Day 103 : Speaking Engagement!

I had my first ever experience as a key note speaker at the Chief Innovation Officer Summit, held at the Grand Copthorne hotel. I accepted the invitation from Innovation Enterprise, the organizers, about a couple of months ago and then of course proceeded to completely forget about it until the reminders started to flow in.

Initially I was a bit nervous because I had never done this before. I am pretty used to presentations internally in the companies I have worked for but I had not given any such presentation externally, or at least not at this scale. So initially, I was a bit nervous and put in a fair amount of preparation into it.

I chose a personal passion point - that of "Commercial Innovation", so I can be genuinely excited about it. That worked. Once I prepped the slides and ran through them, I felt ready and I began to look forward to the event.

Finally, the D-day arrived and I must say, it went off a lot more smoothly than I had expected. I actually enjoyed giving the presentation and was pretty pleased with the reception it got too!

So there, today I am happy about a job well done!

397 more to go.

Day 102 : Reclined Supta Padangustasana!

Yup - that's the pose I realized that I can do now. Ok fine. Only on one side. Still, it is pretty cool.

So there - Reclined Supta Padangustasana - Check!

398 more to go. 

Day 101 : The Little Ballerina!

Since she enjoyed her trial ballet class, I got her kind permission to sign her up for the regular class. But first, we needed to get her the ballet uniform.

So after work, she and I took a little trip down to the ballet school and did her "fitting". She was thrilled! The leotard, the skirt, the shoes - there was plenty for her to get excited about and she couldn't stop checking herself out in the mirror in the fitting room.

Back at home, she looked at her own picture and sighed, "I look so beautiful in this dress."

Indeed!

399 more to go. 

Day 100 : The Joy of 100!

Phew! Finally completed 100 days! On one hand it felt like so much work, but on the other hand, the 100 days seemed to have passed oh so quickly, and am glad I chronicled the best moments down. Some day it might make an interesting read.

But for today, I am just happy that I stuck with it.

And thank you for reading and supporting me through this!

400 more to go. 

Day 99 : Yantra

Everyone in the family (and I mean my family in Singapore including in laws) seemed to have something or the other working out for them - work stuff, personal stuff, health stuff. So we thought today is as good a time as any for a family celebration! 

The celebration, in true Indian style, ended up being all about eating. 

We set off for the lunch buffet at Yantra at Tanglin Mall - and I must say it was pretty impressive. 

They had a wonderful array of chaats (pani puri, of course, being my all time favourite), the fluffiest, softest naans, a lot of different vegetarian and non vegetarian dishes (my favourite being the mutton rice and the fried fish), too many desserts (much to Madam's excitement) and to top it all off, the perfect masala chai. We hogged until we couldn't hog any more and groaned from all that effort and overeating - a sign of a true, good celebration. 

Here's to Yantra and celebrations! 

401 more to go. 

Day 98 : Ballet!

I started to learn Bharatanatyam when I was 3.5 years old. So I thought Madam, who is now past 3.5, is very much ready to start learning dance. Especially since she seemed to enjoy it so much.

So I took her to a trial dance class. Ballet, not Bharatanatyam. Because she seemed to be more into twirling and hopping plus the classes were right next door, so there were practical reasons too.

Since it was a trial class, the parents were allowed to sit in and we could watch the proceedings, which am happy to say went pretty well. She had a ball of a time! They had props and stories and even though Madam spent half the time admiring herself and doing her own thing in front of the studio mirror, she seemed to really get into the groove.

My ballet butterfly!

At the end of it all, when I asked her if she enjoyed it, her reply was a resounding YES! Which in turn made me feel pretty happy about my decision to take her to the class. 

402 more to go. 

Day 97 : The Last Piece of the Puzzle!

The first scene in my film is considered dramatic. And it has no background score. And it has a quiet, indoor sound design. And it is pretty long.

What that basically led to was a ton of discussion around it. Should there be music? Should it be so quiet? If there is music, what sort of music? How can any music fit when the moods shift so quickly within a short span of time? Is it too art-y? Is it too slow? Etc. etc.

As the director, I have the unique privilege of taking the call on the final outcomes of such discussions. So based on the first draft of sound design and the first draft of background score we had, I decided no music. It simply didn't go. Not with the sound we had. Nope.

But was I completely satisfied with the scene? Not really.

Today, the sound designer who lives in Dubai, took a folly (live sound recording) from a similar setting as that in the scene and sent me the revised sound design.

Suddenly the scene felt very different. And the scene demanded music.

