My 16th Portrait

This is the first post of the year, 2009. It's been a while i have't updated my blog. I was able to post only 18 post in 2008. Hoping to keep this more frequently updated, i start the first post with my 16th Portrait which i finished just a while ago. It's my youngest brother. Comments pls :)

My Trip to Male'

I am back in Sri Lanka, after spending one of the most memorable vacation that i have ever had in the last few years. This time things went far more different than I planned. Actually it was not as i predicted as it would be. I planned to spend a good time with family, go to viligili and hulhumale' with my family. But, after spending 2 weeks of resting time with family, i got the opportunity to work in the elections office. It was a totally different experience which i never expected.

First week was the registration week in which i had to go to the Viligili ferry terminal with 5 others. Our shift was from morning 10:00 to 16:00. As it was Ramazan time, it was a good job to pass the time. As the deadline for registration was getting closer , we got busier with form filling, recieving forms and issuing registration cards.

Later when the registration was over, a group of 20 were selected to do the data entry in 2 shifts everyday for 6 hours in each shift. My shift was from 3:00 AM to 9:00 AM and from 3:00 PM to 9:00 PM. It was one of the busiest and the tiring days i spent in my life. When the morning shift ends, i arrive home around 10:00 and sleep and wake up around 1:30 pm and again get ready to go for the evening shift. As the evening shift ends at 9:00PM again I come home and sleep around 11:00PM and wake up at 2:00AM. We worked like that for almost 1 week. But it was fun. we enjoyed and had chance to know each other well.

When the first round of election ended, I again got the opportunity to do the verification and registration for the second round of election. I'm proud that I also played an important role in this historical election where a multiparty election was held for the first time in the history of Maldives. But sad that I had to stop the work and fly back to Sri Lanka before the second round of election ended.

I really enjoyed working there and gave all my effort to do what I did right. I worked there for one month and i flew back to Sri Lanka leaving back so many good memories. I gave a farewell treat for some of the close who i worked with. That was one special night that i won't forget for years. We really had a good time enjoying the dinner together, playing secret pass and doing photo shoots at the Artificial beach. I will always treasure the opportunity i got to work with all of them. I met so many different types of people and made so many friends and experienced a lot. Thanx to all.

My 14th portrait - Aathu

Here's my latest portrait. It's of my one and only sweet little sister... I did this on her request. She's been asking me to do one for her for a while... but i was little occupied with some other things and couldn't finish it soon. Anyway, as always, i like this one better than the rest i did ;)

Trip To Kandy

On 21st June, I went to Kandy with my bro, 2 cousins, aunt and my friend. This was my third visit to Kandy, but unlike the other two visits, this time I went to two places I never went but always wanted to go.

We left home morning at around 5:30AM, and reached the high hill mountain area around 7:30AM. We were heading to the Peradeniya Royal Botanic Gardens which is situated at Peradeniya, 6 kilometres from Kandy. On our way we stopped on the mountain hills to take some pics of the nice views, there were monkeys enjoying the morning light. But as we approached them, they ran and hid in the trees. not very friendly at all :D We took some photos there and carried on with our journey.

By the time we reached our destination, it was 8:30AM. First we had our breakfast which we prepared at home. Then we headed to the ticket counter, but for foreign adults, a ticket was for Rs.600, students for Rs.300 and locals for Rs.30... When I, my bro and friend showed our visa, we got tickets for Rs.30. But my cousins had to take the students tickets for Rs.300 and my aunt for Rs.600. That's coz they didn't have visa. They had to enter from a VIP gate and we entered the place from the gate where other locals entered.

This beautiful garden has some 62 hectares in extent and located at an altitude of 550 metres. Peradeniya takes its name from pera (guava) and deniya (plain), which would suggest an early connection with the introduction or the cultivation of fruits, as the guava is not indigenous to the island. The site was originally the royal pleasure gardens of King Kirthi Sri Rajasinghe (1747-1780) of Kandy. It's a beautiful place with nice green plants and varieties of flowers. It gave me a look of a European country more than a place in Sri Lanka. The big old trees and the green grasses were so beatiful that it could take one's breath away :P.

