I've been having a very blurgh-blah-bleh few weeks. You know how it is - life becomes mundane, because you're being mundane, and you valiantly promise to stop with the mundaneness, but it just requires too much effort. It's a self-created state of mind, a self-created stage of life, which leaves little scope for self-created pity. And if there is no room for self pity during times like this, then what do you have left, really?
So to combat this, here is a list of Things To Look Forward To. Between you and me, I know this list won't help, I'm just wasting time. But I really really like making lists. It's one of my favourite things to do. Which could - come to think of it - be another list, but I'll leave that for another time, since I've already written an introduction to this particular list.
I am a tragedy.
But moving on.
Trisha's List of Things To Look Forward To In The Near Future.
1. My first advertising shoot.
For a film I was forced to write when I did not feel like writing. This has clearly come through in the script, but luckily, no one except me seems to have seen it. This shoot is happening in Bombay which means that I am flying to Bombay next week for a couple of days which basically means I don't have to come to work and I can feel like I'm on paid holiday.
Okay, but between you and me, I'm not really looking forward to it. I could lie and be all, yay, the glamour of a shoot, but it's a commercial man, have you seen what they turn out to be? And I could be all, yay, I get to meet my friends in Bombay, and drink in pubs that I have never drunk in before, except I know that I'll be tied up at the shoot night and day and probably won't have a chance to meet anyone at all. And also, I have a feeling that it's going to be boring, and I'll be spending hours sitting there, with my eyes glazed over, while other people make all the decisions. So really, it's going to be frustration, boredom, a feeling of sheer uselessness, and other negative things. So I don't know why I'm looking forward to it. Oh, also, Bombay's been put on terror alert because some Swift carrying terrorists has crossed the Punjab border and is apparently targeting Delhi, Goa, or Bombay. So if things get really exciting, I will be killed. Or - that eternal floating fear - die in a plane crash. A lose-lose situation either way.
[Continued, 3 weeks later]
I am so useless when it comes to writing these days. I don't write this blog, I don't keep a diary, I only write (apart from work-related stuff) when I update my FB status.
Gone are the days when I spent long afternoons banging away at my laptop keyboard. Come to think of it, this is possibly what might have contributed to my laptop keyboard not working properly.
Anyway, I've given up on the list, but the Bombay shoot happened and it was everything a TVC shoot is supposed to be. Magnificent. Dazzling. I am not talking about the commercial here, I am talking about the fact that the client put us up at a 5 star and - get this - I had my own suite.
I went with Amar and Lolo, and Amar got upgraded to a suite too. Do you know why? BECAUSE WE SMOKE. Yes! I still don't know why, but thank you cigarettes, even when I am dying because you killed me, there is one decent memory I will owe to you. (Lo didn't get a suite but she was very happy with her room, it was one of those deluxe things).
So my first night in Bombay went like this.
Amar and I landed around 10 pm (Lo took a later flight), and we went to meet a friend of his straight from the airport. It was a wine bar, I can't remember the name, but I was fed sangria after sangria by his very generous friend, and then we went to Toto's because I've always wanted to go to Toto's, and I loved it. And then I staggered back to my hotel where, when we checked in, we were assigned our individual suites.
And then I went up to my room (after spending too much money on a pint of beer because alcoholic beverages were not covered, but trust me it was worth it) and I screeched a bit. And then I drew a really hot bath, and I got into it with my very cold beer, and there we go: something that has been on my bucket list for years has been ticked off.
Oh hallelujah for the moments (very rare moments) life throws us an experience that makes us think of it fondly albeit for a short span of time.
And then I put on my thick white towelling robe and padded around my suite, from living room to bedroom to kitchen, smoking the cigarette that put me there, and it was good. And then I went to sleep in one of the most comfortable beds I've ever slept in: crisp white sheets, FOUR fat pillows, oh man, so beautiful.
The shoot was fun. I won't get into details, but I got to do that thing where you sit behind the screens with huge headphones on and be all, "Oh, I don't like his way of saying it, maybe he should be like this or that". We were also fed continuously. Amar told me that we're always given lots of food on set, all the time, it's a very common thing, so we're too busy eating to interfere with the director and the production house making the film.
Understandable.
And during my stay I met all my old friends in Bangalore, but best of all was meeting Tanu. We sat in a bar for hours, matching each other drink for drink, and exchanging three years worth of lives and secrets. Also, I'd forgotten how much I love drinking with her.
This reminds me of something that happened about four years ago in Calcutta. The both of us went to Oly and we got hammered there. It started at lunch time and it went on till dinner time. We were both supposed to have dinner with our respective parents, I think, and I'm not sure why we didn't call one of them and say, we're out together. I think it was because we were so drunk - but I called my mum and said I was having dinner with Tanu's family, and Tanu called her mum and told her that she was having dinner at my house. Like I said, the reason for this is still a mystery to me.
And then we kept drinking.
Eventually our parents found out because one called the other, and my mother told me not to come home, so I crashed at her place. And her mother, who was worried and who has a very soft heart, was a bit weepy because she was all, you should have thought about how freaked out we were, and I sat and drunkenly comforted her, and then we passed out. And I got to eat cheese toast, which was always my staple breakfast at her place, in the morning so I didn't care that I was going to get a bollocking from my mother for lying when I went home. (She hadn't started her yoga phase yet.)
Where was I?
Oh yeah, meeting Tanu was the best part about Bombay. Right up there with the suite.
I was really lucky to have a first shoot like that. It's spoiled me for all other shoots. I know I will feel like I'm slumming it during the next one.
Just goes to show.
