Finding My First Proper Location!

Another day of things going not exactly to plan, but by late evening it really picked up and made up for an otherwise unproductive day! 

So we started off thinking we will do the location exploration in the city for the day, and the morning started with a lovely breakfast at Sangeeta Restaurant where I ordered myself a "mini set meal" (which came with a small masala dosa, a humongous vada, some pongal, kesari, sambhar and a couple of different chutneys) and a cup of filter coffee. 

Then things went downhill as everyone else had to rush off for some of their studio work which could not be put away. So I went back to the hotel and decided to spend some time garnishing the script with some of the things I saw over the trip so far. I modified the script and also worked some production scheduling, after which I started to get really bored. So then I ended up watching a hopeless Malayalam film which got my spirits further down. By 5:30pm or so I was so bored that I decided to get out of the room and roam around the city, while kicking myself for not having thought of this option any earlier! Seriously, why didn't I get out any earlier?! 

Anyway, so I stepped out, walked about the city (which is, by the way, supposed to be super safe especially for women!), shopped a few things for the Little One (things are so much cheaper than in Singapore) and just generally enjoyed the lovely, chilly weather. 

Soon my editor called, apologized profusely for having disappeared for most of the day, and said that we could quickly see a few locations right then, even though it is already dusk. I was all up for the idea, so he drove me to the swanky part of Abu Dhabi - the upcoming, developing Al Reem island, the magnificent Grand Mosque with its lights on (hoping to actually visit its inside before I leave!), and my most favourite part of it, a narrow stone path that went into the sea from where you could see the entire skyline of Abu Dhabi, both new and old. I absolutely fell in love with that place! 

I think I might have just found my first proper location so far, which is super duper exciting! 

We had dinner at a typical Arabian place where I was treated to khubus (their bread), some extraordinary hummus and garlic dip and "flattened", grilled chicken. It was all pretty awesome! 

On the way back, we met some of his friends - a couple with the cutest little one year old girl! I picked her up and played with her for about 15-20 minutes, during which she kept staring and laughing at me. It was so adorable!

So yes, a day that didn't go too well up until the evening but am very thankful for a beautiful evening. And tomorrow, we are going to hit the desert! Now that's gonna be exciting and hoping we would be able to lock a few more locations on that trip!  

From Police Stations to Pre-production Meetings!

Today was the first day of film work here in Abu Dhabi and it was a combination of things going well according to plan, and also things going exactly not according to plan, but that turned out to be fascinating nevertheless. 

Let us start with what went by according to the plan. 

I was driven around the city and the outskirts and I got to see the magnificent Grand Mosque (I love its domes... so exquisite!), the skyline, the corniche - the coastal area lined with parks and fountains, the mangroves (yes, there are MANGROVES in Abu Dhabi!) and the canopies of trees lining the roads making the place seem anything but an arid desert! I had to admit that this desert city looked nothing like what I had expected it to. 

I met up with key team members of the crew which included the owner and other members of the production studio and the person who will be helping us get all the required permits and licenses for the shoot. When I met up the owner of the studio, for the first time ever, I had to narrate the script like how regular directors or scriptwriters do. Usually I just give the script and expect people to read it, but this time I narrated it exactly the way they would do it out there in "real" film world. That was an interesting experience. Expecting people to read the script is indeed a lot easier than having to summarize and bring the essence of the whole film in a narration! 

My editor-cinematographer and I also had a good long pre-production meeting where we dissected the script, went through the logistical requirements for each scene, and worked out the location needs, before we start on extensive site recee tomorrow. 

Now for the stuff that didn't happen according to plan. 

The studio guys had a few documents to be picked from their local Arab sponsor, a policeman, and for this purpose, I accompanied them in to the police station. Yup, that's right. I have now been inside an Arabian Police Station. Of course, I didn't anything there except for sitting in the area designated for the ladies, but it was pretty exciting. Now, the local sponsor had already left the station for his home, and so we drove to his house - which was in a residential area far from the city and the drive to which presented more of the dry, sparse landscape that you would expect from the region. 

