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. 

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.  

Day 213 : "Little Chef"!

Today there was a fun activity at Madam's school. The kids were to partner with their dads to make breakfast for their mommies. Needless to say, it was a fascinating event! All the dads looked visibly uncomfortable and ready to run the minute someone would let them off.

We had to carry our own ingredients for the event, so we armed ourselves with some fruits, bread and spreads, because what else would a dad make except for sandwiches. OK fine, some made muesli and salads, but you get the point.

It was a really fun event - Madam seemed to really enjoy herself (at least for most part of it), what our Junior Chef and her dad made was quite pretty, and we moms had to go up to the stage and taste and comment on it. It was all quite amusing.

A good day for the dad, the daughter and the mom who watched it all!

All set for the Little Chef event!

The Chefs at work!

The Chefs at work!

The final product - Red Riding Hood & a Bunny, apparently!

At the final "presentation"!

Madam's classmates checking out her cooking skills. They LOVED the Red Riding Hood!

After much begging, she obliges with a full sized chef photo. 

287 more to go. 

Days 180 - 187 : From Flu to Food to Festivals!

Well, what can I say. Just like that, another week whizzes past and am happily seven blog posts behind. So I am just going to stop pretending that I am going to continue this consistently for 500 days. As a famous Malayalam saying goes, "Nadannaal nadannu." or "If it happens, it happens."

So, let's see how it goes.

But I think I have a good excuse for the latest bout of procrastination.

After a really long time, I had caught a massive flu. Like the type that makes you want to do nothing but sleep, sleep and sleep. So clearly, blogging was the last thing on my mind.

But several awesome things did happen - so here you go.

1) I got notified that "Pularum Iniyum Naalekal" is officially selected for the online Cinema World Fest Awards. Next step is for them to announce the awards and post which the best of the fest will be screened publicly in early 2017 in Canada. So that's the 7th festival we have managed to get in!

2) I was stuck at home with the flu, so I used some of the time to write 50% of a feature film script. Yes, that's 51 pages of fresh, fresh writing of a brand new Malayalam feature! How exciting! I had been developing this idea for a while... I had a lot of situations super clear in the head but not the entire storyline. As I was nursing my running nose, somehow things fell into place and now all that's left is writing the whole script! (And of course, then making the film, but first things first).

3) We re-visited Lakshmi Narasimhan, my favourite haunt for several years but one that I had not been frequenting as much, and I got to relive the joy of an Andhra dosa (and of medhu vada and filter coffee... bliss!). Not once, but twice over the last few days. That was enough pampering for my flu-ey self.

4) I also enjoyed some amazing home made Sri Lankan Chicken Biriyani and Fish  Curry, which was nicely packed for me because I missed a party at a friend's place, again thanks to my flu. So there I was, digging away at some really good biriyani and curry at 1am!

5) Madam has a recent fetish for locking doors as she walks out. It's fine if one of us is inside the room, otherwise it's a bit problematic getting locked out. When she did it once, I scolded her, even though the husband was inside the room and we weren't technically locked out. But the husband readily defended her, thereby completely undermining my effort to make her realize it is the wrong thing to do. After a while he went out to a friend's place, and she locked another door. And this time, we were indeed locked out. Given the husband had such a strong opinion that locking people out wasn't a crime, I called him to ask for a solution. The conversation went like this :
He : Oh, you are locked out?
Me : Yes
He : Oh
Me : What do you suggest we do now?
He : Hmmm
Me : Well?
He : Oh I know!!! Get a knife...
Me : Excuse me?
He : Get a knife and poke it in, twist the lock and it will open.

Yup. My man, very earnestly suggested getting a knife and breaking in. As if this is a talent I am born with.

You may wonder what this particular point is doing here, but it astonished me so much (and later cracked me up so much) that I thought it should be here for posterity. And no, I didn't get a knife. I had anticipated this particular situation, so my super awesome self had already put spare keys in different accessible rooms.

6) But this amazing man also appeared on CNBC talking about his company Teamie, and completely rocked it! So proud!

7) For the first time ever, I actually completed a full round of a fitness program. OK, so it was easiest one maybe - the 4 week low impact Fitness Blender fitness program. I didn't do it 4 weeks straight, but mixed it up with yoga and dance in between, but at least am through with it, which is oh so awesome!

8) And last but not the least, Madam drew this!

The Fish

313 more to go.

Days 174 - 179 : Being Lazy!

