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

  












Living with Cancer 

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.

---

 

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.)

Letter to a Daughter

This letter is for my beautiful daughter. Hope she finds it useful.


Dear daughter,


                           I remember the year, month, date and time when you were brought into this world through ceasarean section, at the hospital where you were born. Your grandma and father were eagerly awaiting your arrival with great anxiety, in case something went wrong. They were relieved to see you out of the operating theatre, glancing at them with your eyes wide open and your palms stretched out as though you knew them and the world even before you saw the light of day.
                           No doubt, I had the first glimpse of you, as I was on epidural anaesthesia before the operation. I almost lost consciousness during the operation for I went into breathlessness, due to a slight attack of asthma. I thought I would die and at that point in time I wondered who would care for you if I were gone. Thank God, the doctor understood my predicament and quickly pulled and dragged you out of the womb in one piece. I realised then that I would live. It was at that moment that I decided I shall not go through this ever again. I was glad that God had blessed me with you my only dear child, at this advanced age of 46 years.
                           Of course, you are wondering why your parents are old and sometimes you are ashamed of this fact. All I can say is, 'God had decided it that way,' and that you have to accept it. I console myself with the thought that if we were younger parents, you may not get the patience and perseverence that we show you now, in your learning environment.
                          Yours is a life of constant learning, not only from books in the academic world and your own personal experiences but from the lives of others as well. You have to enrich your life so that you succeed in the material world as well as in the abstract and virtual world.
                         You might wonder why we don't pamper you like other parents do. You may not understand us even if we were to explain to you now. You will learn when the time comes. Until then please bear with us and forgive us if we had made mistakes along the way. No man born is faultless and I hope you accept us for what we are.
                         I decided to pen you this letter in case I do not see the light of day tomorrow. I do not wish to leave you without expressing my thoughts my dear child. Be happy and contented with whatever you have and can have. I do not wish to make this a lesson in moral values but I hope it can help to guide you through life.
                         

The Calling......quest for The Truth (Part 3)

    The holy man experienced the joy and exaltation of the spiritual life high in the heavens. He found out that eating grains and other forms of vegetation was also another form of killing. He decided to nourish himself with fruits and water and then plant the seeds for the next generation. He questioned why he had to marry and have a family and then leave them, for he saw it a sin to forsake his responsibility as husband and father. This was where the test was...... God had to test him as many wouldn't want to leave the love and warmth of a wife and family to follow the calling. He was satisfied with the answers and solutions to the problems that plagued him personally.
        Now he had to find the answers to questions related to the world. Why was man suffering??? To this he came out with a number of reasons. Firstly, it was the question of continued survival of the flesh and blood. Next, it was the need to procreate. Thirdly, it was the drive for recognition and power. These are the three main elements that man sought and suffered for.
    The holy man felt that a man has to go in search of food but does he need to kill to satisfy his hunger? Yes, he too had been killing the dormant embryos in the grains that were cooked as food. But many fought animals and destroyed vegetation just for food. Sometimes, animals and plants were destroyed on a large scale in the quise for the need of food and left much to waste and rot. Was this the right way to treat the creations of God????
    Temptations are many when it came to procreation. Sometimes, lust leads a man to commit sins while gratifying himself through illicit relationships leading to unwanted children and abandoned partners who either commit suicide or lead loveless lives. These mistakes have created unwanted social problems and unhappiness which could have been avoided if man thought right and led virtuous lives.
    On the other hand, the power hungry and ambitious man not only destroyed animals and plants for wealth and fun, he also annihilated any of his challengers, be it man or beast. To quench his thirst for power and ambition, he not only vanquished his opponents but also lied, cheated, manipulated and used conman tactics as tools. To meet his demands vast areas of virgin forests, that formed habitats of wildlife, have been cleared to make way for industries and offices, schools, hospitals, transport systems, etc...etc....The scientists too are working on ways to improve man's living standards, but fail to realise that biodiversity and the conservation of God's creation is the answer to much of the world's problems, such as climate change, population explosion, food shortage and pollution.
    The holy man opened his eyes and stared at the basketful of fruits. He took a banana, peeled it and ate. A monkey came and sat next to him. He offered it a banana and the animal took it and climbed up a tree. A snake glided beside him but made no indication that it was provoked. The holy man heard a low growl of a leopard. On looking up, he saw it resting on a tree unperturbed. The holy man felt he was surrounded by friends, all of which were the wonderful creation of God!!!!!

