Balancing Dreams and Challenges: Nevada Thomas' Inspiring Journey

good evening everybody my name is Nevada Thomas it is really nice to see you all for a girl with many dreams aspirations

and ambitions the one thing that I was fighting against was the lack of time but I think it's safe to say we all wish

we had more of that time as our lives and everything around us seems to be moving seems to be like somebody played

a tape recorder press the fast-forward button and left it that way it's all moving at such a rapid pace right so it

is only fair to us to pause breathe and take a moment to think about the past the good we faced the bad we experienced

but mind you when you move forward and like the only baggage that you would want to carry forward should be the good

because it would be an unpleasant case otherwise as I sat down to think about how to brainstorm and compile everything

that I wanted to talk about today there was one moment it was more of the revelation when I realized if one 23

year old had so many things to talk about so much to say imagine the kind of life experiences and stories you would

get to hear from people around the world it was really exciting to think about it let me take you through mine now

so I was born and raised in the beautiful China City but my roots go back to a small village in it called a

duel in irritating Kerala though I was raised schooled everything in thumb in Urdu my connect with my homeland Kerala

is very strong in fact it's as strong as my love for Kappa fish curry for Emporia and Shia is there are Mele alleys here

you will know exactly what I'm talking about it's deep trust more but I think I am privileged to say I believe that I'm

equally a Telugu am I now as much as I am a Malayalee and a Tamilian and this because this

cultural integration is what makes me call anywhere home and I believe this cultural integration is is

necessary for us to grow better rolling back a couple of years now we're getting into the the topic I'm going to share

with you a couple of my life experiences what I went through and whatever I am today is because of all these

experiences I had so I would like to share it with all of you so rolling back a couple of yours the word school the

word school resonated with an album to me like a photo album of Polaroids flashing in front of my eyes I have very

vivid memories of what school meant to me I faced the camera first when I was eight years old and since then believe

it or not I have been to school sometimes visited school by visit I mean literally just visited school three or

four times three or four days a month honestly that's how much I've been there there are I I think definitely my

teachers must have seen chief guests repeat themselves to events more than I've actually been in school but going

to work acting you know on longer schedules and then coming back to sitting in class being attentive

completing class works being on par with where the rest of the class was was very taxing sometimes I would also want to

give up removing all the makeup before I fly to bed not the fair I could think about it or realize you know the the

struggle with all this this had already become my life so as a kid I remember I wanted to take a moment to decide on few

things before I proceeded forward I wanted to draw a line between work and study that's what I wanted to do it

sounds like a very very simple idea but trust me when I say this it required a battalion a battalion of people to

execute I needed my teachers my principal my friends from workplace my friends from school my producers my

directors all my technicians and my family more than anything and today when I look back and think

about it I have been more than blessed I feel like I've been blessed more than required to have had them all in fact my

school was so supportive my principal brother George was so supportive of me going to act that the three or four days

that I would go to go to school he would look at me and be like oh no Bates are you're here when are you going back to

work I was like let me and my timing was so off the four or five days are like that I got to be in school was when I

had my math test don't even ask me about it I've also played stunts where I I have fever and I

I want my mom to take me back home just once but yeah I have done that sadly school was school was abundant school

was what set my foundation the base of the base for me was is it's just it's so strong and I can so happily say that my

character and my personality anything to deal with the development of my personality I owe it to my school and I

can't thank or talk enough about the importance of holistic education that I received from school this one memory is

so vivid in my mind where the fact that I the announcement of me receiving my first ever award for my first film in

Malayalam which is called where the other barrier I had received a kerala state award for it and the work the

person I got to know that from was brother George my principal I was in the school ground practicing long jump for

something for the sports tape all muddy and dirty and there's the student who come says who spells calling you

what do you instantly think I'm like what did I do now I behave that was okay did I do something wrong

so from point A to point B that's what I'm I'm thinking about so I go to his office and then he turns on the

television tunes into a channel and he simply said who won so I saw my name scrolling down with the picture em

honestly that moment it hit me so hard that rather than feeling accomplished or satisfied everything around me became

muted it got really quiet and I thought that appreciation came just at the right moment in my life when I almost took it

synonymous to wanting to show my gratitude towards all the people who helped me get to that point my principal

my family everybody came to my mind at that point it was just so special and that episode ended with you know like in

my mind it was like all my teachers from graduating me and seeing them celebrate and seeing them feel so joyous about me

achieving something was validation to me that all that hours and days of hard work doing what I loved doing was

absolutely worth it so from then on I was happily studying away till there was one moment where I I think I can speak

confidently for all of you there's that one moment in your school life when we feel something completely brand new this

is exactly after I finished my twelfth grade which for some reason at this point in time it feels like a danger

zone that's how it that's how it's made to be felt like a danger zone when I cross that that that stayed I was posted

with a very very very difficult question what next honestly this is how it was in my mind the room got extremely dark

there's a focus light on you all your relatives start becoming active again even distant once your parents are alert

your siblings if you have younger ones a sister or a brother he or she is suddenly looking up up at you thinking

what are you going to do who are you going to be what do you become what do you want to become who do you

want to be in life look though this is an exercise just go home and say this question three times then you'll want to

sit down because I've never been able to answer this question who do you want to become what do you want to become in

life it's an incredibly heavy question which I feel requires a lot of thinking and a

lot more living to actually figure out so at that point I had to choose between walking a trodden path or an untrodden

path either you work in films or you study something you specialize in some field and become something but I chose

to walk in between yeah I did back then I don't know I was just I I remember telling my parents Amma daddy I want to

