~a drive through the winds of change~

countless new beginnings

2009-05-14T09:12:00.000-07:00

so...today is the day. 14th of may 2009. i end my journey with script peoples theatre. i've turned film maker and a lot more...but there is a hollow feeling inside. a hollow feeling which is of not being able to be in the four colourful walls with even more coulourful people. its sad. but yes. i see a lot new beginnings and from here, i promise its gonna be one helluva ride. heres something to sign off with.

Internee Questionnaire

1. What are the changes you have observed in yourself post this internship?

Since the first day, I began this incredible journey, till today, almost eight months later, I seriously will miss out a lot of things when it comes to what all has changes in me. But definitely, each day has been an experience. But yes, when I have to give an account of what eminent changes I’ve noticed in myself, there are quite a few. First of all, through a major part of this experience, I have totally been in the company of people much elder to me, it may sound funny, but yes, I feel I’ve matured in my way of looking at situations in quite a few ways. There have been days of sheer laziness when there hasn’t been much to do. Here I think I owe a lot to theatre as I’ve learnt the virtue of patience. On the flip-side there have been days when there has been a lot to do; Days when I’ve spent over 15 hours here and every moment was a pleasure as the mind is always put to do something creative, something artistic. I need to admit, I’ve learnt to deal with tremendous workloads and pressure during these times. Something I didn’t expect to change so soon has also happened; I’ve lost a major bit of my bad temper which always got me into trouble. I don’t know how, but I know it has happened. I’ve learnt to take decisions. I know where I need to go from here.

2. What are aspects that you liked and which you particularly found helpful in this process?

The experience began with ‘Jesus in blue jeans’ which frankly speaking was not as enjoyable as the other bits but definitely ranks right on top when it comes to modules which I found helpful. It was a very practical book; it looked at life from all the different angles possible. It took time, but I believe a lot of it has slowly sunk into me. Project Accenture was by far the most fun and helpful of all the processes when it comes to both acting and life skills. I definitely felt a change in my acting, the way I reacted to situations and never felt intimidated by huge crowds/ audiences which I used to feel earlier. Travelled all around Bangalore and Delhi for the performances, it was an unbeatable experience. Though it was never a part of the internship schedule designed for me in the first place, it comfortably fell into place. Then began the two most amazing theatre workshops one can find. One of them being one of the most interactive and amazing form of theatre that one can come across. There was team building, oodles of creativity and amazing interactions through the sixty hours of each. Playback is something that I will not easily forget; easily the most amazing form of expression. Then began the work on the book and the film, I have to admit, these are two really difficult process, the planning which goes into either of them is tremendous. Without doubt, this was the most different part of the entire experience. Something which I had never experienced before. I loved the entire process. I could not learn more elsewhere. The film appreciation is another course which has been of great help. I now have a very different way of looking at films. There are minute things which I have begun noting, making my film watching experience a true delight.

3. What are aspects that you found were missing or need to be developed in this process?

It was a very wholesome experience, but the only part which I felt lacked a little was my experience on the stage. My proscenium experience. But I believe all the other experiences that I went through easily made up for the experience.

4. What did you feel was the level of faculty interaction? Was it adequate or not. Please discuss.

The best part about the process was the faculty. A great group to learn from in this field. A mix of experience, adventure, fun, serious work and some amazing insight into theatre. I thought this experience would have fallen flat had I not been with such people. Each one has a very different personality, a different way of looking at things, constantly providing something to learn from. The best part, I could talk to them about anything I felt like. Like I mentioned earlier, the age gap was there, but not once did I feel uncomfortable in their presence.

5. Your overall impression of the experience.

If I go on to describe my experience it would take me ages. But truly, I believe it was like a grooming school for me after my high school experience. Something which I believe is necessary for each and every student before entering college. I would say, this gain of one year for me is something which very few people get to experience. Since I have got such an opportunity and since I’ve enjoyed it as much as I could, the difference will definitely show in my future endeavours.

Myriad Facades

2009-05-11T03:22:00.000-07:00

This is the day i've been waiting for since such a long time. My film is complete..well almost 99.99%. i finally know what my film will look like and it gives me immense joy. i'm pretty confident the viewers will appreciate the effort that has gone into it. besides from that, i watched i one of its kind, according to me a flawless film, 'THE BICYCLE THEIVES' by Vittorio De Sica. It was an experience, all on the lines of the neo-realistic theories. I truly loved the film.

Apart from all of this, as i write this blog, i know that i just have three more days to work on this laptop. i will seriosuly miss this exoerience. dont know what else to say, probably tomorrow is the day, when i'll officially become a film-maker. waiting for then, waiting till then. signing off.

last few steps and a few great films

2009-05-07T02:12:00.000-07:00

Its coming closer and closer, the day when this journey shall end. and i realise how much i'll be taking back with me. truly each day has been a unique learning experience. right now im having the privelege of watching the amazing films ever made. theres a lot to learn from each frame. following is my review of pather panchali. enjoy.

PATHER PANCHALI
- Satyajit Ray

Pather Panchali is set in the rural Bengal of 1920s. The film is based on a family that lives in a distant village. The head of the family earns his livelihood through priesthood. He has a daughter, Durga (Uma Dasgupta) and a son, Apu (Subir Banerjee). Other than them he also looks after his wife Sarbojaya (Karuna Banerjee) and an aged cousin, Indir Thakrun (Chunibala Devi). The family struggles each day to make both ends meet as Harihar`s (Kanu Banerjee) income is meagre. But Harihar is a sort of man who can be easily exploited and his decency prevents him from asking for his own dues from his employers. As a father he dotes on Durga and Apu.

As the film proceeds the family is seen struggling for money and Harihar goes away to the city to earn more. With passing time less and less is heard from him by the family. In the meantime monsoon arrives and Durga gets herself drenched in rain. The already suffering family faces tragedy as Durga dies of fever on a stormy night. As the film nears its end the audience sees Apu brushing his teeth, combing his hair and doing things, which till now involved his sister and mother. His mother is surprised completely. Harihar returns and shows to his wife what he has brought from the city. As he shows the Saree which he had brought for Durga his wife breaks down but her voice is lost in the sound of the `tarshahnai.` Harihar breaks down too.

Pather Panchali ends with the family moving away from the village. As the film ends the focus slowly shifts to Apu. The narrative was for so long related from the perspective of Sarbojaya and Durga. In these final moments Apu is treated by the director as an individual.

The reasons why I truly loved the film:

Because of the acting. It is the most amazing side to Pather Panchali, even more than all of Ray’s talent. So divorced is this film from the usual cinematic conjuring tricks that an unusually heavy burden falls upon the cast. They must be utterly natural without boredom. A tough assignment for a professional cast, let alone Ray's amateur one.

Because there is never the slightest doubt that we are privy to a real family. The collective acting in Pather Panchali is superb. The way in which the actors work off of each other, reacting with emotion rather than thought, is a wonder to behold. This cohesion is especially impressive where little Durga and Apu are concerned. Both kids act in a delightfully unselfconscious and unsentimental manner, larking around and running after interesting people. They behave just like "real" children, bundles of excited, selfish and devious energy. The crowning aspect here is the powerful bond of affection that exists between them, drawing Durga and Apu close; this is where Pather Panchali ventures towards the magical and evades the miserable.