The sponsor was a really nice gentleman, who tried to teach me a bit of Arabic (I now know "Kaif Halat? - how are you?" and "Tamam - Am fine"), let me see their house's patio and garden (which was lush green with a ton of beautiful roses in various colours!) as well as the guest rooms (huge living areas to receive guests) designated for men and women separately, and also introduced me to his beautiful daughter (even as the guys with me respectfully turned their faces away from her, a custom I understand is quite prevalent here). Overall it was a pretty nice experience. 

And there was the highlight! The studio guys asked me whether I wanted "Pazhampori" a snack from Kerala made of bananas. I said sure, why not. So they took me to the Kerala Social Centre, a community centre for Malayalis, and man I was totally bowled over ! They had a really big building with a huge central courtyard and performance stage for themselves and there were different types of music and dance classes going on in the various rooms around the centre. There was also a little tea stall selling snacks in one corner and they served chukkukaapi (spiced black coffee, in true Kerala style!) and I helped myself to the pazhampori as well. The ambience of the place was just like what you would expect of some centre in Kerala, and I simply loved this piece of Mallu heart in the centre of Abu Dhabi! 

Thus came to an end a long and tiring day, but am looking forward to the "proper" location recee that is starting tomorrow! So far I have loved every bit of what I have seen and experienced - the mangroves, the police station, learning Arabic, and the Mallu-ness of the "Gulf"! 

Long Flight, Movies, Meet Ups, Dubai, Abu Dhabi!

First Monday of the sabbatical and I was on my way to Dubai, for the pre-production meeting and location recee for my next feature film! How awesome is that! 

But there are a couple of people I need to thank first for this awesomeness - the hubby and our helper, both of whom happily volunteered to take care of the Little One in my absence. I can't thank them enough for the support! 

Sure, I have travelled on work before, leaving her with them for a few days at a stretch, but I am yet to think of film making as "work". This, to me, is very much a super fun trip and I tend to feel guilty about not focusing on that humongous thing called Motherhood but instead have "fun". But then I tell myself that I love her to bits and she seems to love me to bits for the time being and we are both gonna work this out.

Now that that's out the way, let's get back to what's happening on my Dubai trip! 

Firstly, I loved my long 7 hour flight! It is the first time I am taking such a long flight all by myself after the Little One came into our lives, and I have to say I had really missed this "me" time. We have travelled extensively as a family - including really long flights to Amsterdam and New Zealand, and I, who otherwise is a lover of long flights, totally don't look forward to those. Travelling with a child is not the same and while I enjoy holidaying with her once we get to the destination, the journey itself usually is pretty tiresome. 

So now that I had a 7 hour flight all by myself, I made the most of it! 

I watched two awesome films - "The 100 Foot Journey" which was a really sweet movie and "Whiplash" which was nothing but sheer brilliance and am still astounded by it. I mean, sheer-F.R.E.A.K.I.N.G-brilliance! Phew! I also had tea and juice and wine and worked on my script and listened to music and tried to take a nap and did all those things that I so love doing on flights. So, in a nutshell - I had an amazing time!

Dubai airport experience was good too - there were no forms to fill, there was no rush at immigration, the baggage came fast enough and everything was pretty much smooth and fast.  

I was picked up from the airport by my friend cum editor cum cinematographer and we headed straight to try out what is supposedly one of the best restaurants in Dubai serving Malayali food - Calicut Notebook. The fancy named place didn't disappoint at all! I enjoyed their Pandan Leaf Chicken, Fish Fillet Elayil Tawa (came wrapped in banana leaves) with chappathi and kerala parotta. It was all very awesome! 

After that we went to meet my cousin brother who had recently moved to Dubai. We met him near his workplace at Burjuman centre and had a cup of coffee together. I haven't seen him in years, so it was really nice to meet him all the way in Dubai even if for a short while.  

After that we set out on the 2-hour long drive to Abu Dhabi - and I was given a running commentary on the sites around me. Burj Khalifa, Burj Arabia, the ocean, the beautiful rows of trees lined between the two vast roads on either sides, the arid parts, dates shops, nurseries, Iranian markets, the luxury cars that keep whizzing by non stop, I saw them all. 

