Sigh...

Ahh... I'm sitting at Logan airport, waiting for my flight and pondering the last tumultuous 24 hours. Do you ever have one of those days where it feels like the entire universe is against you? One of those days where everything just goes wrong... one thing after another... leaving you feeling dumbfounded and questioning how you got this far in life with minimal scrapes and burns? What a roller coaster.

So my story begins at 12:30 am in Boston. My friend Susannah and I were meeting friends and going from Washington Square to Commonwealth and Harvard. Instead of taking the T, we figured it would be faster to take a cab. 8 dollars later, we reach. We pay the driver. Susannah steps out first and heads to the nearby ATM. I, with my sweater in hand, step out of the cab, shut the door, and realize... I don't have my purse. I reach for the handle as the cabby speeds off with a violent squeal. UM. Seriously? I proceed to stand on the corner for the next 2 1/2 hours hoping that the man will sympathize and return. No such luck. I repeatedly call my phone.. which.. he actually answers multiple times, but eventually turns to silent. I yell over and over... "Pleeeeeaaaasseee... I'm standing where you dropped me off, I will pay you if you bring my purse back! For the love of humanity, pleeeeeeeaaaaase come back!" I hear him clumsily pressing random buttons and then.... the line goes dead. I call every Independent cab company in Boston, but to no avail. [freak out moment]

The damage?
Mobile phone
IPod Mini & Earphones
1 Credit Card
2 Debit Cards
California Driver's License
Social Security Card
Health Insurance Card
India Employment/Resident Pan Card
8 dollars
1500 Rupees
A good luck pyramid that my hand reader gave me to ensure responsible money spending.
My dignity
And.... drum roll please... Susannah's apartment keys. [Nooooooo!]

We get home and call a locksmith. He tells us over the phone that the charge will be 30$, which Susannah has. [Victory moment]. The guy comes after 40 minutes and we head upstairs. We reach the door and he says.. "Ohhhh... you didn't tell me there would be a dead bolt. I'm going to have to drill through them... it's going to be 200$ each lock... 400$ total." [Freak out moment]. We think, "HAHAHAHAHAHHA". We say, "Um, we don't have that." 'What do you have?" "40" long pause. "Ok. That should be fine." [India moment ???????????!] He pulls out the drill and Susannah says, "Wait a minute, if you drill through, I'm not going to be able to lock my door, and I'll have to get my locks changed!" "uh.. yeah." We say nevermind and tell him to scram. We still have to pay him 30$ for coming over. We then call the management company and the guy says it's going to cost 50$ to send someone over. We say "we don't have 50$" and plead with him to let us in. "How much do you have?" "30$" "Hmm... alright I'll be over in 15." [Again, India moment ???????????!!!!]. 45 minutes later, he comes, opens the door in about 2.5 seconds, and we're in. [Victory moment]

Total damage:
60$
4 hours of sleep

I go in, and with a sudden sinking feeling, realize that I can't fly to DC at 10:30 am in the morning because I don' t have ID. [Freak out moment]. I call my parents who are sleeping peacefully at 4:30 am and ask what I should do. They tell me to sleep in, stay put, and we'll worry about it in the morning. I frantically call Liz who is picking me up in the morning and tell her it probably won't happen and to stay at home unless something changes.

I miss my 10:30 flight, but spend the morning calling every cab company in Boston for an update, filing a report with the Boston PD, calling Airtran Logan airport, and airport security repeatedly to figure out my options and they take me on a whirlwind of finger pointing: Airtran - "It's the jurisdiction of the airport to let you get through security." Logan - "You need to call the airline, it's their decision." Airport Security - closed on weekends. [Freak out moment]. Airtran - "It might be worth a shot to try and get through security with a copy of your birth certificate and passport on standby. But there are no guarantees." Ah! Finally an answer. [Victory moment]

I pack and go to Kinkos where my mom faxes me both documents, borrow 60$ from Susannah, and head to Logan airport by public transportation. We take the green line to the blue line and low and behold.... the blue line is under construction and is closed. [Freak out moment] But! We realize that there is a blue line shuttle that leads to the airport shuttle which takes you to the airport. [Victory moment]. 45 minutes later we reach the terminals. We're sitting on the edge of our seats with clenched fists because the next flight is in an hour. The bus then decides to make 3 extra stops than normal. We finally get out at Terminal C, and run to the airtran counter. [Freak out moment].

Damage:
60$
4 dollars at Kinkos
5 dollars at Starbucks
My mind

We get to the counter, I put on a sugary smile, open my eyes real wide, flutter my eyelashes, and look like I'm about to cry and relay the sob story to the dude. He barely looks at my documents and gives me the go ahead. [Finally! Victory!] He confirms my seat on the 7 o'clock to DC. With a smile I walk confidently to security.

They have to call a supervisor. "You can't get through with these documents, I'm sorry, he says coldly. I sputter... "But.... but.... the guy said... I talked to....but..." "No. I'm sorry, he says. I can't let you go through." [Freak out moment]. They must be told to be difficult at first but eventually let you through upon interrogation. By my slumped shoulders, maybe he figured I wasn't a terrorist. I was asked all the normal questions, "where are you from, what's your full name, birth date, birth place, who lives at your current address, what is a street leading off of the road I live on? etc." After being searched extensively, I finally, FINALLY got in. [Victory moment]

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Where am I now? Still at Gate C40 in Logan airport. My flight is delayed 2 hours and counting.... [too tired to freak out anymore.] Hopefully this is it and I don't have to add more to this entry. I would have documented my updates on Twitter, but alas.
No cell.

Passage

Trailer for the short film 'Passage' by Shekhar Kapur
Music by A.R. Rahman
Starring: Julia Stiles, Haley Bennett, Lily Cole

I sing the aria at the end of this film - you can hear the background track on the trailer (not the tango piece) but the one after.
I've already seen the film and it's beautiful, complex, mysterious, tender, and exciting in more ways than one. The short will be an installation at the Swarovsky Kristallwelten museum in Wattens, Austria.
I am so happy and honored to be a part of it!

The trailer:

Passage trailer
by blankytwo

Not sure when the release date is, but when it releases, I will post the aria on my blog and website.

Photo Shoot/Recording/Home

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.
_________

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.
_________

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...