Because it's interesting to note that while the film resides in a society where boys are prized over girls, women dominate Ray's vision. Though Harihar is the unquestioned head of the family, his absence ensures that Sarbojaya wields the power. She cements them together, against the blows of existence, while all Harihar does is earn too-little money and waste it on tobacco. In some respects he is similar to Indir, a part of the family but not quite in the inner circle. Luckily Indir has presence, a cranky and cunning spirit, to make up for her physical failings. Towards the end Karuna Banerjee shoulders the family’s needs almost alone; her performance of desperation and hope has astonishing clarity for such depth.

Because of the most important character in the film is Durga - one that is very close to nature. Durga is Nature. Ray shoots her almost always amidst flora and fauna. She roams freely through the woods, groves, rice fields and in the rain without anyone stopping her. She is intrigued by man-made objects like locomotives and telegraph poles. Why, she even passes away after getting drenched in the rain.

Because of the last twenty minutes of Pather Panchali. It was life on celluloid. As the monsoon season takes over summer, skies darken and a breeze picks up. As the surface of the water starts pulsating, flies and other minute life forms gather over it. One wishes that this scene never ends.

Because Pather Panchali appeals directly to the sub-conscious. Hypnotic may be the proper word. Throughout the film, there is almost no shot where life is not seen. We always see some life form or the other playing around on the screen. Dogs, cats, cattle and humans galore, Pather Panchali is a film that overflows with vitality.

Because even though there is a lot of life in the frames of the film, the standout trope in it is death and decay - Durga’s, Indira’s, their house’s. Life exists in Pather Panchali only to be undercut by stronger forces. Life is not the focus but the epiphenomenon, a mere tool to underscore the frightening power of other things that control it.

When Ray depicts this depressing conclusion; the sharp edges of tension, surprise and terror that tear through the fabric of Pather Panchali grow naturally from within the story. Events happen, then the consequences; destiny, good or bad, comes to be inescapable. What makes Pather Panchali more than just a lyrical work of fiction is that Ray addresses universal concerns; how families deal with random catastrophe, how people unwittingly hurt one another, how parents love their children unconditionally. Yet as insightful as Ray is to the reality of rural India, a place of little opportunity, there's a distance between audience and cast. For viewers suckled on the primary emotion of Western cinema, Ray's undemonstrative and muted approach can fail to make an impact. Combined with Ray's extensive use of symbolism, some of which is sure to go over foreign heads, Pather Panchali may seem less than the sum of its critical acclaim.

a dead end with open doors.

2009-05-05T03:00:00.000-07:00

So here i was, with the software on my computer, without the video, which i was supposed to be editig. my original video was in a format which could nothave been edited, so we went on a hunt for people who could convert our video for us. one long, incredibly warm day, we went on a major hunt wasted quite some money and got fooled. Day 2 of our hunt, we went back looking for our money's worth, we got royally fooled again. no problems, we gathered courage and moved on in the evening looking for out editable treasure. we found a guy, really humbe and kind who helped us get what we needed on the first call. by the end, after having paind over 500rs to random people around town, we had what we most needed to begin work.

two more days, and after lots of heated discussions with my colleague, we were ready with my film, all that we needed to complete the film was the music. currently i am working with a professional from Delhi for the same, looking forward to completing my film as soon as possible.

apart from that, eah day as i enter office these days, a weird feeling fills me up. i wont be leaving my helmet behind that door in under 8 eight days from now. i wouldnt laze around in the massive couches outside in very little time. my internship is soon getting over and it soon is a very weird feeling to have.

ghee rice and sweet raindrops

2009-04-22T02:54:00.000-07:00

The day didn't really start of very well, it was blistering heat in the morning and the traffic was just too bad, my head in the helmet felt like what a chicken would feel insie a tandoor. i can not explain the feeling. i got to office, and started exploring the next video editing software i'd found, THE ADOBE PREMIERE PRO CS4, in a few hours i was in love. undoubtedly the mother of all editing softwares. i cant wait to get the format right an start editing my film. it will be one experience.
then i went to have a good biryani for lunch but the que outside the place was so huge that i ended up in from of a plate of my favourite ghee rice and kebabs at empire. it was good fun, one heavy meal and just as we got onto the bike, the raingods were looking down at us, ready to pour with full force, i entered the college parking lot and the rain started coming down heavily. quite obviously on our wayup, we tasted a few sweet raindrops as well.
I totally forgot about the traffic and the heat of the moning, thats what bangalore weather does probably. im loving it now and after a good game of chess and a lot more exploring, i cannot wait for friday morning, when i'll hopefull tear my film apart.

~ dEsSeRTs ~

2009-04-20T22:35:00.001-07:00

After a terrific shoot, it was time for another uphill task for me, completing the book. I took me about one whole week after that to come somewhere close to completing my part of the book. All we need to do now is to put all the material together and come up with a draft print which would then go for proof reading. It has been one incredible journey with the book. It all began in January when I'd returned from home after a good vacation. There was heaps of material to work with and slowly, with all the other things going on, we now have got somewhere really close to a completed book. Constant additions kept happening, changes in plan, changes in material, even changes in illustration, but the process is still not complete. I really have realized how difficult the entire process can be. We are also thinking of approaching a few publishers for the same and that will probably be an even greater challenge than writing the book itself. But we surely believe that the book has enough to find itself some good publishers.

The icing on the cake has started to be laid, my last exercise, the film appreciation course just began last weekend. That too with a bengali film by Gautam Ghose called 'Antarjali Yatra' (The voyage beyond). By the time the film appreciation course ends for me, my internship with script people theatre will almost be over. I'm sure the film appreciation course will the perfect dessert for this huge so-many-course-meal of my life. I'm currently working on another brilliant film called Aamir and surely this last leg has begun just perfectly for me.

Ill keep posting about myself and a lot more films, and for everyone, enjoy the IPL.

2009-04-20T22:33:00.000-07:00

Pictures Taken during the Shoot

2009-04-20T22:02:00.000-07:00

Heee Haaa!!!

2009-04-20T22:00:00.000-07:00

The past week has been an adventure of a different kind. Or should I say a dream. Truly, a week of sincere efforts, delight, temporary satisfaction, failure and how can I miss out the plan B which never existed. ‘Face off’, well that’s what we’re planning to name my first film, which we shot over the last week. It gave us pleasant surprises; even nightmares.

The week began with the final phase of planning, we were deciding on the cast, the final budget for the props etc. I invested some money and we created a face, about 250 sq feet in size, big, colourful and bright. It took us a couple of days to make it. By the end of that herculean task, we were more than content. It looked beautiful. Then came the real task, the casting, out of the 20 I’d decided on I just got eight actors. The next 9 were sheer luck. They were people who just unexpectedly turned up on the day of the shoot. It was amazing to see so many people actually turning up for my film, that too on such a short notice. We did the shoot; we couldn’t work according to plan as we were not given a few permissions. Made plan B, on the spot and went ahead with the shoot. It was amazing how at one moment I was feeling totally helpless and by the end of it overjoyed by the day’s outcome.