We also stopped for a bit to give a lift to another member of the team, who also happens to be the one who cooks the dishes for Athazham food photography. It was nice to meet him as well. 

I checked into a hotel in Abu Dhabi and grabbed a quick dinner. By then, I was really exhausted and probably jet lagged. All I wanted to do was just sleep! So I did just that and vowed to wake up refreshed and energized because tomorrow, the real pre-production work and location recee start! Can't wait!   

Day 1 of Sabbatical!

Today is the official start of my sabbatical; last Friday was my last working day at Procter & Gamble, and as of March 1st, am officially "on a break"!

Over the last few days, I had a really good time catching up with all the good friends I had made at P&G over the years and that last day was special too - it was our Chinese New Year celebration which I, as the "Culture" head of the team, organized. The team turned it into a lovely farewell and it was all pretty nice. I ended the decade long P&G chapter with a big smile and lot of excitement for the next phase!

Given that sabbaticals are not always easy to come by, I have decided to make the most of this one. I plan to get back to my daily blogging just like the before-30 times. Something tells me that there are going to be a lot of memories to cherish over the next few months and I want to make sure I capture all of them for posterity. Also, my Type A personality demands that while "taking rest" during a sabbatical is all well and good, I should also make sure that I am not "wasting time". Needless to say, that's a delicate balance to strike. And writing about one awesome thing a day the way I used to, might just help achieve the balance.

So. Today is Day 1.

And, what did I do?

I spent the whole morning rehearsing with my actors for my next full length feature film!

Yup, that's right! I am going to make another independent, low budget feature film - it would be my second one, after Mausams, and am crazy excited about it! This would pretty much be the first film that I am not producing on my own (I will be the writer - director), and even more excitingly, if things go according to the plan, I will be making this film in UAE! Yup, my very first film outside of Singapore! (EXCITEMENT OVERLOAD!)

But I have to admit that it is still too early to say that it's all locked and loaded. There are too many loose ends and open issues to sort right now to say that it is 100% going to happen. 

But what is exciting is that I will be travelling to Dubai tomorrow to meet the team there! The team is headed by my dear friend and co-film maker (he was the editor for Mausams and Inganeyum Oru Katha, cinematographer-editor for Aravindum Aarumughamum and is currently doing the food photography for Athazham all the way from UAE!). Once I get there, we will discuss all the pre production matters after which we will be able to lock the details for this film. I have all my fingers and toes crossed for this one and am really hoping that this goes on the floors very soon! If you have a prayer to spare, do send one across my way!

Separately, I am not sure whether I fit the bill yet, but I like to think that I am a temporary "stay at home" mom. In this new role, I was all over the Little One today, who, by the way, is currently sporting a Halle Berry look with closely cropped hair. I miss her curls but have decided that she looks equally (or maybe even more) adorable in the "Boy Cut". I spent the whole afternoon and evening playing with her, singing our current favourite song "Prabhuji, daya karo" together (a devotional one originally taught by her grandmom, my mom in law), doing "Ogga" (yoga) together, talking a walk and buying groceries together and generally enjoying each other's company. 

So far, the sabbatical is going super awesome! 

It's gonna be rather adventurous!

In the beginning of the year, I had gotten back to this blog after a long break and happily wrote a post where I committed to be more regular at blogging. It's been more than a month since then and I am only writing now. So the regularity clearly isn't working. But that's because the other thing I wrote in the same post is working really well - i.e. not chilling out.

Yup, it's been a crazy month and a half so far! 

I have been insanely busy, sometimes not intently so, but it has all been exciting. 

Firstly, we finally managed to launch three episodes of my sitcom "Athazham"! And that too on my newly launched Facebook page Kathaah!  I am insansely excited about this!! Athazham was supposed to be pretty simple in its making, but somehow it turned out to be not so simple and involved quite a few backbreaking hours. There were the edits, music, sound design, food photography, recipe blog and what not. But thanks to my fantastic team, we finally did manage to launch them, that too to pretty overwhelmingly positive response. I am receiving several complimentary messages each day and am on cloud nine right now!

