Coconut Cruncher

29th March 2012 I found this super old post in my hard disk that I'd written as a sticky note. Just tells me how it was this time of the year, last year! Today. Was very eventful indeed. I am now in the AC lab feeling a bit better, but - nature literally chose to attack me today. :( I feel terribly dirty. First the canteen fellow used the same cloth he used to wipe the window sill, the rust under the stove etc. to wipe the tawa that is used to cook the dosa on. And I actually ate it! I'm getting immune to the bad hygiene. These days I switch my brain off so I stop caring about whats being put in my mouth. Later today I played Frisbee and a fly went into my nose while I was running! And I tried to blow it out, but I dunno if it managed to escape what would seem like a tunnel of grime to the insect. Another one bit my lower right eyelid for some unknown reason and it started to sting! By now I was having a really hard time telling myself all this was a co-incidence. The din...

24th Dec 2012 My (sometimes) sweet firm Atnovus sent me this for Christmas :) I had a really good day. I started off with Tennis and basketball, then a healthy mess breakfast, a good heavy lunch, worked hard for Atnovus (my Swiss firm) and had an amazing Chicken roast sizzler dinner at Jayshree with a couple of friends. We talked about various topics (the food took forever to come). From bargaining in different parts of the country, to awfully bad days, to our last internship at Studio Eeksaurus and many other things. What got us there was a conversation with a mean little friend named Aakash back home, who was at the barber's getting a haircut when little kids came there to sing christmas carols and gave him a chocolate! Went the other way round! He painted a picture of how home would look (Goa). Panjim streets all lit up, lights hanging in trees, stars in verandas, kids singing carols, people making cribs and christmas trees, oh I was jealous. I am here, working on ...

Posting a letter I wrote to Krithika about today. It was almost like a page out of my diary so I'd like to remember this.  Hey eggs, I was having a hard time these few days getting myself to work. But really, I need to stop giving excuses and just get my ass moving, because enough is enough. Today when I thought I was getting somewhere (I took time, but I made a nice painting for Atnovus), Alok gave me a huge talk because I was leaving early from college to sleep. I have been treating this like a vacation and I really need to stop it.  I really really needed that scolding Alok gave me. For the amount of bitching we do about this college, we need to make up for in character and will power and the drive to give time and effort to my film. Like we did gestures in Sem 4, 5. Even when we were full after dinner, we'd slog and push ourselves to do gestures EVERYDAY. I really feel terrible and guilty and very very disappointed with myself, but I won't let this day go with...

23rd September 2012 It's been a terrible week of a lot of sleep deprivation, depression, and the feeling of being squeezed of all creative juices. I feel terrible. I've forgotten the feeling when I felt amazing after drawing something. A lot of times I question whether I'm in the right profession. So much struggle, and such little visible progress. I feel homesick, and I really need a huge break without any work or any commitment for a while - but that seems so so farfetched. What a phase. A lot of experiences and thoughts have gone into the making of the mailbox - it never feels like I've gone ahead. Thanks to Alok I feel an extra push once in a while. Tension is creeping up on me and it's hard to articulate everything. Pressure works really well on me. I turn into life-saving-mode and everything becomes super awesome and super fast. It's like adrenaline. When the pressure's gone, I'm left with laziness and the stress of failure. I hope I can get t...

I got to screen 'Wiped' (my short film) in the Film & Video projection room this morning! When Neogi sir asked me to come and talk about it, I was like - "yeaaahhh... about that." but he didn't take no for an answer. The freshers have just joined MIT-ID and they were having a briefing of what all they could take as disciplines. I was honored to be asked to screen my film (made by an Animator and a Product designer) to fresh minds. When I plugged in the pen drive and screened it, I started shaking. During the film's climax my heart was pounding and I felt all wobbly. Some laughed where they were supposed to (although I wished they would laugh more) and some were just going with the build up. I was really happy with how they took it - a bunch of people who didn't know me, or any of the actors and who had no expectation from the film. When it was over there was an unexpected applause and a lot of smiles! I thought they would just stare at my face, but...

6th April 2012 Phew, what a crazy eventful week. Yesterday we had our farewell, that was one really sweet party with a fun theme - rubik's cube. I guess this is what the Americans call - 'senior Prom night', except that the tucks and the dress aren't compulsory. For the first time I compiled my own clothing and En and I went on a crazy shopping spree in the city. We both ended up buying blue. Today was a BAD start. Woke up VERY late coz my body was aching badly from last night's dancing, and then we went to the laundry and then Loni to withdraw since the ATM wasn't working, and En was super frustrated with his phone. Anywho, in no time it was 3 and we made these really pretty origami flowers for the graduating seniors. Last minute plan. The convocation was done beautifully this time. Everything was in order and it was neat and organized. The lighting was really nice, the panels weren't screwed (maybe because the students themselves had to manu...

16th Feb 2012 Today En and I are leaving for Goa to take the reference pictures of the environments of our films. I really hope it'll be fruitful. I'm gonna make a proper itinerary so we can stay on track. I'm gonna take some printouts, make a huge reference library and explode myself on some blank sheets. Home will definitely be a positive change from 'the white box'. Right now I'm waiting for Ram to come to college. Yes! The amazing Ram Singh is here to show off his talents! He's gonna help me reduce the length of my film to half. Also our new 3D character animation mentor - Gayatri Patil is really sweet. She suggested documenting every week, and divide the week's work and stick to it. So I'm gonna try and write here everyday so I can keep track of how this project happened, even it'll fail. I have nothing to fear! Now I'll tell you guys how yesterday went. Ram arrived, I was surprised, I worked, Alok went to with Taps to fix his phone, an...

13th Feb 2012 Well sitting here within this white box called MIT has been extremely limiting. It's DRAB. It's super hard to stay creative in such a boring environment. Often we look around, hoping to find something inspiring. I thought of buying a yellow lamp and making my own corner in the class with my paints and everything kept ready for me to just make heaps of sketches, but there are thieves in MIT. So I actually considered working in the confined tiny space my room provides. I will definitely try it out tomorrow - whatever works. 'The Mailbox' is going slow and directionless. The process of film-making is fun, but very scary indeed!! Today I talked to Chandan sir, asking him for help. He gave me a few good suggestions and I pinned them down. I guess I'm gonna have to go home to collect photos for my environments and make a HUGE-ASS resource library so that when I come back I have something to keep going back to. Occassionally when En and I are in a fun mood a ...