We walked in the place, took photos and videos for more than two hours. After we were satisfied of what we've seen, then we headed to the Dalada maligawa (Tooth temple which is said to have a tooth of the Buddhaa). The temple occupies a big area and has a museum which shows a taxidermized elephant which was donated by someone to the Dalada Maligawa. It served in the temple for more than 50 years and passed away in 1988. This is now on display at the Meuseum in Dalada Maligawa. After being amazed of the elephant we saw, next we headed to the Elephant Orphanage.

After an hours drive, we arrived at the orphanage around 2:40pm. Tickets for the visitors from SAARC countries are for Rs.250, for once we were lucky to be from a SAARC Country. Otherwise a foreigner has to pay Rs.1000 ($10) for a ticket. It was a scene that i've never seen other than from the internet and tv. So many elephants bathing in the river, playing and running around together was a scene that would never bore you. There are fixed feeding and bathing times for the young jumbos. Luckily we arrived at the bathing time and we had a good time taking photos and getting close with the elephants and touching them. We had so much fun that i could never stop writing in my blog. Even now it's got longer and seems like there is no end. So I end it up here. "A picture speaks louder than words". So feel beauty of the places with the pictures I've added here. That was the end of our journey and we headed home around 5:30pm and reached home around 7:30.

We are the CHAMPION!!!

Yaaaayyyyy!!!!! Maldives won.. WE ARE THE CHAMPION... Maldives, CHAMPION!!!! Yesterday was a day which will be written very bold in history. Maldives won the SAFF Championship for the first time and it brought so much happiness and joy to the Maldivian hearts...

No matter of the size of the population and no matter of the differences we have among us, Maldivians have showed that there's one thing in common in all the Maldivians. All the Maldivians all over the world are united to support the Maldives National Team while even before they come out for the final game.

Congratualations Maldives National Team... We are proud of you... You have proved that Maldives is the best in South Asia and that how true it is that "this time it's our"!!!!

A last-gasp goal by Mukhthar Naseer shook the whole stadium with the supporters screams, shouts and joyful words. It's truly an amazing moment in my life as I myself screamed out of my lungs in joy. The loud cheers of the supporters expressed how much we've wanted to see this day... Finally It's ours...

Tonight we went to the reception in High commission with the team members. we got the chance to lift the SAFF Champion's Cup. We also took photos with some of the players. Had fun singing "theyravaa" song with Assad, the captain of Maldives National football team. But I was disappointed that we got little late to meet all the players. Anyways, we had a great night and enjoyed a good meal.

This time it's OURS!!!

I went to watch the SAFF championship semi final match yesterday. A group of 13 people left home around 5:15 pm and reached the stadium around 6:00 pm. By that time, the whole stadium was roaring with the sound of Maldivian supporters. Almost one third of the stadium was full of supporters in red.

The kick-off was at 7:30 and the ball was most of the times in the Maldives half. But later we saw a good play by the Maldives team. First half ended with no goals. Second half also started with the ball most of the times in the Maldives half, but later again they showed a good play. i have never supported and wanted our National team to win this bad. was even praying for at least one goal for Maldivians. Luckily in the 27th minute of the second half, Oppo scored a goal which took Maldives for the finals. In the last few minutes of the match, I was holding my breath and praying Sri Lanka won't score a goal. If it did, or if the Maldivians lose, there were some SL friends we dare to show our face to them :D. After all, buying the red t-shirts and printing the head bands was not a waste. Today, I'm really proud to be a Maldivian and proud of our National team too. The joy of victory against the lions on their own land is not describable. Congratulations Maldives Football Team.

The refree blew the wistle and the match ended with Maldives winning over Sri Lanka with 1 - 0. the whole stadium was shook with the loud screams and shouts of the Maldivian supporters. I Hope Maldives will show a good play and win the SAFF championship and lift the trophy for the first time. Insha Allah! Maldives, Hop! Hop!

Support Maldives!!!

