About Nasrul

Nasrul has been setting new standards as an author, photographer, editor, educator, and art director for more than a decade. Currently Editor-in-Chief at Light & Composition, Head of Department of Art and Photography, and Language and Linguistics at Light & Composition University, Nasrul started his professional career in 2000. A couple of years later, Nasrul made his debut into advertising and joined Grey World Wide, where he worked with well-known organizations such as Nokia, Coca-Cola, Bata, and Telecom Malaysia. In 2006, he joined Paper Rhyme, as Head of Interactive, and at the same time helped in establishing the advertising and event management firms like Spell Bound and Final Avenue. From 2000 to 2007, he also made 4 documentaries, 35 animated commercials, and more than one hundred high-end corporate websites. However, everything changed while he went on the Annapurna Circuit trek, in Nepal, Nasrul left advertising and became a full time writer and photographer.

He wrote books such as The Quintessence of Photography: Understanding Composition, for developing artistic vision, and The Essence of Close-up Photography, for developing the basics of photographic vocabulary and exploring close-up photography with an artistic touch. His other books are Illuminating Nature: Moments in Reflection, with vivid examples of nature and wildlife photography, and The Happy Children of the Third World, which touches on the meaning of life, to its core. Nasrul has published over 100 articles on various aspects of art, photography, language, linguistics, religion, and science.

A Network Management graduate, Nasrul spent his first two and half years in the Department of Computer Science. Once he became Cisco Certified Network Associate, followed by Cisco Certified Network Professional and Cisco Certified Security Professional, he chose to complete his graduation in networking rather than computer science.

After leaving advertising in 2007, Nasrul was craving to learn more about the science of language, and thus, completed his MSc in Applied Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition. Spending most of his time studying, photographing, researching, and traveling through different cultures, which drew Nasrul closer to people, life, and nature. He also researches and studies different religious’ scriptures in their original language using today’s established science, in order to understand the meaning of life. Nasrul’s research on science and religion helped him accept Islam.

Entries by Nasrul

Star anise

Obtained from a medium-sized native evergreen tree of northeast Vietnam and southwest China, star anise is a spice that closely resembles anise in flavor. It is also known as star aniseed, or Chinese star anise for its star-shaped pericarp of Illicium verum. Star anise enhances the flavor of meat. It is widely used as a spice in preparation of biryani and masala chai all over the Indian subcontinent. It is also widely used in Chinese cuisine, and in Malay and Indonesian cuisines. It is now widely grown for commercial use in China, India, and most other countries in Asia. Star anise is an ingredient of the traditional five-spice powder of Chinese cooking. It is also a major ingredient in the making of phở, a Vietnamese noodle soup.

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Cashew nut

Commonly used in Indian cuisine, Cashew nut are used in whole for garnishing sweets or curries, or ground into a paste that forms a base of sauces for curries like korma, or some sweets like kaju barfi. It is also used in powdered form in the preparation of several Indian sweets and milk-based desserts. Beside Indian subcontinent, cashew nut is also popular in many countries. In the Philippines, cashew is a known product of Antipolo, and is eaten with suman. In Indonesia, roasted and salted cashew nut is called kacang mete or kacang mede, while the cashew apple is called jambu monyet. In Brazil, the cashew fruit juice is popular all across the country. In Panama, the cashew fruit is cooked with water and sugar for a prolonged time to make a sweet, brown, paste-like dessert called dulce de marañón. Marañón is one of the Spanish names for cashew.

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Poppy seed

Obtained from the opium poppy, poppy seeds have been harvested from dried seed pods by various civilizations for thousands of years. These tiny kidney-shaped seeds are less than a millimeter in length, and have a pitted surface. They are used as an ingredient in many foods, and are pressed to yield poppyseed oil.

In Indian cuisine, white poppy seeds are commonly used in the preparation of korma. In West Bengal and Bangladesh, white poppy seeds are called posto (পোস্তো), and are used as the main ingredient in a variety of dishes. The ground poppy seed, along with coconut and other spices, are combined as the masala to be added at the end of the cooking step.

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