Day 315 : Awards!

As I was waiting at the Dubai airport on transit, my co-producer who had attended the Darbhanga International Film Festival in Bihar which was happening over the last few days, sent me this.

Yup, we had actually picked both the BEST FILM and BEST DIRECTOR awards!!!

What a surprise and what an honour!!! I can't even begin to express my joy and gratitude. Indeed, the universe has been very kind!

185 more to go. 

Day 314 : Elle Tournent Dames Draaien Brussels International Female Film Festival! (Day 4)!

It was the last day.... rather, last half of a day.. left in Brussels. Our flight was at about 2pm, so we decided to make the most of it and go around the beautiful city one last time.

We first went to a cafe to get some breakfast - our first breakfast outside the hotel. It was interesting because it was pitch dark at 7:30am when we settled in for our breakfast of amazing toast with eggs and bacon topped with coffee and hot chocolate. It was also interesting because some people came into the cafe (I mean indoors) with dogs and nice settled down right next to us. I can't imagine dogs allowed indoors in any restaurant or cafe in Singapore, but clearly Brussels is very pet friendly.

Post the breakfast, we walked around the Grand Place one last time. Given the early hour, the square was almost all empty - a sight hardly seen in the otherwise tourist heavy area. We even managed to get a shot of the Mannekin Pis without other tourists crowding around it! After walking around for a while, we had yet another round of Belgian waffles and then it was time to say goodbye.

A tourist-less (except the husband, of course) Mannekin Pis

Last round of Belgian waffles

An almost empty Grand Place!

Oh, I must mention the Pakistani Uber driver who happened to shuttle us twice within the same day - once to the breakfast cafe and then again to the airport. His was an elderly gentleman named Akmal, who spoke such beautiful Urdu, that I could just sit and listen to him going on and on. I LOVE that language!

So yes, that was that. We had a pretty eventless journey back. I slept most of the way, enjoyed the food on Emirates (which wasn't the case on the way to Belgium) and it all ended pretty well.

What more can I say other than that this was probably one of the best four days of my life. I am so thankful for this opportunity - the festival, the people, the sights, the food, the husband and everything else that with it. SO. SO. Thankful.

186 more to go. 

Day 313 : Elle Tournent Dames Draaien Brussels International Female Film Festival! (Day 3)

Thus, after sleeping since 4pm yesterday, we woke up to the day of the screening!

Again, after breakfast at 7am at the hotel, we got dressed and caught a taxi to go for a brunch organized by the festival. The brunch was at the house of two of the festival’s organizers and it was in one of those multistory row houses that is so typical of Brussels. At the brunch, we met several other film makers, all the organizers of the festival and also super talented Indian actress Shahana Goswami who was representing one of her films from Bangladesh. It was a great experience to talk to all of the different film makers about the making of their films, the themes, their lives as film makers and what not, all done over an amazing array of incredible food. Then I got the surprise of my life when one of the key organizers came up to me and whispered that she thought our film was the best of the festival! She told me how much she loved the film and how it stays with for a long while even after watching it. Another organizer told me how they had long discussions about the film after they watched it the first time. It was all so overwhelming, especially since I was wondering how an European audience would have reacted to the film. Of course, I knew they would have liked it because otherwise I wouldn’t find myself in Brussels like this, but I didn’t realize the depth to which they had liked the film. I felt on top of the world and wished that the rest of the audience would appreciate it too. Post the brunch all of us took one big group photo in the backyard, which by the way, housed two chickens, much to our amusement!

With the other film makers and festival organisers

Belgian Chickens!

 Post the brunch, the husband and I went and bought ourselves a new travel luggage because one of ours had broken over the flight here. After picking up the new one, we went back to the hotel to drop it and immediately started out again to grab lunch before the screening, which was scheduled at 5pm.

We went straight to the area near Cinema Vendome, the venue for our screening, and realized that it was the African part of the town. All the shops around were selling African groceries, African clothes, African accessories and what not! It was very, very fascinating! We walked around, did a bit of shopping, picked up some middle eastern lunch again and then made our way to the venue.

