2016 - a week gone by and a nice new shiny badge from BlogAdda :)

7 days down in 2016 and it has been an awesome week in 2016 so far. :)

Highlights of the week…

My New Years start was pretty darn good. Close Friends, Drizzles and the Fireworks. It’s a combination that cannot go wrong ever. :) Midnight wishes SG time with the family and friends who are as good as family and a temple visit on the evening of Jan 1^st rounded it all up very well. :) :)

Last working day at Bank of Singapore was a couple of days ago. When I joined BOS, I was, more or less to say, floundering. Not knowing what I was getting into, plus I was going through a shitty personal time as well back then. Three months into the job, I was ready to quit. Honestly. And then, my manager for the better parts of my BOS journey, convinced me otherwise. He told me to take a break, come back rejuvenated and then start all over again. I did that. And then there was no looking back. I can safely say that BOS was one helluva journey. I have dipped my hands into so many aspects of the team there and have had the opportunity to learn so much there. I think it has made me evolve into a better professional at the end of the day and for that I will always thank my manager at the beginning of my stint in BOS.

I’m right now at HOME SWEET HOME. :) It has been about 7 months since I have come here. The first few hours at home, I’m like this dog who goes around sniffing each and every corner trying to grasp and mark its territory, wondering what has changed and how much. :) There is definitely no place like home as they say. Forced double helpings of all kinds of yummy food, loot from Kalam (read jackfruits, coconuts, guavas and bananas) and the fact that I am not doing one single thing. I eat, laze, read, sleep and repeat.

But the highlight of this week has to be the fact that my last post, was picked up by the good folks at BlogAdda for their TangyTuesday Picks :) … First ever time that has ever happened… and the high!! WHOA!! :) They have given me a nice shiny badge that I have updated the post with and a cute write up on their site.. So Yaaaayyy!! :)

Check this out..

So that’s been my week peeps :)

How has yours been? :)

Mango Sorbets, Rock Festivals and Celebrating Women Power at Work Fultoo Ishtyle!! ;) :P - Days 32,33 and 34 of the 100 Happy Days Challenge!!

So February’s been done with and March is here in full swing… Also, just saying, the days are flying by so fast. It’s already a week down in March… Days until now have been filled with lazy weekends, mango sorbets, rock music and some mighty good fun times at work! So far, you’re doing a pretty good job, dear March!! Please keep this up and I shall be one happy person!! Touch wood!!

The first weekend of March was one of the laziest I have ever had in a long long time. Rested so well, and did not step out of the house at all, except late Sunday evening for some minor shopping, one of which was this absolutely friggin’ delicious MANGO SORBET. Happiness in a cup! No doubts at all! Pure heaven!!

The highlight in March (so far that is) is that I attended my first ever ROCK Concert!! Thanks to this friend of mine! Singapore had its ROCK FESTIVAL over at Fort Canning Park and there were a few bands that came to play – Alter Bridge being one of them! While it was all nice and good fun and lots of energy around, the standing and the wait for it to start was a bit of a drag! But once they started; wowweee!! Pure Magic I tell you! May I please tell you that I had a lovely time!! You could actually feel the beats thrumming through the ground, to your feet all the way up to the eardrums and inside your head. I am not kidding!! Nope, Sir no! So fun was had and all that followed by a nice dinner, some good catch-up time and the pleasant feeling of having had a good time, which frankly speaking, is not that easy to come by these days!!

Women’s day is also here in all its glory and we have been having multiple celebrations at work… reason primarily being you have a team full of ONLY GIRLS (Is my mom reading this!!? :P) and therefore Women’s day HAS TO be celebrated. Even better is, you don’t leave your boss any choice but to treat you because you know he does have the additional task of dealing with mood-swings, ups and downs and all the attached frenzy of working with a team full of girls! ;) :P Hobson’s choice really! :P  But on a more serious note, it’s really heartening to see that he took the effort to treat us! :) :) Things like this make you feel special you know.. ;)  

We also channeled the Oscar Selfie pic that crashed twitter and had a mini-version of our own! Super-duper fun!!  :) And also found out this new coffee place here called Joe and Dough which serves some amazing coffee and super-awesome traditional cheesecake! :D :D 

So that’s March so far for you…

Live the short life to the fullest. Be Happy and Stay Happy. Peace out dearies!! 

