I am trying my best to stay sane, says Sonnalli Seygall
MANAV KAUL,
As the situation amid the second wave of Covid-19 turns more grim with every passing day, actor Sonnalli Seygall says that like everyone else, she’s also finding it hard to grapple with. “It’s heartbreaking. I’m sure each one of us would at least know one person who has lost the battle to Covid-19. People who were not serious till now, it’s hitting them hard now. I’m trying my best to stay sane. Our mental health also takes a toll in these times,” she admits.
While there isn’t much that she can do, Seygall is trying to help people in her own little way. “I’m part of this meditation group in Mumbai and we’ve decided to do collective healing for the country. So, every night between 10pm to 10.20pm, wherever we may be, we send good energies through a certain process of meditation,” shares the actor.
And that’s exactly what she did on her birthday (May 1) as well, in the hills in Kalimpong, in north Bengal. The 32-year-old reveals, “I’m at a wellness fitness boot camp... I didn’t feel like doing much for my birthday. Even last year, it was just my mother and me. No celebrations at all. This year, I thought I’d come here and cut off and do something constructive for my physical and mental health.”
Actor-writer
While he’s upset about not being able to explore his love for travelling, he’s happy writing. “I wrote and released my novel, Antima, during the lockdown last year. I’ll be releasing my next book, which is my first poetry collection, next month.”
Kaul’s play, Chuhal, that was staged early this year opened to packed houses even amid the pandemic. “I thought that I’d be uncomfortable performing because people would be wearing masks... But everything happened smoothly,” he says.
Ask him about the trend of plays going online and he says, “I’m not at all open to the trend of virtual plays.” The Thappad (2020) actor explains, “I had been approached by multiple platforms to record my plays but I’ve never done it. They should run in the memory of people... Plays are not films.”