Cinema Vendome, screening venue 

 We reached just in time for the Q&A session of the previous movie which was a documentary about mothers of jihadists in Brussels. We had not watched the film but I saw a Kurd film maker, who was in the audience, crying heavily. She later talked of her experience – about losing a loved one to a terrorist attack during a peace protest in Turkey. It was my first up close experience with someone who has been through such a harrowing experience that I am only familiar with via media. It was disturbing but also very humbling. I sent out a million prayers in gratitude for all that I have.

There was a short gap between the next screening, which was my film. My husband and I picked up some popcorn (the husband was VERY excited about the popcorn) and drinks and settled ourselves comfortably. I wasn’t sure how many people would turn for our film and quite amused to see that we had almost a packed house!

And then it happened. One of the most beautiful experiences ever!

The screening went on smoothly and I could judge the audience’s positive reactions throughout. There were many smiles and good natured laughs and a great applause at the end.

During the Q&A, I was asked so many interesting questions! A guy asked “Do men in India not express their feelings openly to their spouses?” (to which one lady answered “that’s a common thing everywhere, universal truth, not only in India!”)… another asked about how I got the actors to look at each other so intensely, intimately, another asked what would be the tip I would give to someone who wants to make low budget films, another asked whether the actors have been through such experiences before and is that why they are looking so realistic on stage, another asked if I were a psychologist because everything in the film and everything I say sounded so right (this one really cracked me up!) and so many more! At one point in time, someone asked me whether I was endorsing leaving your love for the sake of your parents, and I said,  “No. That was only a backstory. What the message is that no matter what the past has been… we still have the ability to fix the present and be happy with it. The message is that as long as you communicate to your spouse openly, there would be a lot of love.” And then I saw a couple in the front row… the man held the lady’s hand and gave it a tight squeeze and smiled and she in turn, smiled and rested her head on his shoulder. It was probably the most defining moment of the whole night for me. It was SO beautiful!

Getting questions translated during Q&A. 

 

With the lovely audience. Unfortunately many had left before we could take this pic, thanks to the loooong Q&A. 

We had such a long Q&A session and it was all the more interesting because it was all done with help of a translator. They would ask questions in French which would be immediately translated to me and then my English answers would be translated back in French for them. Post the Q&A too, so many people came up to me  and continued to talk about the film. They asked if there would be more screenings because they wanted to bring their partners / children / friends etc. to come and watch. One told me that if her husband had been anything like what’s said in the film, she wouldn’t have had to get a divorce! They told me my film is like French Cinema. They told me it is poetic. And everyone told me there is so much “heart” in it… or something similar because there is no English direct translation to that word in French. I was hugged, and even kissed because people were so happy!

And then the husband, who also watched the film on the big screen for the first time, said, “I am so proud of you.”

 

All smiles post the screening!

Needless to say, I was on cloud nine. Or higher, if there is one. All this is SUCH  a blessing.

After I talked and exchanged contacts with a lot of people, the husband and I decided to make the most of the rest of the evening by taking a walk through city centre and Grand Place at night. One of the translators recommended a certain route because “it’s the most beautiful part of the town”. And she was SO right. It was indeed the most beautiful part of the town! We walked around for a long time with wide eyed wonder, discovering one pretty sight after another.

Brussels at night

Brussels at night

We had dinner, again with a magnificent view to go along and then by the time we walked back to our hotel, we were sad to leave but happy to have been here.

What a day! 

187 more to go. 

Day 312 : Elle Tournent Dames Draaien Brussels International Female Film Festival! (Day 2)

Thanks to jetlag, we were up by 5am and then started the horrible wait until breakfast to open at 7am. Sharp at 7am we were at the dining room in the hotel and stuffed ourselves with the local fares of cold cuts, breads, a million varieties of cheese, coffee, tea and freshly squeezed orange juice.

Then we got ready and decided to explore the city further. Given it was a Friday, the festival was opening only in the afternoon at about 5 or so, so we had the whole morning free.

