Journey of Frozen - 1

I was in kenya from 1st to 7th feb for the wedding of my brother,hence all the preparation and packing for the shoot had to be done well beforehand...Thankfully,it was kenya,so i didnt experience much of jet-lag and the excitement had started taking over..but it went haywire when i had to stay in Delhi for 2 days due to cancellation of my flight!!
It so happened that i was supposed to stay in delhi for a night to take a morning flight to Leh.My luggage had got checked in and then they announced the cancellation of the flight...Thankfully,i was travelling with lot of crew/production people,hence they immediately made arrangements for my stay,sent me over to hotel and then came my luggage!!! But some of our pricipal crew was already in Ladakh and worried about all this...As the flight got cancelled even the next day!!!The crew stayed at airport for a day,but the next day they all were shifted to a hotel...Those 2 days at the hotel,i was all alone and i was happy in my own world...(Just as Lasya)..Other than getting worried about the flight issues,i think i was enjoying or feeling my aloneness...i have travelled a lot but i was always accompanied by friends/family to the extent that i had never gone for a movie alone in a theatre,and i had never sat alone at a restaurant and had food,and i felt so great that day when i did that...i was discovering myself,my own world within and guess this was a preparation ( unknowingly) for the charachter of Lasya...God was helping me become "Lasya" naturally...We arrived in Leh to find out that there was a curfew going on for 5-6 days and our shoot had to be postponed.In any case,we had gone almost a week before for acclimatisation...Often people experience AMS ( Acute mountain sickness) at ladakh,symptoms of which are upset stomach,dizziness,headaches etc...By God's grace,i never had any problems healthwise and the ladakhi bread and mint tea helped me to keep more fit!!! I am not a tea-lover,but i loved the mint-tea there and infact it's from Ladakh that i developed a taste for all sorts of green teas...We had to be careful not to overeat ( especially the first few days),and contrary to this,sometimes there is loss of apetite...so excess liquids ( water and mint tea) helps..
The first two days went in getting used to the place,room,food,people etc...Our rooms were provided with cylinder heaters and we had to make sure that we keep the window open during continuous use of the heater as it takes up all the oxygen in the room and chances of breathlessness would have occured...There was no water to the tap...the water in buckets used to freeze at nights...we were given hot water for brushing n shower in morning,but in no time,it used to become warm from hot,and normal from warm and cold from normal...so that made me a disciplined child,to wake up on time,get things done on time...That was my lesson number one in Ladakh..The people at the hotel were so kind and friendly,they took extra care of us and especially me,coz i had made friends with the hotel owner's elder brother ( i remember to have met him during the test shoot visit..his shots were taken with me as my father)We call him "Bade dawa ji"..he must be my father's age and still he called me "Gauriji"...i was flown by the simplicity of people there...Life in ladakh is very different compared to Bombay...it is too slow,relaxed and especially in winters everything in "kule-kule" ( as is yashpal sharma's dialogue in the film - "nabs ki beat bhi hole hole chalti hai" meaning even the beat of the pulse ticks in slow motion )...You automatically walk slow,eat slow,chew slow..as if everything is running at 90 fps...After 2-3 days,we had to get back to work...i was taken to see "our home","Lasya's home" which was constructed and when i reached the place,i really wanted to salute the workers/painters who did the job in so much cold...It was so authentic..The detailing was superb right from the vessels used in kitchen to the door being put at the main gate...When i went to my room,it was empty as things were still being set up and just a thought crossed my mind that time that Lasya is like that room - empty from within to have lost her brother she always wanted,and i immediately "connected" to my room!!!
A ladakhi teacher was sppointed to teach Ladakhi words/accent to me,as i had lot of Ladakhi dialogues...Hearing the people around,one thing i had noticed that the language is very "sing-song"...plus they speak very soft and they are not loud in their speech...but my charachter was exactly opposite,she was loud and like a brat...so i had to mix ladakhi accent with loud speech,which was more difficult..But the teacher was really good,and in 3 days,i knew lot of ladakhi other than the word "Jule" ( meaning hi-hello-how r u-bye-thank you etc).I didnt have long lines to learn,as the charachter spoke more from actions/body language and eyes than words...plus shivajee had told me that he wants 'subtle' acting...no loud emotions/actions/speech...the script didnt demand that and tht's not his style!!!
And then...my 1st day of shoot....THE DAY!!!!!