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From my Shelfari Blog

Please visit my Shelfari Blog, http://www.shelfari.com/adrina_omar. The books on my shelf are books that I have read since I was about 17. Not so many I would say because I am a slow reader. They are books that I keep read them over and over again.

My new 'membership'

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Please visit :- https://www.xing.com/profile/Adrina_Omar and http://www.myspace.com/adrina_omar

Well, let us see what I can do with both sites.

I hope the networking works.

Kisses and 'bises'.

adrina

More Photos of the Palace

The Palace of the Shah

I must say that the palace of the Shah though furnished with elegant furnitures from Europe but does not justify the revolution against him. The palace was quite humble for a king, it is more like a mansion to a nobleman.

I was still a child at the time of his exile and was too young to understand what were going on during his reign.

Me in Iran

This is photo of me at the compound of the palace of the Shah of Iran, the former monarch of Iran. You can see me with a headscarf, which is made compulsory by the present regime.

Yoga

Yoga first fascinated me when I heard Madonna's interview on television. It seemed that by doing Astanga Yoga, she could lose weight. At that time I was a gym freak. Well, in fact I always have problems with my weight.

So within the same week, I went to the local public library to find a book on Yoga. I found a book on yoga called "Power Yoga" co-written by Beryl Bender Birch and her husband. I was amazed to see her youthful body. But the story on how she discover yoga and India amazed me as well. I memorized the Surya Namaskar poses. I practised yoga for a while. I was more into the asanas (poses) not the philosophy of yoga. I began to discover other books by other authors of yoga. One of my favourite is the one published by Sivananda Centre. I love the photos. Then I bought a yoga manual by B.K.S. Iyengar.

The process of my yoga discovery is very slow. One day I found a small booklet, "Yoga Sutras of Patanjali", a book on yoga philosophy. I could not believe that it was written long before the Common Era. Indian psychology already evolved long before Freud or Jung. Indian discovery of human consciousness amazed me.

The asanas or poses is only a small part of yoga. There are many paths of yoga. There are Jnana Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Karma Yoga, Hatha Yoga and Raja Yoga.

Jnana Yoga is path to wisdom. In life, we have to continuously seek knowledge and wisdom. The knowledge that we seek for must benefit ourself and mankind as a whole. Bhakti Yoga is the path of devotion to God. We must devoted ourself to God. Each of our breath and thought must be devoted to God. Karma Yoga is the path to good deeds. Our behaviour and thoughts must be guided by good intention. We must be kind to other people. Hatha Yoga, in the modern understanding will be understood as exercise and stress management. Hatha Yoga consists of asanas, pranayama, dharana and dhyana. Asana is the yogic pose. Pranayama is yogic breathing. Dharana is concentration while dhyana is meditation. In another word, Hatha Yoga is a self-reflection programme. Raja Yoga is a path to good ethics. The good ethics are mentioned in the Yoga Sutra and they are universal in its spirits. I also recommend the book, "The Lights on Yoga Sutras" by B.K.S. Iyengar for anyone who wants to have a deeper understanding of yoga philosophy. Since yoga is a tool for journey to self-discovery, I am not gullible enough to force myself to digest the inner message of the Yoga Sutras at once. I will re-read it from time to time. Each time I read it, my understanding will differ. As we grow older, we become wiser and we understand things differently.

Unfortunately I have abandoned yoga asanas for quite some times now. I want to be a yoga enthusiast again.

Since I never have any formal yoga guru as my guide except for the books I have read, so I welcome yoga practitioners to comment or to correct my understanding of yoga.

Be Yourself

I believe each person has his (her) own concept of God inside him (her). Some people worship a draconian, merciless, patriachal God, some worship a compassionate Mother Goddess, some even pray to pantheon of gods. Some people choose not to pray to God but to worship other beings. I also heard of people who worship the devil.

I guess the concept of deity you have inside you is very important. The attributes that we believe God possesses will be an important determinant of our path in life. If we worship to a power that possesses purity, it will make us seeking for purity in life. You and I may share the same religion but the concept of God that we have inside us will lead us to a different path and results. Putting the wrong attributes to God may make us choose evil. I believe God is not about favouritism. Sometimes our prayers are not answered because we believe in the wrong things. God is about the truth. If you choose some lies, some falsity, truth will be far-reached.

Many people in this modern era thought that religions are old-fashioned and act as skeptics. But rather than seeking for the truth and purity, they believe in pseudo-science. They want quick-fix to things. They want to be powerful, they want more money, they want positions etc. I must say that I am one of the people who read those new age, pseudo-science books; about how to achieve success fast. Reading one of the book is enough to make a good guess of what is the content of the next one. They are all the same. They are written by gullible people who wants to make money fast. Those books are about them, about what they think.

The most important thing in life is to understand yourself. You do not need any mahaguru or a sheikh to tell who you are or how to behave. Only you will know who you are. We read about people who left their small hometown to make it big. How can they be so sure of what they are doing? It's because they know their own innate talent and potential. Each people know what are their strengths and their weaknesses. People who hone their strengths will find peace with themselves and success in life. You do not have to concentrate on your weaknesses and weep about them. You do not have to comply to ideals which are far from your true self or your true nature. People who try so much to comply to these benchmark or ideals do not end up as ideal people but end up as hypocrites.

Our inherent strength is a gift from God. It is the tool that God equipped us with to survive and succeed. Use your strengths for the benefit of mankind as that is your mission in this life.