I want to work as I'm studying and I remember them looking at each other and they were like well if you can manage

then we don't have a problem with it because honestly this decision was taken by me honestly because I couldn't

imagine myself doing just one of it because most of my life I've been working and studying together so I just

couldn't think about doing choosing one from that point on everything moved so fast

it moved literally like this I moved on from wanting to study aerospace engineering to joining University to

study five years of architecture don't ask me how that happened that happened so when this fairy tale of school life

was just ending the actual picture came into my life when I started college College came in like a royal entry it

had a royal entry call it sort of feels like us going to watch a Rajinikanth film first day first show you have this

unexplainable hi you don't know what you're feeling you suddenly feel like an adult you you know you're given up

you're given a car you can drive yourself to college you know school though it's only cycling

and auto man maybe my van driver who drove me for 14 years and suddenly you have a car

you have a place to park your car and then you no longer wearing uniforms it's so exciting you know you you feel like

you're an adult and you have responsibilities and honestly no money can ever buy the experiences that I had

or the lessons I learned during college the five years of me studying an institution and moving around with the

people there it taught me more about myself than anything or anybody could have ever

taught me College was fun but architecture did not serve it easy for me or for any of my

classmates for that matter I was visibly struggling at this point I was I I had a lot of struggles with having to manage

minimum attendance required to appear for exams struggling with trying to trying really hard to perform well

struggling with completely completing designs on time struggling to be on par with where the rest of the class was

this was extremely taxing it was but while also listening to strip readings and there were a lot of narrations

happening which I would okay at one point so that I can work on those films when I had my semester vacation so this

is how my pattern in college life was all this was happening but the real struggle was inside me I was constantly

at war with my mind I was struggling with exaggerated thoughts I was fighting against stress more than the physical

exhaustion I was fighting against stress strain fear doubt overthinking procrastination and also extreme

self-criticism all these were emotions I was not prepared to fail

I was not prepared to handle nobody taught me in school or anywhere to to learn how to handle these things and all

I would do is sometimes just break down and cry would that make me feel better sometimes but not really I would not

know what to do when I was in a point that way it was extremely difficult now when I think about that face between

2013 and 2018 happily thinking about it I also think how did I even get through how did I get through that at that point

how did I go through from semester to semester how did I even do that I think about it and there were a couple of

things that came to my mind was it the way I was so warmly welcomed into a whole new industry the Telugu industry

which happened during my second year of college or was it the kind of appreciation that I and my team received

for films like gentlemen and then the quarry and everything that followed wasn't the radical thinking of my mom

and the constant support she gave me was it the difficulty with which my father moved so far away from family to work

for the family earn money for the family keep us in good shape while he missed us so much and still worked with so much of

conviction was it seeing my brother live his life like there's no tomorrow so happy was it seeing my friends though

they were having struggles of their own working extremely hard toiling rigorously to make sure that they

accomplished their dreams while helping me out - or was it the hand of God that was constantly there beside me guiding

me through every step of the way and always whispering in my ears that you're not alone yes I believe it was all of

this but most importantly it was the small decision that I made to have little faith in myself

that I could do it no matter what I could do it it seemed like a very very simple idea

but it actually worked I just thought this is my life I wanted this I should be prepared from all of

this because I chose this the decision was mine so no matter how difficult it gets nobody is going to help you nobody

is going to be able to help you but yourself so when I pass out of college honestly I came out I believe I came out

much stronger I came out to be a stronger person mentally and physically I started appreciating myself more I

accepted the bodily changes I had through time I understood the value and importance of constructive criticism and

I started seeing beauty and flaws because trust me I realized more than ever that we are perfect just the way we

are we don't realize it we are perfect just the way we are and boys and girls please don't bend your knee to satisfy

societal standards live your life because that's yours and no matter how much you wish you got help no matter how

much you wish that this moment just fast I closed my eyes in this moment just pass it will never happen because those

things only happen in movies you know they really don't happen into your life so as long as you start believing in

believing in yourself these things will not magically happen and through all this I realize the importance of people

and the importance of interaction I needed people you know people are what people are who made me get through all

this time they helped me a lot every doctor needs a patient every police needs a case every climber needs a

mountain every speaker needs an audience likewise every actor needs an audience like every

speaker needs a listener every actor needs an audience and me being an actor I feel extremely privileged to be able

to be so many different kinds of people because that is my dream we human beings are gregarious in nature no man is an

island we cannot live in an in an alienated society so I believe the choices I make

I wanted the choices that I make to have a rippling effect in the society but not a crippling effect I wanted to make sure

that I am different people that was my dream that is my dream I want to be so many different characters I want to have

I want to portray the shades that we all experience and we wish we experience from good to the bad to fictional

everything and I all this while everything that I was saying my life story is not great my life story is not

extraordinary and I did not do great things but the only thing that I did and that I'm happy about is that I just

would not quit I would not want to stop trying so I want to portray people that way you know and the medium this is my

dream so the medium I choose to voice out my expression is cinema and I will always continue doing that thank you

[Applause]