Surintan iPhone Photography


Wordings lifted from Sri Jagannath Mandir Kuala Lumpur leaflet.

Damodara month is a very auspicious month for worshipers of Lord Krishna or Vishnu. It normally falls within the month of October and November.

During this month, devotees worship Lord Krishna in His childhood form called Damodara. This is very sweet and lovely form of the Lord.

Devotees offer ghee lamps daily and engage in hearing the sweet Lord's mischievous childhood pastimes, where He was bound by mother Yasoda for playing the role of a butter-theif. The significance of this pastime is that the Lord steals the hearts of His devotees and only His devotees can bind the Lord within their hearts.

So, in the month of Damodara, the devotees think about this beautiful play that the Supreme Lord does with His dear mother Yasoda. She is His most intimate associate as a mother and her love for Krishna is eternally glorified.

In this month, one who is engaged daily in worship of Lord Damodara and recites the prayer known as Damodarastakam, attracts Lord Damodara.


The Benefits Mentioned in Scripture:
When one offers a lamp during the month of Karttika (Aippasi month in the Tamil calendar) either at home or temple:

  • His/Her sins in many thousands and millions of birth perish in half an eye-blink.
  • Has already performed all yajnas and bathing in all holy river.
  • Will obtain the greatest results.

Lord Damodara glorifies anyone who lights a lamp for someone else to offer. They who with love, hear the pastimes of Lord Damodara, attains the pious result of giving hundred cows in charity.

A person who during the month of Karttika eagerly hears the topics of Lord Damodara delivers a hundred generations of his family.


Damodarastakam Prayer:
 (1)
namamisvaram sac-cid-ananda-rupam
lasat-kundalam gokule bhrajamanam
yasoda-bhiyolukhalad dhavamanam
paramrstam atyantato drutya gopya

(2)
rudantam muhur netra-yugmam mrjantam
karambhoja-yugmena satanka-netram
muhuh svasa-kampa-trirekhanka-kantha-
sthita-graivam damodaram bhakti-baddham

(3)
itidrk sva-lilabhir ananda-kunde
sva-ghosam nimajjantam akhyapayantam
tadiyesita-jnesu bhaktair jitatvam
punah prematas tam satavrtti vande

(4)
varam deva moksam na moksavadhim va
na canyam vrne ‘ham varesad apiha
idam te vapur natha gopala-balam
sada me manasy avirastam kim anyaih

(5)
idam te mukhambhojam atyanta-nilair
vrtam kuntalaih snigdha-raktais’ ca gopya
muhus cumbitam bimba-raktadharam me
manasy avirastam alam laksa-labhaih

(6)
namo deva damodarananta visno
prasida prabho duhkha-jalabdhi-magnam
krpa-drsti-vrstyati-dinam batanu-
grhanesa mam ajnam edhy aksi-drsyah

(7)
kuveratmajau baddha-murtyaiva yadvat
tvaya mocitau bhakti-bhajau krtau ca
tatha prema-bhaktim svakam me prayaccha
na mokse graho me ‘sti damodareha

(8)
namas te ‘stu damne sphurad-dipti-dhamne
tvadiyodarayatha visvasya dhamne
namo radhikayai tvadiya-priyayai
namo ‘nanta-lilaya devaya tubhyam

1) To the Supreme Lord, whose form is the embodiment of eternal existence, knowledge, and bliss, whose shark-shaped earrings are swinging to and fro, who is beautifully shining in the divine realm of Gokula, who I (due to the offense of breaking the pot of yogurt that His mother was churning into butter and then stealing the butter that was kept hanging from a swing) is quickly running from the wooden grinding mortar in fear of mother Yasoda, but who has been caught from behind by her who ran after Him with greater speed–to that Supreme Lord, Sri Damodara, I offer my humble obeisances.