If you haven't watched Athazham yet, you can check it out here on this Youtube playlist. All three episodes are right there!

And I am also pretty relieved that there is finally a Facebook page for all our works to be in one place. It's been a long pending task that I had just managed to do. So that feels awesome too!

While you are at it, please also check out our Facebook page! (OK that's the last of my marketing/publicity for today, I promise). 

Secondly, I have begun work on the next project - a feature film! More details on that later but basically we have already started rehearsing and doing the pre-production work on it. It promises to be super duper exciting as well! 

Thirdly, a close cousin sister of mine is getting married in February and suddenly I find myself dancing away in preparation for the Sangeet night. I made "instructional" dance videos for our other cousins so that we can all prepare remotely and then hopefully put up a coordinated show during the Sangeet. That's also been great fun, albeit quite tiring! 

Other than these activities, I also had my mom and in laws visiting, so that was busy and fun as well. 

On top of this I have been regular with my workouts. I have sadly stopped my Bikram Yoga classes because they were taking up to 3 hours every time, including commute, which is a luxury I can't afford right now. I prefer to reduce the commute and work out at home instead, thereby maximizing the time I spend with the little one (who by the way is turning out to be a real hoot!). So I have been largely been doing Ashtanga Yoga home or following videos by FitnessBlender that I really love! 

I also managed to make a couple of sketches, so I feel awesome about that! 

Alright, so that's all that happened in the first month of the year. And now for what's going to happen. 

I am leaving Procter & Gamble after a decade of the most amazing time there! February 27th would be last day in this fantastic company and we are parting on the best of terms. So you might be wondering, if I love it so much, why am I leaving. 

Fair question and here's the answer. 

I had wanted to take a short time off and do a few things I have always wanted to - spend more time with the little one, make another feature film, go for a yoga retreat, travel around a bit, maybe a trek etc. etc. Sure, I had been able to squeeze all of this together with work in the past, but after a decade of juggling everything that I do, I really wanted to just step back, take a breather and do things in my own time. I didn't want to stretch myself top to toe every other day, which is what I had been doing but instead, give myself what I believe is a well deserved break. Also, after such a long time working in the same company, you begin to wonder what else is out there. I don't really know when and where I would work next but I am hoping the experience that would come my way would be new and refreshing!

So that's that. 

Which basically means that while one side of me is really going to miss P&G, I am really looking forward to new adventures coming my way - a sabbatical, a new feature film after a gap of 4 years, a new workplace after a few months and what not! I am so excited and maybe I will blog to capture these for posterity! 

But for now, I am going to enjoy the last few days at P&G, even as I plan my break! Can't wait!

Year 2014: Less Drama. More Peace.

I like to believe that in the year 2014, not only did I grow a year older, but also a little bit wiser (and apparently, a little less modest).

At the beginning of 2014, I had written a grand entry on how I would not be stretching myself this year, but instead, would chill out because I so needed a break. 

Yeah, OK. So that clearly didn't happen. 

Instead, I took up guitar lessons, I completed shoot for 6 episodes of my sitcom, I wrote a feature film script and a short film script for a friend, on top of the episodes for my sitcom. I exercised 205 days (yes, I still count these things), went on 5 different holidays - the highlight of which was our big fat family trip (together with my parents and in laws) to New Zealand, somehow ended up partying a lot (?!) which is rather weird because I am hardly a "party" person, took up photography a little bit more seriously and generally made my life overflowing with activities on top of work, motherhood, domestic responsibilities and such.  

Still, I feel that I have been through all of it, in a manner different from the previous years. This was probably my most peaceful, calm, contented year till date. Or at least half of the year was so.

It all started when I went back home to Kerala in July for a few days, with the key purpose of visiting a dear cousin who was in town from US, after a long gap of five years.

A few things happened then.

