Part 18

Balnoor snorted “No way!” He folded his arms and carried on “it would never work, you must be mad. Besides, I am a proud Indian man and proud Indian men would never stoop to that level!”

Tavleen glared at him and said “So you think that being a woman is a lower level, just like all those haughty rapist men in the old country?” “No, I didn’t mean it like that” he was on the back foot from her attack. I said “OK. Proud Indian Man, just take a look around the table and tell me what you see.”

He looked at us and said “I see five Indian girls, no, make that four Indian girls and one Anglo guy who looks like an Indian girl.” “And?” I said. “And what?” he asked. “How can you tell we are Indian girls?” He looked again and said “Well you look like they do.” I then said “What is it about us that screams Indian girl if you had never met us before? He looked at all of us and then said “It is your faces.”

I then said “So, you see five girls in jeans and colourful tops and the only way you say that we are Indian girls is because we look like It?” He nodded and I carried on “What do you not see here, Proud Indian Man?” He was at a loss so I bore in with the kicker “What you don’t see is the traditional dress of a submissive Indian girl in the presence of a proud Indian man.
We sit here in our jeans and none of us have a chunni within grabbing distance. You are now one of us and you didn’t even know it. Now, how about you? Where is your turban? How many kakar do you have with you today? I can see the kesh but it seems to be tied in a very fetching pony-tail this morning. I can see your kara on your wrist but I do not see a kirpan or a kangha and there is certainly no way you could have a pair of kach pants on under those skinny jeans.”

“I am sorry, I didn’t realise how our relationship had gone” he blushed as he spoke. I said “Don’t worry, old friend, the biggest problem for you wearing a burqa is learning to play the violin in it. We can work with your hands by painting your nails on the night and adding some fancy rings. If you had the veil on the only thing people will notice will be your gorgeous eyes, especially if we enhance the lids. The outfit will hide everything else and we may have to give you some boobs so that the drop of the dress hides your proud Indian belly and some control briefs would stop you giving your disguise away when we play the snake dance. That and the right shoes and you could walk through the Muslim quarter of town and the men would only wonder who the new woman is.”

“Snake dance? He queried. Tavleen laughed and told him that a sangeet that is fully traditional is women only as most men would be writhing on the floor and frothing at the mouth with some of the things that go on. “The snake dance is where we play the winds like a snake charmer and all the girls in the place dance like a snake. I thought that Geet handled herself very well when she saw it for the first time but I think that you may have a harder time of it, if you know what I mean. If you go with the flow we will have to practise the special tunes you would have never heard before.”

“To be privileged to see something like that may well make it worth shelving my pride” he admitted “but I must ask that you treat me well and not make a fool of me. I would never live it down.” We promised that his disguise would be ‘in the best possible taste’ and started planning. We had a few weeks and Husnia said that she worked with a couple of Muslim women and she would ask about where we could get the right outfit.

That sorted our next discussion was on what we wanted on our Dhawanee album and we talked about the best traditional tunes we could do. We did agree that the first track we would do would be a raga of about ten minutes which would start slow and easy and finish at a gallop. We wrote a list of those songs and, while we were about it, wrote a list of tunes we needed to teach Balnoor before the sangeet. I told him that he will have to get time off from Gaurav on the Thursday as we will need to leave at midday to do the show.

We relaxed for the rest of the day and then our busy week started on Monday morning. I had a call from Gaurav who asked me to accompany him to an Anglo wedding in two weeks, on a Sunday. He said that his parents were also invited and would pick me up at ten for the eleven ’o’clock wedding. He told me that Birgitta would be in touch about the correct dress as it was one of the civic dignitaries and would be an elegant affair. I made it to my appointment at the salon and was given a quick check-over; the girls having already been told about the society wedding and Birgitta had already booked us for the works on the Friday before. I would look extra nice for the show we had booked on that Saturday.

