Day 557: Venice!

28 May, 2011

What a beautiful, beautiful place! I think its my most favourite one in Italy and probably the only place here I would want to come back again to!

I loved the architecture, the canals, the gondolas, the shops etc. etc.

We also took a ride in a gondola, belonging to a very nice Venetian, Paul. He told us all the stories about Venice and even sang an Italian song as gondola glided along the canals and under the bridges! With the sights, the song, the stories, it was just lovely!

I Love Venice!

443 more to go.

Day 556: Rome!

27 May, 2011

Finally got to visit the very famous Rome. The Vatican city was very impressive. The other favourite of mine was the Colosseum.

Long day, lot of photos, lots of fun!

444 more to go.

Day 555: Pisa & Florence!

26 May 2011

Am super tired so am keeping this very short. Highlights:

a) The Tuscany countryside which we drove through.
b) Visiting the leaning tower of Pisa.
c) Visiting the city of Florence with its cute squares, lanes, architecture etc. Oh, and also special mention to Marco, our hilarious (and handsome) guide there!

445 more to go.

Day 554: Alpine Hike!!

25 May, 2011

Today the hubby and I decided to take a break from the tour and spend some time on our own. The key reason was that we had already been to Lucerne, which was the highlight for the day's trip, a few years ago and so decided that a break from the very exhausting schedule would be good. So while our parents proceeded with the group tour, we stayed back in our super nice Hasliberg hotel. Highlights of the day off:

a) A walk around the sleepy village of Hasliberg in search of its only other open cafe than the one at our hotel, for lunch.
b) A lunch of rabbit fillet, risotto and vegetable with soup, which was the only thing on the menu! I wasn't too keen about the rabbit at first (it felt wrong to eat them and it still does), but I must admit that the meal, especially the risotto was delicious!
c) A ride on the local bus to another village Wasserwendi.
d) A drink at the cafe at Wasserwendi with yet another spectacular Swiss Alps and countryside background.
e) A hike through the walking trail from Wasserwendi to Reuti - my first Alpine hike ever!!! SO awesome!! We passed through the lovely countryside and forests, took loads of pictures of the magnificent Alps and felt on top of the world! I had been wanting to do this for the longest time and finally I got my chance! Yay!!!
f) Another meal of apple strudel, french fries and hot chocolate back in our hotel, again with all the beautiful scenery around!

Totally awesome day altogether!

446 more to go.

Day 553: SNOW!!!!

24 May, 2011

As the number of exclamation marks in the title of this post would
make it obvious, I am extremely happy today and it's because today, I
had my first ever experience with snow!!! For some reason, in spite of
being places like Switzerland, New Zealand and several parts of the
Himalayas, snow has always evaded me. But today I finally got to enjoy
it to my heart's content (thanks to a trip to Jungfraujoch, known as
the top of Europe) !

Aaaahhh!

SO happy!

447 more to go.

Day 552: Black Forest, Rhinefalls & Hasliberg

23 May, 2011

Today we made our way to Switzerland! I was very excited throughout
because in my head, this was the highlight of the trip! I had always
wanted my parents to visit two places...like I felt that they MUST
visit these two places. They were Paris, my most favourite city in the
world and Switzerland, my most favourite scenic destination in the
world! After the successful completion of the Paris trip, I was really
looking forward to Switzerland. And Switzerland didn't disappoint,
once again! But before that I must also mention that the first half of
the day spent in Germany was pretty good too! Here's the list of what
was most enjoyable.

a) The lovely drive through the German Black Forest.
b) The adorable cuckoo clock shop in the centre of the Black Forest
and the fascinating cuckoo clock demonstration.
c) Having the yummy Black Forest cake in the Black Forest.
d) The magnificent landscapes that greeted us as soon as we entered
Switzerland - the rolling pastures, the forests, the quaint villages
with their pretty houses, etc. that continued from the last portion of
Germany but also the Alps making its mighty presence felt slowly.
e) The boat ride at the Rhinefalls and being super close to the falls.
f) The beautiful rainbow at the bottom of the Rhinefalls!
g) Enjoying a cup of Masala Chai at the Rhinefalls (that snackbar even
had pav bhaji and vada pav, believe it or not!)
h) The awesome drive from Rhinefalls to the stunning village of
Hasliberg. Our hotel room there is hands down the most beautiful place
I have ever stayed in! With a direct view of the snow covered Alps and
distant valleys, and a balcony to enjoy the sights from, it was just
perfect!
i) Watching the parents' reaction as they stared open mouthed at the
unbelievably scenic beauty in front of them as we made a quick
photo-stop in one of the several scenic viewpoints on the way to
Hasliberg. And also watching them squeal with delight when they
realized what incredible rooms they were to stay in Hasliberg.