We walked again, this time to the Grand Place, the main square and chief tourist attraction (for very good reasons)  of Brussels. We had been here on our previous trip as well, but this time it was much nicer because it was off-season and there were only few tourists. We walked about the area a lot – in and around the square, some shopping places as well as the non motorable City centre, paid a visit to the Mannekin Pis (the peeing boy, who is a local legend), saw a carnival, were given oranges by the carnival folks, had Belgian waffles, had Vietnamese Pho for lunch because I wanted something hot and soupy to deal with the cold, had coffee in another place with a  grand view of the Grand Place, bumped into two beautiful churches, hear a pipe organ playing enchantingly in one, chatted a lot, took a lot of pictures and generally had a ball!

Grand Place

Local carnival

Oranges!

Waffles

Non motorable City Centre

The long walk from our hotel to Grand Place

Sights that we bumped to

Coffee with a view!

Church #1

Church #2

 After a while, we felt exhausted with the jetlag catching up, so we walked back to the hotel and decided to take a “short nap” at 4pm. Incidentally, the “short nap” ended at 1:30am when both of us work up feeling extremely hungry. But it was too late and even the Turkish place downstairs was closed. So the husband ate a bar of Snickers and given I am a bit more health conscious, I drank a glass of water and both of us forced ourselves to sleep again. I was a bit of disappointed that we “wasted the whole evening sleeping” but the husband was more optimistic. He pointed out that one thing about travelling without Madam is that we can sleep and wake up whenever it pleases us, so we should be pretty happy that this was achieved. Touche!

Thankfully I was exhausted enough to fall back asleep again, that too with the memories of a day well spent in gorgeous Brussels, so it was all very good.

188 more to go.  

Day 311 : Elle Tournent Dames Draaien Brussels International Female Film Festival! (Day 1)

Where do I begin?!

I had the most amazing, most magical four days ever! And since it were so magical, am gonna write everything about it in detail across four blog posts.

I made my way to the Elles Tournent Dames Draaein Brussels International Female Film Festival and given that we are in the celebratory mood of our 10^th wedding anniversary, the husband joined too. This was our first proper holiday – with just the two of us – post Madam’s entry into our lives, so I was thoroughly excited. We spoke to Madam about her parents taking off together for a few days and she gave us her blessings. So, we left her with my mom and our helper and the two of us took off.

I was so excited right from the start that I even looked forward to the long flight with its stopover in Dubai (not one of my favourite airports for sure – the food is super expensive, the bathrooms are too few, and it is generally over crowded and yes, I am spoilt rotten by Singapore’s Changi airport!). I started the celebrations right from the first leg of the flight – that took off at 1:30am from Singapore to Dubai – with a couple of movies (a terrible Malayalam film called “Kunjiramayanam” and something else that I don’t even recall anymore) and wine to go along. We passed our transit in Dubai – first at a random overpriced café and then at McDonalds (only sane food place I think) and then took the next leg of the flight which was pretty eventless and on which. I watched another movie – the Kannada film “U turn”, which was a non surprising thriller but with an excellent lead actress.

Once we arrived in Brussels at their local time 12:45pm, we were greeted by the sub zero temperature as well as the volunteer from the film festival who came to pick us up. We had a nice time chatting with her as she figured the route to the hotel. We got lost once too, but thankfully that was in a beautiful residential area away from the city, so no complaints!

Soon she dropped us at our Hotel Retro, which was pretty nice. We checked in and then walked to the Turkish kebab place right opposite and had one of the most amazing meals ever! Am not usually a huge fan of middle eastern food but this was to die for! After feeling pretty full and happy, we got back to the hotel for a short nap before the opening night event in the evening.

After a good siesta, we quickly got ready and decided to walk the 1.5kms to the venue, in -3 degree celsius weather. I was initially skeptical about whether I would be able to handle this because I feel cold at 24 degrees in Singapore, but I seemingly survived pretty well. By the time we got out of the hotel at around 6:30pm, it was already dark outside and pretty chilly. But we walked through the beautiful streets of Brussels and I began to fall in love with the city. We had been to Brussels a few years ago with both sets of parents, but hardly got to spend any time there – just a few hours, as part of the vast itinerary that was part of the tour package. But this time we were exploring it by foot, and it was great!

