Innocent Wild: Manila

Showing posts with label Manila. Show all posts

Friday, 6 March 2015

#HoliMNL2015

The countdown got louder and louder by the second.

Three... Two... One! HOLI HAI!

It is holi, and over two thousand excited voices screamed, as a colourful cloud of rice powder or gulal filled the late afternoon air. The scene was quite a sight to behold in a country where the world-famous Indian festival of colours is just gaining popularity.

~ ~ ~

Last Sunday, I got the chance to take part in the Philippines' third official holi festival, organised by Asia Society, as a documentation volunteer.

All geared up

It has always been my dream to take photos of the holi festival, and since I don't think I'll be flying to India anytime soon (no matter how much I want to), I thought why not take pictures of the celebration in Manila?

I originally planned to attend the event as a participant, but when I got in touch with the head organiser and she asked me if I'd be interested in volunteering for the festival, I didn't think twice and said yes.

My main task was to record videos during the event, but I took the liberty of snapping some photos whenever I got the chance to...

An adorable girl smiles as she assumes a yoga pose

Children filling rangoli patterns with colored sand.
(In India, they use rice powder - and not sand - to make rangoli.)

The gorgeous Manila Bay sunset

Needless to say, it was an incredibly fun afternoon. Everyone was in the mood to celebrate. Bollywood music blared from the speakers, and everybody was on their feet dancing, hands thrown up in the air.

It made me wonder, if people celebrate holi this grand and this colourful in Manila, what more in India? That thought made me want to book a ticket to my long-time dream destination even more.

Knowing that we, uber-stressed university students, deserve a break every now and then from school, I invited some classmates and friends, who'd be interested to get "painted". Three members from our college paper came to cover the event and have fun, as well as two classmates of mine, with whom I fangirl over about Bollywood.

We danced (on the stage - no less!) to "London Thumakda" (a song from the soundtrack of the critically-acclaimed 2014 Bollywood film "Queen"), posed for pictures at the photo booth, lined up to get henna tattoos done (okay, except for me, because I knew I'd just smudge the design while shooting videos), painted each other, laughed at how silly we looked, gorged on some yummy Indian food, and danced some more until early evening.

I couldn't remember the last time I had so much fun with college friends. Thesis and a ton of papers to write kept us from enjoying ourselves for so long that we already needed to be reminded about what "happiness" meant. And as it turned out, Holi Manila was all that we needed.

Inked! (Well, kinda.)

Manila thumakda :)

Dinner!

Holi Manila 2015 sure is a memory for keeps!

Check out the post-event blog entry of Asia Society Philippines right here: http://asiasociety.org/philippines/holi-celebration-colors-and-culture

***Holi is a festival from India also known as the "festival of colours". It is celebrated on the last full moon day of the lunar month Phalguna (which often falls on March) to welcome the season of spring. During holi, people throw colored rice powder or "gulal" at each other and up in the air to depict the colours of spring. Holi is also a time to celebrate unity.

Wishing you all a happy and colourful Holi :)

♥Andz

Tuesday, 1 July 2014

Tintin Continues His Adventures... in Fully Booked!

I don't think I could call myself a Tintin fan, when I've never seen the movie or read the comics. The closest encounter I had with Tintin was probably coming across a street/wall art of him in Brussels last year.

I snapped this photo while taking a walk down the
busy streets of Brussels, Belgium last year.

But when we, Candy's Council of Cool 14 girls, were invited to the formal launch (25 June, Wednesday) of the first and only Tintin Shop in the Philippines (in Fully Booked, The Fort), I did not miss the chance to get to know more about the well-loved young detective.

Say hi to Sam and Erika :)

The event was really fun. We came in pretty early, so we were the first batch to take the "Tintin Tour". We had a guide, who acquainted us with Tintin and the other characters Hergé created for his legendary comics. The tour proved to be really interesting. I think I could've missed a chunk of everything had I not known the story of Tintin and his exploits.

While on the tour, we also had a better look around the Tintin Shop. There were loads of shirts, cards, school supplies, and other memorabilia on sale that will surely put any true blue Tintin fan on high.

After the tour, we played some games, won some prizes, and had a Tintin-themed merienda. However, the snacks were just too cute to eat!

Sam and Erika reading lines from Tintin and famous movies, mimicking a pirate

Before leaving, we made sure that we went home with Tintin goodies. Fully Booked gave us two collectible figures, I while I bought "The Blue Lotus" (which our tour guide said was the best one) and a postcard.

If you're a Pinoy Tintin fan or you're simply interested to learn more about Hergé's iconic characters, do yourself a favour and drop by the Tintin Shop at Fully Booked The Fort soon! You can also join a tour organised by Fully Booked on these dates:

♥Andz

Saturday, 1 February 2014

Kids 'round Chinatown

I love taking pictures of kids.

Capturing those raw and innocent expressions painted on their faces is simply priceless. However, children are really challenging subjects, especially for beginners like me. They move a lot. They frown or give you a scowl when you tell them to smile. And one picture-perfect moment from them could be gone in an instant as soon as you fire the shutter.

Getting the perfect shot of kids is ambitious, frustrating and rewarding altogether, and I guess that's what I like about taking their pictures. You just never know what you'll get.

Celebrating the Lunar New Year at Chinatown yesterday, I got the chance to come across these super cute tykes. Believe me, they're everywhere; I just couldn't take a photo of every single one of them! I had fun, anyhow, and seeing pictures of these really adorable kids stored in my camera really does make my day!