Ann Arbor, known locally as A2

I've spent the last two weeks in our new home sorting out housing, visiting campus, and just getting to know Ann Arbor ... and I gotta tell you... I love love love it here!

THERE ARE SO MANY TREES!

I know this should have gone without saying with a name like Ann Arbor, but it didn't really dawn on me until I got here ... and saw how seamlessly University of Michigan's Arboretum and Botanical Gardens blended into the surrounding park area.

This is not a city by any real stretch - you can cover the entire town by car in about 15min. That said, because of the university, there is such a diversity of shops and entertainments in downtown. I mean, for crying out loud there are two Ethiopian restaurants! Between concerts at bars, plays and musical performances at the university, and several museums (art, natural history, EVEN musical instrument!) ... we're at no loss for art and culture. Who knows, we may actually do more stuff than we ever did in NY because we'll be able to find out about it (and it won't cost an arm and a leg).

Never at a loss for something to do

My school, is in a brand new building ...which means updated (and not abused) classrooms and facilities. SCORE!


This is what our grad lounge looks like ... I know, all you NYU Music grads are jealous ... honestly, you should be (I've seen what the dump you call a grad lounge looks like)


For my first week in town, I was just running around doing apartment shopping ... which was probably the best way to learn my way around town. I lucked out* and found us a great, largish, apartment next to West Park. West Park is beautiful and also (interestingly) renovated - apparently it has been closed for the last year an a half while they redesigned the layout.

We'll be living, literally, right next door to this

Also - they have a community garden in the park. I've already started inquiries to see if Allen and I can get a plot.

Did someone say "homegrown vegetables"?

To continue gushing about our new apartment, we'll be within walking distance of my building (2omins walking, 3 driving), the food coop, and the local farmers market. Oh! And downtown area.... yeah, seriously, what else could we really ask for.

I've only been in A2 for two weeks now ... but I can already tell it is living up to the expectations our friend Ben gave us when he told us that "the worst thing about Ann Arbor is that sometimes it is just too perfect"
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* I say lucked out because - no joke - apartments for the Fall semester start becoming available as of Jan ... ie people start locking in their leases for the upcoming school year in Jan. I feel very fortunate to have found the place that I did.

A New Do!

So I took the plunge shortly after getting back and chopped off all my hair. Two years of growth (nearly down to my butt) was getting to be a little heavy and annoying for my taste.



I measured these "beasts" dry and they were nearly a half a pound (imagine how heavy they must have been wet!).

Its so good to see my curls again ... instead of having them tied down in a braid all the time.

Allen gives a talk at the IIC in Delhi

Last Friday, Allen gave a lecture on his fieldwork and preliminary dissertation findings at the India International Center in Delhi.

He said that his talk was very well received and he got a lot of constructive feedback on his work. This lecture was also the "world premier" of a 15min documentary we made of the tabla makers' shops and artisan skills... future productions, hopefully, will include the work of the other material producers (wood workers, leather workers, etc).

Below was the description that was sent out announcing the talk, for your perusal.d

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As a part of the ongoing AIIS-IIC lecture series, AIIS will be organizing the 18^th lecture on Friday, June 17^th, 2011at 6.30 pm at IIC Conference Room no.1. Mr. Allen Roda, Ph. D Candidate in Ethnomusicology at the New York University will be talking on ‘Making of Banaras Tabla A brief synopsis of his talk is given below. Noted Tabla artist Dr. Aneesh Pradhan has kindly agreed to chair the talk.

Synopsis:

The primary site of analysis for musical production is often thought of as a performance either on a stage or in a studio. In the instrument building workshop, performances of a different nature have profound impacts on the sounds produced in these other settings. From the qualities of wood, leather, iron powder, and brass, to consistencies of pressure in the hands, arms, and fingers of the makers, countless variables contribute to the production of each and every tabla built in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, North India making them each unique in and of themselves. Through an exploration of the materials involved in tabla making, the networks of craftsmen whose hands they pass through, their effect on the final product and the artistry through which they are rendered into their final form, this paper explores sonic capacity as a commodity which is scripted onto objects and exchanged in the form of a musical instrument. In short, customers do not shop for drums, but for the sounds those drums are capable of making. Subsequently, getting “the right sound” is negotiated through performances of players and makers on the workshop stage and variations in hands and ears play an important role in that negotiation.