"Gong Xi Fa Cai" for the Year of the Horse - Day 21 of the 100 Happy Days Challenge!!

Today’s happiness quota was fulfilled by attending this Chinese lunch at the Crystal Jade restaurant with the office colleagues. Singapore, as you all know, is a healthy mix of diverse cultures and just recently celebrated the Lunar New Year with all gung-ho. This year is the Year of the Horse and all around the place; you could see cutouts and miniature red and gold horses in a galloping frenzy, especially around the Chinatown area here. You can read more about the Chinese New Year / Lunar New Year here.

Coming back to the topic of today’s lunch – before the lunch, we started out by commending the New Year with the “traditional Lo Hei”, also known as “Prosperity Toss.” Yusheng (same thing in Chinese) is often served as part of a multi-dish dinner, usually as the appetizer due to its symbolism of "good luck" for the New Year.

These are the ingredients used and this is the meaning of the usage of each ingredient – directly and blatantly copied from Wikipedia.

When putting the yu sheng on the table New Year greetings are offered. “Gong Xi Fa Cai” meaning “Congratulations for your wealth” or “Wan Shi Ru Yi” meaning “May all your wishes be fulfilled”.

The fish is added, symbolizing abundance and excess through the year. “Nian Nian You Yu” meaning “Abundance through the year”, as the word "fish" in Mandarin also sounds like "Abundance".

The pomelo or lime is added to the fish, adding luck and auspicious value. “Da Ji Da Li” meaning “Good luck and smooth sailing”

Pepper is then dashed over in the hope of attracting more money and valuables. “Zhao Cai Jin Bao” meaning “Attract wealth and treasures”

Then oil is poured out, circling the ingredients and encouraging money to flow in from all directions. “Yi Ben Wan Li” meaning “Make 10,000 times of profit with your capital” or “Cai Yuan Guang Jin” meaning “Numerous sources of wealth”

Carrots are added indicating blessings of good luck. “Hong Yun Dang Tou” meaning “Good luck is approaching”. Carrot is used as the first character also sound like the Chinese character for red.

Then the shredded green radish is placed symbolizing eternal youth. “Qing Chun Chang Zhu” meaning “Forever young”. Green radish is used as the first character also sound like the Chinese character for green.

After which the shredded white radish is added - prosperity in business and promotion at work. “Feng Sheng Shui Qi” meaning “Progress at a fast pace” or “Bu Bu Gao Sheng” meaning “Reaching higher level with each step”

The condiments are finally added.

First, peanut crumbs are dusted on the dish, symbolizing a household filled with gold and silver. “Jin Yin Man Wu” meaning “Household filled with gold and silver”

Sesame seeds quickly follow symbolizing a flourishing business. “Sheng Yi Xing Long” meaning “Prosperity for the business”

Yu Sheng sauce, usually plum sauce, is generously drizzled over everything. “Tian Tian Mi Mi” Meaning “May life always be sweet”

Deep-fried flour crisps in the shape of golden pillows are then added with wishes that literally the whole floor would be filled with gold. “Man Di Huang Jin” meaning “Floor full of gold”…

Everyone then tosses the salad an auspicious seven times with loud shouts of Lo Hei and other auspicious New Year wishes. The ingredients are mixed by pushing them toward the center, an encouragement to push on the good luck of all at the table.

Interesting eh?  :-) So that’s what we did today.

