Brahma Family Brunch

Weekends are generally the busiest time for me ... I teach on Sunday morning/afternoons, and then have my own rehearsal till the evening. I generally leave the house at 9 am and get back at 6:30 ... completely exhausted and can only manage to get myself to the couch, and pull a blanket over myself, and that's about it (this results in Sushi Sundays, to be discussed in another post).

Saturdays are technically my weekend, but with performances often taking place on Saturdays, that day tends to get taken up also by rehearsals, performances, events, etc. So, essentially, King & I hardly ever have time together.

But in the rare occasion that we do have a free Friday evening and whole Saturday, especially when the weather is nice ... it's the most exciting feeling ever. I feel like we have a world of opportunity open to us for these next 10 hrs of daylight! Considering how beautiful the Bay Area is, we really do have dozens of options of what we can do with our time. Most of the time we end up in Sonoma, or Napa, or Sausalito -- three of our favorite local spots, where you feel like you've gone on a mini-vacation for the day.


Today was a little more ग्रहस्ती   (grahasti) for the lack of better word (the computer is not letting me put a 'chhoti ee' on that word, I'm pretty sure it should be spelled with the other 'ee'). As usual, we slept in, only getting up because it was so freaking hot in our apartment. All East facing windows with no cross ventilation -- great for the winter, because we never have to use our heating, but on the rare days that it's actually 'warm' in San Francisco, our apartment becomes 80 degrees, no exaggeration.

Today's POA included the maintenance guys coming in and installing our mirror and chandelier! Sounds mundane, I know, but so exciting, bc this mirror has been sitting in our hallway for a few months now, and the fact that King & I even decided and agreed on a chandelier is a miracle in itself. We've had a bare bulb above our dining table for two years and five months now.

Slow and steady, our house is getting there.

Anyway, so my favorite ritual is what I have called 'Brahma Family Brunch.' Yeah, yeah, it's only two of us, a pretty small family (I've gotten enough pressure about having children in this last week enough to last me the whole year, so let's spare the jokes and move forward) ... but it's the only day of the week that we eat breakfast food together.

There are three standard menus that are rotated through for BFB.

1) Fried egg on toast with pepper jack cheese (with Iguana hot sauce and avocados)
2) Pancakes (plain or chocolate chip)
3) Deep's Aloo Parantha with mango pickle and yogurt


I'm sure at some point I'll add more to the repertoire, but for now, this has more than sufficed. Today I added roasted tomatoes to the menu. Well, I should say, I wanted to add roasted tomato to the menu ... but while I was waiting for the oven to heat up, and my half cut tomatoes lay on my counter, waiting to go in the oven ... King came by and ate the tomato raw. That was our last tomato, and he ate his half ... so I ate roasted tomato with brunch.




Anyway, the rest of the day turned out to be suprisingly wonderful. It was mid-70's, no wind, and a sunny afternoon, so King and I went swimming in our building's beautiful outdoor lap pool. Then we went shopping at the Embarcadero Center shops, since they are outdoor based, and I didn't feel like being cramped up in a mall on such a beautiful day. In the evening we had close friends and family come over to hang out, which turned into an impromptu game night (Apples to Apples!).


I was proud of my impromptu hostess skills, by providing my friends with wine, chhole chawal for those who were hungry, chocolate covered almonds, popcorn (albeit I burned the first bag bc I didn't realize there's a popcorn setting on the microwave), and freshly baked chocolate chip cookies.
Now we just need to purchase more board games.

Upaj Poster!

After working on this for weeks with the graphic designer, director, photographer, and two attempts at the photo shoot, we finally have a poster for the film!!!
It first started with various sketches of the design we wanted to go with. And then my graphic designer 'painted' a version of what that poster would look like. Then we shot the different elements -- in this case, Guru ji's foot with ghungroo, and 'Jason's foot with a tap shoe. I say Jason in quotes because Jason lives in NYC, so we had Rachna stand in wearing a tap shoe. That also had its own set of issues, bc Jason is contracted with Bloch, and can only wear Bloch shoes, so we had to make sure we got the right brand of shoes for the photo shoot.
I seriously underestimated the amount of effort it would take to create a poster, and grossly overestimated what can be accomplished with Photoshop.
Now we can move forward with the marketing (posters, mailing postcards, electronic publicity) as well as work on the website for the film.

(Nearly) a whole year later

And I'm back!! For how long ... that is still up for determination. Maybe because I saw Ferah & Vaishali's blog abt training for their half-marathon's do I feel an impetus to write -- I'm always driven by competition, aren't I?

Anyway, life has been interesting and busy -- roller coasters of ups & downs. We're in post-production for my documentary 'Upaj,' and racing against the clock for a deadline of March 18th for a screening that will be at the opening night of SFIAFF's San Jose portion of the festival -- with a Q&A by the artists themselves, and a Gala at the San Jose Museum of Art afterwards. Definitely an exciting event -- my first premiere of my own film!! But I haven't had time to think about that yet, since we're just working around the clock to make this film happen. Or more like, Hoku is working around the clock, and I'm facilitating as best as I can, between SF and LA.

So, maybe this would be an interesting period of time to write about. Coming back to this time months later may bring back memories that I will have long forgotten later on.

Celebrating 30 Years

I'm incredibly exhausted after an absolutely exhilarating week. I don't even know where to start talking about it!

I guess last week would be best ... when I found myself feeling overwhelmed with what all I had left to accomplish this week before the gala ... I forced myself to write down a to-do list of everything I needed to get done ... because I would start working on something, remember three other things I needed to do, and leave the first, never to come back to it again. My to-do list comprised of 12 action items ... some of which were simple 10 minute jobs ... the majority of which were tasks that would take 2-4 hours to complete. I asked myself 'When did I become such an integral part of Chhandam?' But it made me happy ... as my father would say 'Nice problem to have.'