I always knew pessimism produces positive results. Either things, when they turn out to be marvellous, will be doubly marvellous; or, if they turn out to be shit, you will feel gloomy satisfaction in your proven-to-be-accurate foresight.
So to combat this, here is a list of Things To Look Forward To. Between you and me, I know this list won't help, I'm just wasting time. But I really really like making lists. It's one of my favourite things to do. Which could - come to think of it - be another list, but I'll leave that for another time, since I've already written an introduction to this particular list.
I am a tragedy.
But moving on.
Trisha's List of Things To Look Forward To In The Near Future.
1. My first advertising shoot.
For a film I was forced to write when I did not feel like writing. This has clearly come through in the script, but luckily, no one except me seems to have seen it. This shoot is happening in Bombay which means that I am flying to Bombay next week for a couple of days which basically means I don't have to come to work and I can feel like I'm on paid holiday.
Okay, but between you and me, I'm not really looking forward to it. I could lie and be all, yay, the glamour of a shoot, but it's a commercial man, have you seen what they turn out to be? And I could be all, yay, I get to meet my friends in Bombay, and drink in pubs that I have never drunk in before, except I know that I'll be tied up at the shoot night and day and probably won't have a chance to meet anyone at all. And also, I have a feeling that it's going to be boring, and I'll be spending hours sitting there, with my eyes glazed over, while other people make all the decisions. So really, it's going to be frustration, boredom, a feeling of sheer uselessness, and other negative things. So I don't know why I'm looking forward to it. Oh, also, Bombay's been put on terror alert because some Swift carrying terrorists has crossed the Punjab border and is apparently targeting Delhi, Goa, or Bombay. So if things get really exciting, I will be killed. Or - that eternal floating fear - die in a plane crash. A lose-lose situation either way.
[Continued, 3 weeks later]
I am so useless when it comes to writing these days. I don't write this blog, I don't keep a diary, I only write (apart from work-related stuff) when I update my FB status.
Gone are the days when I spent long afternoons banging away at my laptop keyboard. Come to think of it, this is possibly what might have contributed to my laptop keyboard not working properly.
Anyway, I've given up on the list, but the Bombay shoot happened and it was everything a TVC shoot is supposed to be. Magnificent. Dazzling. I am not talking about the commercial here, I am talking about the fact that the client put us up at a 5 star and - get this - I had my own suite.
I went with Amar and Lolo, and Amar got upgraded to a suite too. Do you know why? BECAUSE WE SMOKE. Yes! I still don't know why, but thank you cigarettes, even when I am dying because you killed me, there is one decent memory I will owe to you. (Lo didn't get a suite but she was very happy with her room, it was one of those deluxe things).
So my first night in Bombay went like this.
Amar and I landed around 10 pm (Lo took a later flight), and we went to meet a friend of his straight from the airport. It was a wine bar, I can't remember the name, but I was fed sangria after sangria by his very generous friend, and then we went to Toto's because I've always wanted to go to Toto's, and I loved it. And then I staggered back to my hotel where, when we checked in, we were assigned our individual suites.
And then I went up to my room (after spending too much money on a pint of beer because alcoholic beverages were not covered, but trust me it was worth it) and I screeched a bit. And then I drew a really hot bath, and I got into it with my very cold beer, and there we go: something that has been on my bucket list for years has been ticked off.
Oh hallelujah for the moments (very rare moments) life throws us an experience that makes us think of it fondly albeit for a short span of time.
And then I put on my thick white towelling robe and padded around my suite, from living room to bedroom to kitchen, smoking the cigarette that put me there, and it was good. And then I went to sleep in one of the most comfortable beds I've ever slept in: crisp white sheets, FOUR fat pillows, oh man, so beautiful.
The shoot was fun. I won't get into details, but I got to do that thing where you sit behind the screens with huge headphones on and be all, "Oh, I don't like his way of saying it, maybe he should be like this or that". We were also fed continuously. Amar told me that we're always given lots of food on set, all the time, it's a very common thing, so we're too busy eating to interfere with the director and the production house making the film.
Understandable.
And during my stay I met all my old friends in Bangalore, but best of all was meeting Tanu. We sat in a bar for hours, matching each other drink for drink, and exchanging three years worth of lives and secrets. Also, I'd forgotten how much I love drinking with her.
This reminds me of something that happened about four years ago in Calcutta. The both of us went to Oly and we got hammered there. It started at lunch time and it went on till dinner time. We were both supposed to have dinner with our respective parents, I think, and I'm not sure why we didn't call one of them and say, we're out together. I think it was because we were so drunk - but I called my mum and said I was having dinner with Tanu's family, and Tanu called her mum and told her that she was having dinner at my house. Like I said, the reason for this is still a mystery to me.
And then we kept drinking.
Eventually our parents found out because one called the other, and my mother told me not to come home, so I crashed at her place. And her mother, who was worried and who has a very soft heart, was a bit weepy because she was all, you should have thought about how freaked out we were, and I sat and drunkenly comforted her, and then we passed out. And I got to eat cheese toast, which was always my staple breakfast at her place, in the morning so I didn't care that I was going to get a bollocking from my mother for lying when I went home. (She hadn't started her yoga phase yet.)
Where was I?
Oh yeah, meeting Tanu was the best part about Bombay. Right up there with the suite.
I was really lucky to have a first shoot like that. It's spoiled me for all other shoots. I know I will feel like I'm slumming it during the next one.
Just goes to show.
I always knew pessimism produces positive results. Either things, when they turn out to be marvellous, will be doubly marvellous; or, if they turn out to be shit, you will feel gloomy satisfaction in your proven-to-be-accurate foresight.