So I went back to the first draft of background score. That in its entirety absolutely didn't work, but after playing around with it - copy and pasting a few sequences here and there, suddenly it all fell into place. That last piece of the puzzle fell in oh-so-beautifully!

And to me, now, the scene just right.

Totally made my day, that.

403 more to go. 

Day 96 : Posters!

The posters for the film have come in! And I am super duper thrilled! It is so very exciting to see everything falling in place, one by one!

404 more to go. 

Day 95 : Thillana

My personal discovery is that I do not enjoy Abhinaya (acting) in Bharatnatyam. I enjoy the physical movements and the rhythms of the dance form but not the expressions and storytelling as much. Maybe because the dancers tend to be really feminine about the whole deal, and the abhinaya is similar to that of the over the top actresses from early days of Indian cinema. Which of course works beautifully when good dancers deliver it, but I feel nothing but awkward, in spite of having years of experience of actually have done it. Oh well.  

So now my mission is to find dance items where I do not have to do any abhinaya. So after Bho Shambho and Alarippu, I am now at a Thillana and enjoying it thoroughly! I really love the complex rhythms and energy of the thillana and needless to say, it is an excellent workout too!

405 more to go. 

Day 94 : Dhaka International Film Festival!

Today I got the super duper fantastic news that our little film "Pularum Iniyum Naalekal" / "There's Always Tomorrow" has been officially selected for the 15th Dhaka International Film Festival!

I have had the privilege of attending this festival with my previous feature Mausams and it was one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had! And to go back there again - well, who would have thought!

Totally made my day! There's just so much to be thankful for!

406 more to go. 

Day 93 : Grub

It's my discovery of the year.

I found this really nice brunch place, pretty close to where I live in Bishan. A nice little secluded place in the middle of Bishan Park called Grub. 

To get there you have to cross a bridge over a brook scattered with stones on top of which little turtles were hanging out. 

Note the turtles!

There were two big parrots, someone's pets I figured, occasionally flying around. 

There was a beautiful, peaceful pond. 

There was a rooster running around, which ran even faster when my friend whom I was meeting at Grub, decided to chase it for pictures. I really should have taken a picture of that chase. 

The brunch was good. 

The coffee machine was broken (bummer). 

But really, great find! 

407 more to go. 

Day 92 : Miss Ladybug!

Over the past five days, for two hours each, Madam had been attending a holiday drama workshop at Act3 drama school. And today was their post-workshop performance.

This was kind of a big deal for us!

Firstly, because it would be her first stage performance of any kind. But more importantly it was like coming back to normalcy after all those painful few months.

Last December, she was supposed to be part of the Christmas concert at her playschool - she had learnt the dance (or whatever she could, because it was only later that we learnt that she couldn't keep up with the other children due to the imbalance caused by her cyst), her costume was ready and we were very excited about what would have been her first performance. But of course, God had other plans and instead of performing, she was recovering after her first major surgery and we were reeling from the news of the biopsy report and mentally preparing for the next surgery.

So this performance today, as you can imagine, was a bigger deal than it would have been otherwise. And it was also going to tell us whether she could and would keep up with the other children - from a motor skill and cognitive standpoint.

So I had all my fingers and toes crossed.

Madam was a Ladybug in a cute little play called "Just Peachy".

Once we got there, she was pretty excited about getting dressed and told me to stay outside the dressing room while she "gets ready in her costume".

Then she confidently walked to the stage together with the rest of the kids. Ok fine, as confidently she can.

She is still unsure when it comes to steps and flights of stairs and there was a really long one to the stage that she had to climb down, which she took some help for. I have to say the Act3 guys were really awesome - I had told them about her condition and they always made sure there was someone to look after her alone especially when it came to things like climbing up and down these stairs!

Anyway, we settled ourselves in the nice little black box theatre and the play began.

In the first part, when all the kids came together for a song, Madam looked pretty lost. She had a "what's going on here" expression. But later on, she seemed to catch on... and soon was dancing on the stage and mouthing her lines away (in a rather uncharacteristically coy way, if I may add).

Miss Ladybug on the stage!

Dancing away!

Rocking her lines!

If I were a  more emotional person, I would have cried I suppose. But it was so good to see her being there and just being "normal"!

And it was amazing to see how much these guys had achieved in 10 hours flat! Both the plays by the 3 - 4 year olds and the 5 - 6 year olds were great!

Post the performances, the kids got a certificate each and I clapped and cheered all the way through! I asked Madam whether she enjoyed it and she said, "Yes". I asked her if she would like to do it again and said, "Yes". So that made me even happier!

