Part 14
Monday morning was cool and overcast so after I had showered I put on a plain, but thicker, salwar kameez and boots. I had breakfast and then put on a coat and my chunni to go and find the bus that would take me to the salon.
When I got there the girl that had fitted my falsies worked carefully to remove them. While she worked she told me that she had been at the reception on Saturday evening and that she thought that we were a wonderful band of girls. She said that all of her friends there had a great time drinking and dancing and that a couple even said they would try to book us if they could afford it. She rubbed my chest with salve and took the falsies away to properly clean them. When I had put my bra back on and slipped them into the cups it felt right but a bit different.
As I was going to pay she said that everything was taken care of by Birgitta and that she had left me a note. When I read the note I saw it was an address of a café a couple of blocks away with a time that looked like I had just enough time to walk there. When I got to the café I saw Birgitta and Aganee inside and I went in and they greeted me warmly and asked me to sit. They looked serious and I wondered what was up. I found out when Birgitta told me that she had a cousin in the security business and that he had followed us to Gauravs’ ‘love shack’ where we stayed for nearly two hours.
I decided to be totally open and said “He wanted to show me his secret hide-away and I thought it was beautiful. He told me he loved me and that he wanted it to be our home. We talked for a long time and I relieved his pressures by giving him oral sex. Beyond that, nothing happened of any note.” Aganee laughed out loud and said “Oh, you are so precious, to have given my grand-son a blow job and just carried on as if nothing happened. I am certain now that you will be a welcome addition to the family.” Birgitta nodded and said that she was sorry that they had done this but that they had to test his resolve. I told them that his resolve was hard but there was one bit of him I found harder.
We had morning tea and I asked them how long they had known about his man-cave. Birgitta told me that he had failed to notice that one of the clerks in the real estate office when he bought it was a distant cousin. She said that it was his one failing of being a progressive man was that he failed to see some of the detail that the knowledge of the traditional gave you. After the meal I went to an electrical store and bought a cheap DVD player, with the connecting cables to add it to the TV set. In an Indian record store I was looking for any of the Bollywood movies that Anudeep had been in but could not see any. When I asked about it I was told that they did not have any but they did have a disc of one of his recent shows if I was interested. I bought it and took them home.
That afternoon I connected up the player and watched the DVD. He was, I thought, pretty good on stage. I sent a text to the girls to come to my place after work and I would order some take-away to be delivered. When they were all assembled and we had eaten our take-away curries I told them that I had been busy and showed them the DVD. Afterwards Kajari said “Wow. He is pretty good. If we could do the right thing with him we could be able to tour the home country with him.” I gave them the DVD and Jenianna said that she could make copies and give them to the other girls.
I told them that tomorrow morning I was expected at the studio to listen to the masters of his latest album to see if we could add backing and, perhaps, some duet work. When they left they all gave me a hug and Tavleen told me that my day had achieved more than hers and she got paid for that. That night, in bed, I found it hard to sleep without the comfort of my breasts. In the end I put a bra on and slipped the falsies in and then was able to sleep.
Tuesday I went to the recording studio. I asked the guy if he had heard any of the songs that would make good duets and he played me four. We worked on those with me hearing the voice and backing in one ear with my own coming back to me in the other. After about three hours getting it right we had the four songs on tape and he played them back to me with the male voice muted when I sang except for the verses that he overlaid mine in a true duet. I thought it sounded good but, there again, I was a bit biased.
I went out to a café for lunch and then went back to listen to the other ten tracks of the first master. There was about eight that would have to be his solo songs but we then worked on the two that I thought may work. By the end of the afternoon the tech had made a CD for me with the six songs on and another for Salman to listen to. He had lowered the volume of the orchestra so you got the full effect of the singing. He congratulated me when it was time to leave and told me that if we did do a tour it would be a hit. We made an appointment for me to come back on Thursday to work on the second master.
Wednesday I listened to the six songs on the CD again and memorised the words, did some cleaning up around the place and some more laundry. In the afternoon I did some shopping, getting in supplies in case the band came back to my place after practise. I had a light tea and was ready with my dholaks in their bags when Tavleen tapped on my door. I joined the rest of them in the lift and we went out to walk to the hall. Balnoor was almost on the balls of his feet he was so wound up. At the hall Tavleen opened up and we went in, locking the door behind us.
I had told everyone on the way over that I had laid down a few duets and that I would play them the CD later but now what we had to do was to see if Balnoor was up to the task. I knew he was a good player when he relaxed as I had seen him cut loose at a couple of parties. I took him to one side and said “Dear friend, you will be all right if you just relax. This is not a make or break session, just a get to know you one. We will start by just playing a raga and you should add the violin as you feel ready for it. This is the way I was brought into the band and I can tell you that, if you play with your heart, you will find yourself being better than you ever were before.”
So that is what happened. We started with Husnia on the sarod and I came in, along with Jenianna on the tanpura to lay down a steady foundation and Kajari came in with her bansoori with Tavleen following on the shehnai. Balnoor waited several bars before closing his eyes and joining us with the violin. He had allowed himself to absorb the music and he did not open his eyes when we started mixing the beat and going a bit faster. The more complicated the raga got the better he played and I could see all of the girls being captivated at our new sound. Finally, Tavleen called a count down and we finished on the final note. When Balnoor opened his eyes there were tears running down his cheeks and he was not able to speak. Tavleen was first to give him a hug and the rest of us followed.
We called time out and put the kettle on for a break. Balnoor seemed embarrassed at showing his emotions and he was told that we all felt the same and that there were no barriers when we were alone. He was told that he played as we wanted him to, with his heart and soul, and that everything else didn’t matter. He said that he had amazed himself as he had played like he had dreamed of playing and it took a good band to bring it out. After we rinsed our cups we went back and did a couple of love songs so that he could get the idea of what he could add to them and then Tavleen said it was early finish as it had been a bit too emotional tonight. We packed our kit and walked back to the block and I took them all to my rooms where I put the kettle on again before playing them the six songs I had recorded yesterday.
They listened carefully and, when the songs had finished, Husnia said that she could hear us playing the backing in her head and it definitely needed violin. The rest agreed that it would be a lot more traditional than Bollywood with us behind it which would allow an album to be issued as a different take on the same songs. I told them that I was needed in the studio tomorrow to listen to the second master but the tech there was pretty good at picking out the right songs for a duet version. Again, Jenianna took the CD, saying that she would do copies. She pulled the copies of the DVD out of her bag and gave us one each.
When the rest of the girls had gone home I was left with Balnoor and Tavleen and I asked how his first week at his new job had gone. “Great” he said “Gaurav has been very good in getting his people to show me the ropes and I have started to get a handle on my department. He runs a tight crew there and they all love him, but I have been told that he has been more loveable since he met you. He does pester me sometimes about our past but I have told him that, although we lived in the same block and spoke, the only times you played with us was when our regular dholak player was sick. I had to say that as we were a bearded male band, you would have found it hard to fit in.”
We chatted for a few minutes longer and then Tavleen pulled him away to get some horizontal jogging in before he went home. I thought that the evening had gone down very well and that the band was evolving, Tomorrow would see the second master and I hoped that there were some good songs on that as I had really enjoyed singing the duets and was looking forward to performing them live, if it all came to be.
Marianne G 2021
