My “Cabinet of Curiosities” (Object 5: Indian Festivals)

For me Indian festivals play a big part in my life, as I am a Hindu. The reason for my curiosity is because the festivals are very unified and pure. The main festivals I am referring to are: The festival of light (Diwali) and Holi.

First off Diwali is all about bringing the forces of light into the world and banishing the forces of evil with it. This is done by lighting candles and emerging area’s in light in order to welcome the gods to one’s neighbourhood or house etc.

Follow link: Diwali Explained

http://www.dailypicsupdate.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/god-ganesh-at-diwali-festival.jpg

Diwali is the five-day festival of lights, celebrated by millions of Hindus, Sikhs and Jains across the world. The festival, which coincides with the Hindu New Year, celebrates new beginnings and the triumph of good over evil and light over darkness. The actual day of Diwali is traditionally celebrated on the festival’s third day, which this year falls on Thursday, October 23. The festival usually falls between the middle of October and the middle of November, although this is decided upon by the Hindu lunar calendar. While each faith has its own reason to celebrate the festival, one of the most popular stories told is the legend of Lord Rama and his wife Sita returning to their kingdom in northern India from exile after defeating the demon king Ravanna in the 15th century BC.

Source: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/diwali-2014-what-is-the-festival-of-lights-and-how-is-it-celebrated-9810212.html

The second main festival is often described as the festival of colour, termed as “Holi”.

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The festival of colour explained (Extract below taken from this link)

Holi is one of the oldest festivals of India. There are many interesting stories associated with the festival’s origin as one moves across the different states from North to South and East to West. Paintings and scriptures depict the roots of the festival. Mythology plays a very important part in narrating the festival of Holi. The most popular stories of Holi origin relates to ‘Holika Dahan’ and Legend of Radha-Krishan.

Holi (an introduction)

Overall these two main festivals are important to me. They are not only part of my religion as a Hindu, but also a part of me. This is because of what the festivals stand for. The main message being to honour god and to bring light out of the darkness in each instance. The festivals also bring together families alike due to the happiness the festivals bring and so forth. Thus it is for this reason that my curiosity of Indian festivals comes a lot from what I believe in as a religious individual. Furthermore my mum is quite religious thus she believes in celebrating festivals like these. Mostly celebrating Diwali every year. For which she and myself light candles and put them outside our house to welcome the God’s to our home. In order to bless us and all those around us. With the candles we light acting as a protective shield against the evil spirits, which may try to enter our house.

My “Cabinet of Curiosities” (Object 4: Celebrities/The pressures of being famous)

First off (taken from ‘oxforddictionaries.com’) a celebrity can be defined as either the state of being well-known or a famous person in sport or entertainment.

For me the reason I’m really curious about celebrities is because they are all around us. Considering how almost anyone can become a celebrity due to multimedia platforms taking off during recent years. For example blogging has risen considerable especially through YouTube. This is because many bloggers have become virtually famous.

One success story among many is the YouTube blogger ‘Zoella’ (please follow link below)

Zoella

It’s important to realise that many issues surround celebrities. For example although this article(link below) was published in the 90’s. It gives a real insight behind the glitz and glamour surrounding fame.

“The Other Side of Fame”

Overall my curiosity of fame stems from the wide world around me. This is because of the actors and singers who are out their making a name for themselves. Especially in today’s day and age there are many young stars who are garnering fame at an extremely early point in their career. Thus it’s for this reason that temptation can become an easy route out (i.e. drugs and so forth). Thus it’s important to make sure that the fame doesn’t become to over whelming for them. Especially in today’s era where social networking sites can be accessed by anyone. Thus its even more easier to send hateful messages to celebrities. Furthermore mounting on the pressure for them as well as the pressure that their talent holds too.

Latest articles of “the pressure of fame” have been attached below. With the main article concerning “One Direction’s: Zayn Malik”.

Fame (Zayn Malik)

Fame and Addiction: Fame and Addiction (Info.)

Kate Moss and “the pressures of fame”: Kate Moss and Fame

Lulu and the pressures of being famous at a young age: Lulu’s insight on Fame

Selena Gomez sends out warning of the pressures of fame: Selena Gomez’s warning on Fame

Rihanna and the pressures of fame (recent): Rihanna and Fame

My “Cabinet of Curiosities” (Object 3: Reading)

Reading for me is a way that I can escape from the world for a few hours or even minutes. However it also means I can take up a new identity. For example there may be a character that I really like (whether that be the protagonist or even antagonist). Thus I may put myself in their shoes to imagine their thoughts and feelings. For me this helps to make sense of the wider world in some ways, especially for someone like myself.

Most recently I read “The Girl in The Red Coat” by Kate Hamer. The storyline followed an eight year old girl being kidnapped by a man, who supposedly was her grandfather which her single mum had no contact with any more. It turns out that the man works with the church seeking ‘the divine child’ who has healing properties. Thus the eight year old girl is held captive (which she is unaware of) for her healing powers.

For me this book was extremely interesting considering religion was brought into it. However you could say the ugly side of religion was shown. In the way that it can be quite controlling and unforgiving if it is to be practised by the wrong people as such. The story also featured the themes of loss, love, hope and redemption. Thus for me this book was a very unusual yet suspenseful read. Considering its narrative focuses on a young girl going missing, with the effects following taking on an twisty route.