The Calling----quest for The Truth (Part 2)

   
    The holy man closed his eyes tightly, trying to quelch all thoughts of his wife and son in the village all alone.  He could hear the cries of his son beckoning him home and the vision of his helpless wife consoling the adamant child.  Then the apparition of his deceased mother haunted him, trying to wake him from his meditation and advising him to return home to his wife and family. His mind was in a turmoil but he had to dispel all thoughts of fear and put entire faith in the calling. The constant disturbances of this nature was due to the attachment and bondage that he has had all these years and he mustn't succumb to them, he prayed. He knew that before long his wife and son would be beside him persuading him to yield to their wishes and return to his former life.
    As his earthly thoughts and visions faded he saw himself moving towards a strong beam of light. The intensity of the light around him began to magnify and then all personal thoughts and visions vanished. He was beyond the earth's plane and in the realm where few men ventured in their earthly form and existence. He saw himself surrounded by the flora and fauna of the heavens. A bear came to feed on berries in his hand while he stroked the animal gently on its forehead. The animal showed no signs of agitation or aggression. In fact it welcomed the close connection and affection of the holy man. He was surrounded by beasts of all kinds and plants of different colours and blooms. The lake was crystal clear and he could see aquatic life forms swimming gracefully and freely while in the sky above him birds were hovering in delight.
    Suddenly, the holy man felt a small hand touching him. He opened his eyes widely but was not angry or disappointed at being woken up from his wonderful experience. It was his son and his wife. There was no emotion of any kind from the holy man as his son cried and wailed for his return. His wife stood beside the little boy but made no attempts to console him.
    The holy man took the boy by his hand and said, " My son, don't cry. Though I am away from you I shall always guide you through life. Go now with your mother and be a responsible son to her." After saying those words he closed his eyes again, never to be disturbed.
    The mother called the boy over to her and both mother and son left the place after leaving a basket full of fruits beside the holy man.

The Calling....quest For The Truth.

This is Part One of my short story, 'The Calling..........quest for The Truth.' I shall be continuing Part Two as and when time permits. Thanks for your patience.

The holy man sat cross legged in front of the bonfire he had lit a few hours ago in front of the tree , that formed his home and shelter. His bundle of clothes lay by his side. He needed a change only daily just after a bath in the river, nearby, which had been polluted over the years. He sat undisturbed, oblivious of the barking of dogs in the village across the river and the noise of the crickets in the bushes surrounding the tree. He had just finished his meal of rice and lentils and gulped down a whole mug of cold water given to him by the villagers who regarded him as a saint. He was one of them, until the calling, he believes came from the heavens above, instructing him to follow the path of love, truth and beauty.His lovely, young wife tried to persuade him to stay, at least for the sake of their only child, a son. But he felt he had to forsake all worldly desires to follow the path laid for him by the Almighty. His love for God coupled with his feelings of attachment to his family worked on him like madness until the time when his son became seriously ill and a miracle saved the boy from the clutches of death. He had prayed that if his son survives the ordeal, it is the message that it is time for him to leave his home and family in pursuit of divine knowledge and everlasting life in the afterlife.     The much awaited moment arrived. He hugged his wife and son close to his heart for the last time. Tears flowed down his cheeks as he looked at the innocent smiling face of his little boy. His son looked into his father's eyes and wondered why there were tears.
He asked,"Father why are you crying?"
 "No son, these are tears of joy....... that you are well and free of sickness. I'll be gone for a long, long, time. Take care of your mother and do not make her cry. Would you promise me that, son?"
"Yes, father," came the prompt reply, as the boy wiped the father's tears.
   The man, then grabbed his bundle of clothing tied to a staff and came out of his dwelling, to greet his fellow village folk who were waiting anxiously for his blessing. He raised his hand in a friendly gesture, his body language reflected his intentions that he wished them all well and that he had to move on. Some of his friends couldn't hold back the tears and fell at his feet.
   He raised them up and advised them not to cry during this wonderful occasion.
   "We meet to part my friends and that is the truth.....this is an illusion..... for the truth lies beyond this world of matter.......what you see here is temporary and it won't last. Seek for the everlasting life...the truth....the love.....the beauty.....and freedom from eternal bondage."
     So saying and without turning back, he walked barefooted down the dusty path leading from the village into the forest, away from man and civilisation, to blend with nature.