Yup, it's official. I have become really bored of the blogging. Rather I have become rather lazy about it. Not that things haven't been good. But the quiet days continue to be quiet and with quietness, I realize, comes laziness.

So quick recap.

Sep 10 - Had a fab time at a friend's place celebrating his dad's birthday. In the evening went with the husband on a "date night" - with a little bit of shopping from Raffles City (trying to spend the vouchers I received at work for my "excellent service"), dinner at Podi (after a really long time and I thoroughly enjoyed their pasta with curry leaves) and drinks at the Gravity Bar at Carlton Hotel, which my newest find for a nice, quiet place with some good music of numbers from 1990s.

Sep 11 - Back to Shanghai, but not before I bought myself many books from my favourite airport bookstore at Changi! I watched a couple of films too, including Hail Caesar, which was set in the backdrop of Hollywood a few decades ago, and was fun with many a surprising moment.

Sep 12 - It was a public holiday in Singapore, but I was working away in China. A day full of meetings, productive ones thankfully, some yoga in the evening, and some reading before bedtime. Not bad.

Sep 13 - A couple of meetings in the morning before the flight back to Singapore. Watched a couple of films, but nothing to write home about. In fact, I don't think I actually ended up watching anything fully. Back home, was surprised by the husband who had come all the way to the airport to pick me up!

Sep 14 - The husband took off on his business trip, so it was me and Madam and Onam. To celebrate Onam, my brother in law and sister in law came over, we went to the temple (I even wore a sari!), got a really good sadya packed from Swaadhisht, relished it, and felt pretty happy about the whole thing.

Sep 15 - The husband was still away, so it was me and Madam again. We talked a lot, painted a lot, "worked" a lot, exercised a lot, played a lot and goofed around a lot.

Am loving these quiet, lazy days!

321 more to go.

Day 167 : That Thing Called A Club!

I have never been a clubbing person. The loud music, the smoke, the close proximity of people and the freestyle dancing - none of that is my cup of tea. So I try my best to avoid any such occasion where I might have to enter one.

However, today my friends managed to drag me to a club. We had met for a celebratory dinner for my entreprenuer husband's successful investment round for his company. And as part of the celebrations some of the folks, including the husband, were keen to go to a club.

So I tagged along - but only after making it pretty clear that I would not be dancing.

So there I was - in an Indian club, with Bollywood "item" songs blaring, sitting in a corner and watching the proceedings.

And I actually had fun! The songs were catchy enough (the DJ even played the dhol, and I am always a dhol fan), the people were amusing enough, and my friends who kept checking in on me to see if I were "OK" sitting in that corner on my own, well they were cute enough.

Nett, I had an unexpectedly decent time in a club!

334 more to go.  

Day 148 : A Birthday "Abroad"!

I woke up in China today, on my 34th birthday. The birthday is shared with the husband who, needless to say, wasn't too happy that I would be away on his birthday. Of course, I was quick to point out that it's my birthday too. Anyway, here I was, so I thought I might as well enjoy it. And honestly, it ended up being quite a nice day!

Firstly, I had woken up to a gorgeous view. The Shanghai skies had cleared for the first time in all my visits over the last year - there was no haze at all, and it presented a beautiful view from my hotel room on the 46th floor.

Inspired by the view, I spent about 40 minutes doing Ashtanga Yoga. Then I called home and spoke to the husband and Madam. Madam seemed rather disappointed that she woke up and didn't find me, and she asked me to get back home immediately. "You come home. NOW." And when I told her that I couldn't, her exact words were "What kind of a mother are you?". Oh dear. Sometimes I wonder if she is 3.5 or 35.

Anyway, back in the office, I was surprised with a birthday cake by my lovely colleagues. I was so super pleased that I had two pieces of it - it was pretty yummy too!

The Cake

Post the day long meeting, they then took me to an Indian restaurant, where I had some good Chilli Naan and Goan Prawn Curry and topped it off with Masala Chai. And as we all know, topping anything with Masala Chai makes me the most happy!

Unfortunately work wasn't done for the day as we had a few meetings to go post dinner, but I discovered this lovely library at the top floor of the hotel, and used that for the meeting.

The library at JW Marriot - isn't it cosy?!

Back in the room, it was more emails and powerpoints but I was happy. It was indeed a happy Chinese birthday after all!

352 more to go.

Day 134 : The Dream!

The husband had been running a company of his own for five years now. And just achieved a milestone - with pre-series-A funding!