I would love to thank all the actors who’d taken out some time for my dream. Thanks guys. Love you all for the effort.

hmmm.

2009-04-03T02:59:00.000-07:00

Its been crazy, first i need to jump walls to get to my own house, take a bath and get dirty again, because i need to jump walls again. I get to college a little late, and started reading this book called 'Jesus CEO.' Brother to jesus in blue jeans probably. it was a great experience actually. the style of wirting was similar to the older book, but the context was pretty different. it was good to have read something like that after so long. besides from that, im working on the book again, a few more things to add in before we can print out a draft. the frames/script for the movie is coming along alright. everything is moving just fine. and yeah being back to blogspace feels really good.
waiting for the shoot to begin for the film, will be a really huge thing. apart from that, alls just about sailing along. time for admissions is coming close so i really need to start working towards that.

New Energy. uhh...red bull?

2009-04-01T03:26:00.001-07:00

After the mountain dew experience, things have changed in a great way for me. i came back on monday morning with some different energy although i was not too well. tonsilitis attack. but then i got a few challenges and i took them with ease. i completed the enitre book contents with ease, something i thought i needed atleast 3 days to do.

I felt great after the whole day's work. tuesday was even better, i began work on the scripting of the film, it was in the form of frames. we began drawing and discussing the same. it was a good experience i should say a new exoerience for me. i felt amazing that my film was finally taking off.

Wednesday, even better, the day started with my getting a lot more material to work upon for my book. i am still working on that besides which Ankita my classmate from college to began her journey with us. i also began working on a whole new document which i cannot discloe right now. that will happnen only after a couple of weeks when i see the final results. and yes this blog, i keeps me coming back again and again and again.

The 'Mountain Dew' experience

2009-03-27T23:34:00.000-07:00

'The Script' well actually it was strong enough to influence the scripting of my internship schedule. This was the first time that I felt frightened or scared of doing something. Something related to 'theatre' to be more specific. I chickened out, I was being a coward. I tried to escape just because it was an 'un-interesting task' for me. I was frankly a little too bored of the entire scripting process which went on and on from 7 30 in the morning till about 4 in the evening. Not that the script was uninteresting, it was just that I was not at all into the process. It was too monotonous and boring for me to handle.

This was not the end of it though, I mustered up courage and spoke to Rajesh sir about this problem which I had been facing. It felt good to be able to share it with someone. It was good to know that I was realizing my mistakes. The last time I was scared, I ran and ran so far away that getting back was not a possibility. I was lying to myself and to nobody else. It made me feel amazing after speaking to him, I was able to conquer my fears.

I've come back this morning, I was infact the first student to reach and I feel great. I feel a positive energy coming out of my system. The last two days have been great days and this last week, a major learning experience. Dar ke aage jeet hai.

2009-03-24T10:34:00.000-07:00

I relaised the last time i'd posted a blog, it was all about the ongoing developments in my film and my movie, but i simply didn't even give a simplest idea of what either one was about. probably that what excitement does to a person. I wouldn't blame myself there.

Well anyways since i did realise, and since i realised soon enough, i think i should elaborate on the two. The film, still untitled, is simply going to focus on the general psyche of different individuals and how entertainment and various art forms affect them in their daily lives be it music or theatre or films for that matter. it is the most simple short film you would have ever watched but i promise an AHA experience after watching it. it just focusses on the expressions and behaviour of different individuals as they walk out of an auditorium's gates.

The book, is the maturation of a very unique concept. A concept of a theatre hand book cum guide sort of a thing. our main objective was that by reading the book completely, any individual with the littlest of idea about theatre and drama can come up with a production of his own. it has the 10 easiest steps to a play right from the conception of an idea, to the scripting, to the direction, the stage set up, the bidgeting, the lights and sounds the costumes etc. not only that, we plan to eventually give it a form where, any individual would be allowed to write his own notes as he progresses along with the book. we are pretty confident that the book can work and the manuscript ready, we just can't wait to get to the latter parts of the same.

besides from all of this, the conception of the VISION 2020 has already started to happen and we have begun ideating on the script. hoping to complete by the week-end. ill keep posting. bye.

The last leg begins

2009-03-22T23:07:00.000-07:00

Performance over, workshops over hmm, now what.

The final leg begins here. The last part of my internship where I shall be working on a couple of films and a book. Sounds really exciting and it indeed is. the work has begun just fine, I've been working on the book since January and it seems to be shaping up just fine. Probably just another week or so and the book should be just about ready.

The planning for the short film has also been on since quite some time and it looks like I can really come up with something by the 10th of April, well thats the deadline I've set for myself. still doing a lot of research though.

This is when I realized that making a short film say even a one minute film takes a helluva lot of time. Theres so much that goes into it. The conception of the idea, debating around it, beating it down, chopping it, till the final outcome is perfectly refined and flawless. Planning put the various factors that need to come together for the same. the progress is steady, I'm current;y working on the script for the same and am just waiting for Arif sir to return from his epic tour with Thermal and a Quarter. that is when i plan to really take off with this plan.

Apart form that the VISION 2020 planning is on its way. We're all really looking forward to a finished script by the end of the week. But most important I just cant wait for April to begin when i will finally be able to give wings to both my babies right now, the film and the book.

I'll keep posting the progress and thats a promise till then CIAO.

The performance

2009-03-13T02:15:00.000-07:00

3.00 pm in the afternoon we were all gathered again for the final step to the conclusion of the workshop. We all seemed to be pretty pumped about the next few hours of the day. The energies were pretty high and evident. We did a final run through of our proscenium piece, took all the props and moved to the assembly hall where we were supposed to be performing. We set up the space to our convenience and then did a quick visualisation. The crowd was gathering in the space outside the hall and very soon there were quite a few eager eyes waiting for the magic to unfold.

We started with the proscenium performance. It went decently all right but the ending was pretty sad which was unfortunately my solo-piece. There was group of about 5-6 people who just walked in during the performance, it was pretty distracting to be frank. Then we moved on to the playback half of the show. We started with a few random fluid sculptures of which I provided the music for two and acted in one. We moved on to the two very sweet stories. Both based on childhood and young children but I’m pretty sure we managed it pretty well. The music for the second story was highly appreciated which I and Akshay were providing. And then we moved to the conflicts which weren’t very much to our liking as we were being quite repetitive and had nothing new to offer even though we tried to. That I believe was the only disappointing part of the entire performance. We ended with a fabulous giant fluid which helped us end on a high note. But I truly believe I could have performed a lot better had the proscenium part of the show gone off smoothly.

But then my disappointment is just a mark of my hunger towards performing and performing well. This was not the last chance I had, very soon, in the second week of March we shall be performing again for an orphanage and now I’m looking forward to that.

Help me Jesus(in blue jeans)

2009-03-13T02:13:00.000-07:00

Coming back definitely has not been easy. After the whole Accenture thing happening so amazingly, I feel weird. Where are those huge office rooms, where are all the bored employees, where are the pre-performance nerves. Where is the half torn script, where are the run throughs.

After waiting for so long, I finally got to perform. It was a test of patience and persistence for me. But suddenly, when I’m back in this phase again, I feel scared, scared to wait. In want to keep performing.

