Munbe Vaa
Greetings again from India. Life here is, as expected, hot. Weather India reports 84% humidity with a current temperature of 82*. This was actually from an hour ago at 6:10, which means that at its coolest, India feels like 91*. Yes, and the highs for the day venture up into the mid 90's. Poor Brian, the other Miami student that has arrived, is not dealing with the heat as well as I am. I don't mind the sticky feel, I don't mind sweating, but he's always looking for air conditioning and and cooler place. Oh well, he's only here for 3 weeks, so he has that perogative.
So, as I said, Brian has arrived. It has left me with an interesting collection of reactions and emotions. On a lamer level, I don't want to share India; it's mine. And, on that same line of maturity, I feel so much more adapted for life in India, which boosts my ego. Oh well. Brian, thankfully, has also provided a certain amount of relief for me because he is American. He validates much of what I am feeling and reminds me that such reactions are reasonable. I feel less isolated in this regard. This is just a small extent of what I'm feeling, but I think much else of what I'm feeling is temporary. We'll see. Brian has also been amusing, because of some of his reactions. I decided that it was time to drink the water. I can't boil it anymore; it's just too stupid in this heat. And, the water that I've been boiling is the stuff that is suposed to be distilled, etc. So, I'm just drinking it (nothing from the tap, though...). Brian was so, so afraid for me. Thought that I would explode. He also was quite shocked by our kitchen gecko. I like the gecko. Brian commented on how HUGE he was. I think: yeah, a whopping 4 inches. This coming from a male that stands a fully 6'7" or 6'8". Uh, huh... huuuge gecko. If you only knew what he thought about you, Brian Diller.
So, what's been happening in the life of Kristen? Well, I bought a sitar. It is lovely in appearance and sound. I've a teacher named Sudharshan. He is not only a competent sitarist (word?) but also a very skillful teacher. Praises and gratitude to him. (And 200 rupees, 4 times a week). My sitar lessons exhaust me and I love that. I love it because I know that I've been getting somewhere. It's like having sore muscles after the first few times running. The exhaustion, mental and physical, my tender fingers, everything reminds me that I am moving. ALways moving. After my lessons, I usually take an auto-rickshaw home. They're the same little yellow carts that are at the Beroske Greenhouse, but covered, and dirtier. They bounce all over the streets and will often make me sick (especially if I just ate.) The drivers are interesting and quite a pain when it comes to getting a reasonable fare and having them take me the whole way (I've had one or two stop a block early and refuse to keep going).
I had a violin teacher, but lessons with him were not a good idea. He was kind of shady and not a great teacher (even though he is a great player). So, for now, I will go without violin lessons and I will just continue to work on Bach instead. Related to this, I am proud of myself for the assertiveness which was required for firing him. It wasn't very easy for me to do, but something with which I was successful,
regardless. Yay.
Yesterday, I went to A. R. Rahman's house and studio. (arrahman.com) Think the Speilberg of India. Rather than a director, he is a musician, which is the bigger focus of Indian cinema. The soundtracks seem to be the point of Indian films, especially if you see the films in the theaters. Reread the email that talked about the sound system. So, back to Rahman. Mr. Rahman. He is such a lovely person. I really enjoyed my day. We, as I said, were at his house and then rode with him over to the studio. We got a tour (from Rahman) and then sat in on the studio orchestra's rehearsal and recording session. I'm trying to sit in on the orchestra for a day. I really want to play there. We'll see. You'll know if it happens. Trust me. Yesterday, Rahman was recording the orchestra track for a song called Munbe Vaa. It is Tamil for Come Closer. It's a really sultry song, to the best of my knowledge. The orchestra is really interesting, though, because the conductor isn't allowed to have a score (for piracy reasons). So ever hour or so, he'll hop back into the sound booth and play the synth. orchestra recording, transcribe it in Carnatic notation, and then dictate it to the orchestra. That is amazing. The entire score is done this way. The conductor is a character, as are the musicians. Western conductors would probably fire or eviscerate them all, depending on the level of anger that arises as a response to seeing the lack of discipline of these players. As soon as they stop playing together, they all play individually. It makes such a racket. This, by the way, would never fly in Western orchestras. It is incredibly immature to play when you're not asked to. So, yes, and then after rehearsal, we had dinner there, with the orchestra, and Rahman came down for recording. It was interesting to watch him instruct the orchestra. He was more patient than Brian or I would have been able to be. Interesting. All of it. And lots of good, hot tea. Most enjoyable.
What else? THis morning, Brian, Srini, one of his students and I went to the beach. It was early (wake up call at 5:15) and hot (80*) and polluted and crowded. Lots of stray dogs. I wanted to run, but I changed my mind once I got there. It made me miss home. I would have much rather been at Lake Erie. Oh well. And it made me want coconuts. Goodness. They sell them everywhere. Men with large knives, hacking at one end of the nut. Big green coconuts. Then, once they have a small opening, they hand you a tiny, plastic straw, and here is your breakfast, madam. Ten rupees, please.
So, closing thoughts? Not really. I'm tired. It feels like I've been awake for days, and it's only been a few hours. I'm thinking about my maid and how content I would be to go without one, but how I really can't for her sake. (She's getting 8000 rupees from each Miami student here. $800 for the summer for an hour each morning is a pretty good deal.) It's interesting, but money has a different sort of purpose here. It just flows and keeps moving. It's to be spent, and it is. In spite of this, Chennai, like many places, is plagued with materialism and it makes me a little ill sometimes. One of the girls here told me to get a cell phone. (I ask myself what for? So I can be just a phone call away from all of Srini's students? Ha... haha.) She explained that it would only be a couple hundred for teh 2 months I'm here. I declined. I wanted to tell her that I would rather swallow a cell phone than have one interrupting and disrupting me while in India. Just no need for that. Anyway.. it's time for me to get clean, turn the air conditioner off, practice sitar until I can't any more. Fun fun. Then on to violin, lunch, and maybe Rahman's again. Life is craziness. Or maybe I'll take a nap. : )