Receiving her cert & posing for a photo

Posing in from of the Big Peach from "Just Peachy"
(and two very happy parents!)

It was probably one of the best days ever! I hugged Madam tight so many times, much to her annoyance!

408 more to go.

Day 91 : Being Kind

One of the things that I have learnt to do these days is what I call "being kind to oneself". I get so caught up doing this and that and everything that sometimes I feel I should take a step back and be kind to my mind and body and take a break.

This week was crazy. I was easily working 12+ hours a day thanks to all the last minute "urgent, important" projects that were handed down to me, then topping that with yoga or dance which I consider necessary exercise, managing Madam's transport to and fro her 1 week holiday drama workshop, figuring out some sound design stuff for the film and what not.

It was just crazy and today, Friday, I felt completely exhausted. I couldn't focus on work, my eyes were burning, I didn't want to look at the computer and phone anymore, I didn't wanna talk to anyone and I didn't even feel like eating. All I wanted to do was go home and sleep.

So I requested the in laws to take Madam to and from her class, I came back from work early, had some home cooked rice and vegetables, and crashed. For about 3 - 4 hours in broad daylight, I slept away.

I woke up refreshed, happy and ready to take on everything again.

So yes - I was kind to myself today and that made a difference.

409 more to go. 

Day 90 : Words of Wisdom

Another series of Eka Uvacha.

She wanted to get married, very badly.

"Can I marry Papa?"
"No, he is already married to Mummy."
"Can I marry Dadu?"
"No, he is already married to Dadi."
"Can I marry Tau?"
"No, he is already married to Tai. Why don't you pick someone of your age?"
"How about Kabir?" (Kabir is her best friend).
"Sure."
"But I can marry him only during outings." (Basically she sees him only during outings.)
"Hmm... yes, there are practical challenges to that."
"I will just marry you, Mummy."
Thus we got married.
And her grandmom happily declared "And you will live happily ever after!"
To which Madam said, rather crossly, "This is a real marriage. There is no 'happily ever after' in a real marriage."

Amen.

410 more to go. 

Day 89 : Behind the Scenes!

Today I received a cut of behind the scenes interviews of the cast and crew of the film. This is not meant for public viewing because it's way too long and a lot of details are relevant only for the cast and crew.

I had not listened to the others when their parts were being shot, so it was really interesting to listen to everyone's perspective on the journey of the film. It was almost like reliving the whole process again! Felt so good! It's truly one of my best experiences till date!

411 more to go. 

Day 88 : Feedback!

Today I got my in laws to watch my film. And they loved it!

OK, they may be hugely biased but still... my mom in law even shed a few tears through it because she was so moved!

They were the first folks to watch the film depending solely on subtitles and having no idea about the plot beforehand, so it was sort of a litmus test for us too.

Both of them gave me a huge, warm hug after that and needless to say, it all felt pretty awesome!

412 more to go. 

Day 87 : Mini Book-Reading Vacation!

It's not often that I read an entire book in one sitting. And that's what I did. When I went to bed, I grabbed R. K. Narayan's "Grandmother's  Tale" and read it in one go.

OK fine, it was a small book with huge fonts, but still! It somehow makes you feel like you are back in college or on a vacation (even better!) when you could just read and read and do nothing else.

So yes, that felt like my mini book-reading imaginary vacation! 

413 more to go. 

Days 85 - 86 : My Mission!

Seems like am on a mission.

It is to get people around me practice more of yoga, correctly.

So first I started with the husband. He always liked yoga but isn't motivated enough to do it at home frequently. So I nagged him enough that he joined me at home, not once but two days in a row.

The Husband, Madam & I 

Then I moved on to the dad in law. He actually does some form of yoga every day, but I wanted him to try the joy of a proper class from an expert - so he can make sure the alignments are correct. So we played Nikki Doan's beginner's ashtanga yoga video and did that for an hour.

Dad in Law & I (Madam left her mat midway)

Then I bugged my film's editor - a complete novice who has been procrastinating for way too long - over WhatsApp sufficiently enough, sent him a short 12-minute video on Surya Namaskar (Sun Salutation) meant for beginners, and told him he may no longer edit any of my films if he doesn't get moving. So he did. And thanked me for it.

Smugness.

Needless to say, Madam joined every session at home too.

And let me wrap up with my show off shot for the day. That's (Parivrtta Surya Yantrasana) Compass pose! OK fine, I can't do it as well on my left side, but let's not get into technicalities, shall we? It took me years to get here, so am over the moon!