2) (Seeing the whipping stick in His mother’s hand) He is crying and rubbing His eyes again and again with His two lotus hands. His eyes are filled with fear, and the necklace of pearls around His neck, which is marked with three lines like a conch shell, is shaking because of His quick breathing due to crying. To this Supreme Lord, Sri Damodara, whose belly is bound not with ropes but with His mother’s pure love, I offer my humble obeisances.

3) By such childhood pastimes as this He is drowning the inhabitants of Gokula in pools of ecstasy, and is revealing to those devotees who are absorbed in knowledge of His supreme majesty and opulence that He is only conquered by devotees whose pure love is imbues with intimacy and is free from all conceptions of awe and reverence. With great love I again offer my obeisances to Lord Damodara hundreds and hundreds of times.

4) O Lord, although You are able to give all kinds of benedictions, I do not pray to You for the boon of impersonal liberation, nor the highest liberation of eternal life in Vaikuntha, nor any other boon (which may be obtained by executing the nine processes of bhakti). O Lord, I simply wish that this form of Yours as Bala Gopala in Vrndavana may ever be manifest in my heart, for what is the use to me of any other boon besides this?

5) O Lord, Your lotus face, which is encircled by locks of soft black hair tinged with red, is kissed again and again by mother Yasoda, and Your lips are reddish like the bimba fruit. May this beautiful vision of Your lotus face be ever manifest in my heart. Thousands and thousands of other benedictions are of no use to me.

6) O Supreme Godhead, I offer my obeisances unto You. O Damodara! O Ananta! O Vishnu! O master! O my Lord, be pleased upon me. By showering Your glance of mercy upon me, deliver this poor ignorant fool who is immersed in an ocean of worldly sorrows, and become visible to my eyes.

7) O Lord Damodara, just as the two sons of Kuvera–Manigriva and Nalakuvara–were delivered from the curse of Narada and made into great devotees by You in Your form as a baby tied with rope to a wooden grinding mortar, in the same way, please give to me Your own prema-bhakti. I only long for this and have no desire for any kind of liberation.

8 ) O Lord Damodara, I first of all offer my obeisances to the brilliantly effulgent rope which binds Your belly. I then offer my obeisances to Your belly, which is the abode of the entire universe. I humbly bow down to Your most beloved Srimati Radharani, and I offer all obeisances to You, the Supreme Lord, who displays unlimited pastimes.


Connection to Deepavali Celebration:
There are three reasons why we celebrate Deepavali. The first is, celebrating the returning of Lord Rama to Ayodhya. The second is, the day mentioned pastime occurred. Finally, the third is, the killing of the demon Narakasura by Lord Krishna.

More details about Deepavali can be read in this link.
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As promised, here are the pictures for the second part. I'll start this one with where I left out in the previous post.


This is Lata Iskandar waterfall. When I noticed the waterfall on the way to Cameron Highlands, I immediately stopped the car to enjoy the scenery. My family were the only ones there at that time. We had the whole place to ourselves. So, we took our own sweet time to enjoy the cold water and surveying the area a little. We thought this was an abandoned waterfall at first. Oh, how wrong was that... When we were returning to KL after our Cameron Highlands trip, this place was packed with people!


For those who have been to Lata Iskandar waterfall, you know it's a cool place to chill. You know what's cooler than just chilling? Climb all the way up the waterfall. No, I'm not talking about the nice stairs prepared for you. Go higher, climb up the waterfall itself. Climb all the way to the peak of this waterfall, as seen in the first picture. You judge whether it's worth it or not.

Since the place was a little crowded the second time I came here, I decided to look for someplace a little less crowded. This was why I decided to climb up in the first place. When I reached the peak, there were a group of friends from a foreign country who brought up a gas cylinder, a small travelling stove, cartons of water bottle, raw chicken and various spices. To think that these guys carried all these all the way up above... wow! One guy was skinning and washing the chicken in the water. Eww.... and many many people were taking bath at the foot of the waterfall. 

The insect and the butterfly below was found on the rocks from the waterfall area.