It was my second time participating in this (the first time was around 2 years back at Citibank)… This one was fun :-) :-) really enjoyed the tossing of the ingredients… hopefully, luck will favor me better than last year! :-)

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Year of the Horse is upon us…  

So…. Saddle up, Canter on and Gallop towards a year filled with Happiness, Peace and Prosperity ….

“Gong Xi Fa Cai” all you lovely people…

Cupcake Love :D :D - Day 9 of the 100 Happy Days Challenge

It was a lazy boring day today. Very very low-key.

Got up at 12. Slept again at 3 after lunch till about 6. Then was sitting around not knowing what to do.

So me and this friend of mine, decided to simply go out for a stroll, maybe get a haircut… etc!

On our return from the mall, after again doing basically nothing, except wandering around the shops, we decided to get some donuts.

And next to the donut shop, we saw this cupcake shop!! :D  Twelve Cupcakes!

How do you make a lazy boring Saturday interesting??

You buy cupcakes, eat them and relish!! :D :D

Here’s the shot for you to drool at..

And trust me it was YUM YUM and YUM!! :D :D

“What can I say?

I've never met a cupcake I didn't want to get to know better. ;-) ;-)”

― Jasinda Wilder

You ask me which one is my favorite?? :D :D 

This one right here!! 

Sponge cupcake with Cream Cheese topping and Rainbow Sprinkles!!! :-) :-) 

YUM YUM and DOUBLE YUM!! :D :D 

A review of "Iruthiyil Yaar??" - An adaptation of 'And then there were none' by Agatha Christie.

“Ten little soldier boys went out to dine; One choked his little self and then there were Nine.

Nine little soldier boys sat up very late; One overslept himself and then there were Eight.

Eight little soldier boys travelling in Devon; One said he'd stay there and then there were Seven.

Seven little soldier boys chopping up sticks; One chopped himself in halves and then there were Six.

Six little soldier boys playing with a hive; A bumble bee stung one and then there were Five.

Five little soldier boys going in for law; One got into Chancery and then there were Four.

Four little soldier boys going out to sea; A red herring swallowed one and then there were Three.

Three little soldier boys walking in the Zoo; A big bear hugged one and then there were Two.

Two little soldier boys sitting in the sun; One got frizzled up and then there was One.

One little soldier boy left all alone; He went and hanged himself and then there were None.”

- And then there were none
- Agatha Christie (6 Nov 1939)

(Source: Wiki)

A Classic murder mystery. One of the top best-selling mystery novels. Over a 100 million sales to date. One of my most favorite murder mysteries ever. Adapted and remade in several other mediums.

And I happened to catch one of them over the last weekend. Which means, Yes! This post is way overdue and I got swamped at work to get down to writing it. But then hey! Better late than never, right? Right!! :D Oh and also, the play was in Tamil. :)

Avant Theatre – a Singapore Arts & Theatre group – put up a play titled ‘Iruthiyil Yaar’ an adaptation of this best-seller.

I’ll admit it, I was skeptical! I had never watched a Tamil play before. Heck! I had never watched a play before this. And they were doing an adaptation of a classic. The book is one that runs over 150 pages of well-crafted suspense and I was curious to know how they would squeeze this into a 1.5hr play. I was ready to take up daggers if this was not up to my expectations.

Fortunately, it exceeded my expectations by leaps and bounds.

So what caught my eye? :)

Some specific things like the use of space, or what was available of it. The play was staged at ‘Aliwal Arts House Black Box’, a setting which is a little different from conventional staging. They made amazing use of the available space, created an old house, complete with chandelier and a bar at the side. Impressed!

The lighting and the sound effects. Good stuff! Some of the background pieces were really good and there was no hitch anywhere at all, which was a good thing!