Not very long back, someone had told me, that in this field of theatre, there can be tremendous amount of exposure at a given point in time and suddenly, there can be a glum phase, a period of a long wait. It is those dull times when you need to hold on and believe in yourself even when nothing much is happening around you. Should I say déjà vu?

Like I mentioned earlier, it certainly has been difficult but not impossible. I’m trying to hold on, trying to find something out of nothing and waiting for mid-Feb when I can finally be on stage again. I know that I’ve done it once before, for a much longer period of time and I can do it again. I’ve finished reading Jesus in Blue Jeans. I’m already half way through my next important assignment, 10 easy steps to a play, and vey soon I’ll start work on the short films. Sounds exciting, but the fact still is, I miss being on stage.

Right now the best I can do for myself is concentrate on the other stuff, not miss any more sessions, and wait for another High Performance, to be Delivered

high performance...delivered

2009-01-08T10:39:00.000-08:00

The picture is still very clear in my mind. It was the 27th of November, 2008. It was the same day when the proscenium workshop began; it was the day when international documentary films were screened at the college auditorium. It was about 4:30 in the evening when Mr. Vaz, asked whether they should throw me into ‘this.’ Till then I had no clue of what ‘this’ was. All the members of Script Peoples, a couple of old play-backers and I got together and the ‘Big’ news was cracked open by Mr. Vaz.

The multinational ‘Accenture’ had hired a team called ‘Deferens’ to have interactive sessions and to motivate their young BPO workforce. They contacted us to put up interactive plays for the employees of Accenture thus bringing out their problems and focussing on the values and the culture of work of the company. We needed to perform for over three weeks at Accenture offices spread across various parts of the country beginning from Bangalore to Noida to Chennai and Mumbai. This project was massive; both for Script Peoples and for me as a performer. 1 day into the playback theatre workshop, I was already preparing for my first interactive performance for thousands of BPO employees over the country. It was exciting.

We further worked on the script that same evening and came back the next morning to perform for the team from Deferens. In another couple of days, we were performing at Accenture Bangalore. I along with Saraswati, a fellow play-backer put up the first performance and we nailed it. It was the perfect start to a long, long journey. The memories of that first performance are still very fresh in my mind. It was a totally different experience for me. I had never before performed in an office space to people standing all around me. I had never performed to a responsive audience before. This time we were there just make conversation with them, that too while performing. It was a challenge, with over a couple hundred, bored and tired BPO employees, that too on a Monday morning all around us in their den, we needed to make merry. We did. We felt amazing after that first performance. It was like a rush of excitement which was just beginning to kick in. It just kept growing. Very soon, after another couple of performances I got used to the space, the dead, sleepy and tired faces of so many bored twenty-somethings.

The third performance was the only low-point of the entire journey for me. We worked really hard and got an absolutely dead audience, unresponsive, quiet, mum and disinterested. We needed to up ourselves a little for such crowds and we did, soon we found better ways of using the spaces, we started doing without the microphones. Went and probed in a little more, got them talking and had a blast wherever we went from there. It was an amazing feeling. I felt something maturing in me over every performance. There were innovative techniques and gestures that I would come up with after each performance. Very soon I found myself measuring the crowd before each performance and began varying my style accordingly.

The trip to Delhi was also another high point. The crowd was totally different from what we had performed to back here in Bangalore. We changed our lingo a little to go with the crowd and tried new things which worked well for us. My last performance, I must admit, was to the toughest crowd throughout the journey. But we hit a six off the last ball. We watched the ball disappear into the crowds and got the same runners high at the end of a run.

It was definitely one of the most unforgettable experiences for me. I entirely felt myself mature as an actor. Now, I feel great. Indeed, “HIGH” PERFORMANCE ... DELIVERED!

the posters i made -

2008-11-22T23:20:00.000-08:00

channelising energies

2008-11-21T23:40:00.000-08:00

Wednesday was a difficult day at work. I was running around the college campus looking for the Principal’s signatures on the posters to put them up. He wasn’t around. I worked on a power point presentation for a future training programme for a corporate. The entire thing came up in 25 minutes. It was another experience. I will remember, coming up with art in such little time is always demanding. It came out well in the end. It was a great day, very satisfactory as all the posters were finally put up all around the campus.

Thursday was a bad, bad day. THIS IS NOT IN CONCERN WITH THE WORK. Early in the morning as I was running up the office stairs I lost my cell phone. I was put off for the entire day. I was furious. But then I found a way to channelize all the negative energy. I came up with an astounding poster for the Proscenium Theatre Workshop. It gave me a lot of confidence. I felt great. We went and got it printed and felt great. But we had forgotten about the University logo. It was great that I made a mistake. There was something which I could carry forward. But the entire morning incident had put me off to such a great extent. I just couldn’t work on any longer. I took it easy after that.

Learning for the day: I went looking for what was lost.

the adventure begins-again

2008-11-21T23:38:00.000-08:00

After such an eventful week, I couldn’t have expected more adventure. But that was not the case on this Monday morning. The start was indeed as eventful as last week if not more. There was a lot to do yet again.

I began with a great session of applied theatre. Since there was so much to reflect on after last week, it was a very interesting session. There were so many instances which I could relate to the book. Later in the afternoon I went to the various dailies in town for the press releases. It was an adventurous and taxing session. Running around, it took me a lot of town to get the work done. We hope all goes on well. We are eagerly anticipating the press releases. It seriously was a task of patience.

Learning of the day: We all come into this world with certain objectives and missions; with a longing to do something from deep within. But most of us fail to recognise and harness it. We fail to get the thunder in our hooves.

Tuesday was another great day. My artistic talents came to the fore, talents which I never knew I possessed. I worked on the posters for advertisement of the Playback Theatre workshop. I went and got them printed and was more than just satisfied with the outcome of the day. There was so much to learn from the entire day. This included bargaining with the printing department at Staples. Something I’m just not good at. I was finally satisfied when I saw a few posters on the boards of the college. It was a great feeling. There will be an even better felling when enquiries begin to flow in regarding the workshops. Later in the evening, I visited the office of the Indian Express, as I could not send in the press release there on Monday evening.

Learning of the day: Mostly, we do not practice our highest gifts because we don’t know what they are. We never realise that if something comes naturally and easily to us, it is mostly a gift. We never nurture it or make room for it in our lives and which is why it all dies out after a certain point in time. The only way one can find the highest gift is by following the heart.

Thursdy, Friday, Saturday

2008-11-19T01:53:00.000-08:00

Time has been the biggest enemy for me in the last few days. Continuing from where I left, Thursday was another great, eventful day.

The whole day involved tremendous amount of field work. I and Shivaraj were running around the University Campus looking for contacts in the press and for holding meetings for our upcoming workshops. It was a tedious job. Was a great day overall.

Friday was a great day as well. Although I did get frustrated and angry at times, I was contented by the end of the day as I had experienced a lot. Early in the day, a person form the international affairs department came into the office and asked us to change the entire presentation for Saturday’s performance. It was tasking and we needed to change it by the evening, it was difficult and challenging, but it was fun. I put in a lot of effort but as I showed them what they had asked for, they found an error in that too. The error was just what they had asked me to add to the presentation. It really put me off. I spent the entire day adding the material and by of it, the wanted me to remove it again. But I still carried the right lesson forward, completed the task with perfection and understood that time was money.

