Our multicoloured, multicultural, multifaith Holi Colour Fight!

So many cultures, so many ways of welcoming Spring.

I have been fascinated by festivals and holidays around the world ever since I was a child. I first read about the Hindu spring festival of Holi in a magazine and immediately made it a life goal to participate in a Holi Colour Fight.

It wasn't until much later that I found out about the grisly origins of the festival. Thank you, Amar Chitra Katha comics, you always present horrific stories of homicide attempts and mass deaths in such a palatable manner.

I know of one or two temples in Malaysia that observe Holi and invite outsiders to participate in the revelry, but their timing always seem to clash with mine. It's almost always the same weekend as our Malaysian Nature Society's annual Raptor Watch. And so I had to miss the Holi celebrations each year.

Last month, however, while exploring and cleaning up the Bukit Nanas Forest Reserve with my friend Cat, she proposed throwing our own Holi party and proceeded to create a Facebook event on the same the very next day. Within hours, over 150 friends were invited and over 20 replied that they would be attending. Well, there was no turning back or backing out then. We were going to throw our own Holi party.

We hadn't considered how difficult it would be to find Holi powder in Malaysia. Cat asked around and finally found a shop in Brickfields, New Malliga, that sold Holi powder. I made some of my own as well using cornflour, food colouring and salt (to prevent the dough from turning mouldy prior to drying out). The store-bought Holi powder was more like Rangoli powder and didn't form powdery cloudbursts like those seen in travel magazine photos, so we experimented again and mixed the coloured powders with wheat flour until we got the colour intensity and cloudburst effect that we want.

I wanted to make sure it was a green and low-waste party, so I brought biodegradable rubbish bags for litter and reusable bowls to put the coloured powders in. These are ice cream bowls from one of CovertMum's birthday potluck parties years ago. I can wash and reuse these for many more years to come. We didn't use any balloons, styrofoam cups or other disposables during the party. Everything was either reused or recycled.

I sent out reminders for the party guests to wear white t-shirts and old clothes that they didn't mind getting dirtied, and bring rubbish bags to line their car seats with and water to clean themselves up with. We had breakfast with some of those who arrived early for the party.

After breakfast, we adjourned to the large park up the street from my bachelor pad. I chose this park because guests can then walk over to my house to clean themselves up or shower after the colour fight. I volunteer at the Recycling Centre here and clean up this park regularly.

Adrian, Sharon and I cleaned up the park to ensure it is nice and tidy even before we began.  

Brynn, Pippa, Cat and some of the others helped to mix colours.

The other party guests soon arrived and excitement started to build up, especially when Cat started playing Bollywood dance music on her little stereo. We introduced ourselves and made new friends.

Don't we all look nice and neat in our white shirts before the colour fight!

At the word "Go", we went crazy with the coloured powders.

Would-be escapees were brought back into the battle zone to be punished with colours.

Adrian, the self-proclaimed evil overlord of coloured powders, terrorised bigger opponents.

Jackson Pollock would have been so proud of us.

The Gingerbeard Boys!

Shyam and I attempt a Sonic Boom.

Nailed it!

Not an inch of white tee was spared. We changed colours, like human gobstoppers. We had layers upon layers of coloured powder on us. It was fantastic.

Such happy hooligans! So hard to believe that we started out all clean and white.

Everyone had to help with the tidying up.

We cleaned up the park and left it in a better state than before the colour fight.

It was two hours of insanity and laughter. What a bizarre procession of multi-coloured individuals it was that marched down the road to my bachelor pad to clean themselves up! The neighbours must have stared in amazement as the gaggle of revellers washed themselves with the water that I stored in the storage tubs for this purpose. 

Many of the ladies opted to shower in the privacy and comfort of the bathroom. Katniss and Pixie, the most sociable of my cats, were positively thrilled to see so many guests. They must have thought that my friends had come for the specific purpose of playing with them. They did receive a lot of attention from the ladies who were waiting for their turns to use the shower. Snacks and beverages were handed out to the hungry hordes.

