One Man Woman - the Lady boys of Thailand! A salute to the third gender! Elsie Gabriel

One Man Woman-the Lady boys of Thailand!

A salute to the third gender!

Elsie Gabriel

Cabarets might not be on everyone's bucket list when out in Thailand for the New Years weekend celebrations but in Phuket  you can enjoy a mesmerising  evening out filled with clean entertainment.  

In Thailand, the third gender is regarded as beautiful and the  society there  is generally more open to lady boys than many other cultures. Katoey, or the 'third sex', which  have played a prominent role in the country’s  entertainment industry for generations are almost revered. So if you want to sit back and enjoy the most gorgeous lady boys in the world put up a captivating musical, do watch the Aphrodite Cabaret show which is funny, entertaining and for the family too, join the hilarious antics at the show in Phuket. Of course these no non sense cabarets are also available everywhere in Thailand as well.This third gender work very hard to perfect the art of dancing and earning a living as well as look after their figures which they strut on stage.

 I found myself watching the troupe grind like Madhuri Dixit to the famous number “Aja Nachle Nachle” as part of the international cultural offering by the dancers and enjoyed every minute of it and am not ashamed to write about ad share their amazing theatrical talent. So keep an open mind and read on….

At first they are all simply the most beautiful girls on stage dancing gracefully, its only at the end that you are told that  each and every  participant was a ladyboy. Thailand's katoey are world famous, they are drop dead gorgeous and so well defined, you would never be able to tell if she was a man or a woman. The ladyboys are a Thai institution by themselves and have earned great respect in the clean musical world of stage performances.

For those sheltered few, katoeys is a term popularly used to refer to men who endeavour to be women, usually through  disguise and tactful surgery. They are jaw drop gorgeous and bewildering, soft spoken, and elegant and almost mythical. See the pictures and know why some women would almost envy them.

This Aphrodite Cabaret show involved perfected lip-synched interpretations of popular songs from various countries, complete with elaborate costumes and make-up. Some of the performances were  skilfully choreographed and the theme was light-hearted, star dusted magic,  glitter and glitz.

A  professional huge theatre with the most amazing acoustics delivers the show with a bang, being very punctual, featuring a full stage of dancers and ‘singers’, all impossibly glamorous and eye catching. It’s showbiz to the hilt alright! Technical qualifications and the modern stage  technology ensure the highest quality entertainment.

Defused lighting and soft rays not only bring out the best features of the dancers but also of the elaborate expensive shimmering costumes and stage décor  to the heights ,you could compare internationally to anywhere   in theatrical world.

 The cabaret theatre is built to accommodate 950 seats and offer a plush and comfortable seating arrangement.  So do include the Aphrodite Cabaret Show in your holiday schedule. I took the entire family to the show while in Phuket.

The Indians in the audience applauded when the  Maduri Dixit Bollywood number was belted out  and then the Koreans clapped to their familiar song and then it was time for the Chinese as their Umbrella song dance came a stage, so you see it was family fun all the way, including hilarious skits and songs which sent the audience into splits of laughter. To the amazement of the kids present in the audience, even the Korean Gangam Style stole the show at the Aphrodite concert.

The Lady boys simply serenade you with one great number after another non stop . The choreography at Aphrodite is admirable and the multi-armed Shiva goddess dance is a perfect example of the ingenuity on display here, fusing themes of religion and culture into one.

Finally, after just over an hour of colourful entertainment, the grand finale has over 80 of them making a grand exit and it’s only then that you realise that the whole show consists of men. There’s not a single lady on the stage and those sexy legs you’ve been admiring for the last  hour belong to gorgeous boys! Very pretty ones for sure, but guys nevertheless.

You can have photos clicked with them for over 100 bts or almost 200 Rs as they line up outside to bid farewell. Watching their immaculate makeup, ostrich feathers, sequins and outrageous outfits, they make an attractive package for sure, Oh what the heck  I posed with some of them and couldn’t help but notice that some of their features put mine to shame! I was talking about their height. Caught ya….

Come join Terra Madre and the Slow Food movement. Keep track of your Food Prints.Elsie Gabriel

Come join Terra Madre and the Slow Food movement.