Tales from the Western Caspian

I am always fascinated by Baku, Azerbaijan. I don't know the reason why, probably because Azerbaijan will remind you of a lot of things. It is Transcaucasia, it was part of Persian empire, it was part of the Soviet, it is part of Turkish-speaking world and it is part of the Muslim world. I even began to notice nowadays that people begin to refer to Azerbaijan as Europe instead of Asia. Will the fate of Azerbaijan be similar to Turkey? Will Azerbaijan initiate the intention of joining the EU as well? I do hope that this article will be read with a make belief background music of Alihan Samedov, whose rendering of duduk (or balaban) is so mesmerising and touching that could easily bring one to tears.

Early this year (February 2007), I visited Iran. I was watching the graphic movement of the plane on the monitor while on board of the plane. Azerbaijan looks so close to Iran. In fact, Tehran, my intended destination looks so close to the Caspian. I was thinking of taking a bus or train once I arrived in Tehran and cross the lake by a boat. That was a wishful thinking of a simple mind. Once I arrived in Tehran I realised that my plan is not going to be materialised. Most Iranians do not speak English and I don't speak Persian except for a few words just to impress my hosts in Tehran.

While I was in Tehran, I was told that the distance from Tehran to the Caspian is about 400 kilometres. Things look so simple on the map and the information was sufficient enough to make me cancel my plan and to let my dream shattered. I will never give up. But if I learn Russian and Turkish well, my journey one day to Azerbaijan will be more meaningful.

Has anyone read the novel, "Ali and Nino" by Kurban Said? It is a love story with a pre-Soviet backdrop, having an Azeri man and Georgian woman in the leading roles. I must say the storyline will fit without a doubt a Bollywood formula movie but the thoughts of Ali, the hero and of Nino, the heroine was written in a very humourous and refined manner. It is the story of east meets west. There is some controversy of who is the real author of the book. Though majority of people (the literatis, of course) in the West believe that it was written by an Azeri Jewish man by the name of Lev Nussimbaum, with the assistance of an Austrian baroness, Elfriede Ehrenfels. But some claimed that it was written by a true blue Azeri man. If it is written by Lev Nussimbaum, I must say that I am impressed with his knowledge about Islam. In fact Lev Nussimbaum did really convert to Islam and adopt a Turkish name, Essad Bey. I like the name "Kurban Said" especially if it is pronounced in my dialect, the northerner dialect of Malay. It will be "Koor-baan Sa-id", a bit like Arabic but without the guttural sound. But some say the real pronunciation is "Goor-ban Sa-yeed", which has some Persian or Central Asian influence.

Last night I was watching an Azeri video clip, titled 'cay' which means 'tea'. I believe it must be a comical song, judging from the merry environment and the mood that the video exudes. But the song is a far cry from the sophistication of "Ali and Nino". But "Ali and Nino" if I am not mistaken was originally written in German (it must be German, since it is co-written with an Austrian baroness) and translated into English (and other languages too). Too bad, despite having an Azeri backdrop does not contribute much to the Azeri language literature. The 'cay' video although amused me but caused me some disappointments. But my disappointment was short-lived after watching the performance of Aziza Mustafazadeh, an Azeri jazz singer. I am not a big fan of jazz but she reveals a lot of sophistication and her style is truly Azeri. She does not try to sound 'black'.

And does anyone know that Shahbanu Farah Pahlavi (or more popularly known as Farah Diba in the media) was born to an Azeri born father? In fact, Azerbaijan was once upon a time part of the Qajar empire of Persia.

Another famous person who was born in the Azerbaijan is the medieval poet Nizami. Nizami wrote the world acclaimed, "Laila Majnun" (or Leyli Majnun in Persian) in poetry form. He wrote it in Persian and in fact, Nizami is a Kurdish.

Some even alleged that the European Jews are not at all Semitic but in fact are descendants of the Khazar Turks of the Caspian. The Khazar Turks are believed to be the ancestors of the Azeris. Among the most famous proponent of this theory is Sir Arthur Koestler. The Persians in fact are referring to the Caspian Sea as the "Khazar Sea". I will not make any comment on this, only a nationwide DNA test in Israel will justify this claim. If it is true then the European Jews or the Ashkenazims are the long lost cousins of the modern day Azeris.

Parlez-vous francais?

So far I have attended 3 classes for my French course. Well, I don't have any difficulty in remembering words but I do have difficulty to strike conversation in French. I also foresee that I am going to have problems with categorising words into masculine and feminine and also knowing the right verbs for the respective pronouns. But I think as time goes by, the flow of the language will come naturally.

Every night I will be online searching for French language television channels. Yesterday, I was watching Cannes Film Festival 2007 award ceremony. Not bad for a beginner! And last night, I was looking for a diet website in French. Bad habit dies hard. I sincerely do hope that my acquisition of French will change my world view. I don't learn French simply to consider of migrating to Cananda or France or Belgium or Switzerland. I must say, and I am not exaggerating; I learn the language simply because the adoration I have for the language.

My French Class

Just enrolled for a French language class. I have bought series of self-learning language kits to speak foreign languages before. I find it difficult without a teacher guiding me, especially I am not in the foreign language environment.

I hope to get something out of this class. Hope can speak French this time. I think to read and understand is easier than to listen and understand.

I also hope after this I can get materials in French from the internet. I can't wait the day I can understand French without any effort. One day I will write some of my thoughts in French. Probably I need to write my more 'existentialistic' ideas in French.

Au revoir!