We found our way to Bozar, a centre for the arts and the venue of the opening night. Upon arrival, we were greeted by the festival organizers, were fed some wine and Iranian nuts, and were introduced to the translators who were to translate the opening night’s Iranian film that was screening with French subtitles. We also met some fellow film makers – and together we watched the film with the help of the translators.

Post the screening, we walked back to our hotel, again ate at the Turkish kebab place (seriously, SUPER yum!!) and then hit the bed like a couple of logs because we were SO exhausted from the long flight, the jet lag and the walk in the cold.

End of Day 1 and I already love Brussels. 

In transit at Dubai

Opening night at Bozar, with the festival brochure!

189 more to go. 

Days 307 - 310 : Panchajanyam Film Festival, Mom, Teacher & Review!

I am writing the post for these four days after much delay, so initially I was drawing a blank on what exactly happened. But then I happened to remember four awesome highlights over these four days, so here goes.

1) Mom is in town - after many months. And she has brought a heck load of food - from jackfruit varattiyathu to koorka to banana chips to beef fry to what not. In short, I ate a LOT, which is always great.

2) The film played at Panchajanyam International Film Festival in Palakkad, Kerala. Unfortunately neither my co-producer nor I could attend the film in person, but my dad happened to be there. And I here that the screening went spectacularly well. It was a full house, albeit being on a Tuesday evening, the crowd was super appreciative and apparently, we even got a standing ovation!!! That is SO awesome! Of course, I completely regretted not being there, but some of the regret was appeased when a couple of good folks wrote into to me with extremely positive feedback. One goes like this.

3) We got a write up from veteran film critic Gautaman Bhaskaran on Hindustan Times! How awesome is that! Here's the link.

4) Last but not the least, a teacher of mine from school seems to have saved an old newspaper - to be precise, an 18 year old newspaper - that featured an article on me. How many people in the world would have the privilege of having such an amazing teacher?

190 more to go. 

Day 306 : Celebrating 15 Years of Love, 10 Years of Marriage!

Five years ago, when the husband and I celebrated our 10th year of being together (as of Jan 17th) and 5th wedding anniversary (as of Feb 12th), our friends celebrated it with us on a yacht party. So now that 5 years have passed and the numbers have gone up to 15 years of togetherness and 10th wedding anniversary, we decided to repeat the yacht party.

So with much excitement, all of us (including Madam, my mom as well as our helper) boarded the Le Tara and had the most amazing time, even in spite of the rain that refused to let go for the first couple of hours. Several photos were taken, much food was eaten and drinks were drunk, many jokes were cracked, many songs were sung and many dances were danced.

I especially enjoyed sitting out there on the deck, with Madam on my lap dancing away! She had initially refused to get out of the lounge on to the deck because the movement scared her, but I managed to convince her and once she was out on the deck, I could see her taking it all in with much delight! The dark sky, the magnificent view of the Singapore skyline on one side and far off islands' lights on the other, with the wind in her face and waves spalshing below, with the fireworks over Sentosa and the strong, cold breeze, she seemed to be on top of the world, just like I was. And that seemed so perfect.

Post the yachting, we got to blow a candle on a cake baked by one of the friends and were gifted a polaroid camera to capture many more memories for many more years.

I don't think I can do justice to the awesomeness of it all in words, but enough to say that after the yacht party wrapped up, we dropped mom, helper and Madam at home and then again went back to a friend's place for an after party, because we wanted all the fun to last longer. Which was basically spent by asking and answering questions about everyone's relationships with their respective spouses, which easily contributed to many more laughs.

There were hugs, smiles and happiness all around and I felt so great - for this husband, for this bunch of friends, for this privilege of being able to celebrate on a yacht, for pretty much everything.

My man of 15 years!

I LOVE this bunch! :)

Cake cutting!

After-party!

194 more to go.  

Days 302 - 305 : Dhaka International Film Festival!

