I know it's been a couple weeks, but it took that long for me to actually just... EXHALE, pinch myself, and say "Yes. That did happen." It all happened so fast, I barely had time to process what was happening. The Delhi Concert, then right after that rehearsals for the MJ Tribute, then immediately after that I had to prepare for Venice. AHHHH!
Let me tell you, the day I left was the worst day EVER. My scooty wouldn't start, so I took Viviane's scooty to work. All of the foreign faculty had been waiting for specific tax documents to be given to us from the school - we had to have these documents in order to get our employment visas registered. Of course these documents never turned up and so the week before Venice I had to scramble around like a chicken with its head cut off, trying to get this paperwork from anyone and everyone in the administration - no one had it. So I thought, well, if the school doesn't have it, and I don't have it, what can I do? So I went to the hellish visa office and the lady thumbed through my paperwork disapprovingly and said "Hah! you guys always do this. You guys seem to take immigration very lightly. It's not going to work this time. I'll see you next week with the correct documents." "UM - no please please please, I CAN'T come next week, I have to go to Venice this weekend for a gig!" "I'm sorry, I can't help you." So I went back to school and talked to Faiz "FAIZ! What am I supposed to do? I need this paperwork and no one seems to have it." "Ok I'll do one thing. Let me call Hari, he's the accountant but he's on holiday."
Long story short - we didn't have the paperwork because guess what?
The taxes were never filed. We had to go to the auditor and
file the taxes and take our chances at the visa office by showing them a receipt - proof that the taxes were filed. Faiz, the lifesaver, managed to talk his way back into the visa office even though it was closed, and the lady finally, FINALLY granted me the registration.
Then there's the dress: I had asked the designer Chaitanya Rao to make a dress for me for the Venice gig. I explained exactly what I wanted, showed him a picture of the neckline... everything. After the visa madness I found out that my flight for Venice was actually in a few HOURS - the itinerary was sent to me while I was at the visa office. So I frantically called Chetan and said "My flight is at 4 am! Can you finish it by this evening?" "Uh oh really???" ..... he hadn't even started. When I finally went to pick up what I thought was going to be a beautiful gown, it was exactly... EXACTLY what I didn't want. The shape was wrong, it was ill-fitting, I had asked him to make it in a way that would reduce my bust and instead of trying to draw your attention somewhere else, he decided to create a giant gold-sequined horizontal stripe across my chest. Even I know that horizontal stripes are a big NO NO when you're trying to slim someone down. Not only that, the neckline wasn't like the one in the picture. He insisted it was and told me to not expect it to look exactly the same as the picture because "your body doesn't look like that." I had had such a horrible day that I just started crying. Instead of being sympathetic and trying to fix as much as possible before the flight, his assistant Tina rolled her eyes and said "WHAT? There's nothing we can do now, so I don't know what to tell you." "Um... it's ALL WRONG. It's not what I asked for AT ALL." "Well we can't do anything - can I leave? Because I left a dinner party for this, and there's nothing we can do." At which point I was so fed up that I just lost it. "Um - ARE YOU A BITCH TO ALL YOUR CLIENTS, OR JUST ME? WHAT WAS THE POINT OF GETTING A DESIGNER TO MAKE MY DRESS IF IT LOOKS LIKE SHIT? I CAN WALK INTO ANY H&M AND FIND A BETTER FITTING OUTFIT MADE IN A SWEATSHOP IN CHINA."
Yeah.... that was obviously not the best tactic. I took the dress to Venice but I didn't wear it. Chetan agreed to work on the dress after I got back from Venice. He hasn't answered any of my calls.
Goodbye 20,000 rupees. It was nice knowing you.
Viviane's scooty broke down on the way back from the designer at 11 pm. What a fantastic day.
Incredibly exhausted, angry, and still unbelievably ill from the flu, I forced my anxiety ridden self to jump in an auto and go the airport at 2 am. I apathetically plopped my bag down and slid my passport across the Emirates counter without even looking at the lady. She handed me my boarding pass and I just stared at it in disbelief. "I think you made a mistake. This says Business Class." "No, no that's right. Enjoy." I was dumbstruck, thinking to myself "Hah! This day is lookin up..."
While I was waiting to board, my name was called over the intercom. When I went to the counter, the lady said. "Boarding pass, please." I handed it to her. She crossed out seat 7B and wrote 2A. I didn't think anything of it until I boarded the plane and the stewardess said "Welcome to your First Class Suite". I tried to be as nonchalant as possible as I stumbled over myself to sit in a chair that was too big for me, and accidentally turned the massage feature on full blast. When the stewardess asked if I wanted champagne, I stammered over the vibrations, "Y-y-yess, n-no, w-well, maybe... y-yes...maybe later." She stared. I stared. She walked away. I closed the door and vibrated in silence. Yeah, that was smooth.
