The fight with time and there was Leisure!

I have been very busy in the last few days. I was enjoying it too. I was preparing for a play to be staged in New Delhi on the 23rd. I had written the play, and I was busy teaching the dialect to the students and the major part was directing it. I was struggling to meet the self-created deadlines. But when you do that, you end up working faster and hence, you become stricter with your work. You start worshiping your work. I had suddenly been strict with my students and Kamaan for 'DRAMA JANTAR KA!' too.
I was fighting time

Worshiping?
Yes, Last week, at the same time, I had got a film project from a reference. Amidst all the chaos of the play, an organisation approached me to make a film on their patients, who were suffering from Dementia. I always had a special corner for people with mental disorders (...as I have one too!). I could not say NO. It is just that they needed to finish the film in just a week.
I said yes to them and started meeting and looking at the patients as a viewer. I would scribble down notes and ask a lot of questions to the staff. I was learning. So many things were going inside my brain. I was loving it too. And yes, I was fighting time again.

Learning? I teach in a communication college. I teach the Post graduation students film editing and sound. Amidst the play and the film, I had to write a question paper for the students and send it to the college. I love teaching. I sent the question paper and I got 40 papers to check. This was good again, but I put a 'dead-line' for myself. When you don't have a boss, there is no off for yourself. It's fun, but you can't cheat yourself!

There is no one to keep a check on you, but you yourself realise how much time you have wasted in stupid things.
Here comes, the idea of 'Self-created Deadlines'. Again, I was fighting time.

But midway, I got a call from a distant junior from NID. She works in Central India as a documentary film-maker. She is making a film on forest fires. A big disaster, both for the planet and for my schedule. I feel for both! She, very politely said that she thinks my voice would work perfect for the film. She sent me a Hindi poem and it was amazing. The poem moved me and I on intuition said, "Fine, I will do it!". She asked me to take my time and record and send the recording on Whatsapp. I sent it and after two days, she said that the team likes my recitation. They asked me to do it. Again, I was fighting time, and now I was enjoying it!

Then came the weekend, where I am super busy with the rehearsal. I get lost in it. The rehearsals drain you out, but that's the fun part.

All tired, I came back home, finished the fifth draft of the film. I was getting inputs from my team on how can the film be better. I was also reworking on the script as I was getting to know the patients more. So every night I would go back sad and work on it and every morning, I would check the test-papers, go to the staff, show them the film and rush to the rehearsal.

So, all of a sudden, on Sunday evening, I had done good run-throughs or rehearsals of the play, finished and submitted the fifth draft of the film, recorded my voice-over of the poem and tired, I had gone off to sleep!

I woke up on Monday and I had no work. Unbelievable! I could not believe it. I could not digest leisure. I thought I should sit down and blog it.

This Friday...we have this play...

The lovely fight with time continues and I am loving it. All set for the play. I will be back after the play :)