Sunday, December 09, 2007

Update on the Singapore concert

Quite a raging flu and on the road to recovery. And the road to recovery does not leave me much energy to do great things. So I am here to blog and give you useless facts about what happened at my concert in Singapore.
So post my AKK on friday, I auto-ed straight to the airport to find that the flight was delayed by an hour. And we waited around and our humble troupe of five finally boarded. Once in, I was wondering whether I could get some shut eye but they were playing Machakaaran inflight, so decided to watch it. And somewhere at the 30-oddth minute it stopped and started right from the beginning. And then again it stopped. I was not gonna go through watching the same portions again and again so eventually we all started playing musical chairs. Not literally. But figuratively. We started yapping and taking pictures and videos and whatnot. And then I finally mustered enough courage to talk to Manorama Aachi who was in the same row as us.
It has always been the case with me. I can't muster enough courage to go and say hello to someone I don't know, or to someone I have been introduced once. She was sweet and very friendly.
Singapore, amazing the way they have planned that small city, and maintained all the greenery. After settling down at the hotel, the organizers met us, went through the song list and we settled down for the day. Most times mom and I look forward to my concerts out of town because that is when we get some decent rest. The following morning we had to get some media interviews done and we headed to the venue for a sound check. I had issues with the sound initially because for anyone, it takes time to tune-in to the my voice. Not an easy one to mix I guess. But the guy finally did get it right. After the concert we headed to the Night Safari and we took the last tram around the forest. Quite nice I would say. Saw some species I have not seen before. And decided I would have to take some kinda crash course on photography. With a Nikon D80 I had no decent pictures of the animals. Guess clicking away at night requires skill!
We headed to Mustafa shopping center to see what all the hype was about. Even in the dead of the night there was a helluva lot of activity. But then again, vegetarianism and the world, still seem to run on parallel roads.
Next day was the day of the concert. We just stayed in and prepped for the show and finally headed to the venue at about 5 in the evening. This concert had some 15 ministers and there was a enough and more protocol to be followed. I was supposed to get my make up done at the venue. So when we reached there, I am told that I have 10 minutes to go up. Did quite a job of applying the war paint quickly and went on stage without brushing my hair. Ah well! And after that came down and did the needful. Krish was the next to perform and saw that he has a way with the crowd. Naveen was next and with "aadungada enna suthi" everyone was raring to go. Sowmya performed "chandralekha", it got her a lot of plaudits on Super Singer and here it was no different. She really does a great job with that song. We danced, sang, performed and the four of shared great vibes on stage. And it was non competitive :) The mutual admiration society and fun was what was top most in our minds. And it showed. The crowd was about 8000 strong and that was supposed to be quite a feat because the concert was outside of the city and there was too much security due to the Ministers attending the concert.
Once the show was over I headed backstage and I must say that I had one of the best dinners in the recent past. Maybe because it was the third day and both mom and I hadn't really eaten anything of great taste. That way, I must say, Malaysia is much better as long as food is concerned, than Singapore.
The next morning we packed up, loaded the bags in the cars and headed out to Sentosa. We were longing to get to the Fish spa at Underwater World, what with so much said about it.
Once at Sentosa, we went on the Luge, Skyrail, The Skytower, Underwater world and the disappointment was when we knew that the Spa was fully booked. Our hearts broke. And they are still not mended :( We also saw a museum chronicling the history of Singapore. That was quite brilliant.

We took the cable car back to Mount Faber and the car came to pick us to drop us at the next destination - Sim Lim tower. We met a group of wonderful girls in Singapore who helped us around. Sheetal, Nandini, Smriti, Shrti, Wanitha. Nothing like hanging out with happy-go-lucky girls. And one thing they all shared was their expressiveness. They all go wide-eyed and theatrical in a nice way when they talk. Not something that we see too often with all the play-it-down kinda attitude that we are stuffed with as we grow up. I ran around that place to get some things, and eventually ran out of time. I also spoke to some long lost friends who had settled down in Singapore. And headed to the airport.

Let me add a quite word about the discounts here.. Underwater world has a 20% discount on the ticket if you hold a citibank card, and Night safari will give you, 30% off on the tickets if you flew Singapore Airlines. And yes you needed your boarding pass.

