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.