The dolls. Yes. The 10 dolls, lined up on one corner of the stage, one of which disappeared with or right before the next killing. What’s so interesting about the dolls you ask? Well, the way they disappeared! It was noticeable only after the first two killings and even then it was not evident how they managed to remove one doll at a time without anyone noticing. I thought it was a string that pulled down the dolls, and I did see one of them being tugged off the table, but the crew said that it was not the method used. Still a suspense that one is! Trade secrets, they said! ;)

The CAST – Good performances by all. And the catch-phrase that Divya used – ‘IT’S SO ANNOYING’ – caught on quite fast, I must say! :-) Pretty good dialogues. Very relatable and some subtle puns here and there. Overall, a very enjoyable play. You could see that the actors had put in their life and soul to make this work and to make each character believable. That’s the thing about good performances! The dedication shines through no matter what! Being a performer myself, I get that feeling. The jittery nerves right before a performance, the slipping away of the butterflies in the tummy the minute you get into character and the self-satisfaction of a job well-done at the end of it. That was evident on the faces of each and every one of the crew!! :)

Even though, there were some slight deviations from the book, it was definitely a commendable performance and I really enjoyed watching it.

Here’s hoping that Avant comes up with more memorable and awesome plays.

Keep up the good work Guys! Kudos! :)

I, Cyclops - Lord Shiva, X-Men and Dance! Interested? :-)

It’s no big secret how passionate I am about dance. I have written about it here and here. I have expounded on how much certain dance videos have moved me and how crazy I am about it. And this is not restricted to just any one type of dance. I love D.A.N.C.E. Any type of dance!! Classical, Western, Contemporary, Latin American, Dappankoothu, Fusion, anything as long as it’s aesthetic and pleasant to watch. :-) 

So when I got the opportunity to do a write up for an upcoming dance show here in Singapore, courtesy Pravasi Express, I did what any person ardent and obsessive about dance would do – grabbed it with both hands! :D  :D

And now guess what I am waiting to watch, come 28^th July …

A fusion performance called – I, Cyclops – featuring dancers of Canada and Singapore. It is being organized by Bhaskar’s Arts Academy, a name synonymous with dance in Singapore in collaboration with inDANCE, a company from Canada.

An excerpt from their flyer –

“Featuring exquisite dancers from Singapore and Canada, with a cutting-edge music score from master musicians in India, Singapore and the UK, I, Cyclops is a deliciously rowdy work that catapults the viewer between the mystical god Siva's Third Eye and sexy Cyclops’/James Marsden's cool visor in Hollywood’s X-Men reboot. Choreographer Hari Krishnan reveals vivid moments from his own tripolar dystopian universe, mirroring his artistic east-to-west passage, from Singapore to Canada via India.”

Catch a sneak preview here - https://vimeo.com/69861096

I am an ardent aficionado of Lord Shiva. I am a huge fan of the X-Men series. A combination of these two – and I am hooked! :D :D

Can’t wait to watch this show at, NAFA Lee Foundation Theatre on 28^th Jul 2013 at 7:30PM …

Anyone interested in joining me… details below...

28 July 2013 (Sun), 7.30pm - NAFA Lee Foundation Theatre

Tickets priced at: $20 & $30

Get your tickets now at: Nrityalaya Aesthetics Society Tel: 63366537 & Bhaskar’s Arts Academy Tel: 63964523

Summer's here!!! So is Evam's Workshop for Kids! :) :)

What did summer vacations mean to you? The months of April, May and June… To me, it was all fun, trips, mangoes, get-togethers, lots of sleeping, eating and driving the parents up the wall saying that we were bored :P Today though, there are so much more options, I say! Kids these days have a lot more options than any of our generation or the ones before us had… and I mean that in a good way!!

Have you seen what the kids of today are capable of?? They are street-smart and are much more adept at using technology and gadgets while we still sometimes struggle with our smart phones… they dance like they can give stiff competition to the world’s best … they sing effortlessly and put many a talented singer to shame and some of them are so advanced for their ages that they give the older generations (including me!) a huge complex…  

Bunch of talented youngsters we have I say… It’s heartening to see the expanse of talent that is both explicit as well as hidden in most of the kiddos today and it is to hone these very talents that some of the biggest names in the field are flying down as facilitators for a summer workshop conducted by EVAM.  

