ডাকবাংলা

Tug-o’-War Life

As a student who is also actively pursuing acting or any form of art professionally, I absolutely have to address the sometimes painful and sometimes ridiculously hilarious ‘high-drama’ quotient of this life. 

In a way, it’s quite like those complex chemistry equations in high school that I could never really properly balance. It’s all a bit topsy-turvy but it does make for some great stories. Let’s rewind a bit.  

Before the world became a Black Mirror episode, my artistic and academic lives would often lock horns. I have had plenty of really close calls and some outright conflicts. Allow me to elucidate with a particularly adventurous instance. 

I had an internal examination on Hamlet, which was actually a retest for all those who missed it when it was first scheduled. I was out of town for a shoot the first time. Turns out, however, I had to shoot yet again, on the rescheduled date, with a 7AM call time.

When I found out, I knew I was in a situation stickier than, well, caramel? 

So, this is when my South-Indian-mathematics-genius alter ego, which I like to believe actually exists, coupled with my Bengali bargaining skills, rescued my derriere. 

The calculations inside my head went as follows:

“I have an exam at 2PM”

“I have an all-day shoot on the very same date that I cannot in any way avoid.” (Believe me I’d tried that.) 

“I cannot ask the teacher for a retest of a retest.” (Obviously)

“My call time is at 7AM and there is zero probability of me finishing the shoot before 2PM.”

Oh and did I mention, I was an undergraduate student of English Literature at Jadavpur University at the time, and my shoot location was, as my luck would have it, in North Calcutta.

Okay, getting back to the calculations: 

“It takes about 45 minutes to an hour to travel each way.”

And then it struck me! Not like lightning, though. It was more of a bleak flickering candle of hope. Not to sound dramatic, but it was something and it was my only shot at cracking this impossible situation. 

Lunch-break!!

I realised that I had an hour’s lunch-break between 2-3PM.

Now all I needed to do was, somehow, get at least 45 minutes on either side of lunch. 

And then, began the negotiations.

I will be completely honest when I say even on the morning of shoot/exam day, I didn’t know if this would work. Of course my parents didn’t know that. 

Luckily, my director was kind enough to arrange to shoot some scenes before and after the lunch break that didn’t require me.

I changed out of my costume in record time. The credit goes wholly to my experience in having to change costumes backstage within moments for plays. 

The hair and make-up were still on though; I had two well-oiled braids, if I absolutely must draw out my misery with the details of my humiliation. This was one time I actually wish I could have worn a mask. Yes, it was mortifying and yes, I was mercilessly teased. 

But alas, what to do but endure. 

So, I reached about 15 minutes late, somehow managed to write a half-decent answer and raced back to set. Needless to say, the car rides to and fro were pregnant with tension and only the thought of maintaining continuity kept me from biting off all my fingernails. 

To be honest, no matter how many brain cells died from the overall stress of the situation, I felt like I pulled off some sort of a coup because this was a win and these wins were not that easy to come by. 

It sounds cheesy but it was a sort of a reassurance that maybe I could actually manage to handle this tornado of a lifestyle. 

Having said that, there have been many projects that I have had to give up on account of examinations or some other academic commitment and conversely, I probably would have spent a lot more time studying if I didn’t want to go on this roller coaster ride that is (tentatively) navigating a career as a young artist. 

You know, Hannah Montana could have at least warned us that the ‘best of both worlds’ comes with the worst of it too. 

But oh well, I’m still sticking with it, as of today, and I haven’t completely lost my mind yet, so stay tuned in to find out more.

Illustration by Suvomoy Mitra

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