You forget how unbelievably beautiful Venice is until you go there again and you feel like you're walking through a giant film set. The cobblestone streets, the absence of motor vehicles, the gondolas, the grandeur of the duomos and piazzas - it's incredible. The food... Oh the food...
I had a day and a half to relax and unwind before rehearsals. I roamed the city, taking it all in. On Saturday I had my first rehearsal with the 13 piece Venetian string orchestra at the hotel. The conductor, Matt Dunkley, motioned for me to come to the front of the room and announced, "ladies and gentlemen, please welcome our vocalist for tomorrow evening." Again, I tried to act as nonchalant as possible but ended up giggling nervously. The Venetians looked dubious. I noticed Shekhar come in halfway through the rehearsal. He waved. I smiled and continued singing. Afterward I ducked out as quick as possible, ran up to my room, closed the door, and leaned against it for five minutes processing what had just happened.
That night we were to all have dinner at a quaint Italian restaurant in San Marco. I was told to meet downstairs at 7 pm. The dinner consisted of the conductor, Matt and his wife, Rahman, Shekhar, David Adjaye, 3 of the big guys from Swarovski, Haley Bennett, and Ryan Eggold who stars in 90210: The Next Generation. I got such a kick out of that, I can't even tell you. A ridiculous multi-course meal featuring beef carpaccio, an assortment of fish, mussels, squid, langoustine, soft shell crab, risotto... and the list goes on and on.
The actual performance? It went really well. I was incredibly uncomfortable meeting everyone, posing for pics, and I couldn't even have wine because I had to sing. The room was lit beautifully, the stage area was beautiful, and I had a mic stand so I didn't have to worry about failing to project. I sand the two arias, then Rahman spoke a bit about the music from the film and did a small demonstration on the piano, and then as an encore I was asked to sing one of the arias again. It was perfect. Haley and David approached me and gushed over my singing. It was surreal.
I spent the rest of the evening relaxed and content. I said thank you to everyone and walked back to the hotel with a smile on my face.
Photos:
Press Photos: Courtesy of www.swarovski.com
Bauer Palladio Hotel & Spa Photos: Courtesy of www.bauerpalladio.it
Piazza San Marco
It's nice to finally see the fruits of your labor. By fruits, I mean money, and by labor, I mean 15 minutes of singing: for a ridiculous amount of money. Well, not so ridiculous... but ridiculous for 15 minutes of work. In any case, in a former blog post, I think I mentioned that I had done a recording session last year for a Kannada film. Well the film is coming out in a month or so, and I just heard the song that I sing in. Again, it's like 10 seconds of operatic singing in the middle of an upbeat dance number. Random, but funny! I had a really fun time recording for Mr. Joshua and hope that there are many more where that came from! 
You know, just when things are starting to settle down and life begins to have some semblance of normalcy, something comes at me that is totally unexpected and exhilarating. First semester finished with a bang... I had the Delhi gig, the Venice gig, I had gone to Paris for one of my good friend's weddings, I had brought my vocal students up to a level that I was happy with, and for the first time in my life, I had found the courage to stand up in front of hundreds of people and speak at the TEDx Chennai conference. 
Second semester began and I picked up where I left off - I had to get 20 new students up to par while planning and executing a staged opera/musical theatre scenes concert (with very little money, very few resources, and no performance space) which consumed my life till February 27. In between all of that, my colleague George and I flew to Delhi to see the opera which we had trained a few of our students for (The Neemrana Foundation puts on fully staged professional level operas every season and this year a few of KM's best vocalists were invited to join them. George and I trained them for 3 months before they left to rehearse with the others. The opera, "Si j'etais roi" was performed by a melange of French professionals, Indian locals, and Sri Lankans.) Then, immediately after the scenes concerts, I left for Delhi where I experienced my first Holi Festival! That experience requires a completely separate entry, it was so crazy. 
[from the right: Andrew, me, and Ayesha, whose family we stayed with in Delhi]
The first one was for the music director Joshua Sridhar who asked me to sing some background operatic ooos and ahhhhs in one of the songs in his upcoming Kannada film "Thunta Thunti". It was one of those experiences that just leaves you feeling bewildered, but in a good way. I went in... he played me what he wanted me to sing... he wanted lyrics so I called Viviane and came up with French lyrics on the spot....I sang it... we finished within half an hour and I left with cash in hand. Bada bing bada boom.