448 more to go.

Day 551: Germany!

22 May, 2011

Today we made our way from France to Germany, and I have yet another
list of what made the day beautiful.

a) The super long drive from Paris to Mannheim in Germany - which gave
plenty of opportunity to listen to music, chit chat with parents,
catch up on sleep etc.
b) The stopover outdoor picnic lunch at Luxembourg, which was a nice
change from the restaurant buffets we have been having so far for
every meal! The fact that the food was absolutely yummy made the
experience even more memorable!
c) The super cute villages on the banks of the river Rhine in Germany.
d) The breathtaking hour-long cruise on the river Rhine, with its view
of the villages, castles, forests, pastures and hills!

By the time we checked in at our hotel at Mannheim, I was dead tired.
But once again, it was all worth it!

449 more to go!

Day 550: More of Paris!

21 May, 2011

Day Two in Paris...here's what we did and enjoyed!

a) A visit to the Louvre Museum - even though I had done this before,
it was still pretty awesome to view all the paintings, scultpures and
also the Napolean apartment. Parents were also veryu excited by
everything, including seeing the Monalisa!
b) Visit to the Versailles palace
c) An evening walk along the streets of Paris!
d) Enjoying a drink on the Champs Elysees while soaking in the
Parisian night life!
e) Watching the Lido cabaret - even though I found the cabaret itself
very average (I found the comedy and mime fillers excellent but the
songs and dances were strictly average), it was still a nice
experience to be there and watch it over a glass of Champagne in true
French style!

I love Paris! And now, so do the parents!

450 more to go.

Day 549: Paris!

20 May, 2011

It's time for Paris - my most favourite city! Again, here's a quick list:

a) Tour of the lovely city (a guide joined us on the bus for this)
b) A lovely cruise on the river - Enjoyed this one a lot, because I
hadn't done this in our previous visit.
c) Visiting the 2nd level of the Eiffel tower for a spectacular view
of dear Paris and also soaking in the illumination of the tower at
midnight!

Very happy!

451 more to go.

Day 548: Amsterdam and Brussels!

19 May, 2011

OK. Am just gonna list down the main events of each day from today
until the end of this trip. A quick list only because there is so much
happening and every thing is so special because it's one big fat
family outing! So here's the list for today...

a) We got to the beautiful, beautiful city of Amsterdam!! Loved
everything about it - the architecture, the canals, the boats, the
bike tracks with their separate signal systems, the hooks for the
furniture-hauling in front of every house - EVERYTHING!

b) The very nice cruise inside a cute glass boat along the canals of Amsterdam!

c) The city of Brussels where we went next - loved the quaint, cute
square (the name of which I don't recollect anymore) where we spent
about an hour, the Mannekkenpis statue, the Belgian Waffle etc etc.

In short, two new cities (in fact two new countries for me) in one
day, both of which I enjoyed thoroughly!

452 more to go.

Day 547: London!

18 May, 2011

My first visit to London! And I loved it! Here's a snapshot of what we did...

a) A guided city tour with the most hilarious guide I've ever met!
Loved him! The tour took as to the major attractions like Trafalgar
Square, Buckingham Palace (where we saw the changing of the guards),
London Eye, Tower Bridge etc.

b) Madame Tussauds - loved the wax statues but more than anything else
loved the superheroes 4D show!

c) Walking around in Oxford Street and enjoying a cup of tea, the English way.

And all throughout, needless to say, the parents were super excited -
which was such a pleasure to see!

After the above, we started on our way to Amsterdam via an overnight cruiser.

