What an incredible few days it was. It hit some extreme lows and some extreme highs and then when I couldn't handle the ride, I slept it all off. Literally.
So it started with the toughest week of treatment. Madam was being given oral sedation every day prior to the treatment and she took it for a couple of days last week without much resistance. However, this week she fought it with tooth and nail. I tasted a bit of it myself and realized that it really is quite awful - not the taste but the texture really makes you gag and she has to take a very large quantity for it to take effect. So couldn't blame her for fighting this one. For a couple of days, she still managed to take it - and the routine was 1 hour of persuasion, 1 hour for it to take effect, and after the treatment, 3 hours for her wake up groggy and irritated. It was bad. But then the lowest point was when we went to the clinic on the Wednesday and she refused it flat. After close to two hours of tears and screams and bribes and attempts at forced feeding and resulting spit outs, we had to return back without the treatment being done. That was awful. So the decision was made that from the next day, she would get IV sedation. So for the remaining two days of the week, she carried around the IV and that ended up being a much less painful solution. Sure, there was still the pain of the injection and the discomfort of carrying around a bound arm with the IV in for a couple of days, but the sedation takes effect immediately and post treatment, she is up and about in 20 minutes. After the many hours of torture each day, this was God send!
Now comes the high. Post her treatment on Friday, I took a flight to Delhi, on my way to the Guwahati Film Festival. I had an overnight stay in Delhi and luckily, I had the company of the first professional critic of my films, who was kind enough to come all the way to the airport to meet me and who helped me find an Uber to the hotel, gave me company in the taxi in the 1.5 hours that took to cover the 7 kms and finally joined me for dinner. Over the few hours we were together, we discussed pretty much everything that could be discussed on films! It was inspiring! The next morning, I met my co-producer at the airport and together we were on our way to Guwahati (special mention to the gorgeous view of the Himalayan mountain ranges including the mighty Mt. Everest that accompanied us on the flight!)
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| The picture does no justice! |
Upon arrival at Guwahati, we took a cab to our respective accommodations. Mine was supposed to be the Government Circuit House (which had a spectacular view of the lake next door) and his was another hotel nearby. However, it so happened that I realized my room in Circuit house was in a corner on the third floor with no working phone connection or internet and that didn't help at all, especially given that my own phone had zero network. So I shifted to the same hotel where the organizers had booked an additional room and where at least I got a working internet connection. We were also joined by our Assamese sound designer, who had first mentioned this festival to us and was the reason why we had applied to it.
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| The beautiful Circuit House |
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| The view from what would have been my room at Circuit House |
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| The gorgeous lake! |
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| Being part of the inaugural ceremony! |
Post that wonderful ceremony, we watched a beautiful national award winning Meghalayan film "Onataah" and had the opportunity to interact with its maker too. It was rather incredible to hear my name being mentioned in the same breath as his when everyone was talking about cinema, because he was clearly way above and a real pro! It was all very heartening and things were really on a high. Post the film, we were taken for some authentic Assamese cuisine with the organizers and other chief guests including the General Secretary of the Federation of Film Societies of India. I found it hard to believe that I was actually sitting opposite him at the same table and enjoying a meal! The meal, by the way, was exemplary, especially the non veg dishes. The conversation was incredible too... I learnt much about Assam and the north east, the cuisine, the people and much more. Needless to say, I slept that night, a very happy person!
Now that we were better acquainted with the local geography, post breakfast, the team and I walked from the hotel to the venue for our screening. We were pleased to see big hoardings about the festival, featuring poster of our film, on the streets of Guwahati and we took several photos!
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| Festival hoardings (our poster visual is on it!) |
Soon the guests arrived - some Malayalis included, and the screening began. The best part? Post the screening, when I stood up to take the Q&A, I was given a standing ovation! I can't even say this is like a dream like true, because even my dreams don't go this far! This was just A.m.a.z.i.n.g!
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| Q&A post screening |
After Q&A during which we got some incredibly positive feedback, it was time for me to rush to the airport. I had to make sure I catch my flight to Delhi and then again on to Singapore, so that am back in Singapore on Monday morning for Madam's treatment again. Given that I had no network on my phone at all, I took the help of one of the Malayali audience - a young chap who works in a bank - to check the flight status, only to realize that my Spicejet flight is delayed. A delay on my flight to Delhi would have definitely ensured that I would miss the flight to Singapore, because the two flights were even at different terminals. A friend of my co-producer who works in a travel agency was immediately contacted, and he said that if we rush to the airport immediately, we might be able to take an earlier Vistara. So I quickly said my huge thanks and goodbyes to the organizers and with my team, rushed to the hotel, rushed up to my room and grabbed my luggage, rushed into a waiting taxi and left for the airport. This in turn caused the hotel staff to give many panicked calls to us later, because they couldn't figure out why "Madam just took her bag and ran away"!
At the airport, the staff of Vistara went out of the way to get me a ticket even though the booking time was officially over. Not just that, they even gave me an upgrade! Elated, I bid farewell to my co-producer and sound designer and navigated my way through the overcrowded Guwahati airport and was finally on my way to Delhi.
As soon as I landed in Delhi, I realized that my flight Singapore was also delayed! So much for all that panic and last minute changes to tickets! But good news was that there was no change of terminal needed. So I relaxed first in the domestic terminal with a mocha from Starbucks, and then relaxed in the lounge at the international terminal. Now "relax" is a stretch because by now, I was exhausted and was coming down with a massive cold. All I wanted to do was get back home and crash on my bed and maybe not wake up for a real long time.
Instead, somehow I dragged myself from lounge to flight, somehow I managed that horrid overnight red eye flight and then again, dragged myself from flight to home. As soon as I got home, it was time for Madam's treatment, so I didn't get any time to rest. So after freshening up, we were back at the clinic for the next IV injection (the previous one was removed on Friday). Luckily, this time it was quite a painless process. She didn't cry as much and she recovered quickly too, thank God!
Back home, with finally feeling some peace and calm, I slept. A LOT. I think I woke up a couple of times for an hour each or so, but other than that I slept through the rest of the afternoon, the evening and the night and woke up the next morning.
And I did a fair amount of sleeping for the next few days as well. I followed a routine of clinic in the morning and a massive nap in the afternoon. My two feeble attempts at running and home workout didn't go very well either. The cold came on full swing and I reeled under it.
So yeah, I just slept. And slept. And slept. It was the calm I needed after all those lows and highs.
At the end of it all, I woke up refreshed, energized and forever grateful.
230 more to go.
