Thank you SO much to everyone who has sent me emails and messages since I left. It's wonderful to hear from you. If you're taking the time to read my ramblings, I'd seriously appreciate any comments which you can leave below each post. I'm off to Bangalore tomorrow morning and I think my internet access will be more sporadic over Chrissie.
Gosh it's so much fun not knowing where I'm going to spend Christmas or my birthday or new year. I'm just going to let the wind blow me where it wants in the south of India and then over into Sri Lanka. I have always wanted to go to the tea plantations down there, ever since hearing Kamal's dulcet tones as a child. I've been making people laugh here with that comment, but it's true. It's so funny how certain images remain with you into adulthood.
So Andy and Rich would have made it back to Syndey by now, Ems is on her flight to Calcutta in a few hours and then Cam and I travel to the airport together tomorrow. I've completely changed my plans since meeting a lovely man and his wife last night - Rahul and Malini Akerkar. I told them about my desire to learn some Indian dance and it turns out that they lived for 2 years at a dance village outside Bangalore called Nrityagram. They described it as so magical, I decided that I would go there before Kerala which means I can meet Sampat (thanks for the intro Victoria, you're a star) in Bangalore. He is a film producer and has introdcued me to a few great people in Bombay, so I'm glad I'll get the chance to thank him in person.
It's time to start packing my backpack and sorting through all my various belongings. I already seem to have acquired a scary amount and I've been rather restrained!!! I upgraded from my knackered backpack I have travelled with since I was nineteen to a new snazzy (smaller = phew) one with wheels. It's an uberpack, Indian style and I'm going to try and not fill it. Easier said than done to be sure.
On various people's advice I went and bought some fabric today to be made into a sheet that I can wrap myself in, particularly at cheap hotels. After being shown a huge range of options at Thakhur, I spied some cotton material covered in rainbow love hearts. The guys were all laughing at me as I insisted that I wanted that material, not some special cotton boring sheet that they were trying to make me buy (export quality madam, very very nice and special price for you). Then I had to take it over the road to a guy who would sew the sheet for me. What an experience. He thought I was insane as I had a clear picture in my mind of how to make it all one big piece with a section for stuffing the pillow in and I insisted on leaving the bottom open so my feel could breathe. Again, four different people were needed to make him understand and do what I wanted. He was quite resistant until I got them all laughing. Now I've got the most brilliant makeshift sheet/pillow that I can climb into like a technicolour catepillar. I gave Emma a demo when I got home by rolling around on the floor.
So after dropping Andy and Rich at the airport bloody early yesterday, (it took 3 of us to wake Cam up and he was still half asleep driving like a nutter, scarier than most rickshaw drivers!!!), I wanted to go and see some traditional music and there was a performance in Villa Parle. Somehow we found the college and I wandered off on my own to find the auditorium which was only half full when I arrived. It filled up and then a ceremony of thanks took place as the auditorium had just been completed and flowers were given to funders and speeches were made and it was all pretty surreal as the fans whirred and people squeezed in left right and centre. A sweet girl called Nivirdita and her mother (Juti I think) sat next to me and I found out that she's 10 years old and studying singing and an instrument I can't remember the name of. It's like a cross between an accordian (thought it's a box shape and sits on the floor) and an organ. She spent most of the next 3 hours watching me instead of the music, I was the only whitey and was welcomed there by many people and given chai by a lovely woman called Indu at the break. She and her husband are both doctors and very old, but took the trouble to talk to me about the Hindustani music I was witnessing and asked me to come for tea on my return to Bombay. It seems that they know all sorts of people in film and want to introduce me.
The woman who performed first was so incredible, her voice built and built and soared around the auditorium. I closed my eyes and almost went to sleep a few times as I was so relaxed. The chai break refreshed me, Nividita came out and told me it was starting and she and her Mum had saved my seat. Gosh the Indian hospitality is like nowhere I've experienced. It's overwhelming and humbling.
