Magnolia Pudding

Everybody knows the famous Magnolia Bakery and especially their banana pudding. My first meeting with these puddings was –you won’t believe it- in Istanbul. All my friends were talking about this delicious pudding that they couldn’t get enough. The restaurant makes this magnolia puddings also with Nutella, Oreo, strawberry etc. But my favorite fruit in desserts is always banana. So I decided to make this pudding at home. It is extremely easy, dangerously delicious. It is so light and fluffy that you want to have it one more cup.

In few months I will be NYC and if I have time I will definitely pay a visit to Magnolia Bakery and tell you whether there is any difference I see/taste in their famous pudding with mine. But before that let me share my recipe with you :)

Ingredients

·         2 cups of milk

·         1 tbsp of starch

·         1,5 tbsp of flour

·         1 egg yolk

·         90 g of sugar

·         8 -10 g of vanilla flavor sugar (I always use it cakes, puddings, mousse, it gives very nice flavor.)

·         200 ml of single cream

·         45 g of digestive biscuits (crushed)

·         3 bananas

Method

·         Put milk, starch, flour and egg yolk in a middle-size saucepan.

·         Cook them for 2 minutes while continuously stirring, add sugar and vanilla and cook them for 3-5 minutes (till it is thick enough).

·         Add the single cream and cook 1 minute more. Then let it cool down.

·         Put the sliced bananas on the bottom of the bowls (for each bowl 5-6 slices of banana), transfer the half of the pudding to 4-5 bowls.

·         Add the 2/3 crushed biscuits and add the rest of the pudding to the bowls.

·         Top with the rest of the crushed biscuits and more bananas.

ENJOY!

Cookshop’a gidenler bilir. Meshur bir tatlilari var. Magnolia. Muzlu, cileklisi, nutellalisi, oreolusu ne isterseniz. Aslinda bu tatli Amerika’nin en meshur tatlicisi olan Magnolia’s Bakery’nin muz pudinginden esinlenerek yapilmis. Gecenlerde evde bunu yapmaya karar verdim. Inanilmaz kolay bi tarifi var, korkunc derecede lezzetli. Uyariyorum, cok hafif bi tatli oldugu icin de insan bir kap daha yemek istiyor.
Onumuzdeki aylarda New York’ta olacagim. Vakit bulursam muhakkak Magnolia’s Bakery’ye ugramayi dusunuyorum. Sizinle fikirlerimi paylasacagimdan emin olabilirsiniz. Ama ondan once iste size tarifi :)

Malzemeler

·         2 su bardagi sut
·         1 yemek kasigi nisasta
·         1,5 yemek kasigi un,
·         1 yumurta sarisi
·         1 (ince belli) cay bardagi (90 gr) seker
·         1 paket (8-10 gr) vanilya
·         1 paket krema
·         45 gr (3-5 tane) iyice ezilmis sade biskuvi
·         3 tane muz

Yapilis

·         Sutu,nisastayi,unu, ve yumurta sarisini bi tencereye koyun.
·         Orta hararet surekli karistirarak 2 dk. pisirin.
·         Seker ve vanilyayi da koyup pisirmeye 3 dk. daha devam edin. (Iyice puding kivamina gelene kadar.)
·         Kremayi da ekleyip 1 dk. daha pisirin ve sogumaya birakin
·         Kaplara dilimlenmis muzlari (3-5 tane) ekleyin uzerine pudingin yarisi kalacak sekilde kaplara esit miktarlarda koyun.
·         Ezilmis biskuvilerin 3te 2ini pudingin uzerine serpin.
·         Geri kalan pudingi de kaplara esit miktarlarda koyun.
·         Uzerine ezilmis biskuvi ve muzla susleyin.

Afiyet olsun!