Parivrtta Surya Yantrasana

414 more to go. 

Days 83 - 84 : "A Man Called Ove"!

A book I randomly picked up from the airport few weeks ago, on my way to London, but never got around to reading it until now.

Why did I pick it up? I have no idea. Maybe because my experience with my last two translated novels from Sweden ("The Hundred Year Old Who Jumped Out of the Window and Disappeared" & "The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden", both by Jonas Jonasson) were good.

But "A Man Called Ove" by Fredrik Backman... wow... it was at a totally different level! I think it may be my most favourite book till late.

For its style, for its content, for its simplicity,  for its ability to make me laugh out loud and cry copious amounts of tears all at the same time and for making me love and want to live better a little bit more.

I don't want to deprive anyone else of the sheer pleasure of reading and experiencing this book for themselves, so am gonna stop.

Go read.

416 more to go. 

Day 82 : Alarippu

Today's dance item of choice was the Alarippu. It is the first item a Bharatanatyam student learns - as it really works your arm and leg muscles in preparation for future items and also helps you refine the neck movements and perfect the rhythm and timing.

I found a really nice video on Youtube and quickly learnt it. The last time I performed this was when I was in 6 years old or so, but I could remember most of the movements and the music for the footwork.

However, I felt completely spent after just a couple of rounds of dancing to it and I found myself crashing in heap on the floor when there are quick transitions from a full squat to full standing postures. Literally, the most basic item in Bharatanatyam brought me to my knees.

All that awesomeness I felt yesterday about my fitness levels was quick to evaporate. I guess it was the universe's way of telling me to keep it humble. Oh well - lesson well taken!

I persevered for about an hour, with little progress, but enjoyed every minute of being a humble student of dance!

418 more to go. 

Day 81 : Baby Grasshopper Pose!

I think my flexibility is at an all time high!

First, I could notice that even though am getting back to dance after several years, I am able to do a lot of the kicks much more easily than I could ever do.

Today, after the dance practice, I realized that I can do the Baby Grasshopper Pose - a pose that I had discovered in one of the yoga classes a few weeks ago, but couldn't do then. Well, I still can do it only on one side and can't hold it for too long either, but any progress is good and I feel awesome!

419 more to go. 

Day 80 : Bho Shambho!

The excitement around dance continues! I couldn't wait to get back from work and dance again, so that's exactly what I did. And as of today, I have learnt the entire piece of Bho Shambho. I can't describe how good it feels to be able to dance an entire Bharatanatyam item, that too to my all time favourite song!

Super duper awesomeness!

420 more to go. 

Day 79 : Dance!

After a gap of many years, I am practicing Bharatanatyam!

It all began with Anita Nair's "Mistress". The book is centered around a Kathakali dancer and whenever the character talks about his dance, I got transported back to my own days of dancing! I had trained in Indian classical dances like Bharatanayam and Mohiniyattom for more than a decade, but have been completely out of touch for several years now. And thanks to Nair and her book, I wanted to get back in touch with what used to be a huge passion at one point in time.

So that's what I did. I chose a Youtube video of one of my most favourite pieces Bho Shambho - an invocation to Lord Shiva, the God of Dance, and started to learn it. I had performed this about 15 years ago but every version is choreographed differently, and I chose one which I liked.

Well, I shall admit that all the years without dancing was very clearly obvious. I struggled with some of the basic postures like even getting a proper aramandalam (half squat) consistently right, but I pursued on. On the other hand, thanks to all the yoga, am flexible and nimble enough, maybe even more than I ever used to be, so I could easily do a lot of the high kicks and deep stretches that tend to come with a dance dedicated to Lord Shiva.

My first practice back lasted a good two hours. And it felt incredibly good! I have a feeling am going to dance a lot more now!

421 more to go. 

Day 78 : "Metamorphosis - A World of Puppets"!

Madam's school holidays have started and I was looking at fun stuff for her to do. And at the very last moment, I got tickets for this puppet show called Metamorphosis by Bernd Ogrodnik  from Iceland. I had never watched a live puppet show before and this was only an hour long, so I thought it was perfect for a family outing.

So with much pomp and show, the whole family - myself, the husband, the in-laws and Madam - set out for our first school holiday outing.

It was Madam's first theatre experience of any sort, so she promptly asked for popcorn - because obviously, any dark place where a show is to be held is similar to a cinema and should serve popcorn. After getting over the initial disappointment of being told there will be no popcorn to go along with the entertainment, she settled down to watch the show.