With my breasts firmly back where they belonged I did some window shopping in up-market dress shops and some actual shopping in my local Hi-Jet Supermarket to reload my depleted larder. In the late afternoon and evening I listened to all of the discs that I now had and wondered at the variety of the songs. Tuesday I did some cleaning and the laundry and then had a walk in the park before getting ready to go to our first session in the studio. Balnoor came over and parked his car and we all waited for Janet with the bus.

We were surprised to see Jack and Sheila with Salman at the studio when we went in and it was explained that Jack was considering helping with a tour promotion if it took off. Tavleen explained that we would do a raga first and that we wanted it to be the first and only take as it would reflect how our shows start. She told Tom that we wanted the album to sound ‘live’ so he should add some echo to the final mix to sound like we were in a hall.

We shooed the visitors out of the sound-proof studio and Tom set up the microphones saying he would just ask us for a sound check first. We played out instruments and did a la-la-la for him and then he told us to hit it. We did our usual opening raga starting with Husnia and then all of us adding our instruments before starting to mix the beat and complicating the tune. Tavleen was set up facing the rest of us and she could see a clock so, at about ten minutes in, she nodded her head and we all finished at the same time on a down beat.

Tom told us that he was happy and to carry on. Tavleen said that the next one was a love song and, when he gave us the ‘hit it’ we played that one. It was a mix of voices with Husnia and me singing it in duet as I did not have to do much on the dholaks. Tom asked us if we could do it again with Balnoor taking a longer solo in the middle so we did so and he said he was happy. We took about three takes to nail a dance number that had elements of an Arabian Night and I could see Sheila grooving in the control room.

We had a break and packed up our kit. Tom was in a conversation with Jack and he came over and pulled me to one side, asking “Gayle, would you mind if I gave a copy of your other session to Jack? I think that he would enjoy it”. I said I didn’t mind and then Janet took us home, telling us that it had gone well this evening and that she would see us Thursday.

Wednesday I had a call from Birgitta to tell me that we had an appointment with a dressmaker on Friday and that she would pick me up mid-morning. That evening we did a session in the hall to play Balnoor the tunes he needed to join in with at a sangeet; I think he was a little shocked at how sensuous they were. Thursday we had our second session with just Janet and Tom in the control room and we added another three tracks to the album. Friday I was taken to a very private dressmaker where I was measured and then spent some time looking at material with Birgitta adding he input. We both decided on our colours which would complement each other and Birgitta told me what the design will be. She was an old hand at society weddings so I just followed my future mother-in-law and her obvious good taste. Friday evening we had another sangeet practice session.

Saturday we did another reception. It was not truly traditional and we did need our western songs. I was starting to think that we would need to learn some more when we got the chance. Monday I caught up with housework, shopped and just relaxed. While I was shopping I dropped into a music store and picked up a love-song play-book with the words and music to about forty songs, a few that we were already doing. Tuesday we had our third session and added another three tracks and Wednesday I was back into the dressmaker with Birgitta for a fitting. I was told that we would have to be there again on Friday for a final model and then we could take our dresses away. Wednesday we had another practise with Balnoor wearing a grey burqa and gloves to get used to playing in them.

Thursday we had our fourth session and added another three tracks. Tom had done some post-production on our earlier takes and when he played them to us it did sound as if it had been recorded live. Friday was busy for me and Birgitta picked me up early to meet the dressmaker. We both looked very elegant in our dresses and when I asked how much mine would cost I was told that it had been taken care of. Birgitta told me that if I was to represent the family I had to do it properly and that she would make sure of it. At the salon we had the works and, hairless bodies tingling and new nail varnish glistening, I had to have my semi-permanent make-up seen to. Birgitta asked if I was happy to keep it and that I could go to a permanent solution if I wanted.

I agreed and when I walked out of there my face looked beautiful and would stay that way. They had done some extra with normal make-up and explained as they did it so that I could make myself stunning for special occasions and carried a bag with all that I needed to do it myself in future. I had better get that operation over and done with as I certainly could not go back now.

Marianne G 2021