Takus Hanimin Zeytinyagli Biber Dolmasi

"Eger Tanri sadece yemek tariflerini uygulayarak yemek yapmamizi isteseydi, buyukanneleri bize vermezdi." Bir restaurantin tavaninda yazilan bu sozu gorunce aklima tabi ki kendi anneannem geldi. Herkesin buyukannesi ozeldir ama benimkisi... Cok lafa gerek yok taniyanlar ne kadar ozel biri oldugunu bilir Takus hanimin :) (Asil ismi Takuhi tabi. Ermenicede kralice demek, kendisi hic hazetmez bu isimden ama sanirim benim ona Takus dememi seviyor.)
Kendi gibi tarifleri de ozeldir. Oyle su kadar gram bu kadar gramla calismaz. Tipki benim kendisinden ogrendigim gibi o da kendi annesine bakarak ogrenmistir tarifleri. Oyle bi keyifle yapar ki yemeklerini. 'Icine sevgisini de katiyor ondan bu kadar lezzetli'nin canli kanitidir. Bu yemek yapmaya olan merakimi da ondan almisim zaten:) Tariflerini oyle yazmaz cizmez yapa yapa, yaparken de tada tada olusturur sonra tekrar yapa yapa da aklinda tutar. Ayrica pratiktir de. Biraz goz karari biraz da adet hesabina gore yemek tarifi verir. Okudugu tarifi de kendine gore uyarlar. Kafasina uymazsa tarifteki bir malzame hayatta koymaz. Asci insiyatifi :)
Eh boyle bi ascinin yaninda cirak olunca ben de oyle pek tariflere uymaz oldum. Hersey kafama gore. Ustelik aci mi oldu at patatesi, sulu mu oldu kapagi acik birak harli ateste kaynat gibi mutfak hilelerini de ogretmistir bana. Bu yasinda (91 dile kolay) hala yeni tarifler hileler uretmektedir. Ustelik dedigine bakin: "Eger BIRAZ daha genc olsaydim kesin bir yemek kursuna giderdim." 91 senelik zorlu hayatinda hic kendi icin birsey yapmamis ki hep baskalari icin. Neyse biz ne diyorduk? Tarif diyorduk. Ermeni sofrasinin olmazsa olmazlarindan zeytinyagli biber dolmasi (Bosuna demezler ermeni kadini mutfakta olur die). Anneannemin ise tarifi pek pratiktir. O yuzden sizinle bu vesileyle paylasmak istiyorum. Iste size Takus hanimin zeytinyagli biber dolmasi.

Malzemeler

• 10 tane dolmalik biber
• 10 tane orta buyuklukte sogan (bu demektir ki hesap biber basina bir sogana gore yapilmistir. Eger soganlar buyukse asci insiyatifi 8 de olabilir.)
• 10 tatli kaşığı pirinc (yine biberde oldugu gibi biber basina 1 tatli kasigi pirince gore hesap yapilmistir.)
• Goz kararinca bol yeni bahar (tadina bakicaksiniz sart Takus hanim oyle su kadar gramdan falan anlamaz, tadina bakarak karar verir.)
• Goz kararinca yeni bahardan daha az olacak sekilde tarcin
• Tarcinla benzer miktarda kimyon
• Bir avuc cam fistigi
• Bir avuc siyah uzum
• 1 bardak zeytinyagi
• Tuz,karabiber,cok az da pul biber
• 1 domates (biberlerin ustune kapak yapmak icin)
• Pisirmek icin ise 10 tatli kasigi pirinc bir bardaga bosaltilir ve onun iki kati su kullanilir.

Yapilis

• Soganlar kucuk kucuk dograndiktan sonra tavada biraz yag ve biraz suyla hafif pembe olana kadar kavurulur.
• Biberlerin baslari cikartilir ve icleri temizlenir, yikanir. 
• Soganlar kavrulduktan sonra yag, baharatlar, uzum ve fistik konur. Karistirilir, tadina bakilir. Gerekiyorsa baharatlara ilave yapilir. 
• Pirinc de eklenip karistirildiktan sonra biberler doldurulur.
• Kare kare kesilen domateslerle biberlerin ustu kapanir.
• Tencereye biberler yerlestirilir. Su eklenir ve biraz da yag konur. 
• Takus hanim duduklu tencere kullanmaya pek alisik degildir ama dudukludeki gibi pisirmenin bir yontemini bulmustur. Biberlerin uzerine kapatacak bir tabak koymak ve uzerine tencerenin kapagini koymak.
• Bu vaziyette kisik ateste 1 saat pisirilir.
• Sogumaya birakilir. 

Takus hanim servis yapacagi gunden hep bir gun once dolmasini (genel olarak butun zeytinyaglilarini) yapar. Cunku hep derki : "Yavrum birgun buzdolabinda kalirsa butun baharat iyice soganla bir olur ve sonuc olarak daha lezzetli olur." Gercekten de oluyor. Size de tavsiye ederim.

Oyleyse afiyet olsun.