Our multicoloured, multicultural, multifaith, low-waste green Holi celebrations was an enormous success, and I can't wait to do it again next year. Next year, I will try to make all the coloured powders myself out of food-grade ingredients, and I am sure I can think up activities to challenge the participants with. 

So here's to spring, new friends and old, wild games and communal recreational spaces!

(Photo credits: Alison Sandra Murugesu, Shyam Priah and me)

In Search of the Bukit Nanas Secret Tunnel

When the local dailies reported in January that a hitherto secret tunnel has been found in the Bukit Nanas forest reserve, my curiosity was piqued. The tunnel is reported to be centuries old and stretches all the way from the forest reserve to the Klang River bank. 

(Photo reproduced from The Star without permission but in accordance with the principles of fair use.)

By early February, urban ennui began to set in, and I itched to explore the forest reserve to try to locate the tunnel. The long Lunar New Year break meant that I had the opportunity to meet up with some of my good friends and plan a hike into the forest reserve.

I have always loved green lungs, urban parks and forest reserves. Surprisingly, however, I have only ever explored one particular part of the Bukit Nanas Forest Reserve, namely, the shortcut to the KL Tower Terrace through the back door of the Craft Centre across the road from the Dang Wangi LRT station. This is an interesting little shortcut because it takes you through the jungle path and across a child-sized suspension bridge to a hidden children's playground at the foot of the KL Tower. I have always recommended this as a school holiday destination to my friends who have children with a thirst for adventure.

This time, however, my friends Nicole, Catherine, Aravind and Delphine and I took another route, through Lebuh Ampang. We had a massive banana leaf rice meal to neutralise the effects of several days of eating Chinese food during the Lunar New Year celebrations. 

Then we stopped by a shop selling Hindu prayer items to purchase natural soaps, coconut oil, henna and other prayer supplies.

I took pictures of the Art Deco architectural features of some of the shophouses in Lebuh Ampang while waiting for my friends to make their purchases. Check out those ziggurat roofs!

We then walked up the hill, past St. John's Cathedral, St. John's Institution and Convent Bukit Nanas to the entrance of the forest reserve. We practically had the whole place to ourselves. 

We walked up the paved road, admiring plants and hugging trees. 

I pulled out a few rubbish bags and we proceeded to pick up any litter we saw.

We climbed up watchtowers and walked along suspension bridges, but no secret tunnel came into sight.

It was a scorcher of an afternoon, so we took shelter in one of the watchtowers to cool down.

We explored the Herb and Spice Gardens and marvelled at fruiting pineapple plants, but still saw no secret tunnel.

We sang as we filled up the rubbish bags, and climbed over railings to pick up litter that people threw over the railings. Still, our search turned up no tunnels.

After two hours, we decided to make our way back to civilisation (ha!), back to our world of burglar alarms and traffic jams. 

We went round the back of the Bukit Nanas Tourist Information Centre, where we encountered two adorable cats, who we immediately played with and cuddled. All resolve to locate the infernal secret tunnel melted away as we rolled on the floor with the cats and offered them kibbles and clean drinking water.

We asked the lady in the Information Counter about the tunnel. She seemed suspicious of our motives and asked how we knew about the tunnel, and we told her that it is all over the news and hardly a secret. She informed us that the tunnel is in an undisclosed location facing Jalan Ampang and is not open to the public yet. This was a bummer, but we had a lovely day out with friends and we managed to clean up the forest reserve and play with nice cats, so how could we stay disappointed for long?

On our walk back to the train station, we stopped by the Telecommunications Museum to ham it up with some props.

Taking time out to connect with nature made all the difference to my Lunar New Year celebrations this year. I propose that all festive breaks henceforth include spending time outdoors in nature.

So long, Bukit Nanas, and we will be back to look for the secret tunnel again soon!

Monthly Bucket List, February 2015

February was such a short month that I had hardly noticed that it had come and gone. The good thing is that this is mostly because we had almost a full week off for the Lunar New Year, and so my days were a whirlwind of activities with friends and family. 