This was at BOH tea plantation. I held the trunk of this plant on my palm tightly and tried to shake it sideways. Despite the short height, the plant was so strongly rooted to the ground, it didn't even budge!


There were various types of cactus sold at Kea Farm market. Some looked like salad, some looked like they had a serious case of acne and some looked like aloe vera. My favorite of the lot was this, the lotus cactus. Loved the 'petals' and the shape of the plant.

For those of you who wants a good deal for vegetables and strawberries, Kea Farm market is the place to go. Besides vegetables, strawberries and cactus, they also sell honey, corn, fruits, flowers and some souvenirs. And they're farm fresh too. Plus, you can also walk in a farm and request the farmer for any vegetables of flowers that you would like to purchase. They would uproot the plant on the spot, clean the soil and pack it for you.



When I spotted these strawberries, I could not resist myself from getting this shot. This picture almost perfectly shows the growth evolution of a strawberry. What you don't see here is when the fruit turns red. 

This kinda reminds me of a Bhagavad Gita sloka, Chapter 2 Text 13, dehino 'smin yathā dehe, kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā, tathā dehāntara-prāptir, dhīras tatra na muhyati. "As the embodied soul continually passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. The self-realized soul is not bewildered by such a change." Of course, we are not talking about the strawberry being a realised soul here. Just the evolution of the age of the fruit.
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The last time I've been to Cameron Highlands was when I was still in primary school. Back then, my family went with two other of my father's best friends family. My my, what fun we had! Going back there again after so many years got me really exited. Despite all these years, I can still recognise the place we stayed, the place we ate and the place I played Counter Strike with my other friends. Good times.

Thanks to the annual Cameron Highlands Ratha Yathra, my family had a reason to go back there again. Ratha Yathra in a cold weather was a one-of-a-kind experience! Definitely beats getting wet in the rain... hehehe. Nevertheless, all that is a pleasure in itself. Anyways, since I'm all grown up now (well, half way grown up) my version of family vacation has changed a lot since I was a child. Instead of spontaneous decisions that we used to make, I planned my trip this time. I wanted to cover all the places that we missed out the last time, plus re-visit some places worth going twice. Below are some pics of the places I visited. More pictures are coming up in part 2!


The view on the way to Boh tea plantation factory. The whole area covers a total of 8000 acres! The largest in Malaysia.... so far. The journey here was awesome! Well, maybe not much if you're the driver. For me, I love driving on windy roads, so I enjoyed the ride. You gotta be really careful on most curves, you can't see the oncoming car. So I honked before taking each curve (irritating, but I had like 5 other souls in the car, so had to be extra cautious), just in case. Saved me a few times.


Dad and myself felt a little bored after touring the Boh tea factory. We decided to take a short walk to the back of the factory. Found these logs stacked right opposite the conveyor used to transport the tea leaves into the building.


View at the peak of Gunung Brinchang! Some people call this place Gunung Batu Brinchang. This is the 2nd highest mountain in Cameron Highlands, boasting a height of 2.031km above sea level. Height of Gunung Irau (the highest) on the other hand is 2.11km above sea level. This mountain is located at the Titiwangsa mountain range, almost at the border of Perak and Pahang. You can see how the mountains looks like they're overlapping each other from here.

They always say, "It's not about the destination, but the journey that matters". To get to this place, you can either drive or hike all the way up above. Unfortunately, due to certain circumstances, I could not go for the hike. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed the drive (But I'm quite sure the hike would have been better. Too bad.). The road was extremely narrow and windy. At some places, the road was quite uneven, got me worried if something bad would happen to my tyre. The view on the way to the peak made the drive worth it.


This was the view from the Mossy Forest. Mossy Forest is located few minutes drive before reaching the peak of Gunung Brinchang, so you can get to this place on the way to the peak of the mointain. The tower you see there is the peak of Gunung Brinchang. The picture above was taken from there.