Let's be human again!

Everybody knows how I am crazy about young adult movies/books. As “Hunger Games” is over now I am giving my focus to “Divergent” series. Unlike “Hunger Games”, I didn’t read the books of “Divergent”. So I can’t compare the movies with the books ‘luckily’ J Let me give a quick summary before we go deep into it. The series took place in a post-apocalyptic Chicago where people are divided into 5 factions (groups) according to their dominant characteristic features. Abnegation for the selfless, amity for the peaceful, candor for the honest, dauntless for the brave and erudite for the intellectual. Every year all sixteen-year-olds are put on a test in order to determine their factions. They don’t have to accept the faction that comes out of the test. Then, they need to choose whatever they want  but they need to prove that they belong to the faction they have chosen. If they can’t prove that they are out of the society and they are labeled as factionless which make them live miserably. Their world is surrounded with the walls. They believe that the whole world is a disastrous place and they can’t and should not go outside. Straightforward, sounds familiar, so what? What if one person comes up and has all these features, selflessness, peace, honesty, braveness and intelligence. You know that it was coming right? The first film started there. Our female hero Beatrice “Tris” is divergent which means she possesses all 5 features. But she needs to hide this as a secret because the government punishes the divergents as they think they are threats to the society. Mankind is always afraid of what he doesn’t know or can’t control. This sounds very familiar too, right? So the first film was busy with showing how Tris tries to fit in in one of the factions and they that doesn’t work out. In the second film the government has already understood that Tris was a divergent and they wanted to catch him for a very difficult experiment. It was a very difficult test and she managed to survive that. (I assume that when I say test you don’t imagine a very difficult math test or multiple choice test ;)) Ta taaa the outcome of the test says that the divergent people are key for the survival of the mankind. Second film ends like this. Recently the third film is released and of course I’ve watched it immediately. While everybody was cheering because there was no government, no rules, factionless people took advantage of people’s anger to punish the governmental people and try to rule them again. Additionally they forbade people to go to behind the walls as they are afraid! Do you think that they can stop Tris? Tris and her friends managed to go behind the walls and they were welcomed in a new world. However now they are also discriminated because apart from Tris the others were not pure which means that they were forced to be in faction, so even they were born divergent they were not divergent anymore, so they were damaged. If we look at the picture what happened? They fought, they were killed, they suffered to be free from the factions and at the end they are again labelled as pure and damaged.

This got me thinking. I am looking to the world. Unfortunately we are also living in a world where everybody puts everybody into a category “you are black, you’re Jewish, you’re Asian, you’re Muslim, you’re democrat, you’re vegan, and even ‘are you a dog person or a cat person’ ?!”. More interestingly even if someone doesn’t fit into a group we just try to label him/her. This time as “crazy, anti-social, disagreeable”.  Because you have to fit into something. You have to be in a group of people like you as if you are a sheep and someone should be a leader to guide you, tell you what to do and not to do. Then we feel safe, we feel protected. It is also easier with labels to blame. We will just blame the whole group for one person’s action and done! By the time we are blinded by our group leader and the relaxation of being safe becomes dullness and there dies the creativity, sense of inquiry. We become really like sheep and at the end if one sheep jumps from the cliff the others follows.

I am always touched by these following words.

“First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—

Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—

Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—

Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.”

We forget that we are all human. We created all those labels. We drew all those lines. We build these systems and now we are fighting to each other for them. Before we realized there will be no one left to share this beautiful world and remember(!) “Happiness is only real when shared”.

And the Oscar goes to…

The Oscars are coming closer (February 28, Sunday) and this time it will be very special for me to watch the Oscars as I was actually there 9 months ago, seriously J During our road trip to US West coast we of course stopped at Los Angeles, the heart of the moving pictures. Dolby Theater was the first thing on my list. Frankly it is not as glorious as it is without the red carpet, decorations and of course without the stars. Still it felt so nice to walk up those stairs towards Dolby Theater (see the pic on the right :)) For a moment I imagined me and my husband there and greeting Robert De Niro, making jokes with Jennifer Lawrence and giving complements to my idol Meryl Streep. Then we came back to reality and got our admission tickets to the theater. Again it is a very regular theater hall and the seats OMG! they are old and very uncomfortable. I was thinking how the female actresses were able to sit with their very big gowns. Anyway I again started to dream where my name is announced as best actress in leading role in a Spielberg movie. With an emotional face I go to the stage, thank to Spielberg for giving me this chance and my co-star Leonardo DiCaprio and of course all the cast and crew and then I became more emotional while I am thanking to my mother and my husband. Lastly I dedicate the award to my lovely grandmother. By the voice of our guide I came back to reality again. The tour was short but it was worth it for me.