Here is a mascot I designed to support the Maldives Soccer team. It's nothing official. Just thought of doing one as a symbol of our National Team. :) :P

Just another photoshop work

Ben 10 Wallpaper

These are two wallpapers I created from CorelDraw... It's for all the Ben 10 lovers out there. I This one also I did just to kill time. I really like the way I have done the Ben10 Character... This is the first Cartoon character I did in CorelDraw. I did two wallpapers, in two different background colors. I'm working on doing more. So keep checking back as I will add more here... Click the Image to view higher resolution (1280 x 1024)

Cartoon Characters

Below are some my works done in CorelDRAW... Was playing around with Corel and thought to do a cartoon character. The first one I did is the heart character, then thought of making some more different characters. So there they are... I'm thinking of creating some more characters and some animated characters as well...

Set a Guinness World Record

I was surfing the net while i stumbled across an interesting article. Firefox is going to set a Guinness World Record. But How? It's easy! We only have to download the latest version of Firefox on a specified day. We have to download Firefox 3 and it will be the most downloaded software in 24 hrs where we will also be a part of it.

Awesome eh? If you wanna be a part of it, just VISIT HERE and click PLEDGE NOW and that's it. They will mail you when the official date is confirmed. This is a chance for us to do something great by sitting in our room or office and be proud of it ;) so go and pledge soon.

A Night Out!

May 19 and 20 is the Vesak day here in Sri Lanka. Sometimes informally called "Buddha's birthday", it actually encompasses the birth, enlightenment, and passing of Buddha. The exact date of Vesak varies according to the various lunar calendars used in different traditions. The full moon of the month of May is marked as the Vesak day in Sri Lanka. The date varies from year to year in the Western Gregorian calendar but falls in April or May. On this day, the streets and the houses are nicely decorated with lanterns hung and colorful lights.

These lights signify the light of the buddha. The lanterns are really nice with different colors. Also there are electrically lit pandols called toranas erected in various locations in Colombo and elsewhere. We planned to go to see the vesak day before yesterday. But coz our friend three wheel driver was busy with some of his work, we couldn't go that day. So again last night we managed to hire him for the night to go for a drive to see the city with the lights. We left home around 9:30 and went to a road where both sides of the roads were full of vesak lanterns of different colors and sizes. Some were made out of paper, some with dried leaves and coconuts. They were really nice. So many people were gathered into the area to see the Vesak Koodu (lanterns).

This is a big festival day for the buddhists. Food stalls set up by Buddhist devotees called dansalas provide free food and drinks to passersby. Some serve people with biriyani, ice cream, coffee and etc... Enjoy a good dinner from one stall and you can head to the next stall to get a free ice cream, or a coffee if you'd like stay awake long (just kiddin) or a faluda to refresh yourself. So many people wait in a que for their chance to get the free food. Funny thing is, we get to buy an ice-cream for Rs.10, but people wait in long ques to get a free ice-cream. Yeah! it's always good to make good use of the opportunity. Good thing is, if you want more, you can hit the que to get one again.

We drove to another spot to see a toran (It's a pandol decorated with lights and drawings showing the life story of buddha). This place was in Dematagoda. It was big and nice, but nothing much to see. So next we headed to Slave Island where there were so many lanterns. The place was very crowded. We looked the place around and headed home at around 12:45 am. I think this day is the first day in history that i came to home this late here in Sri Lanka. Anyway, I had a great night out!

My 13th Portrait!

After a long break, here is another portrait by me. I started drawing this 3 months back. I was busy with some other work and had no time to finish it. There is another drawing which I started before this one, still it's not finished. Will finish that one soon and post it too. This is one of the members in EK, did it on his request.

Only Time

Who can say where the road goes, where the day flows? Only time.
And who can say if your love grows, as your heart chose? Only time.

Who can say why your heart sighs, as your love flies? Only time.
And who can say why your heart cries, when your love lies? Only time.

Who can say when the roads meet, that love might be in your heart?
And who can say when the day sleeps if the night keeps all your heart?
Night keeps all your heart.

Who can say if your love grows as your heart chose? Only time.
And who can say where the road goes, where the day flows? Only time.
Who knows? Only time. Who knows? Only time.