453 more to go.

Day 546: It's Time For Europe!

17 May, 2011

Pretty much the whole day was spent on the journey to Europe - London,
to be specific. With the long flight via Doha, the long wait at the
London airport due to a delay of the coach, the long bus ride to the
hotel etc., it was pretty exhausting. But there were a few perks - my
first flight on Qatar Airways which offered Malayalam movies onboard
(yay!), getting upgraded to business class from Mumbai to Doha for no
particular reason (double yay!), an awesome dinner in London, pleasant
weather etc. etc. And best of all, the fact that we were one big happy
family having our European holiday together!!! Yeah, baby!

454 more to go.

Day 545: MOST Memorable Day!!!

This would be the most memorable day of my life! Hands down, seriously!

Ok here is a bit of background (I know I have written about this before, but since this is SO important to me, let me repeat myself).

I have always considered myself to be very fortunate to have travelled as much I have. But every time I go somewhere new or very beautiful, I always used to feel that my parents and parents in law also should have the similar experience of visiting such wonderful places.

So much so that, one of items on my things-to-do-before-I-turn-30 was to send all 4 of them to some beautiful place outside of Asia. And towards the end of last year, it was decided that place would be Europe.

I booked all four of them on an European tour covering 8 countries over 2 weeks. Over the last few months the excitement had mounted up significantly among the folks about their upcoming trip, and it was really delightful to watch!

And today, their European trip started. My parents and in laws flew from Kerala and Kanpur respectively to Mumbai and the plan was to catch the 5am flight from there to London together.

Now everything happened according to what's been planned and they were all set in Mumbai airport.

What they didn't know was that the hubby and I too were planning to join them on the trip! So today, as they were lounging around at the airport for the flight to London, the hubby and I simply appeared before them!

It was the biggest surprise of their lives and the most fun thing I have ever done!!! First they didn't realize what was happening (they actually couldn't believe it was us, until several moments of open mouthed gazing), then there were squeals, screams, clapping, tears - almost (my mom), jumping up and down (mom in law) etc etc etc. It was so, so, so awesome! I had been keeping this a secret for the last several months and it needed hell a lot of sly planning to ensure that it didn't leak!

I will never ever forget the looks on the faces and their adorable reactions! And now, we are off to London!

455 more to go.

Day 544: Best Sunday Ever!

This was one of the bestest Sundays ever, if not The Bestest one!

OK so it all started with a "sophisticated brunch." A good friend of mine from college, who had also worked with me on several projects including Mausams, suggested that we catch up over a long overdue brunch - "sophisticated brunch" as she called it.

So this morning I set out to meet her and she took me to this cafe called eM by the River. When I got there, I realized that it was not going to be just a brunch with the two of us, but it was a SURPRISE BRUNCH for ME by my awesome Mausams team!

Serious Awwwww stuff! I was so surprised and so very touched! God bless them!

We had a rocking time over some great food, untimely wine and some kickass conversation! I felt on top of the world! Thank you folks, you made my day!

Post the brunch, some of us invited ourselves to my publicity manager's house and plonked ourselves on her couch as she fed us some delicious mangoes and hot masala chai! Once again, lotsa conversation and super fun!

After that homely gathering, three of us hit the Wombat's Cafe where I pampered myself with a super yummy Oreo Cheesecake!

Then a 15-member Mallu team, under yours truly's able leadership, went to watch a Malayalam movie called "Chinatown". Malayalam film releases on the big screen is a very rare event in Singapore, so I had taken it up as my personal responsibility to make sure that I get to watch it with fellow Mallu friends. So yes, 15 of us hit the theater and had great time there as well!

And last but not the least, a person who had watched Mausams online suggested to me that I should start a Wiki page for it. Now I don't know this guy from before, so I thought it was very nice of him to contact me with the suggestion of the page. I thanked him and also told him that I don't really know how to go about it but I will give it a shot. And guess what? The next thing I know he tells me that he is making the page himself. How incredibly nice of him is that?!

So yes, it was an awesome, awesome, awesome Sunday thanks to a bunch of amazing people around me!

SO happy!