I have seen him through the journey - right from when he was having the initial ideas about a startup, through the ups and downs of actually starting up (some of those downs being really, really tough!) and now standing where he is now. I couldn't prouder and happier for him!

So here's cheering for his dream.

366 more to go.

Days 123 - 130 : 8 days, 8 pointers.

I am taking the lazy way out and combining posts for a few days. For a week, to be precise. Which is really awful but that's what am doing. Mainly because, after I got back from Phuket, everything has been a whirlwind. I no longer remember what I did every day. Plus of course, I procrastinated the blogging every day that now things have become old enough for my memory to start failing.

BUT...  I can find 7 things to be happy about. Or in other words, there are 7 things that I can remember that am allocatingfor each day.

So here we go.

1) I got back to dancing and practiced the Thilllana and Bho Shambho again.

2) I got back to Fitness Blender after a really long gap. It used to be one of my often visited channel for workout videos but recently I had been more into yoga and dance. But somehow I felt like some strength & cardio training were calling out to me, so am back at Fitness Blender. So far, am enjoying it.

3) I met a friend from school - "friend since 1991" to be precise - who was visiting with his family. I took them to National Gallery where his adorable daughter and my own Madam had a whale of a time. They were true blue foodies, so my treat to them was at my favourite restaurant Saha and they loved it! The fish curry, the chettinaad chicken curry, the hyderabadi biriyani, the mini uthappams, the dessert with nitrogen (as we called it), were all terrific!

4) I had my mid year performance review and I was told by my manager that he has nominated me for a "Emerging Leader Program" at work, which I think is his way of saying that I have done well so far. So, pretty happy about that.

5) Madam came up with a few more gems, Sample this :

Me : Don't be naughty, I'll give you one "adi"! (adi = whack)
Madam : You can't give me "adi". Because you are my buddy.

(Yup, now she rhymes when she talks back).

6) The husband and I had a date night after ages! I don't even remember the last time just the two of us stepped out. We went to Club Street and got ourselves some Italian food and wine. Felt good!

7 ) When Qlab started to work on the film, they noticed some serious quality issues with the dubbing in certain scenes. That's not surprising because the "dubbing studio" till now has been a random room in the actress' house. So they requested for some redub and since we are so close to completing the film, I didn't wanna mess up the redub of these last bits. So we dubbed in a real studio which was a very cool experience!

8) Last but not the least - I read three books. All three I loved! I wrote a little review on Facebook which am shamelessly borrowing and putting here.
In order of how much I loved each...
#3 - "Hector finds time" by Francois Lelord. While not as awesome as "Hector and his search for happiness" mainly due to many unnecessary strained attempts at humour, it was still a fun read and many a time, an eye opening one too.
#2 - "The Rosie Project" by Graeme Simsion. An absolutely delightful find - especially thanks to the incredibly adorable character of Prof Don Tillman. Had real fun reading this very fresh romantic comedy!
#1 - "My Grandmother sends her regards and apologies" by Fredrik Backman, the same genius who wrote "A man called Ove". These two now are my most favourite books of all time. Incredibly imaginative, "My Grandmother...." makes one laugh, cry and think - all in a sentence. Not once, but many many times. Narrated through the eyes of a quirky seven year old, this precious little book combines fantasy, wonder, magic, joy, dreams, hope, love, life and much more! Mr Backman has a fan for life!

So there. 8 days squeezed into 8 pointers. Lazy post, alright.

370 more to go.

Day 71 - 72 : Maxing it Out!

It was the weekend after the "D-Day" and I was feeling on top of the world from the good news we received yesterday - We can go back to a normal life, at least for six months! That was awesome!


So I did what I usually do best. I decided to max it out.


I went to the temple to say big round of thank you.


I booked two holidays - one to Phuket in July and one to Bali in August.


I spent some good time catching up with friends, in laws and of course, the husband.


I took Madam on many outings - to the temple, to United Square for her favourite ride followed by Japanese food at Ichiban Boshi, to get her favourite Thai food from E-Sarn (the only place where she heartily gulps down vegetables!), to play with her best friend K at the Singapore Cricket Club.


I ate a lot - Japanese, Thai, Indian and an overload of home cooked food.  


I read a lot - current it is Anita Nair's "Mistress" (once again, such beautiful language but terrible plot!)


I did a lot of yoga - so much so that I realized I can now do Heron pose (Krounchasana) and Compass pose (Parivritta Surya Yantrasana)!