That’s why this year it will be special for me to watch the Oscars live at 2 am in the morning.

As always I have nearly seen all the films that are nominated. So it’s time to share my predictions. Here it comes,

Best Picture

Will Win: Spotlight

May Win: The Revenant

Should Win: Spotlight (If we look at the nominees it is the only film that stands for a very important issue: Child abuse in the catholic churches. The others are good but this film should get the Oscar. It is also a team work. Not only one person leads the film but the whole cast makes the film good.)

Best Director

Will Win: Alejandro González Iñárritu (The Revenant)

May Win: Tom McCarthy (Spotlight)

Should Win: Quentin Tarantino (I know he is not even nominated but he should have been nominated. The Oscar jury should stop ignoring Tarantino as a director and nominating him in the category of screenplay!)

Best Actor in Leading Role

Will Win: Leonardo DiCaprio (The Revenant)      

May Win: Leonardo DiCaprio (“There is no ‘may win’! He will win the Oscar, he deserves every inch of it and he already won every award so far.” These were the words that I used for Eddie Redmayne last year and now I am saying the exact same things for Leo. He has come so far from Jack Dawson.)

Should Win: Leonardo DiCaprio

Best Actress in Leading Role

Will Win: Brie Larson (Room)

May Win: Cate Blanchett (Carol)

Should Win: Brie Larson (Actually here is also no ‘may win’.)

Best Actor in Supporting Role

Will Win: Mark Rylance (Bridge of Spies)

May Win: Sylvester Stallone (Creed)

Should Win: Mark Rylance (My heart wants Stallone to win, he is my childhood hero, he is Rocky. But we should be fair Rylance was so good in the Bridge of Spies that you can’t just ignore that. Yes for all his efforts Stallone deserves an Oscar but Mark Rylance should win and will win!)

Best Actress in Supporting Role

Will Win: Kate Winslet (Steve Jobs)

May Win: Jennifer Jason Leigh (The Hateful Eight)

Should Win: Jennifer Jason Leigh (In this Oscar season maybe her performance was the best. It isn’t easy to work with Tarantino and it isn’t easy to shine in a man-oriented western movie with all those talented actors but she really shines. The only reason that the academy will give the Oscar to Kate Winslet is that they want to give at least one Oscar to the film “Steve Jobs” to honor him. The movie was bad. I am a fan of Fassbender, but he was not good either. You think it can not be possible to make Apple history boring but they did. Additionally Winslet’s performance was OK. )

Best Original Screenplay

Will Win: Spotlight

May Win: Bridge of Spies

Should Win: Ex Machina (This movie is so much underestimated that I can not believe. It seems like a regular robot film but it is not! There is philosophical background in this film and that makes you think. There are very good conversations, better than “Steve Jobs”! Moreover it is a very good thriller. It should be awarded at least with the screenplay award.)

Best Adapted Screenplay

Will Win: The Big Short

May Win: The Martian

Should Win: The Martian (I loved this film. It is inspiring and funny. But I strongly thinks that “The Big Short” will get the award as they think it is a more important issue, mortgage crisis.)

Best Foreign Language Film

Will Win: Son of Saul

May Win: Mustang

Should Win: I can’t say anything about this because I didn’t see the nominees this year.

Best Original Score

Will Win: The Hateful Eight        

May Win: The Bridge of Spies

Should Win: The Hateful Eight (Actually I have no doubt, Ennio Morricone will be honored with this award. He is  one of the great composers of our generation. He did an excellent job and I am afraid this will be the only award “The Hateful Eight” will get.)

Best Original Song

Will Win: Writing’s On the Wall (Spectre)

May Win: Writing’s On the Wall (Spectre)

Should Win: Writing’s On the Wall (Spectre)

For the technical nominations I have some predictions but I can not say which film should win, cause I don’t have that knowledge to really question their judgement.