Yes people!

Evam’s back in Singapore….  :D 

This time with SUMMER WORKSHOPS for Kiddos…

Looking for details… Here you go!!

About the courses:

	5-7 yrs		8-9 yrs
	9 am to 11.30 am	11.30 am to 2 pm	2 pm to 4.30 pm	4.30 pm to 7 pm
10-16 June (Venue: Pangdemonium)	Theatre (pinty)	Music (sudha)	Music (sudha)	Theatre (pinty)
17 - 23 June (Venue: NUS PGP function room 4)	Music (vedanth)	Theatre (pinty)	Theatre (pinty)	Music (vedanth)

Each of the above courses runs for a week (2.5 hours every day) and is charged at SGD250/person. Logon to SISTIC for registering - http://tinyurl.com/dxnhc3r

For further details:

Call: +6593886994 Email:  mailsgp@evam.in

About the facilitators:

1. Dr. Sudha Raja holds a doctorate in Indian Music from the University of Madras.  She has been training school groups and communities in choral singing & Indian Carnatic Music for the past 2 decade.  

Name of course:  The Harmony Project

The workshop introduces us to harmony, and its various forms. What we understand as sound, music, rhythm, silence and how it all comes together to create magic. The participants will learn songs in many Indian languages, and how harmony adds texture and colour to music.

2. Vedanth Bharadhwaj is an accomplished singer, composer and guitarist. He composes for top musicians in India, films, theatre and ads, and is a virtuoso performer. Guitars, banjos and just about any stringed instruments come alive in Vedanth’s hands.

Name of course: The Young Composers

Music is in all of us and in everything around us! In this workshop, learn the concept of harmony and rhythm. Try your hand at writing lyrics, give it a tune and perform your very own first song!

3. Padmavathi Rao - For the last ten years, Padmavathi (or Pinty akka as children fondly call her), has been doing theatre with and for children. Padmavathi conducts storytelling, puppetry and conducting summer theatre workshops in Bangalore as she has done over the last ten years on a regular basis.

The structure of the workshops will be flexible in order to work with the realities of the workshop and children’s individual and group processes.

Name of Course: Collage - Category:  Theatre (5-7)

This workshop aims at moving from a 2-D collage to a collage of emotions as it were. The children are taken through a journey of exploring their realities, their likes and dislikes, the obstacles they perceive in expressing themselves.

Name of Course: Drama of Things - Category:  Theatre (8 to 9)

The workshop aims at finding strengths that lie within so that children can find joy in what they do. It endeavours to put children in touch with the blocks they encounter and at least begin to take the first steps towards overcoming them.

So what are you still waiting for? :-)

Get going and register your kiddos now…  

Have fun and let me know how it turns out to be!! J J J

HERE’S TO A ROLLICKING SUMMER AHEAD! J

'So Sorry about Little India' - A Review & An Interview with 'Evam Karthik'!

“Being an Indian is a pain… Being a South Indian is a bigger pain!!” …

Four glib-tongued, smooth-talking performers, a little less than 1.5 hours, an audience that willingly lapped up all the one-liners, remarks, and well-meaning insults with nothing but laughter…

This was “So Sorry about Little India!!” … Evam’s standup-comedy act …

When Divya offered me a pass to the show, I had absolutely no idea what to expect. I have to be honest here. I have only watched standup comedy on YouTube before this and that was Russell Peters and Vir Das. I will admit that I was a little nervous and so took a seat right at the back, poised with a pen and notebook, ready to jot down points for I was to do a review of the show.

