Archive for the ‘Video Friday’ Category

Video Friday: Trailer for Sita Sings the Blues

The greatest break-up story ever told

Oooops, missed Video Friday on BreatheDreamGo because of the Eat, Pray, Love juggernaut. (btw, did you know that juggernaut is a Hindi word? It refers to Lord Jagganath and the massive chariots pulled through the streets of Puri during the annual Rath Yatra festival. Apparently, the frenzied faithful used to throw themselves under the chariot’s wheels to be crushed to death — much to the dismay of the British Raj.) This video is a trailer for the delightful full-length feature film, made by cartoonist Nina Paley, about both her break-up and the Indian epic The Ramayan. You can watch the full-length version and read the true-life story behind this inspired creation and how Paley decided to release copyright on it on her website, Sita Sings the Blues.

Video Friday on BreatheDreamGo: Bhangraman! I don’t think you have to know about Punjabi culture to find this funny. Bhangra is the Punjabi version of hip hop. It’s very upbeat, infectiously joyous music and dance that is guaranteed to get anyone and everyone moving. (Except my boyfriend, who is Punjabi.)

Win free passes to see Eat, Pray, Love

NOTE: CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED AS OF AUGUST 9, 2010

This Video Friday, BreatheDreamGo is featuring the trailer to the movie Eat, Pray, Love starring Julia Roberts and 70 free passes to give away to the August 11 preview screenings in Toronto, Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Ottawa and Winnipeg. And 10 lucky winners in Toronto will also receive a prize pack along with their passes comprised of  a “pray” t-shirt, mala bead bracelet and bookmark.

To enter the contest, click Read the rest of this entry and follow the instructions. Read the rest of this entry »

Video Friday

Graceful dance, with hoop, to kirtan music

Every summer, ISKCON (International Society of Krishna Consciousness — otherwise known as the “Hare Krishnas”) holds a picnic on Toronto Island called the Festival of India – Feed Your Soul. It’s a wonderful event and I never miss it. Everything is free — even the food! — and people of all ages attend. You can join a free outdoor yoga class, have your astrology chart done, enjoy the vegetarian feast, buy Indian clothes and trinkets and best of all, sing and dance along to incredibly happy, joyful kirtan (sacred) music. The event wraps up on Sunday late afternoon with a rousing kirtan session that everyone joins in. It’s basically a celebration of god, a spiritual rave — and no drugs or alcohol are needed to send everyone in a frenzy of joy. I took this video while everyone else was in the kirtan tent chanting along to the music. More pictures from the event follow.

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For Video Friday on BreatheDreamGo, I have a video I took while riding in a bicycle rickshaw on the way to the train station from my hotel in Haridwar during the Kumbh Mela. I was staying at the wonderful Haveli Hari Ganga, which is located deep in the bazaar – where the streets are too narrow for cars and too crowded with people and stalls piled high with brass figurines of the Hindu pantheon, pyramids of vermilion kumkum powder and neatly stacked wafers of pastel sweets. The hotel has its own bicycle rickshaw for transporting passengers to and from the train station.

Video of Kumbh Mela ceremony

This is a video of the aarti (ceremony to honour the Ganges River) that happens each day at dusk in Haridwar, India. I took this during the Kumbh Mela, the largest religious gathering on earth. I was standing on a media platform in Har-ki-Pauri, the sacred centre of Haridwar. Notice how the Indian authorities set up the media platform with a electrical wires marring the view of the aarti! But still, I think I got a lovely shot of women int he crowd when I panned down across the river to the side I was on. Of course, a modest video like this in no way captures the heat, the smells, the enormous size of the crowd and the intense devotional energy that was palpable in the air. It was an amazing experience to be there. A privilege, really.

The great Abida Parveen

It’s Video Friday on BreatheDreamGo. When I was in Delhi, India in February 2010, I attended a truly spectacular Sufi Music Festival at Humayun’s Tomb, one of Delhi’s three UNESCO World Heritage sites. It was a magical night and I wrote about it on my blog post Delights of Delhi. This is the Janis Joplin of Sufi Music, Abida Parveen. She is a mesmerizing Pakistani singer who was the main draw for the thousands of people camped out under the stars that night. Enjoy!

Holi, the Festival of Colour

It’s video Friday on BreatheDreamGo, and today you get two videos — both of Holi, the Festival of Colour. This is a huge festival in India, celebrated all over the country, to mark the start of spring. People throw coloured powder and water at each other and drink bhang lassi to really get things going. I’ve been in India three times for Holi. I took thse videos in Delhi at a private club. Much fun was had by all.

Another video, of Holi players dragging each other through the mud. More fun than it looks!

This video marks the start of a new feature on BreatheDreamGo: Video Friday. Every Friday I will upload a video from my travels in India (or other entertaining videos I come across).

I took this video after getting into an autorickshaw at Bandra train station in Mumbai. Look for the near collision at 1:42!

I took this video from the media platform in the middle of Har-ki-pauri, Haridwar (north India) during the Maha Kumbh Mela — which is the world’s largest gathering of humanity on earth. To read about this massive Hndu spiritual festival — and my harrowing adventures finding myself alone in the midst of millions — click here.