Finally the longest day arrived. The show was scheduled for the evening and the rehearsals happened in the morning hours. I was at work for almost the entire day. It was great fun and the show was just amazing, although I couldn’t watch most of it. The week ended on a great high.

intense workouts

2008-11-13T18:56:00.000-08:00

Three weeks into my internship with Script Peoples Theatre, I feel great about the entire situation. A sense of belonging to the place has set in to me. I know for sure that this time around I’m in the right place.

It was a great Monday after a nice weekend. I completed another part of the book, Jesus in Blue Jeans. There actually is so much around us to learn from which we tend to overlook. Every person, every situation, a journey, a meal, a song has so much to tell that we cannot imagine. But we overlook it all. We do not have time to process the information going into our minds. The book has helped me immensely. There is an evident change which I can feel coming into myself.

This week has been really hectic for me. There have been so many things going on all around; I haven’t even found time to regularly update my posts. The week started off with my whole marketing day. I was busy working on videos for upcoming workshops. It almost took up my entire day.

On Tuesday, we were busy working on the press releases and documentation of all the material for the same. Yet again, it was a difficult day but by the end of it all, we were content on having all the material ready for being sent in. It was amazing feeling as how so much was going on all around me, simultaneously.

Come Wednesday, came in a new challenge. There is a seminar going to be held for the international students on Saturday. We needed to create a 5-6 minute visual for them. It is based on the song We are the World by Michael Jackson. It was a difficult challenge. We’re halfway through it and we hope to complete it as soon as possible.

This is a gist of my eventful week so far as all the three days so far, I have been involved in different projects. There is such a tremendous high at the end of each day’s work that one wants to come back for the surprises of the next day.

I sincerely apologise for not being able to update the blog posts on regular intervals. Cheers to all. 

successful launch....cruising time.

2008-11-10T00:41:00.000-08:00

After a good night’s sleep and good healthy homemade food, I felt in great shape to come to work today. Another Saturday was passing as I completed three weeks of my internship with Script Peoples Theatre. I felt great. I had done so much in such little time; it was just an amazing feeling.

I began with my reading session, and then I worked on the marketing strategy for the workshops and finished with my blog session for the day. It went smooth as ever. Like always I learnt a lot. But more than all of that, I have a feeling of success; tremendous amount of confidence has come into me as I can foresee myself 6 months from now. I can what I would be, I feel differently from what I always felt about myself. I find myself so busy that I do not realise how quickly time had passed by. In a month’s time from now, I would be independently conducting a workshop for thirty students of the twelfth standard. It is such an amazing feeling; all of a sudden life feels so much more exciting and fulfilling.

I feel successful because my ‘BIG DECISION’ paid off amazingly well and I feel great about it. I am looking forward to the many more weeks to come with Script Peoples Theatre.

the first real challenge...:-)

2008-11-10T00:38:00.000-08:00

Finally after so many open windows, I felt a challenge was thrown towards me. A difficult one too.

I reached work at 7 am in the morning. I needed to go along with the Madcap team for the semi-final round of Abhinaya, the inter-college theatre fest conducted by Shri Bhagwan Mahaveer Jain College. The entire scenario was pretty exciting till yesterday evening, as I thought I would be watching another brilliant performance by the ultra talented Mad-Cap team. But it was much more than that. It was a true test of endurance as 7 members of their team could not make it to the competition due to certain reasons and they had to proactively handle the situation and manage with a lesser bench strength. Most other teams would have backed out of a situation like that, but they made adjustments according to the needs of the play and put up a flawless performance. I along with Shivaraj provided them with all that we could to put up the show. I can only hope that the team gets selected for tomorrow’s final where they can go in with the full team and shake the stage with their vibrant and energetic play.

I came back to office by about 12:30 and immediately went off for lunch, but too much of eating outside took a toll on me and I felt giddy. I did my reading session post lunch and went back home.

It was undoubtedly an adventurous day right from being less on team strength, to being misled by the rick drivers, to the bad lunch that I munched on. I can only hope for the best for the Mad-Cap team and would love to go to work tomorrow with complete control on my stomach.

Till then Cheers to all. Keep in good health. :-)

awakening - 1

2008-11-07T23:22:00.000-08:00

A great day passed by as I learnt about self realisation. There are actually several things which lie somewhere deep down in our subconscious minds and come to the fore only when we read or hear about the same. It is so weird that with every passing day, I am discovering several such small things which can shape or break one’s life and career. It feels like my friend (Jesus in Blue Jeans) seems to know all about me and is just helping me realise the thoughts in my subconscious mind.

Today I was reading about the law of attraction, of how we can shape out futures by our thoughts. I also read about success being cumulative, when I was reading this today, I said to myself, ‘Hey wait a minute, I know all of this from before, why have I never been using these laws from before.’ it was pretty amazing how we want success overnight even though we know that it is cumulative and takes time to come.
It was an amazing session of reading.

Then I took some time discussing about the press releases to be sent into the various dailies. I got a new assignment, a really challenging one too. I need to script a play, a very different one this time around. I was stunned by the situation when I saw it at first. Wait for the magic to happen. Wait for this another situation to turn into a dramatic play.

Then after lunch, we discussed about the marketing strategy in relation with the several workshops coming up towards the end of this month. I took initiative and chalked out a plan for the same. Planning to implement the same from Monday were just trying to give ourselves more time to think about the various ways in which we can go about the same. It seems to be a very daunting yet interesting task all the same. It’s so much fun venturing out into the various aspects of theatre which I had never thought about before.

As my day ends, I feel highly content with the proceedings; I see my subconscious mind rising from deep sleep.

“It is fascinating how small drops of water add up to rivulets, some such small rivulets add up to streams, similarly streams add up to rivers. Finally oceans of water are created. The same things happen in the circle of success. We need to remember that success in life is not a destination, it is a process.”

responsibility. hmmmm.not bad

2008-11-05T19:14:00.000-08:00

With every passing day, a new sense of achievement, of liking my work is setting into me. I feel great. After my reading session today, I continued with working on the press releases. We hadn’t thought about the pictures earlier and those which were available to us were also way too large to be sent through e-mail. We faced a problem there. I did come back home and send the required material to the timeout magazine (Bangalore edition) but there were a few problems I faced with the others. I plan to sort them out at work tomorrow.

Then I continued to work on my second presentation. It felt great. We actually ended up doing a lot of work in just about 40 minutes. The presentation seems to coming out pretty well till now. It is something different that I’m working on this time around. Hoping for the best.

After a nice lunch I discussed about the ongoing Theatre Fest at Ranga Shankara. I needed to visit the place to get a few details. That was where my day ended. It was a good feeling; I thought I was becoming more responsible towards my work. I had something really important to come back home and complete, which I eventually did.

Learning of the day, ‘The true worth of all things around us is never really realised till we lose them. We tend to undervalue things at our workplace, in our relationships and if that is not enough, even parts of our lives.’

the challenge. part1

2008-11-05T01:26:00.000-08:00

After another eventful week, today, I was really very excited about my work; I was going to begin work on new tasks and assignments. Halfway through the last week, I had completed most of my pending tasks and the week ended with my open window sessions. So I haven’t really been doing the routine tasks since almost 5 days.

