more stellar photos

here are more photos, as requested! the one of nina is when she is newly born, the ones of mum dad and nik are later that day, and the one of me and gary is day 2, taken by the local paper.

Will put one on of anya when she is here next week (she is working in Bali at the moment).

Pui Fun's name in Chinese

Hi Sarah and Gary. here is how stella's chinese name is written in chinese. the spelling given is phoneticised cantonese: "pui fun". the other version "pei fen" is in mandarin, and written in pinyin, the international standard for phoneticised chinese. as you can see, it is a lovely name: esteemed fragrance. add to this thought other associated ideas and you have possibilities like "reputation, honour, sweetness of nature, achievement and success". why is this? the idea of "fragrance" is that it travels in the air, unbounded. so stella has it in her charts to touch others. add the idea of "stella" which means star, and the idea of reputation and honour and inspiration is affirmed even more positively. stars shine and always guide. these are just a few thoughts...

Stella Eve Pui-Fun Browne

Hello All

Here are a few photos of our new daughter Stella. She was born at home in the throes of fireworks at 12 minutes past midnight on the 1st of January 2007 - what an entry to the world! It truly was a "stellar eve". As she was the second baby born in the state this year, we were interviewed the following day to appear in our local paper (please note, headline does NOT refer to us!).

At birth she weighed 3.9kg (about 8.6 lbs) and was 52cm (about 20.5 inches) and is very strong and healthy. She has a fantastic pair of lungs which she loves to exercise. She loves bathing and being carried in a sling close to us - we love it too! Love from Sarah and Gary

jo at uluwatu

pik kay & pik yue were asked to remove their specs cos the monkeys at uluwatu are famous for grabbing stuff from tourists.they were in for a surprise/shock when pik kay was "attacked" by them.they snatched her precious toys attached to her bag.she was totally upset.poor girl.but we managed to get over it in time to enjoy the breath-taking view.

pk & py at pura tirta empul

this is where the natural springs are located.the locals come to pray & cleanse themselves.pik yue & i had to wrap a sarong around ourselves cos it's holy land & we had to be properly covered.

pk & py at tanah lot

this is the most photographed spot in tanah lot.this place is a must-see.everyone comes here for the sunset.i was very happy cos this time around there was a festival going on.i took lots of pics & a few videos.i can spend the whole day here just enjoying the breeze & sounds of the waves!

Night Clouds

Caught this at 11 pm after it had rained a bit here. The clouds so low, it feels like we are in a situation of epic proportions.




The cloud bank moved and shrouded the Twin Towers and KL Tower from our view.

The Colours of Night

It's interesting how the different time of day gives the same scene a different mood...

Changing Views

It's 6.45 am. The sky is a soft blue with the brightening day.



It's 7.15 am, and the morning sun got caught as a sliver of gold against the pale blue. Sometimes it is good to watch out for other things in life. Thank God for 18th floor views.


7.30 am, and the soft sunlight brings out the radiance of white.

Giri's Free Hand Drawings

Giri did this in one minute, without any erasing of the lines he had drawn. Notice that he is keen on creating outlines of the letters he writes. At first, I thought he drew an impression of me, but it turned out he thinks Hari is king!


He did this Ganesha smoothly and expertly. I don't know why he titled it "Amma is a Queen"!


This is a pix of Giri when he was four or five. It is one of my favourite pix of him...

Sunday Morning

After breakfast, and seeing that it was going to be a soft and cool day, we decided to park ourselves on the balcony to do some writing and drawing. Giri and Sangametra are of course excited about this.


Here is the avid writer and artist. She spends a lot of time writing her Tamil alphabet, and drawing flowers and things.


This is a painting Sangametra had done a month ago, all on her own.


This is the view from our balcony, eighteen floors up in the sky. You can see Petronas Twin Towers as well as the KL Tower.

Sangametra's Friends

Dharmishta and Gururaj are Sangametra's friends whose mother, Gowri, works with Geetha at the Temple of Fine Arts. Dharmishta, whose name means "personal dharma", incidentally was named by Swamiji. Swamiji had another name for Sangametra after she was born: Dharmasamvardhini, which means "the one in whom dharma resides", yet another epithet for the Devi. Gururaj is Dharmishta's little brother, and as you can see he is full of smiles and energy.

First Day at School

It's the first day of school and Hari and Giri are in their school uniform. Hari is in Form Four this year, after getting rather good results for his PMR with 3 As and 4 Bs. He is a school prefect.
Giri goes to Standard One. He is quite excited about school and looks quite smart in his new uniform.


Below: Giri and Geetha get ready for school. One thing for sure, Giri loves the idea of being independent, doing things like buying snacks from the canteen and making friends straight away with some of his new classmates

My Little Princess

This is what my little princess Sangametra looked like when she was just one year old. She is still tiny but she packs a good punch with her voice and her assertiveness. This pix was taken in august 2003.



This is Sangametra with her favourite girl cousin Janice (Geetha's brother Mahen's daughter). Sangametra is now four years old and looking forward to going to school. Janice lives in Klang with her elder sister Leela May and her mother Marissa, and her grandmother. This pix was taken on New year's Day at Mohan's house. Mohan is Geetha's eldest brother who used to live in Canada but now has found a wonderful position in HSBC in Cyberjaya.