Achievement in Cinematography

Will Win: The Revenant

May Win: The Hateful Eight

Achievement in Costume Design

Will Win: Carol

May Win: The Danish Girl

Achievement in Film Editing

Will Win: The Revenant

May Win: Spotlight

Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling

Will Win: Mad Max: Fury Road

May Win: The Revenant

Achievement in Production Design

Will Win: The Revenant

May Win: The Martian (maybe Bridge of Spies)

Achievement in Sound Editing

Will Win: Star Wars: The Force Awakens

May Win: The Revenant

Achievement in Sound Mixing

Will Win: Star Wars: The Force Awakens

May Win: The Revenant

Achievement in Visual Effects

Will Win: Star Wars: The Force Awakens

May Win: The Revenant

Lastly let’s come to the categories for which I have no idea who will win or who may win but for some of them I have some instincts about the winners: Best Documentary (Amy -  I have watched this, this was very realistic), Best Documentary Short Subject, Best Animated Film (Inside Out), Best Live Action Short Film and Best Animated Short Film.

On February 28, I will be watching the Oscars ‘live’ and I will keep scores so that I can share with you how many of my predictions become reality. Let the Oscars begin! 

Forever free, forever together

"Give the ones you love wings to fly, roots to come back and reasons to stay.” -Dalai Lama

When I first saw this quote I immediately thought about my husband. From the beginning of our relationship he really gives me wings to fly. He always encourages me to try new things, explore my capacities and makes me realize how much potential I have and push me to use it. (He thinks one day I can win a Nobel Prize in chemistry.) On the other hand as the quote says he gives me roots to come back. He has built a home, a family that I completely belong. I can be myself, I am free but at the same time I belong to him. These days these two concepts can not be put together. You're either free or you're with someone as if being in a relationship makes you a possession of the other one. However in a real relationship you belong to someone. Belonging is a sense of security. You feel so secured with him that you trust him like you trust yourself. Isn't that a great feeling? And with that feeling even if you fly far far away  you will come back and you will stay. I have every reason to stay with him. His love, his tenderness, his caring personality... He deals with me even if I am in my grumpiest mood. He makes me feel like I am the only one that matters.

Then I started to think deeper about this quote. I realized that yoga also gives me wings to fly. With yoga I am liberated from all my tags. I don't have to be punctual for example or I don't have to put everything under my control. I can be myself moreover I can be the unknown version of myself because yoga gives me the opportunity, the time to explore new things about myself and make me go deeper to see my inner self. It is an endless journey and that's why I always come back to my mat. There is a new journey ahead every time when I am on my mat. I see the changes in me. There is nobody to judge me, I have nothing to be afraid of. I don't need to hide myself. It is only me and my mat.

And I will stay. Once you started practicing yoga you realize that your state of mind becomes peaceful. You try to integrate many of the things you learn in your yoga practice. You become more aware how precious is the moments that we are living now and once you missed them, they would be gone forever. That's why I ,for example, in the past stayed angry and irritated for some time after a fight with my husband, ruined 30 minutes (or sometimes more) more of our lives just because I don't want to let go and I want to continue showing more irritation. However nowadays I am training myself first of all to solve the problem immediately (not waiting him to understand that I am angry) and after the fight I try to change my mood as soon as possible by thinking about good things about our relationship more importantly focusing on the solution of the problem not the reasons of the fight. That way of thinking came with yoga. Of course not after 2-3 practice but with regular practice and with going deeper into the practice. It will come to you maybe after 2 months or maybe after years of practice. It takes time for your body, mind and soul to absorb the wisdom of yogic teachings.

Now I think about the quote again I feel so blessed to have him as my life partner (and try to be the same for him) and to have yoga as my life guidance.

May you always be free like the birds,

"May you have a strong foundation

When the winds of changes shift."

May you stay forever free, forever together.

P.S. The line between the quotation marks is from the song "Forever Young" by Bob Dylan.

Sinemalastirsak da mi saklasak sinemalastirmasak da mi saklasak?

Gecenlerde yakin bir dostumla oturmus kitap analizi yapiyoruz. Kac zamandir bana okumam icin israr ettigi kitaba sonunda baslamis ve nerdeyse bitermek uzereydim. Sabahattin Ali'nin klasiklesmis romani "Kurt Mantolu Madonna". Her zaman ilgimi cekmis olmasina ragmen bir turlu okumaya firsat bulamamistim. Kitap gercekten de bir harika ama benim burda sizinle paylasmak istedigim kitaptan ziyade dostumla olan konusma.