456 more to go.

Day 543: Mausams Online Release!

14 May, 2011

Today Mausams was release worldwide on www.dingora.com as a pay per view film. This almost feels like a premiere all over again! In other words, to me personally, this is HUGE!

And since morning I have also been getting good reviews from the first few who watched the film online. Feels so wonderful!

457 more to go.

Day 542: Friday, a Good One!

13 May, 2011

A very pleasant friday, that was!

For a few small reasons:

a) It was a Friday after, so that alone was nice.
b) There was a "fuel efficiency" test held at work... basically to check how healthy we are, our metabolic rates etc. etc... and I was rather happy with the results, especially when they measured the fat content! With my very low physical activity over the past few months thanks to Mausams, I was worried that the fat content would shoot off the scale. But looks like it is very much under control. Yay!
c) I ticked off every single item on my to-do list. That seldom happens at work and I feel super proud of myself!
d) I met a friend (also a cast member of Mausams) over dinner and we had a super, long chat which left me feeling pretty nice at the end of it.

So yes a few small reasons, but together they made it a pretty perfect Friday!

And tomorrow Mausams releases online worldwide!

458 more to go.

Day 541: Pooram & Panchavaadyam

12 May, 2011

So today was Pooram - the festival I had written about here. As expected, everyone back in Thrissur is super excited. My Facebook page was filled with status updates from my friends from school - either about how much they are enjoying Pooram (if they are in Thrissur) or about how much they are missing it (if they are not in Thrissur). Many of them uploaded the pictures as and when the events progressed. Some even posted videos. In a way, I felt the spirit all around! 

To add to it, my mom kept calling me every other hour to make me listen to the Panchavaadyam - percussion music played throughout the festival. She would keep the phone on, so that I can enjoy the drumbeats as I work on my business plans at office! Can it possibly get even more festive that that, sitting so far away from home?!

So yes, today I celebrated Pooram as well as it could be celebrated out of India! 

459 more to go. 

Day 540: Parents & Europe

11 May, 2011

One of the biggest things I have always wanted to do was to send my parents and in-laws to Europe on a trip. It is definitely one of the most beautiful places in the world and I had been there a number of times on both work and holiday. Whenever I go there, I used to feel that my folks must also visit the same - especially France and Switzerland. It always used to feel a bit unfair that I (as well as the hubby) get to see all those wonderful sights and not them.

Looks like this dream of mine is all set to come true! 

For the past few months I had been planning for their trip via a group tour to 8 countries in Europe. After several to and fro on the arrangements (the tour operator, my parents and my in-laws were all in different parts in India and I am in Singapore which makes things rather hard to co-ordinate) regarding the various documentations required, the visas, the payments etc. etc. etc., as of today every single thing is settled! All four visas are ready and I just made the very final payment. 

So now they are all set! They shall be leaving for their European holiday the coming Monday! They too shall now experience what I have had the good fortune to experience myself! 

It feels awesome! 

470 more to go. 

Day 539: Mom, Uncle and Umbrellas!

10 May, 2011

Thrissur Pooram is the biggest festival from my town, Thrissur, in India... and arguably the biggest and most popular "pooram" (annual temple festival) from the state of Kerala. The event is quite something and should be experienced to be believed. I am not going to explain the festival here (that will be a really long blog!) but this website provides a comprehensive overview: http://thrissurpooramfestival.com/thrissur_pooram.html

Anyway, so Thrissur Pooram is currently happening, which has gotten everyone in Thrissur excited. And that includes my mother and her brother, my uncle.

A couple of months ago, this uncle had asked me for a contribution to the pooram. It was to be in the form of a set of decorative umbrellas for the elephants that would be participating in the pooram (check out http://bit.ly/kdW5wZ for a reference picture, if you have no clue about what I am talking about!) And since it was supposed to be my donation, he wanted the material for the umbrellas (which are custom made every year) to come from Singapore.

Since I am rather useless at selecting the material for elephant-decoration-umbrellas, my mother took up the task completely. When she was in Singapore a few months ago, she found a shop that sells suitable cloth, chose the design herself, made me pay for it and carried it back with her to India!