Keep track of your Food Prints.

Elsie Gabriel

From simple home dinners to community festivals, local food is being celebrated in hundreds of different ways on December 10. It’s not too late to know that ‘Slow Food’ still exists and that if we try ,we can surely pass on this gourmet tradition to the next generation before we actually lose it! I was lucky enough to celebrate the Slow Food day with my Young Environmentalists Colleagues this week as we all came together to enjoy local organic vegetables!!

Am sharing how we women friends got together with Chef Rushina Munshaw Ghildiyal MD -A Perfect Bite Consulting and APB  studio kitchen in Powai, to cook up and make an  effort to unite those committed to the slow food movement, focus on the promotion of local, sustainable, organic food products from across the country. We cooked up Spicy Millet Porridge with Melon seed topping,Sweet Potato Gnochi with Thencha Pesto, Sesame Potato Gratin, Pump

kin Soup with Green Garlic oil and papad twists, Salad of Seasonal Greens, Root and Shoot Salad and Seasonal Fruit Parfait cups with honey yogurt.

I love food. I simply love food and am not ashamed to talk about it. For me one of the celebrations of life is Food!  Am no hypocrite! If I want to eat Non vegetarian I eat non vegetarian and if I do not want feel like eating I simply don’t fuss, I devour vegetables galore.  I indulge in food! And I love to cook! Baigan bharta, Alu chokha, Baigani, Bhindi fry, Patal alu, Lauki patta bhaji, mixed vegetables in dil, good old fashioned panch phoren daals in garlic or pumpkin sabji with rotis, I cook every day!

 I celebrate ‘Slow food’ everyday and how far my kids run from the table the day there is ‘Slow food ‘movement going on, on my table is my challenge! Which is everyday! My Slow Food movement starts right on my kitchen table, dining table and how I shop in the vegetable markets. I enjoy the shopping in the local sabji mandi and fish market, I love to bargain too. I make no bones that I simply love to go to the market and take in all the bright colours, smells and noise!!

How much you eat and how much you burn off is every one’s personal business though. If you follow a diet chart or eat every two hours or eat only vegetables, its all a part of personal choice. If you follow your doctors orders or simply make up a time table with a YO-YO diet spaced out with cheat days, it’s all in the name of food , so enjoy!

It is not hard to counter the disappearance of local food traditions and people's dwindling interest in where their food comes from, how it tastes and how our food choices affect the rest of the world.  We envision a world in which all people can access and enjoy food that is good for them, good for those who grow and produce it and good for Mother Earth. 

Terra Madre is the world meeting of food communities launched by Slow Food in 2004 in Italy. It brings small-scale farmers and food producers together with cooks, academics and the young generation to promote food in a sustainable, good, clean and fair way.

This year Terra Madre is being celebrated on December 10^th, so go on make your own Slow food recipes, whether its vegetarian or non vegetarian, it’s simply a dish cooked slowly using local seasonal produces available near by so that you do not increase your ‘Food carbon footprints’ while buying products from far away. The simplest and most cost effective way to reduce your food footprint is to minimize food waste. Although not all food waste is within your control, your purchasing and cooking habits can play a large part in reducing food losses. Food’s carbon footprint, or ‘foodprint’, is the greenhouse gas emissions produced by growing, rearing, farming, processing, transporting, storing, cooking and disposing of the food you eat.

I am glad this week I re-established the simple pleasures of preparing and eating one’s own meals. Save your leftovers and create a new meal with them whenever you can. Think about where food comes from, if it is from the other side of the world, it will have a high transportation footprint. Thankfully, we here in India still do our own shopping locally mostly and still belong to the Slow Food movement, at least  most of the rest of the rural country does. And here in the city believe me, most of the ladies still try to hunt out the cheapest bhaji walla, admit it!?

Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race. by Elsie Gabriel

Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race

Elsie Gabriel

Impressive, international, competitive, colossal, adventurous and classic are the words which overwhelmed me as I walked through the gates of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, to join thousands of spectators who came to pay tribute to the participants at the start of the 68th Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, December 26^th 2012.