The flight was an hour late again. I picked up some M.A.C cosmetics at the airport, me being me, I am always running out of war paint. And nothing quite works like the M.A.C.
I have always complained about the way people tend to misspell and mispronounce my name. It has been everything from Sinmai, to chinna mayil, sinna mai, chiang mai (yes of thailand!!). My name was once split, quite conveniently by my Chinese translator, to Chin-May-Yi and she wrote to me in Chinese. I had to write back to say Hi lady, I don't Chinese yet.
But the best I would say was Krish. No one quite got the hang of his name. From Kreeees to - Hold your breath - Grease :D

Once we reached our terminal, he said from hereon, Finally!! I am Krish ..
Naveen though generally quiet, he is the silent damager. And Sowmya had her own antics up her sleeve. Her style of speech was enough to get us all started. And she safely kept quiet throughout the trip. Once she 'lost' her phone and we called the number and it went to a local singaporean. Paavam that girl got lambasted. And it only dawned on us later that Sowmya's phone was not on International roaming. And the girl found the phone in her bag. *Sigh*

The flight back home was mostly uneventful except for the fact that I was queasy and the whole flight seemed to notice that. Someone handed be an air-sickness bag and until I got into the restroom it was quite something. Probably I was tired with all the running around in Sentosa or what I have no idea. I have never been air-sick before and there were some 'kind' souls who kept asking if I had thrown up 'well'. It continued all the way to immigration when random people asked "did you throw up well?". I for one, was quite flummoxed and had no idea how to respond to that. All I could do was just nod. And then there was advise on what to do if I did get air-sick. I thought I was quite unobtrusive when I did walk up to the restroom but then it seems I was not good enough.
Once home, mom and I fell sick and Aahaa Kaapi Klub has an RJ who sounds like her nose has been run over by a road roller. Voice modulation is the spice of life!

29 comments:

Karthik Murali said...

What a eventful trip that is..
glad to know that u get the time to see the wonderful city also apart from the busy concerts ...
and from my memory, i guess photography is kinda restricted during the nite safari rite..

but then , this detailed post relives my experience out there last year
and it sure is amazing .
good luck and wish u for more awesome tours like these ...

Anonymous said...

Such a long one to read...U need to make sure that ur blog is short enough so that the readers will be bothered to read on.....Good that you expressed ur views but it is just too long !

Srini said...

u ve got nikon d80
it will be really coool if u put up some fotos of the trip in this article.

srini

Chinmayi Sripada /Chinmayee said...

anonymous: sorry boss. but thts the only way I can write posts on my concerts.. :)
Nina: my photography is no good really :)

Anonymous said...

Hi Chinmayi,

It is very nice to know about Singapore concert. You are full of life.It would have been nice, if there were some good pictures to upload.
Hope you and your mom get better soon.Take care

SARAS said...

hai ma
when can we see the photos. All the best

தமிழனின் கனவுகள் said...

she can write payana katturai in article that much big....any how nice too...
we didnt get her autograph this time in singapore..any how ...we will try next time...
but this one is like govt show...may be next time more rocking

Karthick said...

Good to know about singapore concert. Really you inspire and aspire many by your mutli-talented skills :)...Keep Growing...

BTW, Take care, take care of your plus your mom's health too as "The more you are healthier the more concert would come in"..

SHEETAL AMBAR said...

Hahahha Akka.. I think I must atleast lost 1kg after running ard with u and after u.. I think it must have been that late night ice creams u had that made u sick.. hahahah Hahah Hope u and aunty get well soon.. I think chennai will miss ur hyper activeness other wise.. Hhahahaha

Vasanthan said...

i am sorry that the Singaporean food didn't meet your expectation.
Singapore is seriously a food paradise and its official that our favorite pass time is eating.

i think its the vegetarian part that we failed.
next time you come to Singapore you should try the bud dist mock meat dishes. they are strictly vegetarian, they don even take milk! the main ingredient is soybean and bean curd the dishes are made to look like fish, chicken and all other meat. it tastes and feels like them too. but it is not meat.

"Malaysia is much better as long as food is concerned, than Singapore."

This is a great insult..i like many Singaporeans are sad and willing to prove that wrong.

Vasanthan said...

i didn't have a problem with the long post. i was quite happy that it was long. maybe because it was about Singapore.i love my motherland!

Ashwini said...

lol..i jus came across knowing that u had a blog..jus wanted to tell u were looking hot babe during the show in s'pore..all d best to u



-Ashwini-

Anonymous said...

Huh, long but interesting. Chinmayi you are really superb, not only in singing, in writing too. Aruthi

Shalini Gowrisankar said...