And now those umbrellas are ready. They would first be placed in an exhibition alongside similar umbrellas and other decorations for the elephants and then will be used in the pooram on 12th of this month.

What was most amusing was how excited my uncle and my mom are about the whole day! Since morning my uncle called my n number of times to tell me how nice the umbrellas look. He took some pictures and sent me, then felt that those were not of a good enough quality... so got a professional photographer retake the pics! My mom on the other hand, also gave me multiple number of calls, but to tell me how many number of calls my uncle has been giving her just to gush about the umbrellas. Apparently, he hasn't been speaking about anything else since morning!

How cute is that?!

I love the fact that they are SO passionate about pooram. My uncle has actually flown down from Qatar, where he works, just for taking part in it!

I love the fact that my uncle is SO excited about this set of umbrellas and I find it extremely adorable that it only took so much to make him feel on top of the world - that his niece contributed umbrellas for a cause he was so passionate about! I could have easily done it earlier, if it only took this much!

And of course, the entire credit for making this happen goes to my mom... it's her contribution more than mine of course.

The excitement continued to flow in throughout the day and it gave me plenty a smile! God bless my uncle, mom and their undying Pooram spirit!

461 more to go.

Day 538: Confirmed Online Release!

9 May, 2011

What a day!

Mausams online release gets confirmed, finally!

For the past few days I had been working on setting it up with an online distributor and the whole of morning I was fixing some technical glitches etc.

And close to midnight I got the message. "Mausams has been approved. Your link is now active".

So Ladies and Gentelemen, Mausams will be available for the world to watch from May 14 - Jun 30 at https://dingora.com/mausams.

Gosh, I am so happy!

It's like the premiere days all over again... just that this time, I am not dying out of stress in getting the film ready last minute!

462 more to go.

Day 537: Malayalam!

8 May, 2011

Malayalam is my mother tongue and these days it is restricted to only communicating with my parents. But I love watching Malayalam movies and also having that occasional Malayalam chat with my fellow Malayalis in Singapore.

Given the fact that am so out of touch with the language, especially the pure one that many of the movies follow, I had my doubts about being able to write a script in it. However, I did give it a go today. This is meant for the short film I had written about here and it would have about 7-8 scenes in total.

The best part was that I actually wrote it down on a piece of paper, instead of typing it out. This was because I am yet to figure out the technical details behind getting a good enough Malayalam font to work on my computer. So even though I did the writing more due to the necessity of having to do so, I still thoroughly enjoyed it!

So, an hour and an aching arm later, I had it in front of me. My first Malayalam scene.

463 more to go.

Day 536: Super Satisfactory Saturday!

7 May, 2011


Super satisfactory saturday!

It was very productive and enjoyable, just the kinda day of a weekend I love!

My whole morning was spent on doing all the work needed to get Mausams an online release (coming up very soon!) and also getting it an IMDB page (also coming up very soon!) :) This took much of my morning and afternoon, after which I had one of the best yoga classes ever! I was very energetic throughout and I had a blast, in spite of the profuse amount of sweating!

And the day was wound up with an amazing dinner at my favourite place Nandos!!! Their "hot 1/4 chicken" is just to die for! Yummmm! Nandos opened in Singapore a while ago but I had not gotten a chance to go there, thanks to the Mausams rush, but I used to frequent it whenever I go to Kuala Lumpur. So it was absolutely terrific to have the great food right here in Singapore, for the first time!

The dinner was topped up with a melt-in-your-mouth-fluffy-chocolate-cake (which would have completely negated that awesome yoga class, but what the heck) and I felt like life couldn't be any better!

So there. Mausams Online Screening Work + Mausams IMDB Work + Yoga + Nandos + Chocolate Cake = Super Satisfactory Saturday!

464 more to go.

Day 535: From One Excitement to Another!

6 May, 2011

It is interesting how, once you figure out what you want to work on for the next few months, life suddenly becomes a lot more exciting! As much as I enjoyed the break post Mausams (a break of less than 3 weeks actually), I was beginning to get super restless. And restlessness means mood swings which in turn means being a pain to myself as well as everyone else around me. I have this ridiculous need to feel that am making the best possible use of my time always, and give that Mausams times were so high on excitement, it was difficult to sit still for long.

