Part 27
We had a quiet dinner that night, no grand affair, just normal clothes. The hotel people were still very attentive and the head waiter did say that he looked forward to serving me when I was back here for filming.
In the evening Aganee took me through the song lyrics. Because of the way Hindi is constructed, she had moved words to give a real meaning without losing the intent of the song. We just stayed at our table and she had me sing the words a few times and we had a small audience of waiters and waitresses who came by from time to time. I had sung it quietly for about the fourth time when one of the waiters came up and said “Excuse me, madam, but that is beautiful. We are so proud to be just on the edge of your talented singing. Normally we just get ignored and shouted at but here you are, sitting in full view and singing that wonderful song. We all congratulate you on your mastery of our second language.” I told him that I was no grander than he and his companions were and that I had picked up some of the cadence as the only Anglo in a tower block with three hundred Indians.
The staff then took us to their bosoms, so to speak, and the rest of our stay was exquisite, with the two of us treated like friends as well as queens. The following day we spent our time in the recording studio. The manager of that section was so happy with what we had come up with he wanted us to put down Hindi versions of the six other love song tracks on the Dhawanee CD. If it had just been the original one we could have gone home that afternoon but with the extras we were there for another two days. Aganee became well known as a language mentor and even some of the true Hindi speakers bowed to her knowledge as her Hindi was grounded in how it had been spoken over fifty years ago. Like all languages, it had moved on but the love songs sounded better in the older phrasing.
The tech cut us a few proof CDs of the Dhawanee album with the Hindi love songs and to see how it would work we got the dining room staff together just before they knocked off for the night and played these tracks to them. It was a success and we all went to bed happy. Our flight had been arranged for mid-morning so I was woken with a breakfast tray and two maids came in to pack my luggage while I showered. They had laid out a new outfit for me and when I left the room I was resplendent in a white A-line skirt with a white jacket and white low heels for travelling. To say I looked like a star about to fly off was not a long way from the truth. When I saw Aganee she had been outfitted in a midnight blue version of my outfit and she said that she had never been so pampered. With our luggage being carried by porters we were farewelled by the hotel manager and a lot of staff as we were taken to our helicopter. Once again we were in the air and flying over the city to the airport and home. It had been an interesting, frightening, amazing visit and I wondered what it would be like to drop back into the old ways and walking around without anyone bothering to even acknowledge me.
The two of us were in first class going home and when we came out of the immigration we were greeted by Guptar, Gaurav and the band. Janet had ordered a coach to move us around and, after Gaurav had almost eaten my face and really messed with my lipstick, we all piled in and headed home. They all wanted to know what we had done and Aganee explained about me adding Hindi tracks to the seven love songs and announced that I had passed my screen test. I told the band that Anudeep was trying to get the film rewritten so that the whole band had parts. I joked that I didn’t think it would be a Bollywood version of ‘A Hard Days’ Night’ but who knew what they would come up with.
At the house I took my bags up to my room and changed into jeans and top. Birgitta had set up the dining room to seat everyone and had been helped by Grette and her husband Guntaj, who I discovered was now an executive with the family company. While I had been busy, Guptar and Gaurav had been re-arranging things to allow them both more time with their families. Grette was now managing the big store and Guntaj was looking after the others in rotation with local managers. We all sat down for a meal and there was a lot of conversation going around the table. The other band members were over the moon with the trip and there was some discussion about the elephants and what they left behind.
“Elephants?” asked Grette. So I went and got my pack of DVDs and CDs and we all went into the lounge where three of them saw the film sequence for the first time. I was sitting on a settee cuddled up to Gaurav when the film clip played. I felt him stiffen when the final kiss was shown. I whispered “It is just a film, my darling, just a film. I believe there will be much more of that if they make the whole thing. You can be on the set then to make sure nothing happens that you don’t agree with.” We had to show the duet and the other love-song as well and it was odd, sitting here with the family and seeing me on the screen dressed to kill.