Nice post.. Hope you get well soon.. im planning a trip to Singapore this Jan 08 and the info you had put was quite useful . Take care!

Manie said...

Hey Chinmayee

i understand that u people had a awesome experince..
great going, tel ur sweet friend not to pretend as though she lost her mobile,...
infact i would have got her a new one, if she would lost it.....

cheerz

all the best fot the forth coming concerts

Manuel

Anonymous said...

blah blah blah blah by the way d80 sucks go for Sony Alpha A700

Anonymous said...

hi chinmayi,singapore!!!!such an awesome place..we had been thr once.The place itself is just 16 miles,chennai alavudhan.simply beauty!!!n for vegetarians food is always a problem :(.enga dhan ponalum nama ooru maari varadhu.Wish u to have more n more wonderful concerts like this n also enjoyable trips this way..enjoy madi!!!!

Chinmayi said...

hey chinmayi,
its been such a long time i have read your blog...
nice to read about your concerts
missed the delhi one:((((
get well soon
take care

Anonymous said...

Hey chinmayi, reading about your shopping at MAC made me think that it'd be great if you could post the makeup colors(specific shades) you like and buy . If in case, you di d not want to do that, may be you could share the colors here in the comments section.
I am extremely ignorant regd this and need to update & equip myself.
You do have a lot of women readers , you know:)

priya

Anonymous said...

Hi Chinmayi,let me first tell u that I'm a fan of urs right from Deivam thantha poove to Sahana. I love ur voice. U've got different tones to ur voice and can sing all genres of music. I missed the concert which u did in Singapore. I have been wanting to meet u and Naresh Iyer (my two favs) when u guys come over here too my country. Well, it's juz too bad. I hope to see u in person when there's an opportunity. Btw, Singapore is known to be food a paradise indeed and it's juz sad u couldn't feel the same. Btw, Chinmayi I hope u have more chnaces to do TV shows. I have caught a few shows that u've hosted for Vijay tv and I must tell u r good at it. Anw, hope u enjoyed ur stay here. Get well soon.

EsKay said...

What is wrong with people who complain about long articles. It takes no more time than to listen to a song.

People dont complain watching 2-1/2 hr films, do they. When it comes to reading, people start dosing off after three lines. Reading is a dying art in India.

When we had little information, we had more time to read; With more information available, we find little time. Dont understand this.

BTW thanks for such a long but interesting fulfilling article.

Anonymous said...

Chinmayi,

We know you are a good narrator, Its good to read such a long post, but its apprecitable if you could have in short and sweet.

PurpleHeart said...

What en eventful read, I say ! U know what, it's really encouraging to see the winners of Super singer (and other talent shows in general) given such widely visible opportunities to groom their talents.

Anonymous said...

Thanks anonymous ! you are right... [by the way I was the one who commented about the lengthness of the post at the beginning]..

Eskay, I didn't say it's wrong to post a long article or it wasn't interesting. It was ofcourse interesting but then it was just a suggestion to her..

Sudha said...

Nice post.

Unknown said...

the chinese versions of your name..were hilarious :)

பிரியமுடன்... said...

வணக்கம் சின்மயி! சரியா சொன்னேனா?
அடட...ட....டா.... என்ன கலக்கல் மச்சி அது! சும்மா சொல்லக்கூடாது! சும்மா அதிருன்னுச்சுல்ல....ரொம்ப நல்லா பாடியிருந்தீர்கள்!!

அட...நானும் அந்த நிகழ்ச்சியில இருந்தேன்! வரும்போதே கை தட்டலை கேட்டு வாங்கிகிட்டுதானே வந்தீங்க! அதுல உங்களுக்காக அதிகம் தட்டியது நாந்தான் தெரியுமா! என்ன இன்னொரு ஐஸ்கிரீம் சாப்பிட்டதுபோல இருக்கா! ஹலோ...தமிழ் படிக்கத் தெரியுமா? உங்களுக்கு தெரியுமா தெரியாதான்னு எனக்கு தெரியாது மன்னிக்கவும்! நீங்க ஒரு பாடகின்னு மட்டும்தான் கொஞ்சம் தெரியும் வேறு எதுவும் உங்களைப்பற்றி தெரியாது! மீண்டும் சந்திப்போம்!

maxdavinci said...

hey nice post, luved the descriptions of the sights and sounds..

I've asked all my frnds to vote for 'tere bina'

arvind said...

hi chinmayi
wer can i get the video of u singing sahana?

pls send me da link
thanks