Kendisi kitaba bayildigindan her seferinde 'sunun bir de filmi cekilse cok guzel olur.' deyip duruyordu. Kitaba okumaya baslayinca bana da sordu 'mantikli degil mi alla askina, muthis bir film olur bence. Hem zaten kisa da bir roman ne kadar kotu bir uyarlama yapilirler ki?'

Benim cevabim ise hazirdi. Kesin ve net: HAYIR. Neden mi? Bunu da baska bir kitabin uzerinden anlatacagim, Bu sefer de baska bir dostumla oturmus hayatimizda iz birakan romanlar hakkinda konusuyoruz, Benimkisi belli. Dostoyevski'nin "Suc ve Ceza"si. O zamanlar kendimi dunya klasiklerini okumaya vermistim, Ne kadar da hala eskisi kadar bazi klasikler zevk vermese de kararim degismis degil. Hayatimda iz birakmistir o kitap. Dostumun secimi ise benimkinden cok farkliydi. Konustugumuz donemin hem entellektuel kesimi tarafindan hem de populist kesimi tarafindan ilgi goren Pascal Mercier'in "Lizbon'a Gece Treni". Dostlarimin dediklerine onem veren bir insanimdir. Konusmamizin uzerinden uzun zaman sonra da olsa kitabi okudum ve kitaba bayildim. Bir taraftan elimden birakamiyor ama bir taraftan da az az okuyup uzerinde cok cok dusunuyordum. Ustelik kitabi okurken sanki ikinci bir kitap okuyormus gibiydim cunku kitabin bas karakteri bilmedigi bir dilde yazilmis bir kitabin arkasindan yazarin hayatini ogrenmek icin onun yasadigi ulkeye gidiyor ve biz de okuyucu olarak bir taraftan bas karakterin basina gelenleri okuyoruz bir taraftan da bazen sayfalarca bas karakterin okudugu bu kitabi bizzat okuyoruz. Zaten iste bu kitapta yazilanlar cok enterasan, adam filozof gibi hayatla ilgili dusuncelerini, insan iliskilerini inanilmaz guzel bir dille anlatiyor.

Aslina bakarsaniz bu yazinin konusu bu kitap da degil. Neyse tavsiye ederim, okuyun deyip asil meseleye geliyorum. Eh bildiginiz uzere "Lizbon'a Gece Treni"nin filmi de cekildi. Gecenlerde esimle seyrettik. Normalde inanilmaz kizarim yonetmene/senariste kitabi iyi bir sekilde uyarlamadiklari zaman, fakat bu sefer cok sakindim. Filmi kitabi kendime hatirlatmaya calisarak degil tam tersi unutmaya calisarak seyrettim. Kucuk bir aydinlanma yasadim bu konuda. Oncellikle kitabi okurkenki his kesinlike sinemada verilemez. Tasvir sevmesem bile betimlemeler yapilirkenki o goruntuyu canlandirma ani sinemada yoktur dolayisiyla siz yonetmenin canlandirmasini gorursunuz bir nevi hazir yemek bulmus gibi olursunuz. Ikincisi ozellikle "Lizbon'a Gece Treni" gibi kitaplarin ("Kurk Mantolu Madonna" da bu kategoriye girmektedir.) amaci aslinda oykuyu anlatmak degil, okuyucuya birseyler katmak, onlara yazarin dusuncelerini anlatmaktir ki sinemada bunu da yapmak nerdeyse imkansizdir. Ornegin, filmde kitabin icindeki kitaptan sadece birkac cumle havada ucustu, bunlarin hicbirine gercekten dusunecek zaman yoktu ve unutuldu gitti. Oysaki ben kitabi okurken hem bunlari sayfa sayfa okudum hem de bazi yerlerde kitabi kapatip kendime zaman verdim dusunmek icin. Ucuncu olarak da bazi duygular vardir kitapta bu  duygular sayfalarca anlatilabilir ve okuyucu da bunlari okurken en derinine kadar teninde hisseder oysa ki bu ayni duygular dunyanin en iyi oyuncusu tarafindan bile tam anlamiyla ekrana yansiyamaz cunku ilk ve ikinci nedenler devreye girer. Birincisi sinemadaki aslinda bi baskasinin (yonetmenin/senaristin/oyuncunun) duygularidir ve size hazir olarak onunuze gelir ve sizin hayal gucunuzu kisitlar. Ikincisi ise sinemada zaman azdir ve oyuncu en iyi performansiyla bile o duyguyu en fazla 1-2 dakika ekrana tasiyabilir.