Firstly, I had arrived smack in the middle of the Kerala monsoons. Which, as such, is drop dead gorgeous and can turn any miserable person beaming with appreciation for nature's beauty. But this time, I had the added privilege of enjoying them from our new home which overlooked a serene pond and a row of temples that lined it. I spent a lot of hours just gazing out of my bedroom window, at the rain soaked pond with its water cranes and the temple beyond,  enjoying a cup of tea, lost in the view.

Secondly, I was completely cut off internet and phone. There was no wireless connection and my dad's laptop was connecting to the internet only intermittently. Which was, my God, such a blessing.

Thirdly, I realized how wonderful it is to lose oneself to silence. The temples in Kerala have what's called the "chuttuvilaku" - the rows of oil lamps that line all four walls of the temple. One evening, I found myself lighting up these lamps at the quaint, adorable Pathiyaarkulangara temple on the outskirts of my city. The small temple sat on the edge of a sprawling farm, away from crowds and traffic, immersed in silence and when I visited, drenched in rain. 

There were hundreds of lamps on the chuttuvilakku and I moved from one to another - filling them with oil, dropping in the wicks and lighting them up with a blazing torch. It took me and a couple of other ladies more than an hour to complete this exercise and it was probably one of the best hours spent ever. There was the blissful silence broken only by the drizzle of the rain and the occassional bird that flew past, and the therapeutic exercise of lighting one little lamp at a time. I felt so much at peace. Everything felt so right then.

Back in Singapore, I began to create these moments of silence for myself. I started to meditate. Not too frequently, unfortunately, but at least I have started and I feel good about that. I have taken up more yoga than before - not Bikram Yoga that I was practicing earlier but Ashtanga Yoga that also focuses on breath and sight. I feel like it is moving meditation and 50% of the 205 days of exercise mentioned above was spent on yoga. I attended a Kriya Yoga class and have just begun to practise those techniques of meditation.

I leave my phone behind at home, when I am out for dinner with the hubby. I leave my phone in a different room when I am with my daughter. I try to reduce TV time, internet time, phone time and instead, try to have dedicated time for the little one. In other words, I consciously am trying to remove the noise and be more mindful of what I am doing.

At this point in time, you may be going... OK madam, that is way too much wisdom, but how did it all help?

Well, for starters. I am far healthier this year than last year. This information is factually based on my annual medical check up results. Those horrendous cholesterol levels from last year are well under control! My diet hadn't changed - so I would like to attribute it to everything else including the yoga. So that's good.

Next, I have completely made my peace with being a mother. In fact, I am really enjoying it now. A lot of the blog posts from 2013 were in the camp of "holy-freaking-God-I-am-a-mother!". I don't feel that way any more. I find it truly fascinating to watch the little one grow. Maybe because she is picking up language skills right now and can be a real hoot when it comes to communication, or because she just loves dramatics, and I am already making plans to cast her in future movies. Whatever maybe the reason, I am able to set motherhood related thoughts and palpitations aside and simply watch and play with her for hours. I enjoy our (phoneless) activities a lot - shopping for accessories together, painting together, making a photo wall together, playing with stickers together, acting together and what not.  I don't stress out any more about being a good/bad mother.

In fact, I don't stress about many of the things I used to any more. Maybe stress isn't the right word. Maybe it is fear? I try not to scare myself by thinking too much about what could go wrong and worry about it. Sitcom shoots not on track? Pressure at work? Too ambitious a film project in the pipeline? I try not to imagine the negative consequences and lose sleep over it which, by the way, I used to do a lot previously.

Just as well, because recently I happened to come across an email I wrote the hubby a few years ago, when he was travelling abroad on work and I was still in Singapore. The email, without going into details, was full of how my life sucks. So much so that, according to the email, I went and pierced my nose and dyed my hair with streaks of red, as a form of rebellion. It was evident that it was something related to my work but I have no idea today what that was! Whatever it was had gotten me super frustrated, but today I can't even vaguely remember what on earth it was!

Lesson learnt - Less Drama. More Peace.

So what next?