The specialty of this place is the thick growth of moss on top of the tree branches. Entire scenery there looks like Avatar movie set. No, not the air bender Avatar; loved the cartoon, not the movie. There were few signposts here showing tourists that they were standing right at the border of Perak and Pahang.


You get to walk deep into the forest. Can you see a thick branch blocking the way right below, that's the end of this trail. Well, not really the end. We can still walk further (plus there is also another path going all the way down on the right if this picture), but it may not be a good idea going all the way down. A really big bee kept circling over my head, probably doing its job protecting its territory. To think about it, you have to jump across that big trunk, and then there might be chances of spotting the brothers and sisters of my annoying friend.Is it worth it? Nope, not when I have family beside me ;-)



Besides the moss, old trees and ferns, I was surprised to spot some flowers there! If I'm not mistaken, those are wild rose flowers. This plant definitely stood out from the rest of the plants there.


This little one was spotted at Lata Iskandar Waterfall, on the way to Cameron Highlands. You can spot various insect (and arachnid! One spider was almost the size of my palm) species here. This one was spotted easily thanks to its distinctive color on the rock. The species name of this moth is Dysphania Subrepleta. This was what I found after some Googling. I'm still a little confused whether or not it can be Dysphania Militaris. If I'm not mistaken, the latter is bigger. This one is quite tiny. This particular species is a day-flying moth, and they like moisture. This explains why it was hanging around the waterfall area. One website stated that the blue hue on its forewing is poisonous. Not sure how true is that.

There are more pictures and crazy stories of this waterfall. I'll post it in the second part.
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One fine day, my manager brought a bunch of kiwi's to the office. Normal people in my office sliced the fruit to half and ate it with a spoon. Not me. I got a little over exited and did this. Don't ask why, it just happened...
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Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM) is definitely a place to go for nature lovers. It's located at Selangor, just on the outskirts of Kepong and Selayang. There are various facilities provided there, such as; badminton court, tennis court, football field, jungle tracking (with canopy walk), primary school, auditorium, museum, waterfall and the list just goes on. Just head on to their website for more details. They update it quite often.

For me, I love going for a 'walk' along the forest. You can observe various nature wonders there! I've covered a bit about their famous camphor trees in a previous post. In this post, I would like to share some images I took few months back. All these images were already shared in my Instagram account.


There are about three main ponds in FRIM, and this one is my favorite. This pond is located just at the back of the Arapaima pond. Yeah, they have few Arapaima's in FRIM.


The abandoned staircase above can be seen at the waterfall area. This staircase is not really abandoned, just less used. It leads to an old gazebo up top.


These are FRIM famous camphor trees. Notice how the leaves of different trees never touch each other? It's a special trait of this tree called crown-shyness.


Those fibrous roots grew really wide across that area! Now, try to imagine if those were long slimy tentacles... Kinda reminds me of Davy Jones. Nope not the real one, I'm talking about the one from the movie.


Apparently, this particular species of butterfly is quite rare. If that's the case, I'm quite lucky to get this shot! Via quick Googling, I found out that this butterfly is called Fluffy-Tit (Zeltus Etolus). Cute name.


Nature is simply amazing and beautiful. Had anyone ever wondered how come water is ALWAYS flowing from the top of the hill all the way to the bottom, 24/7? The behind-the-scenes works of nature is not easy to comprehend sometimes.


Not sure if it's that, but I think this mushroom is called Pigskin Poison Puffball. That's quite a mouthful to pronounce. If I got the name right, this one is quite poisonous! Just sayin', if the name is not obvious enough.
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Visiting Suria KLCC during the day is fine, but you would really enjoy the view at night, trust me. Of course, you have to get out of the mall for the view.

These fountains are located at the back of Suria KLCC, just in front of the back entrance. The water show at Sinfoni Lake goes on almost the whole day, but it is best you visit them at night. The LED lights at night would make the fountains look cooler. On top of that, you can see various water patterns. The picture you see above is my favorite pattern! I call it the 'Butterfly' pattern. You'll know why when you see them in person.

