Happy Rakhsha Bandham 2010!

Okay so I totally forgot that today is Rakhsha Bandham or Rakhi! It is a Hindu festival celebrated in India ,which celebrates the bond of brother and sister. Rakhsha Bandham (रक्षाबंधन) means in Hindi "the bond of protection". The festival is marked by a sister tying the rakhi or holy thread  on her brother's wrist. In turn, the brother vows to protect his sister while she gives him sweets. Then the siblings feed each other the sweets.

Sister tying the rakhi on her brother's wrist

Some of the sweets include laddoo, and burfi. However currently, special rakhi chocolates are becoming popular.The sweets are arranged in a mithai thali which looks something like this:

Yummy sweets for Raksha Bandham! *w*

What's great about this festival is that if you  could always 'adopt' a brother if you don't have one. By tying the rakhi on his wrist,  you have adopted yourself your own brother to protect you! So... to all my fellow Indian brothers : Happy Rakhsha Bandham! 

The Death of an Anime Genius

As I returned from fighting with the financial aid office of Rutgers University for my scholarships, I noticed that twitter was all a buzz. I soon found out that the great Satoshi Kon was dead.  For those of you who do not know who he was, he was the director of many anime movies, namely Perfect Blue, Millennium Actress, Tokyo Godfathers, and Paprika. Though I haven't seen all of his films, I was able to experience his directing and animating genius through Tokyo Godfathers. 

Tokyo Godfathers Movie Poster

Dead at the young age of 47, Satoshi Kon was working on the production of another movie: The Dream Machine which is scheduled to be released in 2011. Nevertheless, Kon's masterpieces shall be cherished for years to come. 

" Dreams do come true. I always dreamed of being the mother of a little girl. A nice, warm house, a pretty daughter. Even if my husband was no good... I would accept dire poverty as long as I had my child. "- Hana from Tokyo Godfathers