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. 
It ended up being quite a fun experience.
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In other news, I had a brief but exciting project to finish for Rahman that was challenging and incredibly fulfilling. He was working on a leitmotiv for a specific character in a Telagu film called 'Puli'. A leitmotiv is just a recurring theme that is associated with one character, or idea. The theme was going to play every time the Hero made an entrance. He wanted it to be dark, intense and include the KM Chamber choir which I conduct. This experience was incredibly challenging because I had to go into the studio and try and figure out what kind of sound he was looking for, take the sound clip, dictate the notes and transcribe it onto manuscript paper and THEN teach the choir the piece, and record it. We had to do this in two days. I have never been good at taking dictation. I don't have perfect pitch and when there are multiple harmonies going on, it can be quite difficult. Alison helped tremendously with the choral part - we worked on it together for a few hours and then she stayed up all night transcribing the harmonies. Then the next morning I transcribed a two part melody and added English and Latin text. The students were ecstatic. I feel like they finally started to understand why I harp at them for the smallest details. Especially when you're recording, the microphone picks up EVERYTHING, and what it picks up, is not necessarily accurate. Some exquisite live singers sound horrible on recordings and most of the time, people who sound great on recordings, suck live. In any case, we all had a good time, the students were thrilled, and Rahman said it was a job well done. Nice.
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." She was very sweet.
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And finally,
I'm HOME I'm HOME I'm HOME!
As much fun as I've had this year in India, I have to say, it's good to be back. Today is my second day at home and I'm feeling a genuine mixture of emotions that range from total relief to utter confusion. My body first of all, has no idea where it is or what time it is - I know this because I'm writing this at 5:30 in the morning with a splitting headache. It'll take a few days I guess.
I have already begun binge eating my favorite foods - let the weight gain commence. Taco Bell and Konkani food down, Sushi and In n Out to go...