* This is the song in the lyrics of the song in the video of my last post. It's a nice song

21 December 2012

One day, while i was just surfing, i stumbled across a site which says, 2012 Group. This site has a countdown to December 21 2012 midnight. I was wondering what it is and just went through the article under the topic "Who Is The 2012 Group? And What’s The Big Deal About 2012, Anyway?" and found something interestingly shocking and surprising.

As it says, the ancient mayan calendar ends in 21 December 2012 and we will experience a major shift in our concousness. Some says it's the end of the world while others think it's a beginning of a new world. Some beleive inanimate objects will come to life, including stones, and that our animals will speak to us, to prove God’s dominion on earth.

Nobody actually knows what will happen on this day, but as the scientists predicts, something is going to happen on this day! If it's true, we have only 4 years to see what happens on this day! Let's see! In the mean time, lets not forget this life of ours is vway too short, so make good use of it.

One source says that 21 December 2012 is the most discussed topic in YouTube, so check out the video too...

A trip to Bopath Falls

As yesterday was a free day for me, my bro, cousin and my friend, we planned to make a visit to Bopath Falls. It is a waterfall which is 30 metres high, situated in Ratnapura district of Sri Lanka. The falls have three cascades that give the appearance of the rounded shape of the leaf of the Bo tree, is a spectacular sight. The fall got its name after the Bo leaf which is translated in Sinhala as Bopath.



We set off from home around 9 am and reached the falls around 11:00 am. It was so nice to be out of the busy city and the hustles. No buildings, less vehicles, quiet and more greenery. Beautiful natural scenes amazed me as always. It’s never boring to sit and watch the natural beauty of the country pass by as we drive along.



As this being my 5th time in Bopath falls me and my friend gave some “do’s and don’t” tips to my bro n cousin. Not because it was their first experience in a waterfall, but also because bathing at the base of the waterfall is fraught with danger as many lives have been lost here. Even I have had a near death experience on my 3rd visit to the falls. So I was more precautious this time.

Once you get to the place, you have to jump from one rock to the other to reach the stream. Climbing and jumping on the rocks is a risky tasks as some of the rocks are very slippery. But still it’s a good way to experience the untouched nature.



As usual, we bathed in our old spot down the stream. It was fun but dangerous as the pressure of the water was very high and there are deeper areas too. After staying there for a while my bro and cousin wanted to climb up the first cascade of the falls. I kept remembering about the time I slipped and got carried away helplessly with the current of the falls. I hesitated to go forward. But seeing others ahead of me kept me wanting to go. I struggled to climb over and down the rocks and reached near the first cascade of the fall. Once there, I had no hope that I’ll get back home safe. Coz I knew going back down was harder than climbing up.



Once we headed down, my friend and cousin crossed to the other side of the stream except for me and my bro. I was trapped at the point I slipped the other time. I was shaken with fear and was nervous on taking one step forward. But somehow, with the help of my friend and cousin, we managed to cross to the other side, safe and sound. Phew! It was a sigh of relief for me.

Between the falls and the confluence of the two streams is a sandy area with several pools of turbulent cold water, ideal for picnicking. We headed down there and took some photos but didn’t bath from there as the water wasn’t very clean.



After some photo shoots, we changed to clean clothes and headed back to our vehicle to drive back home. First we went to a restaurant and had lunch. It was around 3:45pm. On our way back to home, we stopped in a rubber tree forest to snap some pictures.



It was getting dark by the time we reached there. But still my cousin wanted to explore the place and he was running after my friend, climbing the rocks and in the trees. I had to run after them to bring them back to the vehicle. I knew my cousin was really having a good time as this was the first time he went on a trip like this. We had a really great day.

I was Tagged!!!!!