I reached office, my friend Jesus (in blue jeans) was waiting for me as usual. I looked around the colourful office walls, painted in beautiful shades of red, green, blue and yellow, closed my eyes and waited for my system to respond from within.

I got the green signal and began working on the book. I felt great. I was reading the book after 4 long days, I missed out so much. But I hadn’t lost anything. The memories of what my perspective should be were still afresh. I had learnt how to maintain poise in my life.

Then I started working on a new project, the blending of still pictures and video clippings. It sounds confusing but I shall complete it and post it if possible for everyone to have a view of what it looks like. The entire world of visual effects is simply mind-blowing.

Then after lunch a surprise package was thrown towards me. Some information about workshops had to be sent in for press releases. That too to 6 different dailies and 1 fortnightly. I was assigned the task to do a research and find out the e-mail id’s where the same could be sent. It was a task on improving my skills in marketing. It was a challenging task, as no news paper had it on them , neither did their websites. What I liked about the task was that I needed to go out of the way to get the required information. The mails need to be sent in by tomorrow and I hope I have all the addresses by then.

In all it was a great day, the first day of the week is always an exciting day. There’s so much to do after a lazy weekend. TOTALLY REJUVENATING.

long day...completely amazing.

2008-11-03T08:52:00.000-08:00

Today was special if I need to describe the day in one simple word. The day began with a great reading session. It is surprising that I actually read and learnt so much from a self improvement book. (I generally do not read such books; I’m more into fiction and such things) It was a nice feeling to see a change in myself, be it even in this manner. If nothing else, I have begun enjoying change. It is difficult to enjoy and appreciate change.
I completed work on the script, finally after about 10 days after I first watched the play. Two tasks in two days and I silently said to myself ‘good job Paarth’ I felt incredible.
Then I did something which I had never done before at work. I was told to watch the movie ‘The Secret’ by Rhonda Byrne. I had read the book but watching this movie was a completely different experience. I was stunned. There is so much that is there to learn from it that I would have to make an independent post on the movie. It is definitely coming soon.
Then we proceeded to the auditorium as there was a national level competition being held by the National Law School there and our Mad-Cap team from journalism and communications was participating there. It was an awesome performance put forward by the highly tremendous team. There was so much energy on the stage that the small audience present there was stunned. The content was different, inevitable truths of life such as envy, jealousy, hatred, gluttony etc were all depicted in the play. If people there did pay attention to what was being done on stage, they must definitely have learnt a lot.
One simple convention of being successful in theatre is by being different, it mostly works if one can back it up with the goods.

my first presentation.

2008-11-03T08:51:00.000-08:00

Another bright morning, lead to the beginning of another great day at work which gave me tremendous satisfaction by the end.

I began with reading the book, and like always I felt fresh and positive about the day and my learning. I learned about how change was inevitable and completely necessary in our lives and that we should try and avoid being attracted to the form and appearance of things which we generally are. It is something that we know very well but never implement. It was good to know how such things can change lives.

The second session gave me a sigh of relief from the previous day as I could get another copy of the play on the script of which I was working. Finally I could on with the script which due to one reason or the other had been getting delayed since over a week of time.

The third was the one of the most satisfactory sessions I’ve had in a long time. I completed the presentation I was preparing for the students of Dhramaram College. With sound effects and transitions I had completed the compilation of pictures and photographs of their workshop. It was a great feeling. I felt extremely elated. I showed all the members of the faculty the same and was appreciated for it.

By the end of the day I feel extremely satisfied by my outcome today and am looking forward to the weekend as it holds a lot of surprises and challenges for me as there are theatre competitions and events coming up to keep me busy and buzzing.

Learning of the day...if u put in sincere efforts into anything, you are bound to enjoy the results, no matter what...

Better late than never..

2008-10-30T09:40:00.000-07:00

As another day passed at work I can feel a change coming in my way of looking at various things. Time being one. I truly recognise the value of time now.
The day was an ordinary one. I began with the reading session and was very delighted on completing the first part if the book which was related to maintaining poise the way Jesus did. I began with the second part of the book which deals with God’ perspective (his way of looking at things) and how we can adopt it. As always it was a great session.

I continued with the scripting of the play but unfortunately, half way through, the CD stopped working and I was pretty disappointed with the same. Then I began looking for tracks to put into my presentation. It was a difficult search and I couldn’t do much work with them. But now that I have them, I plan to edit them and sync them into the presentation by the end of tomorrow’s session.

I mentioned the fact that it was an ordinary day because in both of my latter session of the day, there wasn’t much output. First the CD stopped working and then searching for tracks for the presentation took a lot of time. Though I had planned to complete both today, I wasn’t able to. But then I know what problems I’m facing and I shall come back prepared tomorrow and am hoping to complete it at least then.
I can just hope that all goes well and I do not have to waste much time tomorrow.

Realisation of the day...I wasted un-necessary time in things which didn’t need so much time, be it due to my mistake or too much dependence on technology. In a way I only realised the true worth of time. I feel good that at least now I shall be able to value something which I needed to since so long back. Truly it’s better late than never...

Play review - Choon Hyang

2008-10-30T09:29:00.000-07:00

Theatre Review
Choon-Hyang
By
Kevin Kim
22/10/2008

On the 22nd of October, 2008, Ranga - Shankara presented Choon Hyang, a play based on a Korean folk tale. It was performed by a group of highly talented, young artistes from Korea. No words are too good to describe the enthralling performance displayed by them.

A play generally revolves around two main factors, form and content. There are several plays which are commended for their gripping contents and there are others which are applauded for their alluring form and appearance. This one was special. The plot was very simple and conventional for a love story but was designed in such a way that there were spaces to revamp and keep adding effects to the entire presentation. It added to the entire feel of the play.

The director and writer Kevin Kim has done a fabulous job with his young actors aged between 9 and 18. Designed in ethnic Korean style, the entire staging was a grand affair. The costumes were beautifully designed and were made of hanji paper, the traditional Korean way. All the characters were brimming with energy, covered with vibrant and enchanting colours. Time and again, the beautiful effect of the lights and the scintillating oriental music transported the entire audience to the magic of ancient Korea.

The plot although simple, is an example of true love and resilience. Choon Hyang is the daughter of a widow. Mong-Ryong is the son of a noble family and falls in love with her at first sight. As the story progresses, they secretly get married. He soon has to leave her behind and promises to be back soon as he needs to attend to a ceremony in which his father was to be promoted to an official position.

While he is away, a new governor is posted to Choon-Hyang’s town. He hears of her beauty and calls to see her immediately even though she is married. But when she doesn’t agree to his orders, he imprisons her and decides to kill her on his birthday to seek revenge for disobedience.

On the other end, Mong-Ryong passes an exam to become a higher official and is promoted to a higher position in the administration. He hears of her sad state and secretly builds an army to take down the new evil governor. A few comic twists follow till he discloses his true identity at the governor’s birthday event and punishes him for his misbehaviour and spitefulness. He is reunited with Choon – Hyang.