On a side note, the fountains are located at one corner of the KLCC Park. If you walk around the park, there is also a small waterpark and a huge playground for the kids. My parents used to bring  my siblings and myself here almost every weekend when I was a kid. I've also seen many people going for a jog along the park.

For the benefit of those of you who got to Petronas Twin Towers, but don't know how to get to this park; all you need to do is walk into the Suria KLCC mall, get to the center court and the back entrance should be visible to you. For those who are at Traders Hotel, you can just get on the caddy for a ride to the back entrance of Suria KLCC, for free of charge of course. You will pass the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (on your left) on the way there.
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My whole family traveled to Kuching, Sarawak about few weeks back. Though it was just over the weekend, we had lots of fun travelling around. The main reason for our Kuching trip is to join the Ratha Yatra there, organised by ISKCON Kuching. Before attending the festival at 4pm, my dad's friend lent us his car, so we took the opportunity to drive around the area.

We drove to various places around the town, and managed to get a little lost. Thanks to Waze, we somehow managed to get back on track. One of our main destination was Kuching Waterfront.


Pictured above is the river view of Kuching Waterfront. The weather was nice that day, and by nice, I meant not raining. You can see the beautiful cloud formations.


I couldn't get the official name of this building, some says "Square Town", some says "Square Tower". Personally, 'Square Building' makes more sense to me. This colonial building (during the Brooke's era) used to be a jail. You can see "1879" on top of the entrance of this building. That was how long back this building goes. The scenery along this area is really beautiful! There's not much activity you can do here, besides enjoying the scenery and taking a boat ride across the river to Astana palace and a village.


Not sure if you can see, it says 'Dewan Undangan Negeri Sarawak'. This is Kuching's state legislative building. Too bombastic? It's their parliament building. As you can see, this building is quite new. It was officially opened in 2009. This is located just opposite the river.


To cross the river, you need to pay this nice uncle RM0.50. He will take you for a short boat ride. As I mentioned before, after crossing the river, you get to see the Astana Palace and a small village.


The modern art above can be found at the back of Kuching old courthouse. It's located just opposite Kuching Waterfront, the famous clock tower and Charles Brooke Monument. This old courthouse was constructed in the year 1874. All three places mentioned just now are just walking distance of each other. One portion of this old courthouse has been made into a museum and a restaurant.


On the way back to KL from Kuching International Airport. I took the early morning flight, unfortunately, not early enough to see the sunrise from up above. Nevertheless, the scenery just before takeoff was awesome!
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Few months back, few friends and myself went to a cow farm at Janda Baik, Pahang. This cow farm is owned by ISKCON Kuala Lumpur. We left KL at 5.30am and reached Janda Baik at about 7.30am. We made few pit stops along the way.

Upon reaching there, we were greeted with many hungry cows! Some of us brought something to feed our new hungry friends. After that we took a short walk up the hill. The picture you see above was during sunrise. The scenery was breathtaking! On top of that, the weather that morning was cool with slight breeze. I would definitely love to make another trip there.


This one thought that my phone was food. That might explain the saliva. I must say, the cows here are really taken care well. Normally, you can judge how happy the cows are by the quality of their milk. The milk taken from these cows tasted heavenly. Don't even get me started on their cheese. A brahmachari serving in this farm made us tomato based pasta for breakfast. He included in paneer (cottage cheese) prepared from the cow milk. Gosh, that was one of the best pasta I've tasted!!!


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I've always had a major fear of heights since I was a small boy. Acrophobia sucks... I rather not explain the details of my fear. Honestly, it's quite embarassing. Anyways, I became sick and tired of living with this fear. Imagine going to a high raise apartment, standing on a really high balcony or staring down from a really high place and feeling a chill sensation on your legs. Gosh!

