The things I love!

By Ayesha R. Rafiq

Favourite person:  

My gosh, my husband of course. There's so much that I have learnt together with him. When you're with a person every day of your life, there are so many new things you learn about him. But most of all it's knowing that if things go wrong for me, there's always a ray of light at the end of the tunnel, and a shoulder to cry on while I reach that light, thanks to my husband. 

Time of day:  

Definitely Sunday mornings. I work on Saturdays as well, so Sunday morning, between around 10 a.m. and 12 noon is the only time that I really have to myself to laze around, read the papers and relax. Even cooking lunch is postponed until after 12 noon. 

Memory:  

It's a childhood one. My sister and I would be in the garden the whole afternoon and play with mud, making mud cakes and pies. We used to pretend that we were having a party and make all sorts of pastries with mud, and vaddai, with a hole in the middle. And I used to have this uncle who would come and trample all the pies and stuff. 

Place:  

I simply adore the beach. It's probably because my star sign is Pisces. I love to sit by the sea and watch the sunset. It inspires me to write poetry, and one of my poems even made it into the Encyclopaedia of North American poetry. I love to sit there with my husband, eat some kadalai, watch the people around, and plan our dreams. 

Colour:  

I like white a lot. It symbolises purity and tranquillity. While I wouldn't like a house painted in white, I love to wear white, and have lots of white clothes. My mother doesn't like it when I try to wear white sarees though. She thinks people might think I'm a widow or divorced. 

Book:  

It's a book by Richard Bach, called 'A Ring Across Forever.' The book is about this guy who is on the lookout for a soulmate. The maturity of the writer shines through the book, which is why I like it so much. It just digs deep into you. It's also very similar to the way I felt, before I met my husband. On the lookout for someone whom I could connect with. 

Perfume:  

I like the whole Givenchy range, but my favourite is Fleur d'Interdit. While I generally go for the fruity fragrances, I don't like ones that are too strong. This particular one has a very balanced fragrance. My husband generally buys my perfumes for me. But I like to buy strong fragrances such as Armani for my husband. (So he likes strong fragrances?) No, I like strong fragrances on him, so when I buy it for him, he has to wear it. 

Pastime:  

I get such a little spare time, I generally like to relax when I do have time off. I would either sit at home and watch a movie, or spend a romantic evening at home with my husband. Maybe a candle lit dinner, and a long chat afterwards. 

Possession:  

Well, I don't really have a favourite possession. (Even a teddy bear?) Oh gosh, how could I forget? Of course. I have this huge cuddly teddy bear which my husband gave me when we first started going out. It's very furry, and really quite big. We both love it, and since we don't have children, as weird as this sounds, don't take it the wrong way, we're both very fond of it. We tried to give it a name, but somehow it didn't stick. 

Meal:  

Umm, pasta. Chaminda, my husband, is an expert at it, and he taught me how to make it. It's really fast and easy, and makes an excellent meal, especially since we're both vegetarians. Actually, I'm quite good at it myself. And it's easier than cooking rice and curry. 

Shop:  

Well, I visit the Parfumerie a lot. While I wouldn't say it's my favourite shop, I'm very particular about my make-up. So I have to go there a lot, up to the point where the sales people actually remember me when I go back. 

Movie:  

Well, there are about three, but I can't remember one of the names. So, for now, I would have to say 'Schindler's List' and 'Forrest Gump.' They're both very sentimental movies, and stirred me very much. In this world where we are so caught up with work, these movies help you remember things such as love, and people you care about. 

British fashion, made in Lanka

The fashion show on November 10 at the Oberoi, is designed to demonstrate the close links that exist in the two countries in the clothing industry. 

Riaz hits gold

He appears too young to achieve such a remarkable feat, but truth being stranger than fiction, M.H. Riaz Mohammed at the tender age of eighteen has established a Sri Lankan record for effective improvisation of some 67 voices and animal calls. Yet he was blissfully unaware until he was informed by the Cultural Affairs ministry about his success! 

Shy and unassuming Riaz claims that until others told him that he could hit gold in the art of improvisation, he never believed he could actually make it big. 

While a student at the Matale Zahira College, he was presented with the opportunity of becoming a relief presenter at the SLBC Muslim Service. 

A self taught artiste, from the age of nine he has been voicing programmes in Tamil and making various literary contributions to Tamil periodicals and papers. But things certainly were not rosy as he had no way to acquire professional knowledge on mimicry and had to learn it just by trial and error. 

And then Riaz also collected songs and voice cuts of famous people and practised all alone, ignoring the increasing criticism at home, determined to become a professional in his chosen field. 

"This is such an exciting thing to do. But not everybody can do it, and not everybody appreciates another guy copying his voice. I am not motivated by an evil desire to insult other people, just to learn the characteristics in a voice, its timbre, pronunciation mode and delivery technique. This is serious business and certainly difficult," he says emphatically. 

Hailing from a backward village in the Matale district, he admits to having being treated like a 'noisy nuisance' during his formative years. First, he imitated various bird calls, and this proved high fun for the youngster who thrived on misleading his friends and family using his skill. 

Currently employed at YA TV as a presenter cum assistant producer, Riaz is full of hope that the recent acknowledgment by the Cultural authorities would present him with new opportunities. One, is to hold a one man show and next on his agenda is learning to improvise voices of politicians! 

And he sat inside The Times Editorial showing off his skill to us, mimicking various veteran Indian actors, from Kamal Hasan to Arvind Samy stressing that though difficult to master, improvisation was great entertainment. 

"The drawbacks have been aplenty. I am neither conversant nor have I been exposed much to the native language Sinhala. I am working on that aspect as I want to reach the vast majority of this country than be known only to the Tamil population," he says with a smile, again reverting to his art of improvising voices- this time mega star Salman Khan, the sensitive drool all in proper place. 

"I often got scolded and told to stop that nonsense. I never believed that anybody could make a career out of it." 

His creative quests do not stop at that. The young artiste has also combined efforts with musician Mohammed Irfan and released a fully digitized audio cassette titled "Love Story" which includes only original Tamil songs. 

"Tamil speaking artistes have hardly done originals. We still sing Indian songs and become dismal failures. The comparisons are naturally negative. We must do our own thing, and we wanted to make our small contribution." 

And for his great skill as a mimic artiste, he says that it is a new phenomenon and wants to make it big. Definitely aim at a world record, nothing less. And typical of his youth, Riaz Mohomed has big dreams- the biggest being a world record in improvising only human voices.

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