What followed was a flautist on a traditional wooden flute who had two tandura (I think that's the spelling??) players (the singer had only one) who pluck at these extraordinary long guitar like things that sit upright and help tune the performance. The drummer was on a tabla and he was amazing, he did both performances and must have been exhausted at the end. There were 5 pieces in total (2 singing, then 3 flute) and the concert went for hours and hours. I jumped in a rickshaw home and had such fun zooming along the streets. When I got back around 2pm I collapsed in a heap and read my book (Two Lives by Vikram Seth, thank you Lucy I think you gave that to me last birthday?) and then Hame called me. It was so divine to catch up with my little bro who sounds happy but tired and excited to take off for a road trip with his lady Sofi.
Last night, I met Rahul and Mahini at a party given by Ravi and Bandana Krishnan at their incredible place called Champagne House on Worlhi Sea Face, right on the ocean in such a great area. It was a hot and long drive down there, followed by an argument with the taxi driver who tried to almost double my fare on me. Grrrr. But what followed was an evening of such delights, I didn't stay mad for long. Bandana is Fashion Director at Indian Vogue and has great taste so the house was covered in candles and marigolds were everywhere. People filled the place and I guess about 30 people drank and ate the night away (food courtesy of the wonderful Nikhil whose restaurant is a Thai fusion placed called Busaba, also the name of one of my fave places in London!!). Everything was delicious and I met some wonderful people.
I shared a cab home with the gorgeous Mekhla who talked about the recent troubles with such eloquence and intelligence all the way to Bandra. When she gave me her number, I found that it was already in my phone!! Seems she met Emma a while back as I'm using Ems phone, so that was a lovely bit of synergy. When I mentioned the dance school to Sampat today and said that a guy I'd met had lived there for 2 years, he said "Oh is that the Indigo guy" as Rahul owns a chain of restaurants. Everyone knows everyone, everywhere!! Plus I met the Costume Designer from Monsoon Wedding who told me all sorts of gossip about the industry and knows my old boss from LA. This world is so incredibly huge, but so small at the same time.
Well my dears, I must get packing.
Megaluv xxxxx
Gosh it's so much fun not knowing where I'm going to spend Christmas or my birthday or new year. I'm just going to let the wind blow me where it wants in the south of India and then over into Sri Lanka. I have always wanted to go to the tea plantations down there, ever since hearing Kamal's dulcet tones as a child. I've been making people laugh here with that comment, but it's true. It's so funny how certain images remain with you into adulthood.
So Andy and Rich would have made it back to Syndey by now, Ems is on her flight to Calcutta in a few hours and then Cam and I travel to the airport together tomorrow. I've completely changed my plans since meeting a lovely man and his wife last night - Rahul and Malini Akerkar. I told them about my desire to learn some Indian dance and it turns out that they lived for 2 years at a dance village outside Bangalore called Nrityagram. They described it as so magical, I decided that I would go there before Kerala which means I can meet Sampat (thanks for the intro Victoria, you're a star) in Bangalore. He is a film producer and has introdcued me to a few great people in Bombay, so I'm glad I'll get the chance to thank him in person.
It's time to start packing my backpack and sorting through all my various belongings. I already seem to have acquired a scary amount and I've been rather restrained!!! I upgraded from my knackered backpack I have travelled with since I was nineteen to a new snazzy (smaller = phew) one with wheels. It's an uberpack, Indian style and I'm going to try and not fill it. Easier said than done to be sure.
On various people's advice I went and bought some fabric today to be made into a sheet that I can wrap myself in, particularly at cheap hotels. After being shown a huge range of options at Thakhur, I spied some cotton material covered in rainbow love hearts. The guys were all laughing at me as I insisted that I wanted that material, not some special cotton boring sheet that they were trying to make me buy (export quality madam, very very nice and special price for you). Then I had to take it over the road to a guy who would sew the sheet for me. What an experience. He thought I was insane as I had a clear picture in my mind of how to make it all one big piece with a section for stuffing the pillow in and I insisted on leaving the bottom open so my feel could breathe. Again, four different people were needed to make him understand and do what I wanted. He was quite resistant until I got them all laughing. Now I've got the most brilliant makeshift sheet/pillow that I can climb into like a technicolour catepillar. I gave Emma a demo when I got home by rolling around on the floor.
