From stardom to retirement in a day

BOLLYWOOD ACTORS

starring: Stube, Bobbo, Witek

As we arrived to the bus, which would transport us to the bollywood set, we met with the other white soon-to-be actors. Don, who was from north, central Canada, and others who were shipped north from Goa to act for a week. Corey, our recruiter, told us what to expect on the journey there; lots of yelling, rushing, and disorganization. He also said that we were not supposed to take photos while near the set.
On arrival, we walked over a hill to see all the tents set up, one main tent, one for costumes, one for makeup and others scattered about with food tables serving different food for the different hierarchies, and of course a table serving chai. In the background was the once scenic lake, that is, until the film crew came and the entire area was filled with plastic cups, plates, and random garbage making it's way into the edges of the water.

There were many extras brought north to Jaipur. Since most bollywood films are shot around Mumbai, they didn't know how easily it would be to find people. They found a core of people in Goa who they offered a free 36 hour train ride north, a thousand rupees a day, room and board, and train back south if they stayed for just over a week. There were also many people from a school near Mumbai, in Pune brought. Many of the students were from Kashmir and Afghanistan.

After eating breakfast they rushed some guys, including myself into British soldier outfits. First, commanding us to put on black boots, all that were too small for my feet, I asked for socks, which they had few, my pair was wet, obviously someone had recently had them on for a day or twenty. I got pants that I really had to suck in the gut to fit into (and I've lost a bit of weight in India) After a few times sitting down in these pants I had a good size crotch hole. I was then suited into my jacket, hat and gun holster without gun. The jacket had a big either gum stain or bird shit on the back which didn't seem to bother anyone. I had my hands covered in henna from the marriage the night before with my normal 5 or so bracelets on; this too didn't bother anyone, apparently henna and bracelets were big 70 years ago.

Vitek, Bobbo and myself were huddled to stand attention in a line with soldiers of all different groups for a set up shot in the movie. We laughed and smiled as people moved us back and forth (no one really knowing where we were supposed to be, but they wanted to look busy and feel important, so bossing us around was the theme of the day; and disorganization) The big actor, Jackie ? (I forget the last name, but a big deal in India) would march with a core of people dressed up towards us, while we stood at attention and bowed when he neared. This scene took about 20 takes, which took about 1 hour. About 45 minutes of this hour was everyone watching Jackie brush his hair and moustache to make it perfectly how he wanted it. (This went on the entire day! There wasn't one person who didn't personally hate him and his hair by the end of the day) After our first scene we went and sat in the shade and had had about enough of bollywood acting even though we were signed up for the next 9 hours.

At one point while sitting in the shade, some guy who we hadn't seen came over and told us he wanted to show us where we would stand at a later scene. I refused and ended up sending Bobbo to check it out. They walked to the middle of the grass where garbage was thrown about and as he started to give instructions, a woman came and yelled at him to do something and while walking away he told Bobbo that we will march from that point sometime later in the day (which we never did).

Half of the bus that came as extras were girls. The girls were not used in this day and therefor were our bag protectors. This job consisted of laying in a tent with our bags near them ALL DAY.

At around 12:30 they called us soldiers back to the same area. As me and Vitek lined up where they directed us outside in the sun, we saw Bobbo walk directly into the main tent where all the main actors/actresses and directors were. After a couple minutes, Vitek checked if anyone was looking and then slid inside. After five more minutes I wasn't going to wait outside in the sun with all these fake soldiers I didn't know, so I ducked in. In this tent was the set up of the main scene with couches and chairs. Just behind them were Bobbo and Vitek standing as soldiers which I decided to join. We whispered wondering how long it would be until they realized we weren't supposed to be here and kick us out. The main director came by us with a stern look on his face and said "make sure to bow when the general enters the scene!!".
I want to make this clear. The director, who sets up the movie and scene, decided that where we snuck into, looked good for the movie. It didn't matter that we were lower ranks standing behind the generals of the different nations WITH GUNS in our hands.

Another famous actor, Salman Khan, who apparently was voted some years back and one of the top handsome men (who also apparently six years back was drunk driving and killed six people-this is known to all Indians, but they still look at him as a hero!!) was in the tent with the hair brushing man. This handsome (cocky bastard) sat down and was fed a meal while we waited. He ate the plate and on his last bite looked disgusted, and then looked up at the guy who brought him the food and said "this is shit"; this was after he had eaten the plate. The guy, who couldn't do anything but feel ashamed lowered his head for a second until "drunk driver" couldn't lean forward to grab the water a foot from him on the table, so the guy hurried and handed it to him.

