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WoW. It's been a rather long time since I last posted anything on here! My apologies!! I've been kinda all over the place since I wrote about my last minute Janmashtami trip to Amritapuri, Kerala. Well, I had a good time in Amritapuri… though it was hard being there with all the differences, memories, and a whole rollercoaster of emotions. It was good that I went though. I got to see a lot of people that I hadn't seen in quite a while. It was also good cause I reconnected with some people and got some connections for my project and possibly for work later on. Anyways, so, when I got back to Mumbai about a week later (I returned by 3 A/C train which took about 30hrs then the rick ride to the house from the train station took ages -distance plus traffic) I had a bunch of interviews put together -a bunch in comparison to before I went to Amritapuri. I was put in touch with some nice people too, while I was in Amritapuri, and so I've made some good friends (one would hope) and they've helped me out. Hansal Mehta had said before I left to Amripaturi that I could most likely meet with Vishal Baradwaj the following Thu (cause he would be back in Mumbai for a bit from shooting in Pune for an upcoming film) but nothing happened with that. Towards the end of the 10 weeks I checked with Hansal to see what format he'd like me to turn my project in and to explain to him why I thought it best to send him what I turn into the UW as my overall submission because being that I got a big chunk of my interviews towards the end and transcribing takes a long time, I didn't feel that a full submission at that time would be possible or if I did it wouldn't be good -content wise. So, I turned in a couple pages to him and to my other 'supervisors,' giving an outlook on what I was doing -what I had accomplished and what I had yet to accomplish and I added a few quotes from fully transcribed interviews I had conducted. I haven't been in good/constant contact with them (or anyone for that matter) which will quite possibly come back to bit me in the a**… though I really hope it doesn't!
On Sep 13th, the day after submitting those few pages, I flew to London to meet up with my mom and aunty Michelle! We were pakka tourists -seeing a ton of sights and taking tons of pics. I had a blast and it was SO nice to see them. We were there for about a week. When they left to go back to the States I took the train to Derby to visit Aman and her family (she is a friend I made in ISAC). I was only going to stay there for about a day before returning to India but on their insistence I checked with the airlines, who said that the first change was free so, I extended my stay for a few more days. I had a good time ☺
I got back to Mumbai a bit later than I'd wanted so from the airport, upon arrival, I booked my flight for the next morning to Cochin. I got to Amritapuri the next afternoon -I had to get a taxi from the Cochin airport to AIMS then from there, luckily, I got a ride with Sukhita and her mom to Amritapuri. I got there the day before Amma's birthday and so the crowds were multiplied by thousands and thousands. I helped out a bit with the Café and stuff on the 26th then on Amma's birthday I ended up doing Prasad assistance for hours -sitting about 2 people from Amma and explaining to the people about how to put the laddu and bhasmam into Amma's hand. My legs killed me! I kinda wanted to leave Amritapuri before Amma went for the European tour but didn't get my train ticket till the 8th so I had to stay there for an extra couple of days.
From Amritapuri I went to Bangalore. I took 3A/C train again (same as when I went from Amritapuri to Mumbai after Janmashtami) but this trip was only about 12 hours -it got delayed. Renu mausi and Raju uncle came to pick me up at the train station at about 5am! Bangalore was nice… I wanted to stay there a bit longer… I got my first sari there! It's silk & blue ☺
Backtracking back to Amritapuri… Kannan (a kid I've known since he was a little munchkin) was supposed to come with me to the train station to help me with my bags and to get my Kayamkulam to Cochin ticket but he never showed up. I was pissed -to say the least. It wouldn't have been such a deal if Kingfisher airlines hadn't broken one of the wheels of my big bag so that I couldn't really roll it and it was too big and heavy for me to carry it along with my other luggage. I finally got some help till the boat -I think that's probably cause I started crying out of frustration which, or course, got me more frustrated (there was no way I was going over the bridge). Plus I was a bit sad that I didn't get to say bye to a few people that I'd wanted to and don't know when I'll be going back there. From the other side of the backwaters (some of the guys there recognized me from when I used to go to school in Ochira) I took a rick to the Kayamkulam train station and got my train ticket. I'd missed the train that I had wanted to take but luckily and thankfully there was another train leaving in about 45 minutes that wouldn't get me to Cochin too late so I got there in time to get my ticket from Shaji chetta (I've known him since I was a kid and he works for the railways so he got my ticket and confirmed it for me ☺) and eat something before getting on the train to Bangalore. I stayed in Bangalore for about a week. I left after my birthday ☺
I'm now back in Mumbai. The other day I went to the cd release of Generations: A Musical Journey to Eternity… It's a compilation cd of Asha Bhosle, Ghulam Ali saheb and Aamir Ghulam Ali. I had a good time. It was cool to see something like that it person. I'm planning to be here for about 2 weeks to continue interviews for my project. I'm then planning to go to Tamil Nadu to visit some old friends -if I don't they'll never forgive me! I also want to go to Delhi and maybe Hyderabad. I'm figuring a week or so here and there but, we'll see. It's going to mean a lot of long train rides… sigh.
I'm not reading through this so I hope it all makes sense! I promise not to take so long to post something again! Hope you all are doing well! Take care.
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