And she was completely mesmerized for the next one hour. Not just her, all of us! It was one of the most amazing shows ever! The creativity, the mastery of the craft and above all, the simplicity of the storytelling was just astounding. With just a few props, a little bit of music that he played himself, and some voice modulation, Ogrodnik was able to weave such beautiful stories. It was amazing to see how much one can do with so little. Plus the guy was so multi-talented - he is a good actor, he could play the harmonica and clarinet, he could do acapella, he could sing, he is obviously a creative story writer, director and exceptional puppeteer and he even makes the puppets himself. Too much! And there was a very humble yet inspiring Q&A with him and his wife as well.

All in all, a really, really good experience. Now am determined to catch more such shows!

422 more to go.

Day 77 : Pre-Holiday Party

It was Madam's last day of term in school and parents were invited for a gathering. I saw the words "fun", "activities" and "snacks" in the email, so I told Madam that there is going to be a party in her school and I would be attending together with her grandparents who are in town.

She was super enthusiastic and for a change, was quick to wake up, have breakfast and get ready for school. She didn't have to wear uniform but "colour dress", which was of course, made the whole thing a whole lot more exciting.

 The husband dropped her in school first and the my-laws and I went there an hour later after I got through some work in the morning. When we reached the school, they were getting the moms and kids to play some sort of a musical chair - just that this one is with hoola hoops that you have to wriggle through and if the music stops when it's your turn, you get out. Madam was excited to see us and incidentally, so were many of her friends. They were seeing me after many days - I used to drop Madam to school in the mornings but haven't been doing that over the last couple of weeks when the duty was outsourced to her grandparents.

The kids gathered around me, complained about the various wounds, injection spots and mosquito bites on their hands and legs, asked me to take their photos, shared with me their family matters (about expected siblings, working parents who couldn't make it to the event etc.) and also were quite amused that my name was "Shilpa" (I still don't know why).

The in-laws played the hoola-hoop-musical-chair thingy with Madam, while I took several photos. We quit after a couple of rounds because Madam thought the game was rather boring and totally not worth to be sweating it out in the sun.

Later, we accompanied the kids to their classroom. We were allowed to sit in and watch them go through their daily snack-time routine. It was pretty fun to see all the kiddos scrambling to prove to us how they know their stuff - saying a prayer prior to eating, taking out the snack box from the bags, hanging the bags at the back of their chairs, spreading a small towel on the table to avoid spilling, eating on their own, sharing food with their friends and what not. At one point in time, Madam asked me softly, "Mummy, what are you doing here?"

After the snack time, I left the in-laws in school to watch the grand finale - a performance by the older kids - and I returned back to work.

I wrapped up the crazy work week by 6pm or so and returned home and was eager to know what happened at the event after I left. Apparently, Madam refused to part with her teachers. She made a real drama about missing them and not wanting to go home and leave them behind. In fact, she was the last one to take leave of the classroom. This, coming from a girl who tends to say "shcool is boring" when asked. Am telling you, this girl is meant for theatrics.

When I asked her how the show was, she snapped, "It was good, but you weren't there." Wow. Emotional blackmail. Theatrics, again.

Then she went on to add. "Also, it was not a party. You said there will be a party, there was no party." Just when I was about to clarify what a party meant to her, she said, "I want my birthday to come. Then, that's a party. Not this. I don't know why birthdays take so long to come."

Oh well, but it was a nice, fun day and she is on to her first "school holidays"!

423 more to go. 

Days 74 - 76 : Work - The Good & The Bad.

It was a crazy week at work. There were full day meetings followed by calls for at least 4 hours in the evening, every single day. On top of the meetings I was attending, I was also handed over some extra, last minute projects and well, in a nutshell, I felt stretched thin. I was so caught that I didn't even get to do any yoga through the week. That to me a big deal because I usually try to squeeze at least 30 minutes a day. OK, so that was the bad part.

The good part was that I got pretty good feedback all throughout. From peers, from folks who said "Hey I heard good things about you", from my boss who actually went on to call me "awesome" and from my Big Boss (boss' boss) who was in town as well. The Big Boss was especially pleased with the output on the last minute projects that she had handed over to me, so I guess that more or less made up for the rough & tough week.

So yes, there were moments when I felt like pulling my hair out would be a fair representation of my frustration levels, and then there were moments when my chest burst with pride & satisfaction. So I suppose, it's all for the good.

24 more to go.