Yes, I maxed it out and man, did it feel good!


428 more to go.

Day 64 : The People. The Book. The Rain.

It felt like the calm after the storm. The first Saturday, after a long while, when I actually had nothing specific to do - no travelling, no work, no film production, nothing really.

In celebration, I spent the whole morning lounging away at home - with a bit of yoga, a bit of reading, a lot of playing and chatting with Madam.

In the afternoon, we met two friends with their little son at Robertson Quay. The kids enjoyed each other's company - they ran about, played hide and seek, and hugged whenever they felt a surge of love for each other, which was pretty often. I myself hadn't caught up with these friends for a while, so we had our long overdue catch up as well.

After the family outing, the husband and I ventured out, for our own little "date night". I couldn't recollect when was the last time just the two of us went out and spent some time on our own. And that, obviously, was no good. So we went to Chimes and spent an hour or so over a glass of wine for him and a cup of tea for me. And we talked and talked. Or rather, I talked and he listened. It felt good.

By the time we got back home, it was pouring cats and dogs. Rest of the house went off to sleep and I snuggled up by the window with my book "Alphabet Soup for Lovers' by Anita Nair and read it cover to cover in one go. I simply adore her writing! I wish her plots were better - but she makes even a wafer thin plot, like the one in this book, so beautiful with her style!

Sitting there, well past midnight, in the company of the lashing rain that I let stray through the open windows, the accompanying thunder and lightning, breathing in the lovely fragrance of  the soaked earth, with a dreamy book to go along - it felt so perfect and I wished it would last forever.

436 more to go. 

Day 49 - 52: Post Production Awesomeness, All That Love & Tons of Gratitude!!!

Notice the three exclamation marks in the title - quite an unusual thing as far as my blog titles go. But that is HOW FREAKING EXCITED I am! The last three days had been crazy - I had been up and about with a constant adrenaline rush and on four hours of sleep daily (as opposed to my eight comfy hours, so it is a big deal).

This is because the editor, the sound designer and the music composer are in town and we have been working on the post production for my feature film! We started the work off in my place but then shifted it to my friend's house because of the expected late hours and Madam and we didn't want to get in each other's way. This friend is also the leading lady of the film and I have to say that she treated us like royalty as always. Unlike me who relies solely on our helper for home cooked food, she ensured that we were constantly fed and taken care of by cooking herself, on top of all the other work like dubbing, dancing, meditating, exercising etc. that she does. It was amazing!

Anyway, coming back to post production - it was SO COOL to see the movie coming to completion. It is a super, super simple film. Two characters - that's it. The two actors and three crew members including myself, the camera man as well as the cinematographer cum editor cum driver, drove around the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and pretty much shot this entire movie over a week. It is that simple and low key a production. Yet, I am SO HAPPY that it has turned out the way it has! Really, really thrilled about it which you would have figured from all the CAPITAL letters and the number of times I keep repeating a word like "really really"!

Every time an edit felt so smooth, every time a music fitted the scene like a glove, every time the completed sound of scene made it seem like it's been done by a full blown production house, I felt awesome! I loved how the dubs that the cast and I had worked so hard over the last few months sounded so good! The sound designer, a young chap and a first timer on our team, was so dedicated and good at his work! Oh, and I also loved how I had to dub a few lines (like you see, two lines) for a supporting character.

And then I got to see the first draft of the trailer which was amazing! I mean, the guy edited a two hour movie to a trailer in like four hours or so and it felt so right! Mindblowing!

It's been many many hours of back breaking work but I needed this. I so needed this. Just to spend a few days thinking of nothing else than my film and being amazed by the talents all around. We really do make a fantastic team and I can't thank God enough for making everything happen the way it did.

Last but in no way the least, the husband and Madam have been incredible supportive. The husband had to manage her all on his own the whole of Sunday since the helper was on her off-day, and every day I had been returning home well past 3am, so it was all him each evening. I was so guilt ridden throughout for being "selfish" but all credit to the husband that he didn't once complain!

And on Mother's day, when I returned home all red eyed and fatigued, I find this little gift set waiting for my on my bed, complete with flowers and a hand drawn beautiful card. Needless to say, I was an emotional pulp.

Indeed, I can't thank God enough!

448 more to go. 

Day 31 : Bring on the Light!

My film is about to enter the last leg of post production. Pretty soon, the editor is going to be in town, flying all the way from India and we are going to lock the edit. It is all very well planned.