I had the privilege of attending the Dhaka International Film Festival for the second time! The first time was in 2012 with my first feature film Mausams. It is a warm festival with great hospitality and some of the best films around the world.

The highlights were :

1) Meeting veteran film critic Gautaman Bhaskaran, Indian national award winning director Salim Ahamed whose film "Adaminte Makan Abu" was the Indian entry to Oscar that year and his producer T. P. Sudeesh, all of whom encouraged me in different ways to "aim bigger". I had several long conversations with all of them and they gave me much needed insights and offers to help if I ever plan to take movie making more seriously. It really was a tremendous learning experience!

2) Meeting all the beautiful folks from the previous round - festival director Ahmed Zamal, his wife, his niece Tahmina, Bengali filmmaker Debanik Kundu and Iranian filmmaker Zohre. Some of the volunteers from 2012 who had remained friends also visited just to meet my co-producer and I. Today they are working / married / with kids and took the effort to come down all the way to meet us, even though otherwise they are off the festival scene completely. How sweet is that!

3) The food! Always and always a favourite! The Bangladeshis have really figured this one out!

4) The weather! The temperature was just right for my taste. It was cool and sunny in the mornings and I really enjoyed the time sitting out in the sun together with the other film makers and the festival director and catching up on films, festivals and life.

5) This probably should have been higher on the list, but the screening of the film itself! It was wonderful to hear the responses after the screening! I was especially thrilled with the feedback because the screening itself was a bit of a bummer because of bad audio. But all's well that ends well.

6) Meeting several other film personalities such as FIPRESCI Jury Members, festival directors of other film festivals such as renowned Iranian film maker Reza Mirkarimi of Fajr festival and many, many others.

So yes, it was a beautiful few days and I had the most amazing time! I wonder whether I would be back in Dhaka again for another film festival, but for now, am so super grateful for having the opportunity to be there second time!

196 more to go.

Days 296 - 301 : Of Film Festivals, Visas, Running and That Beautiful Trip to the Zoo!

So am clearly lagging behind in blogging these days. Oh well!

Anyway another 6 days have passed and they have been great! And am gonna give 6 reasons why.

1) Mom has come down for a visit after a really long time, bringing with her some of my favourite food items. Koorka, guruvayur pappadom, chakka varattiyathu and what not!

2) I got the Bangladesh and Brussels visas! As an Indian, that is always an exciting thing. My Bangladesh visa process was interesting. They sent me emails saying that the visa has been rejected. Not once, twice! I called them up to understand why and they are like "Sorry, our system does that by default." How sweet. Anyway both are ready and that means I am all set for the next two festivals!

3) We got into 3 more festivals - Panchajanyam International Film Festival in Palakkad Kerala, Golden Triangle Bhubaneshwar International Film Festival in Orissa and Darbhanga International Film Festival in Bihar! That makes it a total of 25 film festivals! Who would have thought?!

4) I completed writing one new episode for our sitcom Athazham. There are plans to bring it back, and that's exciting!

5) As per my Runkeeper app, I made my best time in running in both the 3km and 5km marks! How awesome!

6) Last but definitely the most important one of the lot, the husband was on a work trip, so Madam and I went on a trip to the zoo, together with our helper. And it was such great fun! Madam walked pretty much everywhere in that humungous zoo, studying her map intently throughout and of course, talking non stop. It was such a great outing and I was so thankful that we could put everything else that happened behind us and behave like regular families that go to the zoo!

There you go... it is all good. Six wonderful reasons, six wonderful days.

199 more to go.

Day 295 : It is Over!

I am actually skipping a few days completely on the blog, something which I haven't done before. For a good reason too. Because those few days were about nothing but waiting for the treatment to get done with. It was the last lap... the last 5 days.. and I couldn't wait for it to be over with!

And the day is finally here! No more "Superpower" (IV bandage), no more "milk" (anesthetic drug), no more clinic, no more itchy arms (from the IV bandage) and no more hair loss!