1. Make a new friend. 

During Dr. Jane Goodall's visit to Malaysia in late Jan 2015, I had the opportunity to give her a present -- a pewter turtle necklace from the Turtle Conservation Society of Malaysia, a bird card letting her know how much she means to me, and a copy of my blogpost on reading The Watcher to the boys of Anbu Illam, that I had hestitated to print out for days and then finally decided that no, it wasn't too silly and she wasn't going to toss it into her recycling bin, and even if she did, I would take a chance and give it to her anyway in the hopes that she would read it. 

She didn't merely read it. She LOVED it. I didn't leave my contact information in the card, so she contacted the Roots & Shoots Malaysia project manager, Jyunichi, and asked him to help her track me down so she could thank me for it. Jyunichi and his partner Beatrice succeeded in tracking me down and contacting me, which of course left me ecstatic and giddy with joy. 

When our other Jane Goodall Groupie friend Holly informed Petra and me that she would be coming to KL for a few days, it was decided that we would all meet up for a slap-up vegan dinner to celebrate Dr. Jane and the inspiration that she is. I got to make 3 new friends -- TP Lim, Jyunichi and Beatrice -- over dinner at Radhey's that night, and was really impressed to meet people as passionate and mindful as they are. I signed up with Roots & Shoots Malaysia the same night and will assist as a volunteer whenever required. 

2. Help a stranger. 

Two new stray cats received help from my Project Second Chance in February, namely Tauriel, one of the food court cats in my area that I have been trying to trap for spaying, and Sophie, a week-old kitten I found abandoned in the same food court. 

Tauriel was supposed to be boarded until she gave birth and her kittens are weaned, but she gave birth to one stillborn kitten, and on Dr. Pushpa's advice, we allowed Tauriel a recuperation period of 2 weeks before spaying her. She turned out to be very affectionate and the SPCA offered to help me put her up for adoption rather than have her released back on the streets, so here's to yet another 'Stray No More' success story! 

Tiny baby Sophie was found sans littermates and mother in the same food court, possibly abandoned by a cruel human being, and would almost certainly be dead if I haven't taken her in. A very kind Facebook friend banked in some money to me for Sophie's vet bills and basic needs, and this enabled me to have Sophie boarded with Kak Mazni, our SPCA cat caretaker, for a week, as Sophie still needed to be bottlefed every 2 hours and I cannot bottlefeed kittens in, or bring animals to, this office. After 4-5 days, Sophie discovered she has teeth, and decided she liked the taste of Fancy Feast, and has not looked back since. 

Here is Sophie, back with me and able to eat on her own. The little one had a case of the flu this week so she is not completely out of danger yet. She is on medication and supplements, however, and her condition seems to have stabilised. She is active and has good appetite, and there is hardly any discharge coming out of her eyes and nose anymore. We will keep our fingers crossed for her! 

I haven't volunteered for any new causes in Feb (I signed up with Roots & Shoots Malaysia but have not started doing any work for them yet), but I did conduct cleanups in 2 new places. 

On 22 Feb 2015, 4 friends and I decided to take advantage of the festive break to explore Bukit Nanas Forest Reserve, and I brought along rubbish bags to clean the forest reserve up with. We did a pretty good job and the garbage came down with us. 

On 28 Feb 2015, Aravind and I volunteered with Reach Out Malaysia as usual, but this time as helpers for their Chinese New Year street party for the homeless and urban poor. My friends Nicole, Karen and Shamini turned up to contribute food and help, and while our homeless friends were enjoying the food, we walked to the underground pedestrian crossing areas with our rubbish bags and claws and cleaned up the entire area. We did a really good job on this one, too. 

My friends are beginning to enjoy volunteering very much and are not embarrassed or squeamish about helping me clean up the streets anymore. 

I'd consider this a double win -- I cleaned up a part of town I have never previously cleaned up, for the benefit of strangers; and I recruited friends to help out and now they are no longer strangers to volunteering and public clean-ups. 