As if that wasn't enough, on Tuesday (4 days before the show) Guru ji introduced some FANTASTIC new material in class -- a tarana in raga Hindol, on a 12 1/2 beat cycle. It was absolutely mind boggling, to be able to keep up with it. He turns to me and Seibi and says 'Yeah, you should learn this. I'm going to do this on Saturday.' I think went into a delusional giggle at that point.

At that point, I pretty much stopped eating and sleeping for the rest of the week. And I'm not even exaggerating about the eating part. I had never accompanied Guru ji on stage as a vocalist before. I've sat on the rug, playing manjira, doing backup vocals with the main vocalist, but never as a main vocalist. The fact that he even asked me to do that was such a TREMENDOUS honor. It inspired me beyond belief -- and I knew that I could do it ... and that's all I could think about for the next few days.

And then I don't know what got into me that I decided to burn the candle on both ends ... with the musicians being in town, my sister coming in from Seattle, my friend Alexis' 30th birthday ... I went out three nights in a row ... something I haven't done in YEARS. I really think that I was so anxious and had all this extra energy, that I needed to do something with it, so I just decided to kill myself with staying up late, since I knew I wouldn't be able to fall asleep anyway.

Saturday was such a wonderful experience. A sold out show in a beautiful 1,000 person auditorium like the Palace of Fine Arts. The lobby was bustling with activity as the dozens of volunteers arranged displays highlighting the last 30 years of Chhandam's history. Photos and posters that none of us had ever seen before -- like a poster of a concert of Pandit Das (at that time still referred to as just Chitresh Das) and Ust. Allah Rakha Khan sahib, where tickets were $2,3, and $4 ! What a tremendous history!

The opening trailer of the organization set the tone for the evening -- it showed an organization that was so much more than just dance. It's about empowerment, self-discovery, and working for our society, for our legacy. And what a better way to show that, than a performance by the Youth Company girls! The little 8 year old girls opened the show -- it was their first real performance (and what a stage to debut on!) -- and they were absolutely fantastic. As I watched from the side, Theo (pianist) came up to me and asked what beat cycle the Malkauns Tarana was in. I counted teen taal with him on the side, and he was flabbergasted by the laykari that these little girls were working with -- he was struggling to find sam through most of it! The older Youth Company girls came on ... and blew everyone away with their strength, elegance, grace, and their presence. It was such a wonderful transition, to see the younger girls dance, and then follow it up with the slightly older ones -- you got the sense of where the younger ones would be a few years from now. As they all got together on the stage in the final part of the Tarana (all 22 of them!) the audience was absolutely stunned by this -- and this was only the opening act. A thunderous roar of applause roared from all 1,000 people as the girls finished, with big smiles on their faces.

Mood Swings

I go from total boredom, listlessness and frustration ... to elation, purpose and motivation within minutes. That is what I mean when I say 'Guru gives light.' To the outsider, I may sound like a child, whose emotions are being easily manipulated ... but there's something to be said for 'positive manipulation.'

Anyway, for me, a simple sentence of encouragement will last me for weeks and weeks of positive energy, so I'll take it. And a sentence of discouragement ... will last me for weeks and weeks of 'I can prove you wrong, and therefore will work my butt off to do so.' So it's really a win-win situation now, isn't it?

Karmanye Vadhikaraste

Of course I didn't write while I was out in India ... there was so much going on, and had I actually written, it would have lent to some really great posts.

I've been back now, for over three weeks now. And nothing seems to be slowing down. As we creep up on our organization's 30th anniversary Performance & Gala, things are amping up at an exponential rate. And this is just a one night event ... I fear to think what it's going to be like when we are preparing for our Indian Classical Dance Festival -- Traditions Engaged ... which will be a 4 day event in SF, and a 3 day event in LA. I might lose a patch of hair, like my Guru-sister Seema did when planning our India tour!

Anyway, there are so many different areas to work on, and finding that focus and clarity is perhaps one of the biggest challenges right now. Last year, it was tunnel vision towards my solo. Having done that, now I am embarking on a path that has no set landmarks, no precedents to follow ... and so I am searching for that path ... there are ups, and there are downs, like in any quest. But I am believing more and more strongly in the philosophy of the Gita: Karmanye Vadhikaraste Ma Phaleshu Kadachana, Ma Karma Phala Hetur Bhurmatey Sangostva Akarmani.'

Translation: You have a right to perform your prescribed duty, but you are not entitled to the fruits of action. Never consider yourself the cause of the results of your activities, and never be attached to not doing your duty.

That, coupled with a strong faith in one's Guru ji -- and there is no sawaal (question), no jawaab (answer).

Touring with the Company

Yet another long hiatus for my blog! I head out for India tomorrow ... and as usual, I am slacking on the packing and completing the to-do list ... and instead am writing on a dead blog. I'm frankly not excited about going to India at all ... I've been there too many times in the last couple of years. But I am excited about touring with the Chitresh Das Dance Company! We'll be performing 2 shows in Kolkata, 1 show in Mumbai, Pune, and Bangalore. I've actually never been to Pune or Bangalore, though I imagine I will hardly see any of these cities, considering the Mumbai-Pune-Bangalore shows are on the 29th-30th-31st (respectively). It's going to be busy!! I'm also trying to coordinate a solo performance for myself in Delhi in the first week of February. That's the performance I'm most stressed out about, to say the least.

Ok, off to India ... I hope to try to post things while I'm out there!