I inquired with the owner of the tea stall.
“One wild person was annoying everyone who was walking on the road, so people started beating him.”
He explained, “He needs lessons; he’s a very annoying fellow.”
I quickly realized he was Berlin.
I went looking for him but couldn’t find him; I asked around, but no one knew where he had gone.
I felt very sad about Berlin. Even though he was annoying, he was completely harmless and innocent. He wasn’t doing anything wrong; he was simply moving around and enforcing the rules.
I hope he returns.
The first day went off without a hitch, with only positive feedback and strong community support; I was pleased and relaxed.
The next day, December 4th 2021, began with a bang; it started on time as usual, and to everyone’s surprise, there was a massive crowd awaiting entry. Many college students, mostly students studying visual communication, travelled by college bus and van all the way from Coimbatore, Kerala, and Sathaymangalam to take part in the festival.
PC TV was interviewing all the delegates and actively engaging them by soliciting their feedback on the film, as well as their reviews and suggestions. The entire series of interviews with delegates, guests, and speakers were aired live and had a large audience in Tamil Nadu.
I received a call in the afternoon from Mr. Ramesh, personal secretary, to Mr. K. Ramachandran, Tamil Nadu’s Minister of Forests.
“The minister wants to attend the award function, so include his name in the invitation,” he said.
I was overjoyed; we already had Dr. M. Mathiventhan, Minister of Tourism for the Government of Tamil Nadu, and now we have another minister for the award ceremony.
I reassembled the team and began designing posters, banners, and invitations. By the evening, everything had been designed, printed, and hung.
The team went into overdrive because we now have a high-profile guest, and this is going to be one of the best moments in film festival history.
We don’t want to muck it up.
I ran into Berlin again in the late afternoon.
He appeared to be fine, and he was back to himself. He was doing exactly what he was doing before, with no remorse or sign of distress.
I invited him to dinner, which he gladly accepted.
At that day’s night briefing, I told my team and all the volunteers not to bother Berlin and to let him do whatever he wanted.
The next day, the final day of the festival, I was quite relaxed; everything was going as planned.
We’ve prepared a grand welcome for the Minsters. We organised Nilgiris tribal group’s music welcome reception. The Todas, Kotas, Badagas, Kurumbas, and Irulass are the Nilgiris’ major tribal groups.
The Ooty Short Film Festival 2021 is also a significant milestone because it will be the first time in the history of any film festival to screen Toda and Badaga language. Toda and Badagas have no written scripts, only oral communication. Two short film directors attempted to make a film in these languages. In my opinion, it is one of the film festival’s major accomplishments.
This year, we also decided to give Johan Sullivan archives awards to people who have archived in the fields of art and culture from The Nilgiris district. For this year, we’ve established five awards.
The award ceremony is scheduled for 2 p.m.
The misters’ convoy arrived around 3 PM, and we gave them a rousing welcome, and they were visibly pleased by it.
The award ceremony went off without a hitch. On stage, Dr. M. Mathiventhan, Minister for Tourism, Government of Tamil Nadu, committed to supporting the film festival until 2022 and promised to implement projects to turn The Nilgiris into a film destination.
Mr. K. Ramachandran, Tamil Nadu’s Minister of Forests, spoke extensively about the Nilgiris and its connection to the film industry. He also promised to support any efforts to turn the district into a major film destination.
This is one of my long-standing interests, as well as one of the festivals. The Nilgiris District is one of the best filming locations. Hundreds of films from Kollywood, Tollywood, Bollywood, Mollywood, Sandalwood, and even Hollywood have been shot in the Nilgiris.
The district has enormous potential to become a destination for international film tourism.
Personally, I believe it will happen because Tamil Nadu’s leadership and district administrations are committed to positive development.
After the award ceremony, all the ministers and dignitaries stayed to watch movies.
The award ceremony was a tremendous success.
The entire team was happy and relaxed.
This festival was a huge success, and it is entirely because of the efforts of the team. The main pillars and root causes of this festival are the six samurai: Jai Paramsivan, Suresh, Yoga, Pasupathy, Sylvester Stallone, and Padmanaban.
There was a lot of infighting, disagreement, arguing, and ego among the team members, but everyone worked together to make this festival a reality. There were times when I was frustrated and considered cancelling the festival because it was taking up too much mental space and putting too much pressure on me, but the team commitment inspired me to continue.
The team members are all standing outside the Assembly Theatre after the final day’s dinner, celebrating their success. They took group photos, drone videos, and self-portraits, as well as a lot of joy and happiness.
It was a blissful movement, and a sense of accomplishment was slowly sinking into my mind. I was watching alone because I wanted to celebrate the success on my own.
God is always on the side of the truth.
I took a walk alone; it was 11 pm.
The sky was clear, stars were shining, cold air was blowing, the mist was slowly descending, the entire Ooty town was sleeping, it was dark, there was no movement on the road, and there was complete silence. For the first time in two months, I felt cold.
When I arrived at Charring Cross, I noticed Berlin playing with the street dog beneath the Mahatma Gandhi Statue.
He approached me after noticing I was walking alone.
“You have done an excellent job,” he said to me. “I will tell Stalin, the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.”
He walked away, merging into the mist as he said this.
The End
