Mr. A.R. Rahman

There has been so much buzz surrounding Rahman regarding his Golden Globe win. Hundreds of letters, cards and bouquets have been sent to Panchathan saying how proud they are to have him be a representative of India. Rahman must be absolutely overwhelmed by the response.

Everyone in the faculty woke up early at 6 am to watch the Golden Globes live in LA. Faiz hooked up a cable box to the tv in Sasi and we enjoyed coffee, biscuits, and bananas while we watched in anticipation. Faiz, and the French girls Claire and Vivienne joined us for the big moment. Of course we didn't really care about anything or anyone else, especially because these movies haven't come out in India and we have no idea what's going on in the American film world right now. I was definitely surprised to find that Kate Winslet and Leonardo diCaprio have made a new movie together. I'm curious to see how their chemistry is as adults. And I didn't even realize that the movie Milk was made. Everyone seems to be raving about it. Hopefully one of these days I can find it online.

Finally when the category came up for best film score, we just sat and watched on the edge of our seats. Some of us thought it definitely wouldn't win because of the other people nominated in the same category. I mean, Rahman was in the same category as Hans Zimmer. And some of us just knew he would. When they finally read out "A.R. Rahman" Faiz jumped out of his seat and yelled Woooooooooo!!!! while we all stayed in our seats and just stared at each other in dumbfounded silence. I just kept saying...... "What?!" every five minutes or so while Liz was hysterically laughing and saying "Oh my god." After the results were announced, the rest of the faculty dispersed and went to work/gym/practice, etc. Liz and I remained at Sasi and continued to stare at each other in astonishment. What a fantastic time to be working for Rahman! Could we be any more lucky? We're working for a Golden Globe winner!

Rahman was met at the airport by hundreds of people carrying signs saying Congratulations and people singing and dancing. He was followed home by a huge caravan of media and was welcomed at two in the morning at Panchathan by friends, family, and some of the students who, in two days, put together a choral version of "Jay ho". The next three days were filled to the brim with one interview after another; television, radio, international, emails etc. etc. He was doing about 30+ interviews a day. Liz was laughing and saying "can't these people think of more interesting questions???" Apparently they just kept asking the same boring questions such as "How does it feel to be the first Indian Golden Globe Winner?" I'm sure Rahman wanted to kill someone after answering that question for the 97th time.

And the frenzy continues. The Oscar nominations were formally announced yesterday afternoon and Chennai is going crazy. Slumdog Millionaire has accumulated a whopping 10 nominations.

Achievement in Cinematography
Achievement in Directing
Achievement in Film Editing
Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score) - A.R. Rahman
Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Song) - Jay Ho
Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Song) - O...Saya
Best Motion Picture of the Year
Achievement in Sound Editing
Achievement in Sound Mixing
Adapted Screenplay

I have to say, with all the talk that has been going on for months now, actually seeing the film was kind of a lukewarm experience. I've been so close to the project and hearing about it since August - it was difficult to detach myself from what all I've heard. To me it just seemed like a slightly more sophisticated Bollywood melodrama but with serious social commentary. I'm going to watch it again. It'll probably be better the second time. Sadly this experience has become somewhat bittersweet for Rahman and poor Anil Kapoor. A slums organization in Bombay has decided that the usage of the word "slum" by Indians was obscene, offensive, and inappropriate. This org is now suing both Rahman and Mr. Kapoor for I don't know how much. What a waste of money that could actually be helping the slums! What are they thinking?!

A man, who claims to fight for the rights of slum dwellers, has taken the Indian artistes of the acclaimed film "Slumdog Millionaire" to court, contending that their sensibilities have been offended by the movie title that he found abusive of people who live in slums. "Vishwakarma made it clear that he hardly expected anything positive from a British filmmaker as their ancestors described us as dogs. But what hurt him was that even Indians associated with the film hardly bothered to object to calling us a slumdog," Shruti Singh said.

I think Mr. Vishwakarma missed the point. Maybe Success is always bittersweet. People always seem to want a piece of the pie no matter what it takes to get it.

Christmas Holiday

I’ve had such an intensely satisfying Christmas holiday – probably one of the best ever and it’s been an entire month of excitement. My mom and Veena auntie came to Chennai to check out my digs on Dec 6 and stayed for a week. We did the usual – visited my favorite haunts, went to all the shopping hotspots, met up with Vivek and had a delightful dinner at my favorite café, had dinner with a few relatives and ended the week with an adventurous overnight train ride to Bangalore where Veena auntie and we split ways. This was all during finals week and we booked the train for the evening of the last day of finals. I have to say, I had mixed emotions about the train. My immediate thought was, “Yay! Let’s go!”. Then the doubt began to settle in and my thoughts began circling with vivid images of derailing, dirty toilets, and terrorists.

Everything was obviously fine and even the toilets weren’t too bad, although if you looked down, you could see the moving track underneath. Ick. So we got to Bangalore, and stayed at Laxman uncle and Meena auntie’s house and I got to see Leena after her move back to the motherland. She seems well and Bangalore is where I discovered that I do indeed enjoy Pupushphul. It was a revelation actually, since I used to absolutely hate it as a child. Maybe it’s just one of those things that has to grow on you. We did the usual things, shopped, ate, slept. I ended up getting sick from the train and had to take antibiotics, but other than that, we had a great time. Then we met up with Veena auntie at the train station again and took the overnight train to Mangalore. This time I slept much better and it was nice and sunny by the time we reached.

I always have mixed emotions about going to Mangalore. It’s always such a bizarre experience. 1. Because I have to reach into the depths of my brain to pull out my fluent Konkani which starts out pretty bad and then by the time I leave it’s the language I’m thinking in. 2. It’s always weird seeing people you haven’t seen in a really long time. This time it wasn’t so bad because I saw everyone two years ago, but it’s like, you’re supposed to be closely related and then you go there and you’re like “So, what are you doing right now? How old are you?? What happened to who? How did I not know that??” 3. No for the last time. I’m not here to get married. No. No. No. No. NO. End of conversation. 4. I’ve discovered that there is a deep rooted anxiety that comes from pressure to ‘perform’ in a certain way with family. I don’t know what the boundaries are; what is good to say and what isn’t? What are topics that are inappropriate? Can I wear that or is it too revealing? Why do they always make me eat so much and then tell me I’m fat? Why are they so fascinated with my hair color?, is it ugly? Why is it that they always ask what I’m taking if I take my medication in front of them? Am I not allowed personal space or does that not exist here?

I was so happy that I got to see my dad’s sister Meerakka this time though because last time she was in Dubai. She is as perky as ever. And my cousin Vishwas is turning out to be quite the medic. I had to have my blood taken and he did it at the house professionally and painlessly.

All in all, it was a nice trip despite the fear of death on the train, antibiotics, my bad Konkani, and social anxiety. It was nice seeing my mom and Veena auntie. I have to say, I’ve only not been home for Thanksgiving once when I was living in Italy. And both times I was so homesick. So it was nice to have my family here shortly after.

Yay for the fam.

Oh! And I forgot the best part! Ma got to meet A.R. Rahman! We showed up at Panchathon promptly at 8 the night my mom was leaving and he sat down with us and chatted about the school and his goals, etc. It was really nice.

A Break

My mom and Veena auntie have arrived!!!

Plus it's finals week.

So I will be taking a break from blogging till I return to Chennai on the 23rd; although finals week may go so horrendously wrong that I will have to ease the pain somehow. You never know.