I bought some sweets for the amazing staff at the radiation oncology centre at Mt. Elizabeth Novena to celebrate the end of what seemed like a never-ending torture series. OK, I must really put in a word here for the staff at the clinic - when I say amazing, I really mean A.M.A.Z.I.N.G!! They treated Madam like a little princess showering her with a lot of love, care, fun and gifts! Especially a nurse called Janet would prepare a goodie bag for her every single day, just so that she is inspired to go back there. They would cater to her every whim and fancy, even when she is in her immediate post treatment bad mood and I was deeply touched by their gestures and forever grateful for them. God bless all of them!

Back at home, some of our best friends dropped by, bringing her cup cakes and home baked chocolate sponge cakes and it was so sweet of them! It was not a gathering I had organized but they simply messaged me separately and said they were coming because they wanted to see her. I was ridiculously happy and Madam had a great time with them as well!

Next step on the treatment is a scarn in 3 - 4 month's time when hopefully, there is no longer any enhancement.

But for now, today's a great day! Best day in a long time really. So much so that I actually started planning a yacht party for my upcoming 10th wedding anniversary and even a holiday with the friends in June.

A day to smile! :)

It feels SO good to back!

205 more to go.

Day 287 : Eka Uvacha!

It's been a while since I had reproduced Madam's golden words of wisdom here, but this one couldn't be ignored!

During a relaxed mom-daughter time...

Me: Why do you not play with me when your Papa is around? When he is around, you only play with him.
Madam: Because I can't be good to two people at the same time. It's like.. TWO people. How can I take care of two people at the same time?
Me: Uhm... why not?
Madam: Just imagine, what if you have two children? Can you take care of both of them at the same time? This child wants something, then that child wants something. How can you manage both? It is very difficult.
Me: Well..but Papa and I are not your children...
Madam: OK, what if you have two bosses? How can you take care of both of them at the same time? This boss wants something, then that boss wants something. It will be so confusing!
Me: Yes, I get it. Thanks.

Also, in another situation...

Madam : Mummy! You need to take care of me! I am your child! And you are my family! And my family is supposed to take care of me!!

All this simply because I was a bit late in helping her wear her shoes!

213 more to go. 

Day 286 : No Zombie Walking!

The turn of the new year passed by rather quietly. For two years now it's been quiet, I guess. Before that I used to get caught in a frenzy of ticking off all the resolutions I would have completed for the previous year and making a brand new list for the new year (am usually pretty good with making and keeping resolutions). It used to be a time of contemplation and preparation.

But this year, I did pretty much nothing but zombie walk through it. Am not quite sure why. Maybe with the daily treatment going on, I most look forward to just shutting the world out and sleeping it through. "New Year" simply didn't feel like something to be excited about.

In hindsight, I think I should have at least put down a list of things to be grateful for because despite everything else, there is indeed, much to be grateful for.

So here goes... here's everything that am very, very thankful for in 2016, in no particular order.

1) Madam's miraculous recovery from surgery #2 in January and the smooth (or as smooth as it can get) radiation treatment so far.

2) Completing the post production of Pularum Iniyum Naalekal, and it making it to 24 festivals and winning 6 awards till date.

3) Being able to make it personally to Female Film Festival of Kerala and Guwahati Film Festival and having the opportunity to listen to all that overwhelmingly positive feedback.

4) Completing a new feature film script.

5) Exercising 225 days, my highest so far. (yes, I still keep count of that).

6) The opportunity to travel out 14 times across 6 different countries.

7) All the books I could read, the music I could listen to, the food I could eat.

8) Being able to send my parents on a luxury trip to Rajasthan for their 35th wedding anniversary.

9) Getting back to dance and running, after a long gap.

10) For getting the best performance assessment one could possibly get at my company.

11) Meeting my savings target.

12) Having the opportunity to help a few less fortunate folks along the way.

13) And last, but not the least, for the love, joy and support from the good folks around. There have been many who were quick with a kind word, a warm hug and a huge smile and I couldn't be more grateful.    

So there. That's all that I can remember now but am sure there are more. And that's not a bad list at all. Am glad I put this down because life really loses its fun, when one starts to zombie walk through it.

So here's the year that's gone and to the year's that's coming up. I think am ready.

214 more to go.