One day, I decided to face my fear directly! It's the least I could do for myself. I stumbled upon SkyTrex Adventure website and decided to go there myself. What better way to combat your fear, than to challenge face to face with it. Hey, it worked! Giving myself a huge dose of my fear was the cure after all.

For those of you who's been there, you'll know that some of the challenges there are.... well, challenging (you'll feel that it's not THAT challenging after all after completing the stations though). For the benefit of those who are hearing about this place for the first time, SkyTrex Adventure is an aerial obstacle park. Different obstacles were designed and suspended from tree to tree. Your motive is to pass through all these obstacles. They prepared three different obstacle sets; Little Adventure, Big Thrill and Extreme Challenge. BTW, I took the Extreme Challenge, just sayin'. I do not want to spoil the fun entirely for those who are planning to go there, so no spoilers here.

To register, you need to pre-book via their website. Payment is made immediately. SkyTrex Adventure is located at Shah Alam Botanical Park. From the Shah Alam KTM station you can get a taxi to the said place. Just mention Bukit Cerakah to the taxi driver. Mine didn't know the place when I mentioned "Botanical Park" and "Bukit Cahaya Seri Alam" (what its called now). The standard charge should be somewhere between RM10 - RM15. Do prepare another RM3 for the park entree fees, plus another RM3 if you wanna buy gloves from them. You can bring your own if you want.
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Camphor were known as 'Malaya Chandan' in the Vedic scriptures. This was simply because, at one time, Malaysia were famous for our camphor's. Well, time changes things, and we are well known over the world for other things now.

The picture you see above are camphor trees (Dryobalanops Aromatica or Borneo Camphor if you will) at Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM). One special trait of these trees are, leaves from different trees would not touch each other. So, when you look up, you can see a map-like view up above. This phenomenon is called 'crown shyness'. They look quite cool when you see them on a sunny day.

There are a couple of places at FRIM where you can spot these trees. One particular place (probably THE place to see these trees) is now restricted to public access after achieving their UNESCO world heritage status. You have to pay to enter into that area, where you will be escorted with a representative. He will bring you around, explaining some research done by FRIM in that area, plus of course, showing you these trees. For the benefit of those who are curious about the said location; it's beside the Arapaima pond. It was quite a disappointment for me, personally, who frequented FRIM for jogging during the weekends since I was 6 years old, and now not be able to enter into that area freely. In fact, I studied in the primary school in FRIM. Ah, good times :-)

After some explanation by the people in charge there, apparently some joggers who enter into this area steals some plants. One particular plant is Tongkat Ali (Eurycoma longifolia), planted there for research purposes. My humble request to anyone who's reading this post, please do not damage or steal plants, especially if it's planted for research.

Another place where you can spot these trees are, at the jogging trek, on the way to the entrance of the canopy walk hike. There will be one part of the trek where you will be walking up a steep hill. You can spot these trees on the way up the steep hill.
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Every Universiti Tenaga Nasional (UNITEN) student knows that their university life will not be completed without exploring our famous horse stable... at night. Insert hashtag #studentlife. This is the entrance to our riding arena.

As for me, I cycled here once at 3am in the morning. Hey, it was Friday night, and I was bored in the hostel. The only transport I had at that time was my awesome LeRun. Why not take it for a spin at night? The breeze was cool, the road was deserted, the street lights were dim, and the environment was quiet. Well, you can say it's quiet if you ignore the background insect sounds. I was really enthused about spotting some ghosts! Unfortunately, I came back to the hostel catching a cold. This was during my foundation days.

About 2 years after that, I came back here at about 2.30am with some of my friends. This time, we came prepared. Well, sort of. We recorded our drive there. Me with my iPhone of course! One camera at the front of the car, and the other at the back. Once reaching this place, we switched OFF the lights from the car. We took a slow drive around the area while randomly observing the environment. You would expect to see something in an eerie almost abandoned area, like a horse stable. Unfortunately, we went back empty handed. We reviewed the video once back at hostel. Nope, no luck.
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