Passage to India part 2
Day seven and I feel like I’ve been here for weeks. Funny how magazine offices seem to be the same the world over. Whatever country you’re in, the internet’s iffy, the assistants spend all day on Facebook and no-one wants to load the paper in the printer. However, working on a launch is totally different to working on a regular magazine. For starters, you hit the ground running from day one. I have already organised a location shoot – something that in an ideal world takes at least three weeks – in the space of three days.
One of my blogger pals (you know who you are) gave me a heads-up on a couple of Indian photographers. As luck would have it, one of them is available for my shoot next Friday and is a real non-control-freak sweetie. Result! He gets what we are doing and is happy to collaborate on our vision. After a recce to the location on Tuesday, I went yesterday morning to pay the deposit for the location fee. (All transactions here are paid in cash.) Of-course, Indians work on their own slow-time so arriving at what I thought was a reasonable time – 10am – I found that the organisers’ office was closed as they don’t pitch up til 10.30am. No worries, I whiled away the half hour watching the filming of an Indian soap. (Without giving too much away, my location is at the equvalent of Elstree Studios where they film Eastenders.) I also had a chance to check out the toilets as instructed by my English editor. As my photographer had pointed out, the hole-in-the-ground toilets aren’t quite up to scratch so we will need to employ the services of a ‘vanity van’, complete with flushable loo. Note to self: Do.Not.Forget.This. Something tells me that when we shoot at the Saltwater Grill restaurant (yup, the exact same place where Madonna ate two nights ago) in a few weeks, we won’t have to worry about this.
11 January, 2008 @ 9:27 am
OMG, I live in India and I love the Saltwater Grill! Seems like you’re in my city :)
11 January, 2008 @ 9:41 am
Hehe… a vanity van? Nice….
I am enjoying your Indian adventures…. and I can’t wait to see the results!
11 January, 2008 @ 3:46 pm
How exciting this is–I’d been anticipating an update. Thanks for posting this, DRG, so we can live vicariously, even through the horror of a vanity van. Makes me have a terrible case of wanderlust and then the vanity of enjoying my own double-deluxe loo here in CA. Hope to hear more soon!
11 January, 2008 @ 4:25 pm
Yay for getting the photographer- I’m sure it’ll go well! And good luck getting used to IST (Indian Standard Time- which is about half an hour after whatever the stated time for an appointment was).
11 January, 2008 @ 6:29 pm
Great to hear from you! We’re looking forward to reading about the rest of your adventures in India..
12 January, 2008 @ 11:30 pm
Ooh, can’t wait to see the first issue!
x
13 January, 2008 @ 3:46 pm
India sounds so exciting. My dad went last year for business, and I only wish he could have taken me! The photos he took were beautiful.
P.S. I’ve tagged you to show the contents of your bag at some point. Not expecting it any time soon though, as your travels sound so busy and exciting!
Hope you’re having a lovely time :)
16 January, 2008 @ 6:27 pm
I’m so glad I cld help, & that the snapper worked out. Dying to see what he does now!! LLG xx
22 January, 2008 @ 2:32 pm
India is really an exciting country to be in. It moves at a pace of its own. We have one of our fashion offices in India. Someday you will get used to the Indian-standard-time way of working :-)
Regards
Kartik
Fashion Evangelist
http://www.fashion-networks.com
We Blog at http://www.fashionnetworking.blogspot.com