Hello everyone!
Today marks the last month of our ten month stint in India.  We leave Kolkata on June 22 and Delhi on June 23rd and although we're looking forward to all of the things home will bring, we're trying to treasure the last month here.  

So many things have been happening.  Last night was Aakash's final (he thinks) performance in Kolkata before we leave.  He played in a quartet with his friend from Tasmania, Julius.  Julius and Aakash met last summer in Banff and he came to Kolkata for three weeks to hang out and write music.  They performed and studio recorded four tunes and it was really great to have him visit.  He leaves Sunday.  

My work came to an end with the performance of The Wizard of Oz on May 10th.  (I can't remember if I wrote about the final performance, so sorry if I'm repeating myself.)  They kids were absolutely incredible and all of their hard work really paid off in a wonderful show.  They lighting and mics were all very big in a very Indian way, and the kids handled the constant lasers and smoke that kept occurring very well, especially since there was never any dress rehearsal!  The students were also extremely grateful to me and showered me with beautiful homemade gifts and poems.  One student even drew me a picture of a singer sitting on top of a coconut and singing "I LUV DAAB!"  It's really touching how much they'll all miss me, but I am happy to report that I now have four private voice students from Dolna (and five students total!)  I also had a group of six friends (Aakash and my sister including) who came to the show which I really appreciated.  Here's a recording I made of the students singing a cappella in rehearsal.

Aakash and I visited my favorite daabwalla today and were super saddened and shocked to find that he had cut his left middle finger really badly.  (Job hazard I suppose.)  Although he didn't cut his finger all the way down to the bone (like my friend Matt did), it was definitely a deep cut.  It was pretty swollen and the finger was red from the bleeding.  Another guy was there cutting daab for him.  Aakash and I asked him if he needed anything and ending up bringing him some antibacterial wipes and a roll of bandage.  He started cleaning himself up as we left and I'm frankly not even convinced he had washed or cleaned it at all since he had cut himself yesterday.  It didn't look infected yet, but I'm definitely going to bring him more antibacterial wipes tomorrow.  Just an example of the life of many of the people who live in this country.

That basically sums up the past few weeks for me.  Aakash and I are trying to decide what we want to do in our last month.  We're planning a trip to Shantiniketan as well as a few more "explore Kolkata adventures."  I'm also hoping to spend a little more time on my cycle, but all of these activities are difficult because the temperature has been over 40º (104º F) most days the past few weeks.  Not to mention the humidity.  There's no denying we're looking forward to cooler temperatures in the states!

I hope you're all doing well and finding success in what you're doing.  Know you're in our thoughts and we're looking forward to seeing many of you in a month or so!

Hello everyone!
Aakash and I had a very wonderful Christmas season filled with wonderful family, friends, and food.  Teresa, Aakash's mom, arrived in Kolkata on Dec. 21st, just in time to see my new choirs perform at the Christmas Fete.  I'm so proud of all the hard work the students did, memorizing over ten songs in less than four weeks.  The teachers and parents seemed to love the performances, especially the songs with motions, of course.  Instead of one big concert, the two choirs alternated singing every half hour, so they could also enjoy the festivities.  But the school's founder, Auntie Maushi, wanted us to sing for longer, so we repeated favorites and prolonged the music.  (The senior choir sang Joy to the World at five times- even twice in the same set.)  There is no doubt it was a success.  The students were very gracious and gave me an absolutely exquisite handmade card.  I'm looking forward to working with them again.

The first full day Teresa was in town, we took a two hour car trip to see Aakash perform with Tanmoy Bose at a Bengali book fair outside the city.  The excursion lasted almost twelve hours and definitely felt not worth it, until the band FINALLY went on after nine p.m.  It was such an exciting wonderful show. Not only did they perform with Tanmoy Bose's regular band, they also performed with some Baul singers (prounounced bowel).  You can see a short clip here.  Baul singers are Bengali traveling minstrels, who live off the food, clothes, and donations given to them for their music.  It was absolutely incredible.  And I got some English books for Christmas gifts at the bookfair!

The next day, we again met Aakash's teacher for lunch, and while Teresa accompanied Aakash to his lesson, Cole and I visited Victoria Memorial.  The highlight of that excursion was when two school girls approached us to ask where we were from and see if they could take a photo with us.  We were more than surprised when after saying yes, we found ourselves surrounded by over a dozen girls in uniform in perfect formation for the photo.  Oh India.  

On the 28th, I flew to Hyderabad for a few days to meet my parents and spend some time with family.  I was there to celebrate both Indu and Venkat and Prashu and Clara's anniversary.  It was special to be there since I actually remember both weddings!  Unfortunately, as we left, the entire crew in Hyderabad was sick, as was my dad and eventually my mom.  

Dad and I spent an afternoon visiting Bishop's College, which turned out to be in the north side of the neighborhood I live in.  Although I had apparently visited the college in 1993 when I was six, it was all new to me.  We wandered through the entire campus and library, and even found his name inside some of the old college chronicles. Although there's now a new building and a flyover right next to the college, it seems as though most things are still the same.  It was definitely one of the highlights of their trip for me.