So after dropping Andy and Rich at the airport bloody early yesterday, (it took 3 of us to wake Cam up and he was still half asleep driving like a nutter, scarier than most rickshaw drivers!!!), I wanted to go and see some traditional music and there was a performance in Villa Parle. Somehow we found the college and I wandered off on my own to find the auditorium which was only half full when I arrived. It filled up and then a ceremony of thanks took place as the auditorium had just been completed and flowers were given to funders and speeches were made and it was all pretty surreal as the fans whirred and people squeezed in left right and centre. A sweet girl called Nivirdita and her mother (Juti I think) sat next to me and I found out that she's 10 years old and studying singing and an instrument I can't remember the name of. It's like a cross between an accordian (thought it's a box shape and sits on the floor) and an organ. She spent most of the next 3 hours watching me instead of the music, I was the only whitey and was welcomed there by many people and given chai by a lovely woman called Indu at the break. She and her husband are both doctors and very old, but took the trouble to talk to me about the Hindustani music I was witnessing and asked me to come for tea on my return to Bombay. It seems that they know all sorts of people in film and want to introduce me.
The woman who performed first was so incredible, her voice built and built and soared around the auditorium. I closed my eyes and almost went to sleep a few times as I was so relaxed. The chai break refreshed me, Nividita came out and told me it was starting and she and her Mum had saved my seat. Gosh the Indian hospitality is like nowhere I've experienced. It's overwhelming and humbling.
What followed was a flautist on a traditional wooden flute who had two tandura (I think that's the spelling??) players (the singer had only one) who pluck at these extraordinary long guitar like things that sit upright and help tune the performance. The drummer was on a tabla and he was amazing, he did both performances and must have been exhausted at the end. There were 5 pieces in total (2 singing, then 3 flute) and the concert went for hours and hours. I jumped in a rickshaw home and had such fun zooming along the streets. When I got back around 2pm I collapsed in a heap and read my book (Two Lives by Vikram Seth, thank you Lucy I think you gave that to me last birthday?) and then Hame called me. It was so divine to catch up with my little bro who sounds happy but tired and excited to take off for a road trip with his lady Sofi.
Last night, I met Rahul and Mahini at a party given by Ravi and Bandana Krishnan at their incredible place called Champagne House on Worlhi Sea Face, right on the ocean in such a great area. It was a hot and long drive down there, followed by an argument with the taxi driver who tried to almost double my fare on me. Grrrr. But what followed was an evening of such delights, I didn't stay mad for long. Bandana is Fashion Director at Indian Vogue and has great taste so the house was covered in candles and marigolds were everywhere. People filled the place and I guess about 30 people drank and ate the night away (food courtesy of the wonderful Nikhil whose restaurant is a Thai fusion placed called Busaba, also the name of one of my fave places in London!!). Everything was delicious and I met some wonderful people.
I shared a cab home with the gorgeous Mekhla who talked about the recent troubles with such eloquence and intelligence all the way to Bandra. When she gave me her number, I found that it was already in my phone!! Seems she met Emma a while back as I'm using Ems phone, so that was a lovely bit of synergy. When I mentioned the dance school to Sampat today and said that a guy I'd met had lived there for 2 years, he said "Oh is that the Indigo guy" as Rahul owns a chain of restaurants. Everyone knows everyone, everywhere!! Plus I met the Costume Designer from Monsoon Wedding who told me all sorts of gossip about the industry and knows my old boss from LA. This world is so incredibly huge, but so small at the same time.
Well my dears, I must get packing.
Megaluv xxxxx