The Girl in The Red Coat (blurb)

Below (insert) are some of the books I have read and thoroughly enjoyed.

Overall the reason for me including ‘Reading’ in my cabinet of curiosities is because i have it to be very personal to me. This is because even if i don’t read for a few weeks or so when i do the satisfaction is very special. The reason being that I’m transcended into someone else’s world which I immediately have to adapt my self into. In order for me to truly feel the story for all it is. This helps me to think of alternate endings from each of the characters. Helping me to prolong the story, making it live on in my mind. Reading also helps with my creativity as I look at things from a different angle. For example from perspectives which are small to those which take the centre stage. Thus making sense of the real world in todays day and age.

My “Cabinet of Curiosities” (Object 2: Reality TV)

My curiosity of reality TV was explored further during my A2 Media studies course. This was because our brief involved looking into reality TV amongst other areas for our exam. For me this particular type of television really stood out amongst the other types of TV. In particular the programmes we focused on included ‘MTV’s Catfish’,’MTV’s Teen Mom’ and’E4’s Made in Chelsea’.

Some interesting articles which I have found have been attached below:

Reality TV and Social Class

Reality_Check-libre (Catfish ‘Reality Check’)

‘Teen Mom’: Influencing their audience

True link between pregnancy and teen mom

Teen Mom (Article)

Teen Mom effect

Catfish (Effects)

The truth behind reality TV shows: The Timeline (Open Link)

Reality TV has grown a lot since the 90’s: ‘The 90’s’

What’s interesting however is drawing a link between ‘Candid Camera’ to ‘Made in Chelsea’ (see link below)

C.C Vs M.I.C

For me reality TV makes an interesting point of discussion. This is because I often wonder why these shows are created the way that they are. For example ‘Teen Mom’s’ main purpose is to create an awareness of teen pregnancy. However young audiences are extremely impressionable. Thus may use the programme as an inspiration to feature on reality TV. Seeking to get pregnant young, whilst not really understanding the long-term effects such as: money struggles, addiction, guilt, regret and so forth. Considering they may not want a child for the right reasons but rather for the wrong reasons, leaving them pregnant at a very young age. Where they themselves as still a child and not yet an adult. Thus the fascination for me with reality TV is the effect it has on young audiences and the message it sends out to them.

Reality TV in some ways does inspire me considering I hope to one day become a director.In particular, whats really fascinating is how directors of many reality tv shows capture situations. For example  in “Catfish” the director captures various viewpoints from the victim to the catfishee. Thus is projecting a variety of messages to the audience, which are decoded in various ways by them prior to the encoded message.

My “Cabinet of Curiosities” (Object 1: Bollywood)

Since I was very little I have had a deep interest in Bollywood films. I remember one of the first Bollywood films which I ever watched was “Devdas: Sanjay Leela Bhansali 2002” . This film in particular portrayed love, family, betrayal, addiction amongst many other themes. Although I was very young at the time to really understand the films underlining message. This didn’t stop me from feeling the music of the film in a way that transcended my dance style in a dramatic way even to this day. In particular the song “Maar Dala (Video Song)” which translates to ‘Killed Me’ revolves around a courtesan dancer confessing how her lover has killed her with not loving her back in the way she loves him. Considering he still has feelings for his childhood sweet heart ‘Paro’ which he had to leave behind. The song presents India’s traditional dance style of ‘Kathak’ which consists of fancy footwork with elaborate costumes aiding the intense beats of the style itself. Along with ‘Kathak’ comes the expressions considering the dance style can be translated to ‘storytelling’. Thus this particular dance form is all about telling a story with ones body through their eyes, stance and so forth. Engaging the audience in a variety of ways, making them feel apart of the dance itself by communicating to them a very intricately woven story.

The reason this film in particular means a lot to me is because it portrays ‘Kathak’, which I learned from the age of 4 to 8. Eventually leaving the classes to teach my self various moves and notions etc. From this point I explored many other classical Bollywood films. From which I deciphered their meanings and the way in which the story was being projected onto the audience. One example is the 1960 Evergreen Bollywood film (which was reproduced into colour back in 2004, emerging as a commercial success) ‘Mughal-e-Azam‘. One song in particular among many in the film expresses how one should not be afraid when falling in love. This song is called ‘Pyar Kiya To Darna Kya’: see link:Video Song (P.K.T.D.K).

Note: The full translation of the song talked about above can be found on: “http://www.bollynook.com/en/lyrics/7877/maar-dala/”http://www.bollynook.com/en/lyrics/7877/maar-dala/”

Very recently I performed a modern Bollywood dance. However the song which i danced too borrows some elements of Kathak such as the beats and expressions. This song is called ‘Hamari Atariya Pe’ which translates too ‘upon my balcony’. The song follows the story of a women luring in her lover upon her balcony making sure he doesn’t get ‘poisoned’ by the neighbour next door. As the women wants her lover to be adorned with food and drink by her only.

Follow Link: H.A.P (Ash Patel: Original Dance)

Below are images of my dancing gear which is very personal to me. Thus I have included it in my cabinet of curiosities as my first item. Considering I have a very deep interest in Bollywood dancing (i.e Kathak) and Bollywood films (including evergreen films to modern ones, along with their soundtracks).

A collection of my dance gear. Featuring my costume, bells, music cd’s and Kathak grade book.

My bells (goungroos) and my Kathak grade book. Which I used during my 4 years of Kathak (from the age of 4 to 8).