Dr. Aneesh Pradhan:

Dr. Aneesh Pradhan started his training in tabla at an early age. A disciple of the revered tabla maestro the late Pandit Nikhil Ghosh, Aneesh has gained recognition both as a soloist and an accompanist to vocal and instrumental music as well as dance. In addition to being an accomplished performer, Aneesh was awarded a doctoral degree in History from the University of Mumbai. A successful composer, Aneesh has also written on music and has been involved as a contributor to and editor for websites on Indian music.

Aneesh remains a keen student of music, despite the acclaim he has received over the years from the cognoscenti and general public and by way of awards like the scholarship for advanced training in tabla instituted by the Government of India and the Aditya Birla Kala Kiran Award.

Aneesh has performed extensively and has been featured at major events nationally and internationally. He has also participated in several cross-cultural musical collaborations, prominent among which were his performances as part of the Asian Fantasy Orchestra since 1998 and his interaction as composer and performer with the Ensemble Modern of Frankfurt. Prominent among his concerts overseas are the Second Biennial Oriental Festival in Martinique, Melbourne Festival and World of Music Festival in Brisbane, Australia . Aside from his performing distinctions, Aneesh Pradhan has been artist-in-residence at the University of New England, Australia, and on the visiting faculty of the Music Department, University of Bombay.

He along with Shubha Mudgal is co-director of Underscore Records, a label and a website on Indian music which also hosts the Baaja Gaaja festival, both initiatives which celebrate Indian music in all its diversity.

Odd culture shock

I'm back in the States! I left India super early Monday morning; got in to NJ around noon; had two days with the folks and some errand running in NYC; and now I'm happily in Ann Arbor, MI looking for housing for next school year.

I'm very happy to be back. It was great seeing my family (even if only for a little while - I'll be back soon!). And visiting my home away from home - NYC - was a real treat.

But I've been giggling for the last couple of days about my "culture shock". Honestly, I haven't felt frustrated in the way I was expecting (maybe that will come later?) ... but rather, I'm getting a little thrown off by small differences.

The silliest, by far, is that America's light switches are "backwards" for me now.

In India, to turn a switch on, you press the bottom half of the switch; sometimes, the top part which will now be sticking out from the wall even has a red light on top that lets you know the power is now on.

In the States, it is the opposite.

So, embarrassingly, a couple of times I've walked into a room in my parents house and wasn't exactly sure how to turn on the lights because the way they were already positioned said "off" to my brain.

LOL!

I guess I should be pretty thankful that this is, seemingly, the worst of my culture shock so far!

Goodbye Banaras

So, this video has only needed Delhi speed internet for me to finally post it ... but I made this as a way to show you all a little of what our life was like in Banaras. You will walk through the main road back to our flat in one of the gullies.

Our Banarasi Home from Nikki on Vimeo.

Today is my last day in India ... but this won't be the end of our India posts*

Some other posts to look forward to are a video of our life up in the mountains of Mussoorie and a close out reflection of the last year in India.

USA here I come!

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* Mostly because Allen is in Mussoorie for another month...

Cheating-Wheating Sari Tying

So as I was getting ready to come back to the United States, I realized that I would be lost if I tried to tie any of my beautiful saris by myself. I'm man enough to admit it, I'm a lost cause when it comes to sari-tying.

So, I'm going to let you in on my new cheating-wheating sari tying secret: get them pre-tied.

What does that mean? Well, I tell you.

You go to a skillful tailor who will make a skirt out of the 9 yards of fabric, pleats and all… with some extra fabric left over for your stylish pullu. That way any idiot can put it together (like me!)

Start with wrapping the skirt...


... with some buttons and hooks in place to hold up the folds (also they provide a little extra wiggle room in case you eat too much at the wedding you're at)

With the skirt in place (and no threat of falling apart!), now all you have to do is wrap a stylish pullu



… and no one is the wiser!
I had mine made by Mrs. Amarjit Bahl - a fabulous tailor (and wonderful lady) based in Defense Colony in Delhi.

I'll add her contact details at the end of this post for anyone else adventuresome enough to liberate themselves from troublesome sari tying!

Studio Pride
Mrs. Amarjit Bahl
C-93 Defense Colony, New Delhi 110024
Moble: 9810625205; 9810235062
email: pride-impex@eth.net

Tech Support

Nikki giggled at me the other day, because I was giving tech support to a friend in Banaras in Hindi about a windows machine that runs in English. There were so many levels of translation going on that I am sure a lot was lost.....