Kisacasi ben iste size saydigim bu nedenlerden dolayi sevgili dostuma kocaman bir HAYIR cevabi verdim ve bu yuzdendir ki artik kitap uyarlamasi filmlere kizmiyorum. Filmi kitaptan ayri bir sekilde elestirmeye calisiyorum. Hem zaten yonetmen kitabi harfi harfine sinemaya aktarsa nerde kaldi sinemanin sanat kismi degil mi? O zaman yonetmenin ve senaristin hayal gucunu, basarisini nasil takdir edecegiz?

Dolayisiyla size de sorum bu? Sinemalastirsak da mi (su beynimizde) saklasak yoksa sinemalastirmasak da (kitabi okuyarak) mi saklasak? Benim secimim ikincisinden yana. Insan beyni bu kadar ozgun senaryolar yazabilme kapasitesindeyken birakalim kitaplar kitap kalsin.

The Magic of OM

After getting positive feedbacks about my first blog about yoga, I started to think about writing a new one. It is not easy as I am a beginner yogi. I don’t really know the philosophical part of yoga and the principles behind it. However these blogs are not meant to teach you yoga as if I am the teacher. This is about sharing my experience and if I am lucky enough it will encourage you to do yoga or at least make you think about it. Last but not least these blogs are meant to transfer the information that I learn in the process of writing them. So win-win situation, right ;)   

The first important question is : Have you ever been to a yoga class? Then you are familiar with the word “OM”  you see in my title. A yoga class usually begins and ends by chanting “om”. (Mostly it is 3 times but sometimes we do nine times and everybody chants in his own rhythm that’s my husband’s favourite.) Om is said to be the sound of universe. It is a vibrational sound that you make by saying “AAAAA-UUUUUUU-MMMM” in totally 4 counts while you are breathing out and if you do it in a class with 10-15 people it is… No, it can not be described you have to experience it.

Let’s begin with my first yoga class. All of us were sitting on our mats in cross-legged position and waiting for the instructor. Everybody closed their eyes as instructor told us to do (my eyes were slightly open though to see what was going to happen.) and then she said: “we are going to start this session by chanting three times om.”  What does this mean?! We started to exhale fully and inhaled deeply and then everybody started om-ing. I was completely shocked, everybody was seriously doing that. The sound was mesmerizing, it was like I was in a temple. At the same time it was funny too. I was trying to hold myself not to laugh out loud. It seemed so absurd. It wasn’t a temple, it wasn’t a religious ritual then why do we need to chant om to start the practice?  Ridiculous!

So as you see my first om is a complete fiasco. But after two or three classes I decided to stop pretending but to join chanting. I am not going to say that it was amazing or whatever. But it was relaxing. To breathe out by making the sound om felt really good. As I was in the choir for more than 10 years it felt like I am singing in the choir again.  On the other hand, I became irritated if someone didn’t do it in the right tone or didn’t follow the harmony (began early or ended late.) For a while this irritation continued.

Before finishing my story, I will tell you what I learned while I was writing this blog. Om has actually four parts: A-U-M-(silence). So you start with A (aahhh) which symbolizes the beginning, the universe, then comes U (ooohhh) where your lips come a little bit together. This makes you to maintain the energy of universe. Afterwards you connect your lips fully together with M (mmmm) sound. This sound unites you and the universe. Lastly the silence after the vibration which will bring you awareness and consciousness.   

This is easiest and understandable explanation of om.  As everything in yoga, unity and awareness are the most important parts. So why do we need to chant om to start the practice? To bring unity and awareness to our mind and soul with the sound before bringing them to our body physically. At least this is how I feel about it.

If we go back to my story, what happened to my irritation? Simple. I let it go. Through yoga classes I learned that  it was important to be aware of everything ( so hearing the wrong tones and early beginnings or late endings was not wrong) but at the same time it was important to concentrate on the one and only present time and live that moment with yourself. That’s why now I concentrate on my breathing and let go off my voice to make the beautiful sound of om. I don’t care if me or others are in right tone or in the harmony. Om is not about that like yoga is not about doing the asanas (postures) perfectly or being in the perfect flow. It is a journey to yourself by breathing in and breathing out and living that precious present time. 

Namaste!