But now with a clear idea about the upcoming small project and yet another one coming up bit later (this is the "brainwave" I had written about a while ago), am truly very excited!

Today I had several discussions with a lot of friends on both the ideas. I already have a team in mind for the short film and I have quite a lot of support for the "brainwave" too.

There was quite a lot of development with the short film over the day - I developed the storyline much further in my head. I have decided to act in it and also co-direct. I spoke with my co-director (my good cinematographer from Mausams) who has also kindly agreed to edit the film and also start exploring suitable free music bits online for it. I also contacted some of the other actors I would like to be involved in this and they are all completely on board.

In short, I am excited, my team (a part of which has been put together over the day) is also excited! And thankfully, am no longer missing Mausams excitement!

465 more to go.

Day 534: Next (Small) Project Begins!

Yes, it officially begins. Till today, I was dilly-dallying a bit here and there. But now I know what I want to do.

I discussed the idea with a few friends. I met one of them over dinner and talking to her inspired me enough to get working on it immediately. What am I waiting for anyway?

But yeah, it is going to be a small project, tiny in fact... relative to Mausams.

It is going to be a short film. A very simple one - to be shot on a handycam, simply for the fun and experience of it more than anything else. Something that wouldn't more than 1-2 weekend of shoot.

It is going to be in Malayalam (my mother tongue). My first ever Malayalam project! It is going to be a huge challenge, because I have never written a script in Malayalam before. But I guess that adds to the excitement of the whole thing!

Target completion by August. Fingers crossed!

SO excited! As my Facebook status says, "Life's getting interesting, once again."

466 more to go.

Day 533: Dreams Galore!

4 May, 2011

Looks like it is the season for making dreams come true! Or at least giving your dreams a chance to come true! I had just written yesterday about how I got to be the part of the new beginning of a person close to me and today, I get the news that my good friend, the editor of Mausams, is going to start on his debut feature film!

This is indeed great news because I know that it has been his dream for the longest time (and so that of his brothers, together with whom he has started a production company). Looks like they have the script almost locked, they will be buying some equipments soon and they target to complete the film by the end of the year, working on it on a full time basis! Super exciting stuff!

It made my day when he told me that working on Mausams gave him the required confidence to "take the plunge". Well, what can I say, am glad Mausams could do that... it is the least I guess the film could give back to him for all the work and support he gave to the film from day one.

Like I wrote yesterday, it is wonderful to see people working on their dreams... it makes you feel like life has so much offer, all you need to do is give it a try!

All the best my friend, may your dream come true!

467 more to go.

Day 532: Being Part of a New Beginning

4 May, 2011

A person who is close to me, started on something that is very important to him... started on his dream, actually. And I could be part of it when it kicked off officially today. Since it is his personal matter, I can't get into the details here, but I would just say that I am very happy for him and I wish him all the very best!

It is always wonderful to see people chase their dreams...even if I have very little to do with it, it makes my day beautiful too!

468 more to go.

Day 531: Writing Begins, Again.

2 May, 2011

I have started to write again. Scripts, i.e. But since I am still super confused on what to write (short film, feature, sitcom etc.), I ended up writing a little bit for everything. In different languages, that too.

Muddled, for sure I am. But at least the process has begun.

469 more to go.

Day 530: Of Catch Ups & Such!

1 May, 2011

It was one of those super nice days for several reasons!

a) It's a Sunday but one which had a non-working Monday following it, which just made it a LOT MORE nicer than usual!
b) Started with a good early morning yoga, together with the hubby whom I managed to coax into joining.
c) Met up with a good friend, who also happened to be my colleague and my partner in crime in two of my productions - Kathaah (she was my asst. director) and Mausams (she was the publicity manager). Over an awesome cup of Masala chai at her place, we finally "caught up", something which we had not done in a long while!
d) Then I had another catch up, this time with a friend whom I had not caught up with for more 10 years! We were roomies in Junior College in singapore for 2 years. After that both of us went our own ways and used to bump into each other very rarely. Now both of us are married, and we decided that it was high time we caught up. So did just that.
e) Caught up with yet another friend, who would soon be making his way to IIM in India and probably would be bidding goodbye to Singapore for good.
f) I spent the entire day outside, with all the catch ups and yoga and a bit of shopping as well - which was a welcome change from yesterday when I was cooped up in my house the whole day.
g) I learnt that I enjoy company and catch ups more than I admit to myself.