You see that first point up there about being Indian... Well, that’s the only one I noted down! I didn’t have time to note down the rest of it for I was clutching my sides, laughing out loud, something that I don’t do alone ‘coz I am weird like that. :-P

Evam was brilliant and brilliant would be a mighty understatement… check out the range of topics that were covered… 

From South Indian surnames to public display of affection to the Kama sutra to the behavioural tendencies of Indians to dissecting the different types of girls that a guy meets on a date, feminism, astrology, they covered it all… and if you are Indian or even better, if you are a South Indian, you will totally totally get it! :-)

And if the show was the cake, guess what the icing on the cake was… 

You see this guy?  Yep! That’s the one!

That ladies and gentlemen is ‘Evam Karthik’ as he is popularly known, and I interviewed him after this show! :D :D

Yes you can see my Cheshire cat grin… :D :D

Go on… Read on … while I still keep grinning... :-) :-)

A 20 minute chat and here are some interesting snippets from the conversation …

Me: Why such a short show today? You got an awesome response today and it was a really entertaining show.

KK: 75 minutes is what we promised. It’s always best to quit when the audience wants more. In standup comedy it’s always best to quit when you are ahead.

Me: What do you do for sponsorships? How do you run your shows here, apart from the ticket sales?

KK:  We are completely self-funded. We haven’t been sponsored by anybody for this tour. If you realize, sponsorship is not a sustainable model. You can get sponsors once and twice and it’s not something that a professional group like Evam relies upon unless we have a very big project. A project if it’s small should be self-sustainable.

Me: Isn’t that risky?

KK: It is. It definitely is. But then any business is and we see ART as a business. It should be a business. Lot of people do art as a passion or a hobby, but they don’t continue to keep doing it prolifically. We do shows in Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Coimbatore, almost every other week even in unconventional places where we get paid nothing at all, but it’s only to keep the wheels lubricated.

Me: It’s very hard to make people laugh and judging by the audience reactions; you had a terrific response here. Tell me a bit about the shows here.

KK: We are doing four shows here at 900 capacity and we are currently filling at about 80% of that. For a debut tour that’s not bad at all considering that this tour will nett us a 15%-20% profit. Usually in a debut tour you lose money. So we will be going back home happy.

Me: Evam basically encompasses the entire art gamut right from management to education to entertainment. Isn’t that so?

KK: Yes. We are basically an arts entrepreneurship. And most of our growth has come organically. We started out as dreamers and we wanted to make a living out of the arts. We are a 12 member company with offices in Chennai and Bangalore. We have started a legitimate Singapore office so that we can do business here every three months, and we hope to have our first permanent employee in about 12 months.

Me: Great. How do you guys scout for new talent? Do you get talent coming to you, or do you do auditions and such?

KK: Well as far as creative talent goes, we work on a project-to-project basis. We have a repertoire of 7 stand-ups right now and we constantly source new stand-ups who we taken in and train to become stand-up comedy artistes. Most artistes are contracted with us for a certain period of time. Once the contract finishes they are free to look out and carve a niche for them as well. Mostly it’s a yearly contract. As far as India is concerned, Stand-up comedy is still in a nascent stage and it’s new. It’s irreverent, brash and there are no taboos.

Me: How about your content for the show? Does that depend on audience reactions or is it impromptu?

KK: About 40% of the show everyday changes because of the audience. This is my weapon and armoury and it depends on me what I am going to pull out based on the way the audience reacts. 30% of today’s show was also impromptu.

Me: So when are you coming here next?

KK: The next activity we are bringing down is our two-week children’s summer camp in June which is a lot of art-based workshops for children – Indian story-telling, puppetry, theatre, music, dance etc. thereafter we are likely to follow that up with two stand up shows one of Evam’s and one of touring UK artists sometime in Sept-Oct. (more details on that to follow!!)

Karthik, I need to tell you that you were really charming and you answered my questions with a lot of patience. And most importantly, you were my first CELEBRITY INTERVIEW :-) :-)

Thank you for the interview! :) It was a pleasure interviewing you.

Hope to see a lot more of you guys in Singapore!! Good luck with your upcoming projects and films! :) :)