Diwali Weekend

Festivals are huge here. I mean huge. Even when they say that they don't really celebrate something, they do. I gotta say, our idea of a crazy party dramatically pales in comparison. For weeks I've been seeing signs anticipating Diwali: shopping sales, club advertisements, etc. I asked Rahman's sister Fatima what goes on in Chennai for Diwali and she basically said "if you really want to celebrate Diwali, you have to go up north. Nothing big happens in Chennai." Hmm, ok. Nevertheless, I decided I didn't want to go anywhere for the long weekend and just stayed in Chennai.

I can't even begin to describe the crazyness. Even though Diwali was on Monday, the fireworks and crackers started on Saturday. Liz and I went up to the roof of KM just to get a better view and were just awestruck at how much was going on. The sky was completely lit by fireworks all 360 degrees around. It was just incredible and I've never experienced anything like it. It was so bright outside, 9 pm seemed more like dawn. The funniest part was the fact that rules about such things just don't exist so there were cracker shops set up on every corner and kids as young as five and six were lighting them on the street. It's not like the fourth of July where the masses volunteer to go to a designated and protected spot where a group of professionals execute fireworks cautiously and with safety in mind. No. If you can get a hold of them, you can light them. No laws, no ticketing, no punishment - even if someone throws one directly at you and your arm gets blown off. I guess we're just not used to such a 'c'est la vie' attitude. Not only were they lighting them, but the little rascals were throwing them at people walking by despite the fact that these things are explosives and can actually cause significant injury. There were a couple moments where I really thought I would perish and at times it made me wonder if this is what war feels like. Some crackers sound horrifyingly like gunshots. Liz and I walked home from KM fully alert and right as we were reaching the faculty house we heard a bundle of crackers go off at the same time sounding like ten machine guns directly over our heads. Swearing to ourselves we ducked into our house only to find the source: Robert and Shasta lighting them from our balcony roaring with laughter. Rascals.

Saturday afternoon I was called in to Panchaton for another recording. Turned out I was summoned to sing with a local choir for a short choral part in Yuvraaj. I have to say, it's so frustrating sometimes during the recordings because even though they say that they want a "western operatic sound" for the part, they actually really don't. No one here is used to singing, or even hearing vibrato. Vibrato = wrong. They're also not used to the western tone quality - the actual sound of the voice in western music is thicker, heavier and more rounded. The Indian way of singing to me resembles animated chipmunks - it's a thin, chesty, nasal sound. So it's incredibly irritating to be coached to sing in a way that I've been told not to for years. The sound editor had to keep moving me around so that I wasn't directly in front of the mic because a. my voice was louder than everyone's, and b. I sing with vibrato. The other thing is the music. They're not used to reading notation here but we were given an obligatory piece of sheet music that remotely resembled what they wanted to hear. The parts weren't separated into soprano, alto, tenor, bass and we had to decide on the spot who should sing what. There were also glaring mistakes in the notation which I'm just not used to. In my world, what's written is what's right. Not here. Here, it's compulsory to use your ear rather than know how to read. What was surprising to me was even in the fast paced world of Bollywood, things just aren't as efficient as we're used to. I was at the studio for about six hours and if things were organized and prepared in advance, it probably would have taken at most an hour. I'm still getting used to that. In any case, the recording was fun even though I was out of my element. I met some nice people, and had a good time. The part is actually going to be played during a fight scene in Yuvraaj, so keep an ear out.

We got through Diwali alive and decided to stay in on Tuesday and just relax. I got up early and went to the gym. Right as Alison and I were about to jump on the treadmill, I got a call from Liz: "So... Rahman wants to have a photo shoot with the KM faculty in western evening wear." WHAT? "He wants the men to wear suits and the women to wear evening dresses." WHAT? "Yeah, and we're supposed to be holding champagne glasses." Jigga whaaa? The shoot ended up being at like 10 pm in one of the performance rooms at the conservatory. We all got dolled up in the best outfits we brought and nervously walked to school as the neighborhood stopped and stared. We walked in and saw that a carpet was laid down on the floor with one of the digital pianos carefully positioned on top. The best part: the shoot was to be in front of a GREEN SCREEN. We were told that it would be a photo shoot, and of course we thought that meant still photos. No. We were actually filmed with an HD video camera. Do you know how awkward and bizarre it is to pose but to be video taped? Still photo: easy. But to act natural on video is nerve wracking. Rahman came in wearing a suit and was positioned by the crew at the piano. Meanwhile, we were standing behind him trying to pretend like we were at a lavish party with wine glasses (filled with pepsi). It was one of the most fun, nervous, and hilarious experiences of my life. This video shoot is apparently going to be shown during the end credits of Yuvraaj. Why? No clue. What does KM have to do with Yuvraaj? Nothing, really. So not sure. But hopefully you guys will be able to see it. I can't wait.