3. Eat something/at someplace new to me. 

February was a month of feasting. My family and I ate at new-to-us restaurants in IOI City Mall on the day of our outing to the District 21 adventure theme park. 

On one of the days I had to do last-minute Lunar New Year shopping, I stopped by a new-to-me cafeteria, Farmers Street, for a snacky dinner of pie tees, hot peanut dessert and an iced mango dessert. Everything was delicious. 

On the second day of the Lunar New Year, I took my parents on a day out to see Lunar New Year decorations at Nu Sentral and we had hand-folded ice cream in waffle bowls at The Cream & Fudge Factory, also new to me. 

4. Go someplace I've never been. 

On 16 February, we had a family outing at District 21 Theme Park, IOI City Mall, a destination new to us. 

On 22 February, my friends and I explored Bukit Nanas Forest Reserve, which I have never previously explored except briefly while using a shortcut from the Dang Wangi LRT station to KL Tower. I didn't even know that the forest reserve has canopy walkways and watchtowers. We had a great time connecting with nature and hugging trees. 

5. Learn something new. 

On 7 Feb 2015, MNS Green Living launched a light bulb and e-waste collection and recycling programme at the Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) headquarters, in collaboration with, and with the kind assistance of, a non-governmental organisation, The Electronics and Electrical Association of Malaysia (TEEAM). 

An awareness talk was delivered in our auditorium by TEEAM's representative, Dr. Lai, an engineer, and the other participants and I learned many fascinating facts about mercury poisoning, dioxins, pollution and the recycling of scheduled wastes. 

6. Declutter and cull 100 items. 

My decluttering projects are coming along fast and furious. Each week, I pick out 2-3 different cabinets, boxes, shelves or bags to empty out and declutter. Hundreds of items went into the recycling bins or were donated to related causes. 

When I was back at the parental home during the Lunar New Year break, I spring cleaned my room and removed many things that I have been keeping since childhood. I have an enormous collection of newspaper clippings on topics I find interesting or useful. Sadly, most of the content of these articles are either outdated now, or available online. I recycled most of the yellowed news clippings, and reduced the number of binders from 4 to just 1. I've retained only the clippings that meant a lot to me, in particular those featuring my friends and the causes we volunteer for, and my collection of "Shakespeare Today" articles by Ralph Berry. 

Even my bookcase was cleaned out, although it has always been very neat and orderly. I love the way it looks even more now. I colour-coordinated my books in the 1990s, long before 'rainbow bookshelves' became a design trend. 

It seems strange to think that someone who buys so little and practices environmental responsibility and minimalism would have so many things to declutter and dispose of. In my defence, most of the items were not things I purchased. Most, like newspaper articles, are things that are already there. Some are just items brought home from events, trips and outings -- foreign coins from my travels, programmes from a play, door gifts from dinner parties. Many are gifts, although I specifically ask for 'No Presents But Your Presence' from friends and family during special occasions. Even my parents can't get rid of their habit of getting me 'a little something' on their many trips abroad, despite knowing that I don't want 'stuff', and have always told them to bring back edible treats from their travels because food is not wasteful and allows a better glimpse into a different culture better than a plastic Made-In-China fridge magnet can. I hope one day my loved ones will truly understand that I mean it when I say 'no presents', and that more people will start to prefer giving and receiving experience and waste-free gifts. 

7. Give up something for a month. 

For the longest time, I have fallen into the habit of not exercising daily, using my weekly scheduled Skate Sessions and Kickboxing Classes as an excuse. For all of February, however, I gave up the habit of Not Exercising Daily. Several times a day, I make the time to stretch, limber up, do strength-building exercises (bicep curls, fist push-ups and wrist grips) in my room at work or even during my bathroom breaks. When I get home, I do abdominal curls and planks in between household chores. My back feels stronger and my neck and shoulders are not quite so stiff anymore. More importantly, exercising daily gives me a natural high, so this is a habit I am happy to continue for the rest of my life.