The simple plot, exuberant performances, vibrant colours, and authentic oriental music were enough to transport the audience to the backdrop of an ancient Korean Dynasty. Truly it was a love saga only second to Romeo and Juliet.

the learning continues...

2008-10-29T01:33:00.000-07:00

Like always, my day began with great inputs from the book Jesus in Blue Jeans. It was a great reading session as always and I felt great about it when I tried to ponder over the day's reading.
Then I continued work on the script of the play(the special prize) and have been trying to relate how the story developed into a play like that. It always is a great session, looking into the play and developing the script with all the various details and all the small little things that one needs to take care of. The dialogs, the expressions, the movements, the changing of scenes, are just a few of the so many things which go into the making of the script. It was an enjoyable session.
Today being Diwali, we cut the day short to just three session from 10 to 1 and the final session was another very satisfactory one. I completed the visual part of the presentation for the students of Dharmaram College. Now I just need to add the sound effects to go along with when I come back tomorrow. It gave me immense satisfaction, just looking at the presentation. I am planning to post the presentation too if it is possible.
It was a great day at work again. Nothing really eventful happened but I just remained busy throughout and I got to learn a lot. I'm eagerly waiting to go back tomorrow and complete the presentation with complete sound effects.
Quote of the day, “all the world is a stage, and every one is an actor.”

Happy realisation - day 7

2008-10-27T18:33:00.000-07:00

After a fairy tale opening to my internship in the first week, the second week began on a more balanced note.

I began the day by reading a few more chapters of Jesus in Blue Jeans. I learnt a lot from that little reading, two very important life values. The book I feel has a deep spiritual connection somewhere. I constantly feel myself developing according to the book. It is a great feeling, totally invigorating.

Today I said was a more balanced day because I felt that just coming to work and enjoying my work wasn’t everything in this field. I also needed to come back home and put in extra effort to keep up with the tasks. I feel that one of my faculty members is a little upset with me as I have taken a little extra time than required to complete one of his assignments. I am pretty upset about the same. It was probably my approach to the task which was incorrect, due to which I needed some extra time to complete it. But I am positive about the entire situation now and I’m sure I shall not give him or any of them for that matter a chance to feel that I’m not focussed on my work.

After lunch I continued working on the movie which I had begun and I am just two steps away from being able to present it. It’s a great feeling as more parts of the movie are being completed.

Diwali, the festival of lights has arrived and the feeling is very festive around. The entire city is lit up nice and bright. I hope this festive season of light gives me more energy and vigour to forward with my work.

I feel it has been a great day, a great beginning to the second week at work. I am keenly looking forward to the rest of the week ahead.

Realisation of the day, ‘Prizes are awarded to those who “endure till the end.” Just like gold is tested in fire, the true measure of a soul comes when it is tested.’

the adventure - finale

2008-10-26T20:34:00.000-07:00

After the entire week having gone so well, the last day needed something special to be a fitting end to the eventful first week. It indeed was. Today I completed my first week of work with Script Peoples Theatre and I could not have been more satisfied.

Like every-day, I did not begin with reading the book, today’s task was something different. I needed to reflect upon my theatre journey so far (I had three theatre experiences in the week) and relate it to the book I had been reading. This was a different task. As I began thinking I realised how many of those modules which I had read about, had already sunk into my system, it was a different feeling. I realised that subconsciously I had actually applied a lot of what I had read in my experiences over the week. The following is a part of what I wrote during the session.

“Six days from the beginning of this internship, today, I reflect and think about the various theatre experiences which I have had. I try to relate them with the things which I learned by reading the book Jesus in Blue Jeans. It is a very interesting scenario which I am looking at.

The first experience was when the brothers from Dharmaram College were performing at the college auditorium. It was towards the end of a workshop which the Script Peoples Theatre had conducted for them. They were divided into four groups and were all given chances to practice and perform on stage with full lights and sounds. It was a delight watching them and taking pictures. The entire set up was done in a magnificent manner. That is not what I’m delighted about though. I realised by the end of it that while taking the pictures, I could have stuck to a permanent position from where I could get a good view of the entire stage. But that would have been sticking to a comfort zone. By doing that I could not have captured the beautiful effect that the lights from the various angles were creating. I realised that I had ventured out and not stuck to a comfort zone. In the process I got much better pictures and by the end of it I was more satisfied than I could have been otherwise.

The second such learning was when the same evening I had visited Ranga-Shankara for the presentation of the play Choon-Hyang. It was a play performed by a Korean group and was based on an ancient Korean folk story. The entire concept was very different from the regular plays. The oriental music, traditional dresses, the stage set up, the lights, the songs and dances and most of all the astounding performance of the cast was truly enchanting. It was a great learning experience. I also had to write a review of the as an assignment, for which I needed to click pictures during the performance. I held myself in readiness. I knew that the organisation of Ranga-Shankara was very strict about such things. I could only request them to allow me to click a few pictures. All in vain, I flipped to plan ‘B’. I found a few pictures of the play on the internet and was able to add them to my review. I was ready for the challenge. Although I could not click the pictures myself, I made sure I had the pictures of the play for my review.

Just yesterday, I along with Shivaraj (one of the faculties here) accompanied the law school theatre team of Christ College. It was for an inter – collegiate youth event organised by the University of Bangalore. It was a long wait before the event began, we had problems with the sound, which I was to handle, the crowd was not what we had expected, I was with a group of people to whom I was completely unfamiliar, I did not know the local language, and if nothing else, the rain played spoilt-sport. This was one of the greatest learning experiences as far as the internship has gone so far. But I was ready with the tips from my new found friend, a few lessons from Jesus in Blue Jeans.

I found myself humming through most of the long wait. I literally did not realise how time flew by, while everyone around me seemed to be frustrated by the same. I was in-charge of the sound to be provided for the play and there was a major problem as all the tracks were not in the same format. I was ready for the challenge. I was equipped with my laptop and technical gear and we found a way out of the situation. The entire performance went off smoothly. The crowd surprisingly was not like what we had expected. It was like performing to a group of Maori warriors. They were whistling and screaming and clapping at every second instance. I had never seen crowds like this ever before, more so because my bringing up has been that of a boarding school. The entire group stayed focussed. We did not take small things personally. By doing so, the crowd was only reflecting themselves and it made no difference to us. I was meeting the group for the first time and co-ordinating the sound with them could not have been easy had I not found common ground. I interacted a lot with Shivaraj who had handled things like this before and saw a run through of the play before the final performance. It helped me a lot.
So in all even though we put up a fabulous performance for the not so deserving audience there were several problems we faced. And we did it tactfully.

Now as I said, I have a very fascinating scenario. I could apply all my learning of the book in all the three theatre experiences that I’ve had this week.”

It is a long excerpt and I thought it pretty much summed up for what I felt about the session when I reflected back. I felt different after the entire session. The feeling which had sunk in was really pumping me with tremendous amount of energy. It was a rejuvenating experience.

The second session was another brilliant session. I began work on a compilation of pictures for the students of Dharmaram College. They were the same pictures which I had clicked during their workshop sessions. It again was something new to me and half way through the task I’m really enjoying myself. I’m looking forward to go back on Monday and completing it.