There were also two white female "real actresses" and a white "real actor" in this scene, who had been making the movie for some months now. I watched as three different directors came by and told them three different ways to act in the same scene. You could tell they had been dealing with this for some time because they just looked at each other and laughed while also looking disgusted.

As Bobbo and I watched Jackie comb his hair time and again in between forgetting his lines, we tried to inch one way or another, depending on which direction would get us in the frame. Although at one point we saw the actual footage they were using and it was a close in just on the two actors faces. There was no chance that half of the people they gave direction to as extras for standing could have remotely been in the shot.

We finally got a break for lunch and then called it quits and went and laid in the tent for sometime.

Because we snuck into that previous scene, we had to be in the tent the rest of the day which ended up being one of the longest shooting days of the movie. First they didn't plan on us being in there and then after they couldn't do anything without us.

We ended up going in and out about 3 times, each time holding a different gun, wearing a little different uniform, and standing with different people around us.

One time we ditched our shoes and then had to find new ones. I whispered to Bobbo to look at how my shoes were barely on my feet because they didn't fit and were also untied and how I didn't think anyone would notice. Then he whispered to look at his shoes which were his New Balance running shoes. All I could think about was in Shawshank Redemption when he walks through the prison with the new shoes on and comments how nobobdy notices shoes.

We were finally freed at the end of the day ready to never work in a Bollywood movie again.

It really worries me that these actors who were the people that we mostly couldn't stand are looked at not as celebrities, but as heroes by the Indian people. Crowds of people from nearby villages would come close to the shoot to get a glimpse, while the police would chase them with bamboo sticks, taking full swings at them if they got close enough. Seeing the Slumdog Millionaire movie a couple days later, I can see how some people would go through anything to get noticed by these actors.

From South to North, beaches, new peeps, bobbo, Rajasthan tour

Once again I have waited far too long to catch up on a blog, so I will have to abbreviate a bit of the trip just to catch up. I want to do this so that I can tell, in detail, about my day on the set of a bollywood movie.

After leaving Kiran, Vibha and Bangalore I headed to the coast to check out some beach towns, and such. It is truly amazing the mix of party beaches, relaxing beaches, secluded beaches, beaches generally for Indian Tourists, beaches that host many Russians, and really if you know where to look, you can find what you want. I have met some great and very interesting people along the way which always adds to the memory of a place and I always love hearing stories other people have to tell about there lives and where they have been, what they have experienced, and their general ideas of life.





This is a view from a private island that I went to visit that until now has only been visited by Indian Tourists.

Always great sunset views on the west coast of India!!!

A couple above who invited me to their home for a delicious Kashmiri meal with Kashmir Tea. Very nice and generous people; it also made me even more so desire to go visit the north of India.

Marco and Howard who i could always find at the same spot relaxing with a beer in hand talking to the comers and goers on Patnem beach.

A beautiful, secluded beach, that has no direct road going to it.

Below is me and a new friend Klaus, who had stories to make my life sound boring. A great guy who had an opinion about everything and we never got tired of talking with each other.

I stayed in a little hut place that has predominenly Russian guests. I was the first American there in 3 years. I had a chance to spend a bit of time in Agonda with Russians for the first time really in my life. They were such nice, genuine people, and after a few days together I apologized for us always making them the bad guys in movies.

Two years ago in the same beach, Anjuna, I met and spent time with Jon. Now, two years later, we met up again and he had his girlfriend Chris with him. We spent a couple of days together catching up and reminicing. This is there car that they drove some years ago from England to India. After leaving them, I took an overnight train to Mumbai where I had about 10 hours, so I decided to walk the whole time in order to be wiped out for my night train on the same day.

Above in the Taj Hotel where the Mumbai attacks took place.

I went on a walking tour, just me and a guide and he showed me where all the locals eat near all the fancy restaurants; in the back of this car. Aparently I was the first white guy to eat here and they were all extremely happy about this experience for me.

I then boarded the train for my 17 hour train trip in general class. this is the cheapest ticket you can buy where they will fit 40 people into a space made for 16. I slept with parts of 4 bodies on top of me, and all in all is wasn't so bad. Once again, I was the only white guy in the whole compartment. I arrived back in Jaipur to see my cousin bobby and my Indian family. When I was near to the village, a boy said "are you bobby" and I knew he had made his mark already. We headed out with a car a day or so later on our tour of Rajasthan.

