A MIXED BAG OF HARD WORK, JOYFUL MOMENTS AND TEARS

As always I'm the first to arrive! I blame it on three things: the fact that my father's a stickler for perfect timing and has driven it into me, the fact that I'm from Australia and the concept of Indian timing i.e., relaxed timing is very foreign to me and the fact that I've started my career as a producer and timing and scheduling are second nature to me! I'm met @ breakfast by Natasha Suri (former Miss India 2007 and TV show presenter) who I've known for many years on a social level. It's the first time I've worked with Natasha even though we both have Television presenting in common as well. We both attack the breakfast buffet @ The Hyatt trying every single thing on the menu... who said Models don't eat? In fact I'm amazed @ how much the majority of girls eat on these fashion weeks!

 

I've come to realize over the years that the key to looking great and having a fab body is to eat well and constantly with a mix of exercise! Going to extremes is just silly and it only harms you and puts the weight back on instantly! Enjoy your food but balance it out! Life is there to be enjoyed so be happy people: it makes you so much prettier and your appeal is amazing when you're truly happy! I for one am a foodie and by foodie I mean I'm so obsessed with good food that I think about what I'm going to eat next while I'm already eating! My Mother always said 'thank God you're a vegetarian or you'd be so fat!' My advice and what I've learned from other models and my trainer: eat every 2-to-3 hours, eat fresh food hat is not processed or packaged, don't be scared of carbs or salt and sugar but know which ones to eat and when! Eat a hearty breakfast and you absolutely must drink lots and lots of water and nothing too heavy @ night! Your last meal should be three hours before your bed time and spare the carbs @ dinner time! The reason why I'm elaborating on food so much in today's blog is because it's a big part of a model's career and it's important that you understand that being as thin as we are is not by means of starvation but by a disciplined way of life... a healthy way of life!

 

So with certain myths busted, it's on to the fittings for the day commencing with tomorrow's show designers Anjali and Arjun Kapoor and Meera Muzaffar Ali and Narendra Kumar (today's show). The fittings seem to take foreverrr! In and out of garment after garment with choreographer Lubna Adams brooding and yelling constantly at every beck and turn for Anjali and Arjun's fittings. I'm put into four different outfits by the time Lubna finalizes one for me. The first was too tight, the second too short, the third didn't fit someone else so I had to swap with her and then finally the one for me! I feel like Goldie Locks!!!

 

Meera's fittings with choreographer Apu goes a lot smoother and I'm delighted at both Meera's Umrao Jaan style collection, rich and elegant with such power and depth. I am also incredibly pleased by the fact that her husband has suggested we go barefoot! Thank you Sir: you've made my day! Although the shorter models are not as delighted as I am and I hear a bit of a backlash brewing!! We reach our last fitting for the day and this time it's for our show @ the end of the day: Nari's! Nari doesn't usually do bridal stuff so it'll be interesting to see what he has on offer. The collection arrives along with Lubna and it's a beautiful subtle ensemble that's very feminine and pretty. I'm loving my strapless digital print tissue top with a beige lehenga. There is much confusion between Lubna and Nari's poor assistant in her firing line with regard to the order of our outfits. Finally we get it right... now going over time. Straight from fittings without a moment to spare we rush for a quick lunch and are back to the tents for our rehearsals for tonight's Jyotsna and Nari combined show! We gather around the stage with mic clad Lubna in hand, already flustered from her fittings with us earlier and the very tight time frame ahead is not Helping the situation.

 

We get into our sequences and Shonal and I are opening Jyotsna's show with synchronized choreography. From the minute we hit the stage for rehearsals, I am immediately in Lubna's firing line! Every second word screamed out into the Mic is "Karishma"! My timing's with Shonal are perfect and our movements match but for some reason apparent to only Lubna she keeps yelling and yelling @ me and breaking my spirit with every step. I'm now the vocal point of attention and although all the models are used to this barrage from Lubna and I've been privy to it myself many a time before I am feeling mega low and pushing back tears as I glide across the ramp into position. Meanwhile, construction men are still prepping up chandeliers on the ramp as we skirt pass them to the melody of Lubna's charm, amplified on the microphone, making it that much more appealing. Two wonderful things come out of my sneaky tears that I'm hoping no one has seen slide inconspicuously down my face. One, all the models are full to the brim with compassion, gently smile or tell me to not worry as Lubna's just having a bad day and we all know she's just always like this. And two, it occurs to me that the very fact that Lubna (such an experienced and successful choreographer) has actually cared enough to yell at me is a triumph within itself! I count this as a blessing and I swallow my sadness and get on with it... saying a little thank you in my head to God for Lubna Adams!

 

It's time for the show! Hair and make-up done with incredibly expensive and oh-so-heavy jewellery on we get into position in our backstage line up! I'm @ the front as I'm opening the show and before I go on, Diandra and Alecia Raut pull me aside with the most maternal of care and concern and make sure I'm happy and relaxed and give me some pointers for the show! I am happy, I am relaxed and more than anything I'm touched @ the love around me! It's time for Jyotsna's show! Shonal and I open and our timing is impeccable (as it was in rehearsals) and everything runs smoothly!  Closing for Jyotsna is Sonakshi Sinha looking radiant as ever!

 

In order to give us a break to change for our next show, Saif Ali Khan surprises everyone with a 5-min guitar solo performance! Nari is up next!! I absolutely adore Nari and have known him for years socially and work wise! The uniqueness that is Narendra Kumar is truly amazing. He is a thinker, a feeler, a real artist. What I love about Nari is that before each and every show, he speaks to the models in a huddle about his collection. Where it came from, what inspired him and what it imbibes! He does this so that we can appreciate and feel the same things he feels so as to represent his collection better when we walk in it. I don't know any other designer who makes such a tradition out of this process as Nari does! Sooo, this collection we are wearing today was born out of inspiration that Nari received @ 6a.m. @ an after-party where the host of the party was playing the piano like Nari had never heard before! She was consumed by a classical Russian composer (whose name sounds like Rockinov but I'm sorry I've forgotten) and the Russian ballet. Nari has never wanted to put together a bridal collection till he heard this lady play and within six months, he decided that that was the direction he wanted to head in and that a Ballet-inspired bridal show was to be created! Hence, our outfits were topped with Russian faux fur head bands and we walked to the sound of the ballet! I had sooo much fun for Nari's show and was on a complete high when we ended! Nari was beaming back stage and he was so happy with the show as we were to walk for it! We celebrated post the show with a bottle of Champagne @ our dear friend AD's place, Olive Bar and Kitchen, who had also watched the show!

 

More stories later... it's 3a.m. and I'm exhausted! Good night!