The story of Mr.Video and Ms.Journal (Warning: violence involved)

It's official. It's a war. My home is now a war-zone. I am caught in the cross-fire, not knowing whose side to take.  My hand illustrated-journal has launched a war with my home-made video. To complicate things further, a professionally shot video has jumped into the fray.
I am inundated by the sounds of all of them screaming at me, yelling, jostling for attention.

To complicate the war-zone further, there's Oktobuzz (a set of wonderful people to work with, and I love working with them.) who are perfectionists. Then there's my extremely sweet, ever-obliging, web-designer, Pranav.
Pranav and Oktobuzz are on my side, of course.

The videos and the journal seem to have taken a life of their own. They threaten to engulf us, take over our tiny world which is It's all In the Planets.

At first all was under control. Oktobuzz told me that a video had to be made. And in that sweet way, they said 'Preferably shot by a professional photographer.'
'No problem,' I said, and I hired one.
He is a brilliant photographer, and has shot all my book cover photos too.

So, we made this video:




And then he said 'Lets shoot it against a black background.'
I said 'okay, no problem.'

And we made this:




Then  I sent it very proudly to Oktobuzz.
And that's when it all started.

Oktobuzz said both the above videos don't work.And they wanted me to to make yet another one, this one more natural.

'No problem, 'I said and made this.

Preeti talking about the Hand illustrated jouranl for Superfans Contest from Preeti Shenoy on Vimeo.




The journal felt jealous. It's jealousy peaked like the Indian sensex during Harshad Mehta's times. It shot up like a bull.
'How dare you give that much attention to the videos, after spending so much time with me?' it thundered. I was so scared, I hid under the bed.

And to be fair to Ms.Journal, I had indeed lavished a lot of time on her, and spend a lot lot lot more time, decorating her, creating her, engaging with her. ( a creation so intricate, it has to be feminine ;) )

Don't believe me? Here are a few sample pages:

And there are 24 pages!!!

So you can imagine how elaborate Ms.Journal is. She is entirely hand-made by me too.

I went into full-on-placate mode. I used the classic douse-the-fire strategy, before it turned into an inferno.
Uh-oh, wrong move.
Ms.Journal took my kindness for weakness, and it further infurated Mr.Video. (Video has to be masculine! Takes and re-takes and re-re-takes, like the  countless action replays in those cricket matches)

Mr.Video decided to act up. He vanished overnight with the thumbnail. I kid you not, the thumbnail of the video disappeared from the microsite which we had created for this. Pranav swung into action mode.
He emailed Labnol.
Amit , the man behind (and in front) of  Labnol is also known to me personally,  replied very promptly.He said that google had retired the code. (what? I imagined code walking off into the sunset years with a drink in one hand, and a suitcase in another). He was super-nice, helpful and kind and he immediately gave a solution.

Pranav once again swung into action, with Hemal (the man behind and in front of Oktobuzz).and me watching on.

And Good Lord---None of us have slept for days now. We have all been caught up in this whole war.

Meanwhile a lot of people began downloading Ms.Journal.

And appreciation began pouring in:
(am copy pasting from actual mails and FB posts  received)

 Thankyou mam, for this beautiful gift. Your writings always fill me with positivity; loved all your thoughts in this journal. I am with utter patience looking forward to your new book launch.
---Tanya Jain

It's really nice mam.. Keep writing more and more.

The one I most loved is- "it happens for a reason"

Love your pen that writes so well... And you who love ur pen so much as to reach your fans... Touching their hearts and giving them sleepless nights... Drenched pillows... Because you simply talk to our hearts..

Love and regards
---Ashly.

Padhmajaa Bhaskaruni As soon as I grabbed it I have taken a color hard copy... A good one ever... Happy to have it in my hands... Thanq so much mam..
 Rashmi Pai Lovely hand made journal PreetiShenoyma'am. I thoroughly enjoyed it. U indeed have put yr heart n soul into it


 Saioni Dasgupta Got it yesterday di :) And i love it :D and i have decided to print the whole thing and keep it with me

And there are TONNES more coming in.
Ms.Journal is happy . Mr.Video is happy.
Now , finally, the  battle field is somewhat quiet.

But it is a delicate balance. If I take the side of one, another might get offended.

Oktobuzz, Pranav and I are lying in the trenches, quietly watching.

So far, so good!
_______________________________________________________________
pssssst: If you want a free copy of Ms.Journal, you can go to https://contest.preeti.io/
but please be very quiet. Mr.Video might act up, and I simply don't have the energy to deal with him again.
Help me out, will you? ;-)