So long story short, life is back to normal and full of excitement. In addition to the recordings, I have just agreed to write an article for the magazine "The Brew" which is a new mag centered around cinema, music, art and fashion. The editor of the mag is Sameer Ram who I met a while back. He approached me and asked if I'd write a piece about classical music in India. He also wants to do an interview. 
I know it's been a couple weeks, but it took that long for me to actually just... EXHALE, pinch myself, and say "Yes. That did happen." It all happened so fast, I barely had time to process what was happening. The Delhi Concert, then right after that rehearsals for the MJ Tribute, then immediately after that I had to prepare for Venice. AHHHH! 
While I was waiting to board, my name was called over the intercom. When I went to the counter, the lady said. "Boarding pass, please." I handed it to her. She crossed out seat 7B and wrote 2A. I didn't think anything of it until I boarded the plane and the stewardess said "Welcome to your First Class Suite". I tried to be as nonchalant as possible as I stumbled over myself to sit in a chair that was too big for me, and accidentally turned the massage feature on full blast. When the stewardess asked if I wanted champagne, I stammered over the vibrations, "Y-y-yess, n-no, w-well, maybe... y-yes...maybe later." She stared. I stared. She walked away. I closed the door and vibrated in silence. Yeah, that was smooth.
I had a day and a half to relax and unwind before rehearsals. I roamed the city, taking it all in. On Saturday I had my first rehearsal with the 13 piece Venetian string orchestra at the hotel. The conductor, Matt Dunkley, motioned for me to come to the front of the room and announced, "ladies and gentlemen, please welcome our vocalist for tomorrow evening." Again, I tried to act as nonchalant as possible but ended up giggling nervously. The Venetians looked dubious. I noticed Shekhar come in halfway through the rehearsal. He waved. I smiled and continued singing. Afterward I ducked out as quick as possible, ran up to my room, closed the door, and leaned against it for five minutes processing what had just happened. 
That night we were to all have dinner at a quaint Italian restaurant in San Marco. I was told to meet downstairs at 7 pm. The dinner consisted of the conductor, Matt and his wife, Rahman, Shekhar, David Adjaye, 3 of the big guys from Swarovski, Haley Bennett, and Ryan Eggold who stars in 90210: The Next Generation. I got such a kick out of that, I can't even tell you. A ridiculous multi-course meal featuring beef carpaccio, an assortment of fish, mussels, squid, langoustine, soft shell crab, risotto... and the list goes on and on. 
A few weeks ago, the faculty of KM was approached by an organization called Global Adjustments that helps expatriates in India assimilate to the local culture. Founded by Ranjini Manian, the organization helps expats integrate by helping them with basic language skills, offering a range of different classes including cooking and yoga, and helping expats find housing in cities such as Chennai and Bombay. After the Martin Luther King tribute concert in February, Global Adjustments contacted Ariel Howard, a consul for the American Consulate in Chennai, and asked if we might be interested in being their feature story for the month of April. We agreed.
Eilidh, Michael, Josh, Alison and I went to their corporate office in the RA Puram area of Chennai for the interview. Ariel got to conduct the interview and her questions were concise and delightfully thought-provoking. (At this point, we were dreading interviews because for the whole month of February and the beginning of March we were only asked questions like "how do you feel about Rahman's Oscar win?" Well, duh. How do you think we feel? Disappointed?) We came back to the office a couple weeks later for the photo shoot. The article was featured in the ex-pat magazine, At a Glance. 
When Alison and I were in the studio trying to figure everything out, Rahman came in and asked us to step out for a second. He said "I want you to meet someone." Outside was an older, very dignified woman, sitting on a bench wearing a white and red cotton sari. She looked proud and distinguished. Of course, I had no idea who she was and when that was obvious Rahman introduced us. "This is P. Susheela. She is my favorite singer by far." 
I don't know if Yuvraaj has opened in the states yet, but it opened all over India on Friday and the students bought us tickets to go on opening night. We went to the 6:45 show. We were really excited because this movie was supposed to be HUGE. But we really just wanted to see how much of ourselves were in it. We cheered out loud every time we heard Eilidh's cello solo, Josh's violin solo, and whenever the choir sang. Of course everything is drowning in a giant vat of reverb so you can barely make out that real humans are producing these sounds. But it was thrilling nevertheless. Oh! And the photo shoot paid off! You can see us for about half a second during the end credits! But don't blink. You might miss it. I'm standing behind Rahman on the right next to Eilidh's boyfriend who has nothing to do with the school but happened to be foreign and visiting at the time. LOL. We jumped around and cheered with the students and turned around to find that not one person was still in the theater. 