But as soon as I got back from the US, I was faced with a humongous challenge that threatened to derail all the planning - the light in the study room, the altar of all film work in my house, had gone bust. Nope, it was not a case of merely changing the bulb, because that was done just a month ago. This went beyond that. "Athukkum Mele" as Vikram would have put it.

Under the dire circumstances, the husband didn't prove to be very supportive.

Me: The light in the study room isn't working.
He: Yes.
Me: It's been bust for more than a week.
He: Yes.
Me: Why didn't you call an electrician?
He: *shrug*
Me: Never mind, what are you going to do about it now?
He: *shrug*
Me: Call an electrician, will you?
He: OK.
Me: Now.
He: Huh?
Me: Call now?
He: Why?
Me: What do you mean by why?!
He (turning towards Madam) : See? Mummy is scolding me!
Madam : Mummy! Why are you scolding Papa?!
Me: Oh dear lord!

So I ended up calling the electrician myself. Let me point out that this is the first time an electrician has stepped into our house since when we bought it, so needless to say this is not something we do every day and I didn't even have a number to call at first. But thanks to the very efficient referral service by NTUC home services, the electrician gave me a ring back in 20 minutes and within 2 hours, he was at my house fixing the light.

When the bulb flickered alive once again, happily spreading white light on the red walls of my study, I felt great! Not because I so efficiently managed the situation (OK maybe that too) but because having a study room with a working light just brought me a tiny bit closer to the completion of my film. And right now, every tiny bit of progress means a lot!

269 more to go. 

Day 3: From Coconuts to Khushwant Singh

I seem to have a lot of time on my hand these days. It may be because I am currently not actively working on any movie project (the latest one is under an awfully slow post production phase) or it may be because I am no longer on Facebook figuring out what everyone, from my best friends to my cousins thrice removed, are up to.

Of course, I could spend the time playing with Madam (which is what I respectfully call my daughter because she mostly acts like my grandmother), but she sometimes prefers to play on her own in her own imaginary world where she is the mother, doctor, chef, business executive or Bollywood item girl.

Also let me admit it, I like my me-time too.

So what have I been doing with this excess time? Well, I have been reading a ton of books.

Recently, I rediscovered the joy of the super awesome library system in Singapore, all thanks to Madam who insists on going to the library at least once a week. I also have been making full use of the cheap rates on Flipkart by getting them to deliver several books to my parents or in-laws' place and then getting them to bring the books over to Singapore when they visit.

This time around I got my mom to carry over 10 books to Singapore, much to her exasperation, "If I use up all the 20 kilos on Tiger Airways for your books, what is going to happen to my groceries?!!"

She had a point. Because of this atrocity, I had to have my favourite kadala (chickpea) curry without grated coconut because coconuts, which she usually packs over, were not available in time for the preparation. But the kuvva (arrowroot) payasam was saved in the nick of time, thanks to our helper who managed to procure the coconut the last minute, else I wouldn't have heard the end of it.

Anyway, coming back to my books, the first one I picked up from this lot was 'The Mark of Vishnu' - a collection of short stories by Khushwant Singh. It was the first time I was reading any of his works, so I didn't know what to expect. But I read the whole book within a single day - I loved the simplicity of the writing, the freshness of the concepts and the dry wit. Some of them did make my conservative self flinch with their boldness, but my final verdict is that I like Khushwant Singh.

Just as I was feeling rather pleased with my discovery of a new author whom I can continue to read, the hubby walks in, glances at the book and says, "Oh, you are reading 'The Mark of Vishnu'? It's a good one." 

I was aghast.

Because the hubby never, ever reads fiction. He might have read a grand total of 10 works of fiction his whole life, which includes books from his childhood such as Wizard of Oz. Not that he reads a lot of non-fiction - he hardly gets past 30% of any book, but with fiction, he doesn't even bother turning the first page. So obviously, this was too much for me to take.

Me: "You have read Khushwant Singh?!"

He: "Of course." (ultimate smugness)

Me: "Wow!"

He: "You mean, you never read him before?" 

Me: "Nope" (and I get a smirk in return)

He: "It is a really good one. The one about the snake."  

Me: "Where did you read it?" (suspicion takes over)

He: "You know... I also read." 

Me: "Tell me the truth."

He: "You know..." 

 Me: "This was part of your ICSE syllabus, right?" 

He: *sheepish grin*

497 more to go.