I was tagged by Version-beta

A- Available?: available what??
B- Best friend: The Wildhunter
C- Cake or Pie?: Cake
D- Drink of choice: Coffee
E- Essential thing used everyday: Computer
F- Favorite color: Yellow
G- Gummi bears or worms: Gummi Bears
H- Hometown: Maldives
I- Indulgence: nothing.....
J- January or February: :| January
K- Kids and names: NA
L- Life: Challenges are what make life interesting. Overcoming them is what makes life meaningful
M- Marriage date: Haven't even thought of it yet :D
N- Number of siblings: 3 elder bros, 2 younger bros and 1 younger sis
O- Oranges or apples: Apples
P- Phobias: Cockroaches :D
Q- Quote: If there's a will, there's a way
R- Reason to smile: I smile for no reason sometimes :D
S- Season: Winter
T- Tag three people: Gorgeous Flower, The Wildhunter, Glorious Masterpiece
U- Unknown fact about me: Still to discover... ;)
V- Vegetable you do not like: Cucumber
W- Worst habit: Wasting time and being too good to others
X- X-rays you have had: Knee
Y- Your favorite food: Roshi and Kulhi Riha
Z- Zodiac: Sagittarius

Maldives Film Industry

Few weeks back, i got a dhivehi drama CD from a friend of mine. It has been a long time since i watched a dhivehi drama. So i thought to watch it, hoping that a lot of improvements might have come to Maldivian film industry. I watched it and it sucks BIG time!!! I wasted 30 minutes from my time to watch it. Actors are more like puppets. no expression, no talent for acting and the dialogues comes as it is in the script. No feeling, nothing!!! There were times when i thought I was having a problem in my headphones. Coz i didnt hear a sound. There were no background music and dubbing wasn't done properly.

It's the same with dhivehi songs even, no good music, no nice songs, not even a nice video. A common scene in a dhivehi video is the couples running near the beach. Such a shame. Few days back I found out that we can watch TVM live from some website. I was watching this drama called "Just Friends". I have no words to say, but it was so boring. Background music is there for the sake of being there. No connection with what we see. There was this one scene when one actor and two actresses were playing water ball, when one of the actresses drown. Literally the water was just shallow water. The other thing is that they were staying so close, but it took the guy more than a minute to reach her. Finally he saved her drowning in shallow water. It gave me a flash back scene of the movie "Dhon hiyala aai Alifulhu". In the movie Hiyala and Ali Fulhu also jumps to shallow water and die. 20 years passed after that, but still we see no improvements in our film industry.

There was one ad of 'Alia' store or some place. That was the most stupid ad i ever saw. Displaying the girl and her beauty to market their products. I don't know how to describe it, but she was wearing some hardware rings, on her hand as bangles and nuts as rings. Decorating herself with all the hardwares in the shop and dancing. I was totally out of words. there are ways to do ads using girls. But I don't think this is the proper way.

Problem is, everyone wants to take two pills with one gulp. But few people are blessed with experience in different things. In their case, they are good at neither. Once they act in a drama and they are all prepared to be directors. No plots, no story, no sets, no feelings. This reminds me of a song done by Iraj, one of the most famous producers in Sri Lanka. He and Shaani released an album with Sinhala and Dhivehi songs. The first song, "Ey Hithaa" was a hit in Sri Lanka. And the video was cool too. Not like the ordinary dhivehi video songs. There is this songs with the title, "Raajje dhekilan aadhey". It's one nice song about Maldives. I'm really looking forward to see it's video. To Iraj and Shaani, I just want to say good work! To Maldives film industry, I can only say "Keep trying"!!!

Photoshop Art

Ever since I was a kid, I had the interest of drawing things. But deep down in me, I knew that I’m not meant to be an artist. Coz though I’m interested in it, I don’t do it as a hobby or in my leisure hours. What ever I drew, I drew when I was in school in art period. But I knew that I have got the talent somewhere within me.

Last year during my semester break, I had lot of free time, and had to do something to kill time. One ordinary day, with a great force from my best friend, I thought of testing my skill of drawing using the graphic tablet I had. I started drawing a portrait of a cousin of mine. The result came out far more than I expected. It seemed to me like I had this talent and it was lost within me all these days.

So far I have done portraits of different people. Also have done few for request of some friends. I share all my drawings in ElaKiri, the Largest Online Community in Sri Lanka. I’ve got lot of feedbacks from the members of EK. Their comments were always really helpful for my next drawing and that’s how I got more interested in doing more drawings. I thank all of them for their support. Even now I have got few drawings pending. So I thought to include a page in my blog to share these piece of art works. You can view all my drawings from here.