At once I knew why it was such an iconic sport,of which so far I had only read about in the sailing and sports world news magazines.

 The assorted fleet were registered and set to sail as we came in to flag off the competition for the 68^th Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race and true to it’s name I knew it would provide a spectacle befitting of the event’s reputation. The Boxing Day annual 628-nm ocean classic running from Sydney to Hobart, often referred to as a ‘nautical rite of passage’, has been sponsored by Rolex since 2002.Rloex as apt as ever ruled the timely sport by the ocean side.Event organizers Cruising Yacht Club of Australia (CYCA) were equally alive with enthusiasm and sportsmanship.

The Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race is an annual event hosted by the CYCA, starting in Sydney on Boxing Day and finishing in Hobart, Tasmania. The race is run in co-operation with the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania and is widely considered to be one of the most difficult yacht races in the world.

The 68th Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race once again lived up to its reputation as one of the world’s toughest ocean races and am glad I was there to witness this milestone, once in a life time experience.

It is said that the race was initially planned to be a cruise by Peter Luke and some friends who had formed a club for those who enjoyed cruising as opposed to racing, however when a visiting British Royal Navy Officer, Captain John Illingworth, suggested it be made a race, the event was born. Peter Luke, who contributed to the formation of the Cruising Yacht club of Australia and the establishment of the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, died on 23 September 2007 aged 92.

The Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race has gathered much might over the decades, since the inaugural race in 1945, to become one of the top three offshore yacht races in the world, and it now attracts the biggest yachts from all around the globe.

All I could hear was the buzz of ‘Wild Oats’ in the air amidst much conversations. Eventually I came to learn that the race record was set in 2005 by Wild Oats XI which crossed the line in a time of 1 day, 18 hours, 40 minutes and 10 seconds. And later, it was wonderful to know that the previous record was beaten by Wild Oats XI in 2012 when it crossed the line in 1 day, 18 hours, 23 minutes and 12 seconds. This brought about another record for Wild Oats XI , as they became the first boat to claim the treble - race record, line honours and overall winner - twice.

Bass Strait and the eastern rough waters of the Pacific Ocean are renowned for their gusty treacherous winds and notorious seas. Although the race mostly takes place in the Tasman Sea, the shallowness of Bass Strait and the proximity to the race course means that the fleet is very much under the influence of the Strait as they transit from the mainland to Flinders Island. Even though the race is held in the Australian summer,  storms often make the Sydney–Hobart race cold, choppy and extremely challenging for the crew.

The Rolex Sydney to Hobart is often described as the most grueling long ocean race in the world. This traditional sporting event a day after Christmas is filled with tradition and has the ability year after year to  bring an entire country to a dramatic stand still. A fiercely contested race across the often dangerous seas, this is always an engaging event for the whole of Australia.

Seventy six boats of various types and sizes, the largest of them 100-footers, started off right before us. Leading the pack from the starting line was five-time line honors winner Wild Oats XI, which last year lost out to Investec Loyal. As the race leaders turned right into open sea, one could see how Wild Oats XI was kick starting as the leader.

 Over the past 68 years, the Rolex Sydney Hobart has become an icon of Australia's summer sport ranking top in public interest. No annual yachting event in the world attracts such huge media coverage than does the start on Sydney Harbour. I bowed down to Sydney’s offering, as one attraction I wouldn’t forget in a long long time.

For me, the fresh strong southerly breeze and sunshine provided the perfect angles for all the photographs I wanted to capture, it sure was a photo journalist’s delight. That December month,the weather gods intervened to make the 2012 race all about the big boats.

This grand classic ocean race is remembered for many things from records and personal achievements, challenges to tribulations and unfortunately, disasters too. It has proved quite a baptism for the news traveler in me, I was simply overjoyed to simply watch the frenzy of the crew preparations and catch first hand conversations with some sailors!

Ofcourse I wasn’t there at Hobart for the winners reception which is said to be as grand as the flag off but I did come to know of it’s spirited battle for line honours just as I had expected.

Yachts scorched out briskly with the endless blaze of media and public attention, as I waved vigorously, knowing deep in my heart that the crew in every yacht surely must be bowing their heads to God above and to nature below!