Anyways, it was truly wonderful having so many visitors come, but I must admit it's nice to get back to the regular swing of things.  Work is going well. I am starting to prepare my classes for a function (or program) in May, as well as audition and get started on the Wizard of Oz, which I'll be doing with students in Class VI-XI.  Besides that, I'm just working on getting my house back to it's normal working condition and finding time to hang out with friends.  Aakash was in Delhi over the weekend to perform at the AIIS conference.  He said it went well and I'm looking forward to seeing the video.  
I hope you are all doing well, and I give you kudos if you were able to make it to the end of this extremely long email.  Know that you are in my thoughts often and I wish you all a happy, healthy, and wonderful 2014!

Love,
Jayanthi

Hello everyone!
I hope you are able to find a moment to relax and enjoy the approaching holidays.  Life in Kolkata has become extremely busy for me.  As I said in my last email, I began working at Dolna Day School.  The school has three classes below Class I for two, three and four year olds, through Class XII.  Each week, I see Upper Nursery (the three year olds) through Class VII for forty minutes as well as a Junior and Senior Choir which I see three days a week.  Although teaching is exhausting, particularly in a school that is not the culture I am use to, I am really happy to be back in the classroom.  I am already developing a special relationship with students and teaching them really energizes me.  

I can't say it's all peaches and cream though.  There are so many things I am not used to and so many things that shock me about this school.  For example, there is not one quiet signal used in this school.  Teachers will just yell at students if they're too loud (which is, ahem, very effective...) so I'm putting a lot of time into teaching and training students to respond to quiet signals.  I began working at the beginning of December and today is the Christmas Fete, which as far as I can tell is a big Christmas Carnival.  Each of my choirs will be singing 10-12 songs throughout the Fete.  Yesterday, our rehearsals went really well and I am very proud of the hard work they put into memorizing and doing various musical things I ask of them.  I am, however, looking forward to January when I can really start with basic singing skills.  The upcoming performance forced me to focus on memorizing and learning songs, rather then technique.  Students did make lots of improvements and I think they are enjoying working with me just as much as I am with them.  I made all my choir students (13 in Junior Choir, 45 in senior choir) all name tags because I cannot keep them straight and I am pleased to report not a single choir member lost their name tag!

Aakash has been busy playing with lots of people.  A few nights back he performed with a group for the Kolkata classical guitar festival and tomorrow he's playing with Tanmoy Bose's band, Taltuntra.  He's currently en route home from the airport, where I am hoping he found his mom!  Teresa will be visiting us through January 2nd, and we're looking forward to her visit.  

In addition to the Christmas Fete and Teresa's visit, we've also been busy preparing for Christmas and Aakash's birthday.  I'm excited because Cole Paulson, one of our good friends from high school, recently moved to Delhi and he'll be coming to Kolkata for Christmas.  We're throwing a party on December 24th for our friends who will be in town and I am looking forward to singing Christmas songs.  Cole will be here in time for the party which is exciting.  For those of you who don't know Cole, we have been in plays and choirs together since middle school, so I've been singing Christmas sings with him every year for almost fifteen years.  If you can't tell, we're excited he'll be joining us.

My friend Matt bought me a dab Christmas tree.  Dabs=coconuts.  Basically, if you hack of the branch of a dab tree and remove the dabs, it looks like a cactus Charlie Brown Christmas tree.  It's very beautiful.  Once we get it fully decorated, I will share pictures!

I guess I haven't written since I went to the Sunderbans with Matt and Alec.  It was an absolutely incredible trip, and very close to Kolkata.  We traveled by train and bus for two hours, and hired a boat to live on for two nights.  We spend the next few days zigzagging around islands in the Ganga delta, looking for wildlife and drinking Dab.  (Between the three of us, we drank almost 50 dab.  It was awesome.) We didn't see any tigers (even our guides, who've lived there all their lives have only seen tigers three times), but we saw a crocodile and some incredibly beautiful birds.  It was amazing to be in such a peaceful, open, isolated place after being in Kolkata for so long.  It reminded me a lot of NY's finger lakes. There were narrow and wide parts of the rivers, and at times you could only see the land to the right and left, but not in front or behind you.  Each night, the boat anchored to the dock (and by dock, I mean the muddy space to the side of the river) of the village our driver and cook live in.  Both nights, they brought us into their village and we were able to walk around.  We had to take off our shoes and roll up our pants because walking through the muddy dock meant we would sometimes sink up to our knees.  The villagers were very friendly and inquisitive to the three videshi's (foreigners) walking around their home.  It was the most underdeveloped area Alec and Matt had ever been to in India and it reminded me a lot of Dornakal (the village my dad's from).

Anyways, I guess I'll leave it at that.  Please know you are all in Aakash and my thoughts, especially during the holiday season.  I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year.  Hope to talk to you all soon!

Love,
Jayanthi