470 more to go.

Day 529: From Rain to a List!

30 April, 2011

Clearly, am done with the "relaxation" period post Mausams.

Today, being a Saturday, I tried to relax the entire day. I was pretty successful at it too, given that I did absolutely NOTHING other than sleep, eat and watch movies the whole day.

But the entire process ended up in making me feel super frustrated. By 10pm, I was at my wits' end. I cribbed (to myself, since no one was around), that life has become totally meaningless and it was nothing short of an atrocity to have spent SO MUCH time doing Nothing. It was one big, ugly, bitter drama.

Sigh.

With 2 hours to go until the end of the day, I had to do something real quickly to salvage it.

Like I have written before, one way to salvage a ruined day is to have some great food. But today, I wasn't in a mood for that even.

Then came the rain - the other sure shot way to salvage a ruined day. As it started to drizzle, I walked out and wandered in the rain. It was breezy, chilly and the air had that wonderful scent of the first rain!

Ah!

The frustration melted away and I felt uplifted in an instant!

And then I decided, it's time to stop with the "break" and start to think about what's next.

And I did.

I came back home and listed down a few ideas - ranging from short films, to features, to plays, to paintings, to learning astrology (something which I had taken up for a while and was pretty decent at too!), to the "brainwave" I had written about before, etc. etc. I just have to do something, even if it's only a fraction of the scale of Mausams.

Now I have a list to start with. Let's see where it goes next!

471 more to go.

Day 528: PFC

29 April, 2011

PFC or passionforcinema.com is a very independent site, started by a bunch of film enthusiasts from India, focused on discussions regarding cinema, be it big or small, good or bad, Indian or Foreign. And this site was pretty much the reason why I had started to make movies.

In 2008, a friend sent me a link to PFCOne, a one-minute online film festival organized by PFC. She told me that this would be great way to start making movies, after all the films need to be only a minute each. Thus I made Destination and Post-Its, both of which were selected into the top 25 films at PFCOne that year.

I would say that more than my films being appreciated there, PFC had opened a world of possibilities to me. I could read articles by established film-makers whom the site admins had managed to rope in, articles by absolute amateurs who are just taking their baby steps in the world of cinema, film reviews and interesting debates on every aspect of a film, discussions of movies that you completely fail to notice in mainstream industry but are such precious gems, posts about out of the box foreign films etc. In fact, I would say that PFC was probably the only "film school" experience I have had because it is the only place I have had interaction with so many like minded individuals all dreaming to make their mark in the limitlessly creative universe of film making.

The reason I am writing about PFC today is because, i just realized that PFC is about to be shut down or at least it is going to cease to exist in its current form. I understand that a completely new team is about to take over and they are yet to decide what to do with the site.

A few key people had been the driving force behind the site from the very beginning - people who had set aside time out of their family and career to work on the site, simply from sheer passion. I realized that all these names that I had always associated with PFC, names that immediately give me a sense of what true passion and enthusiasm are when it comes to the world of cinema, are all going to scatter away.

Honestly, I am appalled. I am not sure what went wrong and why this decision was made. I get hints of different reasons from a few of the "goodbye notes" that some of the ex-members of the admin had posted. Since the reasons are not very clear, I will not second guess anything but realizing that the site is no longer is going to be around, made me realize how lucky I was to discover it when I did.

Without PFC, Destination and Post-Its would not have happened. And without them, Mausams would not have happened.

So as I read all the goodbye notes, I feel like am indebted to this team who had taken the initiative this far. And am sure there are several others like me. This team had worked on a cause which they believed in, which in turn had made several other dreams come true, including mine.

So to the people behind PFC, for what it's worth.... thank you very much. Keep the passion alive, wherever you are, whatever you do.

472 more to go.