It had been a long day and Janet left with the band to take them home. Before she went she told me quietly that I should check my bank balance in the morning. Gaurav and I went somewhere quiet to lip-lock for a while before he went home and, after Grette and Guntaj had gone it left the four of us in the lounge sipping a bed-time drink. Birgitta told me that, as I would not be doing a sangeet I would be hosting a bridal shower at the local hotel but she didn’t expect it to be a rowdy event. The wedding was set for the Easter Saturday, just over two weeks’ hence, and that Janet had arranged for us to go to the seaside hotel two weeks after that to start rehearsing the show. Our wedding reception would be at a local hall and the Four Winds would be supplying the music after being guests at the wedding.
I asked if I could put in towards expenses as a thank you and Guptar said “We wouldn’t think of it. Our boy is marrying a wonderful girl and we can afford it all. Actually, during our time in India we found that as soon as we let on that we had been with Anudeep Dhawan and that our future daughter-in-law was singing with him we had a lot of doors opened to us that we had no idea existed. That trip alone is going to double our wealth over the next couple of years so it is us that need to thank you.”
I slept in the next day and was slow getting a simple breakfast. I then dressed in boots and jeans with a top and jacket and Birgitta drove me into town. She had made an open appointment for me to see the dressmaker about a wedding dress as well as a going-away / reception dress and we spent a couple of hours looking at designs, fabrics and colours. I was not going to wear white but went with a buttery cream. Grette and Tavleen had volunteered to be bridesmaids and they now could choose their dresses to suit mine, which would be a simple sheath without a train. Gaurav and the main men would be in a morning suit.
I was told that she had been allowed to see Gauravs apartment and had made a list of all the things he didn’t have that would be needed. Cooking utensils being totally absent they were the bulk of the list she had made for the bridal shower. She had been given a key and we went there after a light lunch to have a look at where my stuff would go. In the lobby James doffed his hat and said “Welcome, Miss Geet. It is good to see you back and I look forward to seeing a lot more of you in future.” Up in the apartment my first thing was to fully inspect the wardrobe space and reserve my section. I agreed that he must never cook and I wondered how much I would be able to do in the kitchen until all the hoo-ha calmed down.
That weekend I had a singing gig with the Four Winds to do and I spent the Saturday with them getting back into the groove. We played a big reception on the Sunday afternoon and it was good being up on a stage with couples dancing in front of me. I was getting little visions of the last time I had danced with a hundred professionals, was it just a week ago? Alan asked me if I could spend some time in the studio and we agreed that I would be there Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday but I needed Thursday for my bridal shower. If needed I could do some extra time over the weekend but the following week would be needed in preparing for the wedding under the guidance of Birgitta.
I took my discs with me on Monday morning and Tom had a big TV in his ‘green room’. I put them in and the guys were very positive about the love song and the duet. When I played the ‘elephant raga’, as I was calling it, they were totally gobsmacked and we played it again so they could take it all in. We then got stuck into what we were there for. Alan and his friend had been very busy and had come up with fourteen totally new songs “It’s a first for us as well” he said. His friend was a pretty good writer and we decided that one of his songs “So nice to be here’ would be the name on the CD and the opening number.
The band had been practising them so it just needed me to add the vocals with all the lyrics written for me. We worked on them in order and had four in the can by the end of the day. Tuesday we had another six and Wednesday we polished them off. Tom would have the post-production done by the middle of the week and he was very positive the CD would sell well.
Thursday afternoon we had the bridal shower and it was a great time. I was kissed and hugged and received a lot of presents. As well as the girls from the band there were the girls from the dress shop and the salon and even some of the girls from the big store turned up after they finished work. We all had a laugh about them now able to sing along with our album so we started singing the tracks acapella which turned into a singalong. We had a good buffet meal and a bit of drinking and it was a very happy group that staggered out into the evening. Birgitta had arranged for the hotel to store my gifts securely so we could pick them up on Friday. We had to go and hire a van for that!
Anudeep and his wife arrived on Friday afternoon and we picked them up with a hired limo. That evening we had arranged a dinner at home with Jack and Sheila coming as well as Janet and her husband. It was to be a bit of a business thing but that did not take long at all as much of it was already organised. Jack and Sheila were shown the three video clips and they were suitably amazed. Anudeep was his usual urbane self and he and Jack got on like a house on fire. Jack had now released and promoted the first of the albums and was on the cusp of putting out the second and they discussed likely interviews that could be arranged. This left us girls to talk about other things, which we found we could do very easily.
Marianne G 2021