My part is going to be only on the cd, but you can get info on the movie at http://www.ghajinifilm.com
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.
Oh my goodness, I once again had a surprisingly eventful week. I have been meditating a lot more and I feel myself definitely settling in here. Chennai is really starting to feel like home. It's nice to not have to think about how much you're spending, how much money is in the account, how much to pay for utilities and credit card bills etc. This is luxury. Who would've thought that I'd find myself in the height of luxury... in India... of all places. I even have a set schedule now. Things were just really crazy in the beginning because I didn't know what to do with myself when I wasn't teaching and even the school wasn't fully settled yet, so it seemed like there was just constant chaos. Now however, I'm starting to keep a daily routine that is delightfully boring. A typical day is: Wake up at 10, teach choir from 10:30 - 12 at KM, come back to the faculty house for lunch, give private lessons at KM from 1 - 4, go to yoga at 5, eat chaat standing up at the local stand near the corner store at 6:30, buy milk and come home and make chai at 7, do some work till 9, eat dinner, hang out with faculty till midnight and then go to sleep. I think I will miss this chaat stand more than anything else when I leave here. 5 rupees for a samosa and 10 rupees for samosa chaat. Yum. And eating it off of a dirty cardboard plate with a teeny sample spoon is for some reason wildly fulfilling.
(who sang in Jaane tu ya Jaane na and Yuvraaj) and Shrini (also in Yuvraaj). I'm sitting on the couch yawning and Benny laughs and says, "Ha! It's your first time, isn't it? You can't be yawning yet, the night is just beginning." What??? I go back into the studio and Rahman says "are you ready?" And I say, "Sure." I go into the sound booth, put on the headphones and look over the words, when he starts playing the music and... it's COMPLETELY different from what I had listened to earlier. Like, it could have been a different song. I think he saw my concern and said "don't worry, let's just take one phrase at a time." So I start singing and the reverb on the microphone is so intense, I barely have to open my mouth. As a western classical singer, we're just constantly taught to sing...OUT; with a full voice, full support, and loud. Rahman kept saying "could you do it a little softer?" and "could it be lighter... with more air?" On top of that, he wanted it slightly Indian sounding too, so I did my best to do the ornaments he was asking for. All in all, I think I did it pretty quickly, without written notation, and I think it was a success. He seemed pleased, anyway. The best part of the whole thing was that HE was doing all the recording and mixing himself. There was no one in the studio except for me and him. How crazy is that? I'm like trying to concentrate on what he's asking me to do, all the while having flashbacks of dancing to Chaiyya Chaiyya like 10 years ago and hearing Vande Mataram at the 50th anniversary of India's independence parade. It was just a surreal experience.
I had a really long day yesterday: I started teaching at 10 am and ended at 5 in the evening which doesn't seem like a lot, but I'm learning that teaching really is exhausting; I never realized how much of yourself you have to give for someone to learn from you. By the end of the day, I just wanted to go home and sleep. One of my students and I had discussed looking into taking a yoga class together because we can see the sign from the conservatory and it's just a 2 minute walk from school. So after teaching we went together to check out the yoga studio and the lady was really wonderful. We're taking a three month course for 1400 rupees; one hour, three times a week for three months, and it includes meditation, poses, and nutritional counseling. She does all of her yoga classes on the rooftop terrace which will be pretty intense, but hopefully by evening it won't be so hot outside.
He asked if I was available to do a recording session with Rahman! So of course I said yes, jumped out of bed, got ready and ran over to the studio. I walked in and found that Eilidh and Michael had also been called to record (cello and percussion) and we sat and waited for Rahman to come. He shows up and says Eilidh will go first so I just sit in the studio and watch while her tracks are being edited. A man then walks in and starts discussing the movie with Rahman and I introduce myself thinking he's a Tamil director (I swear I'm not a Hindi film snob; I just don't know anything about Tamil directors or actors so they're somewhat irrelevant in my head). He asked if I spoke Hindi and I said no but then started throwing out random Hindi words that I know. The guy laughed and left. Selva immediately was like "do you know who that was? You just met Shubash Ghai." Um. EEEEEEEEEEE!!! I just met a huge director and the song that I'm singing on is in his new film Yuvraaj which is coming out in a couple months. So from what I understand I'm going to be doing background operatic singing in one of the songs because apparently this movie is about an Australian orchestra or something so it includes a choir, western classical music and opera. Should be really interesting and I'm really ecstatic to start recording. There wasn't time to do it last night so I'm scheduled to record Thursday afternoon. The cd should be available in a few weeks! I can't wait to see my name on the back cover. Eee!