!!! He was sad that I couldn't remember him but vanished in a lightning flash after giving me a smile which showed his deep dimples on both cheeks. From then on my faith in the existence of the spiritual world became a reality!!!
   Have any of you out there, reading this article on adventures into immortality, have stories to share? I would surely like to read about your personal experience into the world of the unknown!!!!
  

Appreciating Nature

This essay describes the natural beauty surrounding us. Many of us do not have the time or space to spend time admiring nature.


   'A picture paints a thousand words,' so goes the saying. But, just look around you and examine nature closely. It may paint 'more than a thousand words, is what I can conclude.'
   I had this rare opportunity of walking over an open field, near my home, one evening. I happened to catch a glimpse of moist rocks laden with fresh green moss and tiny wild flowers on short stalks swaying gently in the cool breeze after a short shower. I moved over to examine them closer and to my amazement, they were just awesome. The pink, lilac, yellow and blue flowers were so dainty and captivating in beauty and I wondered why they had been ignored all along. Was it because they were miniature beauties that never caught the eye or was it because they had no real appeal to the ordinary man on the street?
   I watched the birds fly over the bluish green hills. The hills that are normally unnoticed, appeared forbidding and mysterious. What lay behind the thick bushes and tall trees? I could hear screeches of  hidden life and the murmur of streams flowing down the hill. A foam formed from the spray of water as the thin streams hit the ground. Fish of different colours swam in the water collected at the base of the streams. What a sight to behold!!!
   Then I gazed up at the sky, after inhaling a few deep breathes of the fresh air laden with the scent of wild blooms. The sky was tinted a grey and deep blue hue, while greyish white clouds hung low, as yellow, orange and reddish rays of the setting sun added colour to an otherwise dark setting, moving into dusk. Nature appeared to me like an artist's canvas where the colours kept moving, blending and changing as the seconds passed by. I wished time would just stand still so that the picture would remain and not be enveloped into darkness.
   As I continued my walk, I thanked the almighty for the wonderful experience and hoped that nature would paint another picture. A picture equally amazing and captivating but different, the next time I walked that way!!!

Liberation

This is an expression of how we learn values. There are many other ways as well.


Where there is sadness, we learn to sow happiness
Where there is cruelty, we understand kindness,
Where there is hatred, the heart knows love
Where there is defeat, we appreciate victory
Where there is ignorance, we differentiate wisdom
Where there is mercy, we are granted forgiveness
Where there is trust, we gain respect
Where there is faith, there is believe
Where there is honesty, we breed reliability
Where there is freedom, we need to be virtuous
Where there is compassion, we nurture sympathy
Where there is darkness, we see the light.... the light that illuminates the soul.. the liberated soul attaining enlightenment

I know that it is hard to follow most of what I have written in my article titled 'Liberation,' but I try as much as possible to follow my own philosophy of life. I had to give it a lot of thought because I know that I may have left out some of the important values in my article. If there is anyone out there who can add any other values to the article I shall gladly welcome them. Thanks

Eternal Wandering ( originally titled 'Eternity' )

This is a poem inspired during my school days. My teacher inspired me and encouraged me to write poems and was impressed that I could write like Lord Tennyson, (that's what she commented on reading my poem). I have never stopped writing since. My flair for creative writing could not be tapped as I took a course in Science and taught Science in schools. It's only of late that I began to take writing seriously.



The dark spread its cloak of smiling stars,
That glittered as if they were magical lights,
The moon was hidden behind the clouds,
She seemed to be hiding away from my thoughts,
The wind moaned, the shadowy branches groaned,
They tuned a doleful song,
That of a pining heart,


I looked at the rippling waters,
And stared at the floating lotus,
Tears dropped like trickles,
On its snowy white petals,
And as it drifted away from my life forever,
I returned a downcast soul,
A forlorn figure,
To the tomb, my home,
For ETERNITY


( I penned this composition when I was 15 years and still at school. I remember the lines to this day, inspired by a dark shadowy night.  The night and the dark have always been a source of great inspiration. The reason is unknown to me and cannot be explained. The bright moonlight and the dark shadows together with the moans and groans of the wind through the trees are like a movie playing in my mind. I find the night a captivating scene with its mystery and horror that provides the right ingredients for the fertile mind to flourish.)