To sum up, it was a very eventful week; I got to learn various things which I wouldn’t have been able to otherwise. It was a pleasant start to an even more eventful journey in the days to be. The experience so far has been even better than I had anticipated and I believe that I’m in the right place.

Sentence of the day, ‘By the time you leave this place you shall be more learned in this field than all the rest of us. We shall all keep giving you all the small little things that we know about this field.’ – this truly made my day.

the open window - start of a new adventure.

2008-10-26T12:15:00.000-07:00

‘Awesome’ is not a word good enough to describe the proceedings of day 5 of my internship. Adventure, thrill, surprise, shock, triumph and everything else that I could think of was blended together in one great learning experience on the same day. I had my open window session today.

I reached office at 7:30 in the morning. I was to accompany the college (law school) drama team for an inter college competition conducted by the University of Bangalore. The entire prospect sounded really exciting. It was more challenging though. Not only did I have to accompany them, I also needed to provide them with the sound throughout the play. That was not the challenge though. It was just that I had never seen the play; I was new to the group and had never done this for any play before. We reached the venue well on time. After registration and completion of the formalities we found out that there still were a few hours for the play to begin. This gave me a chance to have a look at both the sound control room and a run through of the play. It gave me tremendous confidence. I knew that I could carry it off without many problems.

I prepared myself for the big task and as we stepped into the auditorium after lunch as scheduled, we all had our jaws wide open. I had never seen a better audience (sarcastically). We were in a state of sever shock. We could not have given up hope. We needed to silence their screams and whistles by our performance which we eventually did. It was a triumphant feeling after the play was completed smoothly. On our way back it started pouring cats and dogs and just about made it back completely drenched, couldn’t help the situation.
Now I realise that the open window was truly a great learning experience and an opportunity to look out of the box. This was my first such experience and I will be looking forward to many more.

Moment of the day – when I wanted to pat myself on the back as I was climbing up the office stairs in the evening all drenched in the rain.

day 4 - a new beginning.

2008-10-24T19:52:00.000-07:00

The fourth day of my internship was the finest so far. I enjoyed myself completely and I couldn’t be more pleased with the outcome. I began with reading the book as usual. I completed writing about what I had learned. Then I was told to look at the entire piece as if it was written by my enemy. Surprisingly I found several mistakes in the writing which I would have not found otherwise. Even more surprisingly, it took me as much time to just edit it as it took me to write it. I realised that there can be so much to do in life only if we have a clearer perspective of looking at things.

Then I ventured out with my camera and got a few good shots in greyscale of a workshop in progress. But the best had not come yet. A little after lunch, the same group was performing in the college auditorium with complete lights and sounds. This was my chance to get a few great shots, and I didn’t let this chance go so easily. I made sure by the end of it that it was one of the best photography sessions of my life. I will put up a few of those pictures along with this post.

The evening for me was the best part of the day. I went to watch the play Choon-Hyang which is based on a Korean folk story. It was staged at Ranga Shankara, Bangalore as a part of their tour of India. It was something like I had never seen before. If people call it sheer exuberance, I would say it is not word enough. I will be writing a review on the play and shall post that too in a couple of days time. This is how my day went. And I am certain that there will be very few better days than today was.

Moment of the day, “the wow I said as soon as the play ended.” It was amazing feeling to be there.

the new beginning - day 3

2008-10-23T02:37:00.000-07:00

It was yet another incredible day at work, and now that it's been three full days, I realise how different and creative this arena is. I feel myself wholly engrossed into the work that I do. I realise how much I am getting to learn as each day is passing by.

Just for example when I continued reading the same book (Jesus in Blue Jeans)today, I learnt two important lessons, yet again. The first which was a very universal and familiar convention, that of not being stiff necked or in simpler terms to be more accepting and open to ideas and comprehensions. The second lesson though was one which generally doesn't strike us, that of the use of metaphors and similes. We do not generally think and understand how effective they can be in communication.

Then came one of the most appealing endeavours of the day,the photography session. I was always fond of photography but I never really pursued it very well. This time I was asked to take pictures of a workshop in session. After having done so came the real task where my mind was actually put into work. I had to outline why I had clicked each one of the pictures, highlighting my frame of mind as I clicked each one of the pictures. I shall be doing the same for another day or two. Once I have sufficient pictures we would study the various photos and their distinction. I feel that session is going to be a great leaning experience as far as photography is concerned.

Now while I am writing this blog, I ralise the magnitude of cartain small litlle things which I underwent during the two sessions today. I got to learn two important values and could finally renew my vigour towards photography. I'm really satisfied with my outcome in these first few days and I feel really contented on having made the right choice for myself. Its a different feeling altogether.

Learning of the day, "Obstinacy and defiance are the two greatest sins which God can never forgive"

the beginning- continued

2008-10-22T02:19:00.000-07:00

After the first day of my internship having gone so well, I was pretty enthusiastic about going for work in the morning today. Just sitting on my bed early in the morning I was thinking of the first day and about the blog that analysed it and felt really good about it.

As usual I did my daily chores and reached the place well on time. I continued reading the book from where I had left it yesterday, and I learned two really important lessons of my life. The first being, that we should never create comfort zones for ourselves and the second that we should not take small things personally. Carefully when I thought and pondered over these two things, I realised how necessary they were to maintain poise in our lives.

Then I began watching a play 'The special prize' and after watching it, I had to work on the entire script all over again, and frame it in my own words and language. I had never done something like this ever before and the more I got engrossed in my job, the more I started enjoying it. I realised how much more than just dialogues go into the making of a script. I am still working on the same and hope to complete it in a couple of days from now. After taking a short coffee break I got back and thought about what all I had learned and grasped throughout the day. I began working on this second blog.

Towards the end of another such eventful day I realise that I want to keep reading the book which has inspired me so much just within two hours of reading and I want to come back tomorrow and continue my learning experience here.

Learning of the day, "Often we come across people or situations or even objects for that matter, which we feel can provide us with great support and help. We do not realise that by the end, it is only these objects of our desire that are not pillars of strength but just thin reeds which will just pierce through anyone who tries to lean on them."

A new beginning

2008-10-21T01:16:00.000-07:00

It was another cool Monday morning, the sun was shining nice and bright and I woke up with an excitement and enthusiasm which I hadn't felt in weeks. There were no Monday morning blues this time around.

After weeks today, I was going to be busy and occupied, and more so with something which I always wanted to do. Today was my first day of internship with the Script Peoples Theatre Organisation.

As I climbed up the flight of stairs, I for the first time was prepared for the best and the worst that life was going to throw at me. The first couple of hours went pretty well, when I re-wrote a few chapters of a book called Jesus in Blue Jeans. And then came the best moments of the day, when I interacted with those members, whom I had never spoken to before.

The entire interaction was based on knowing a little about each other and discussing on what the outcome would be after our working together for the next few months. I found their approach towards me to be very cordial and inviting, which was a pleasant surprise. I also appreciated their way of thinking and their outlook owards the entire situation. This gave me tremendous boost and conviction to go ahead with the internship schedule that they had designed for me
Now when I am writing this, I am truly looking forward to the proceedings of day 2 that I would be spending with them.

Sentence of the day, " don't worry, you would have gained a lot and will truly find a change in yourself by the end of the programme."

~~~a drive through the winds of change~~~