Well, this is just the beginning. I might have sounded like I am close to attaining nirvana from the above, but the truth couldn't be farther. I still have many moments when I feel like screaming (and sometimes I do scream) or at a minimum wanting to rip off the head of the person annoying me but I am trying to get away from such violent thoughts. I need to go a long way, and I mean a really, really long way before I can get to the discipline needed for regular practice of meditation, yoga, more mindfulness and less drama in my life. It is going to require a lot of patience and effort.

And it is going to be critical because 2015 promises to be a one of a kind year for me.

I don't have a resolution to chill out this year. In fact, it is going to be quite the opposite. I am planning a series of things that I have been wanting to do for the longest time.

This also means that I will be more regular with the blog for the next few months, because I do not want miss out on capturing these experiences that promises to be bumpy but beautiful.  More details on that coming up soon.

Have a beautiful 2015!

P.S. I just discovered a post from 2013 titled "Older & Wiser" where I am freaking out about health and motherhood. Fascinating read. Thankfully, things are at a much better place now.

[Another Beautiful Day] The Point of Living.

Yes, I am supposed to be taking a break from blogging and yes, I plan to continue taking that break after this post as well. But I decided to take a break from the break right now and write this post because... well, I guess I just had things to say and I couldn't find a better way to say them.

So here we go.

Recently a friend asked me what was the point in living.

This person is going through an extremely difficult time, something I can't even imagine right now for myself, which led to the question.

Then the question was elaborated - what was the point, because some day all of us are going to pass on and "nobody would care". I guess the intent was to say that nobody would care for long and the world would function exactly the way it did before and the way it would after. Which is, of course, true.

In the spur of the moment I said, "That is exactly why you need to maximize this time you have."

At that point in time, I had not put in much thought behind what I said and I think I just wanted to say something not stupid or upsetting, but later when I did reflect on it, I realized that at a very fundamental level, that's pretty much why I do whatever I do.

Since my last post here almost two months ago, much has happened.  I completed the film I was making and as of last week premiered it and also uploaded it on Youtube. I went on a holiday to New Zealand with my family - which included the little one, the hubby, my parents as well as my in-laws. I have my uncle and aunt visiting us for a fortnight and I spend long stretches of time just talking, relaxing or rediscovering Singapore with them. I went to concerts and plays, learned new pieces to play on the guitar and had the best work out month this year so far. I spent some real fun times with my friends and went on romantic dates with the husband and I have kicked start reading and discussion sessions for the next project, the Malayalam sitcom. Work's going good too. I am busy, stressed at times, but overall happy at work. I managed to raise funds for a couple of charitable causes so that I feel less guilty for having a more fortunate life than many other millions. I am watching my little one growing into a fascinating young lady, with a lot of attitude and personality, which makes me feel proud, thankful as well as amused as I discover how babies grow into young adults and how adults grow into not-so-young mothers.

Many people, especially after the release of the latest film, ask me how I manage to do all of the above.

I do all of the above, because I feel this constant urgency. I feel like time is so limited that I have no choice but to stretch out every minute, every second as far as possible.

So I want to spend as much time as possible - talking and laughing - with all the wonderful people I have in my life.  I want to go on as many holidays, discover as many places and share as many adventures as possible with my closest people. I want to make as many films and tell as many stories that make people smile. I want to read and re-read the good things they say about my film and share that with my team so that all of us collectively feel awesome about ourselves. I want to make as much impact in my work and in my team as possible, I want to listen to as much wonderful music, read as many inspiring books, do as much energizing yoga as possible. I want to help out as many people as possible and I want to marvel at all those people, whom I have not even met once, who have helped me with my work, my films, or just dropped a kind word on Facebook. I also want to just sit and stare out of the window when it rains outside and watch the world pass by because it is oh so beautiful and it would only be a blip in time that it would last for.

Is there a point to all this in the larger scheme of things?

May be not. In fact I am most certain there isn't.

But what is the alternative? What is the alternative other than to hug, smile, makes others smile and tell yourself that this is the best you can do?

                                *******************************************

P.S. I know this isn't a typical blog from my end, but I feel like this day is as beautiful as it can get. Thank you for reading.