The Hindu God Ganeesh, who is everywhere.

Us visiting the Rat Temple, which literally has thousands of rats running around. This is my cousin Bobby (Bobbo) who came to join me for a couple of months and has been a lot of fun to have around.

We went to a cattle festival where they had camels dancing, horses dancing, and many different local events going on. Although it looks like this camel is biting this guys neck off, it is part of the dance.

This man won the 1st place award for his horses dance. And he has a cool moustache.

We went out on a desert safari with two friends, Haley and Lucy.

We stayed in local huts in a small village in the middle of the desert.

There is a fairly unknown place in India where around 10,000 Siberian Cranes come every year for about 6 months. We went in the morning to where they all fly to for there daily food. The sky was completely filled with this birds, it was really something to see.

This is a new friend, Kelsi who we met traveling. She was researching about the life of cows in India. We were at a desert Festival in Jaisalmere where Bobbo and I lost with other foreigners in the tug of war against Indians (they told us 2 out of 3 after we won the first, and they cheated in more ways, I swear!!) Kelsi and the girls dominated the Indian women and were quickly made celebrities with gifts, news interviews, and instant stardom which pained us even more.

We would eat in Boppi's restaurant numerous times during our stay in Jaisalmer.

In Jodhpur (the blue city) at a guest house, looking up to see the fort.

This is the Jodhpur fort during the day.

We were offered to stay on a farm near a little village by a friend we made in Jodhpur. Such a nice break from the hectic city travels.

A grandmother and her grandson sitting on there porch in the local village.

We visited in the mountains, Kumbalgarh fort which has the longest wall built around it after the great wall of China (36 KM)

We got to visit some great off the beaten track places that had loads of character and will be great parts of the onelovetours with old palaces and forts scattered all about Rajasthan.

Locals in India in general don't handle their drinks so well. This guy found a nice comfortable cart to sleep on.

I know I have been really slack on this blog this time around, but I don't get the time to update it and many days I don't have access to internet (since I am trying to find less visited places) or I just don't have the energy at the end of the day. It will all have to come when I write my book.

On the move, health tourism, Kiran's connections, 3months in.

(I do realize that this is totally unnecessary. Enough complaints and I'll take it down)

After finishing my last blog entry, I went in search of a massage. What I found was an ayurvedic hospital in the heart of Coimbatore. I ended up talking with all the people that run it and getting some great information about ayurvedic treatments and how to include that in a India tour. They also have different training programs to teach people basic ayurvedic theory, massage techniques, and yoga. This I plan on doing in the next couple of years combined with some other health ed. I did end up getting a fantastic massage. I was stripped down and covered in ayurvedic oils before getting a truly great massage. Afterwards I had to cover myself in a green paste which was an natural soap followed by the first hot shower I had had in weeks.
I was cleaner than I had been in a long time and noticed when I was bothered much more by mosquitos than I had been.

From here I was picked up by a friend of Kiran's, Georgie. We drove 4 hours back to Cochin where I met with Dr. Raj. He is probably one of the most expensive dentists in India, but about 60% of his patients are from overseas. He specializes in Root Canals, crowns, and implants and has been in the business 12 years. His office was cleaner than any office I've seen in the US. For the cost of a root canal in the US, it is generally between $1,000-$1,500. His cost in India is about $150. Many people come to get work done and then they basically have a vacation in India paid for. We all then went to a city club for dinner and business talks. I jumped on a bus back to Coimbatore where I immediately caught another bus only to change to a new bus which eventually took me a to a place in the mountains called Coonoor.

A day around this city and then took a beautiful train ride to a nearby place named Ooty. This is probably one of the 3 best scenic train rides in India, and I crammed in with a school group who sang to me about half of the trip.

In Ooty I met some great people, ate some great food, visited many different lodges and got some black market dvd's. Pineapple Express, Love Guru, Zohan, No country for old men, Gajini, and a foreign one. I have now seen 4 of them. It is such a treat to be able to watch a movie considering I never have a tv in my rooms. I was reading Sacred Games, but left it on one of my many bus trips; it was dragging a bit anyway. I am now reading Holy Cow; a book written by a westerner about her experience in India.

From Ooty I headed to Mysore where I got to see the City Palace lit up due to it being a sunday night; it is really a site to see.

Kiran told me to visit his friends Manoj (who I had met previously) and Ajit. I went to see them in their dentists office and the firts thing Ajit did was tell me to sit in the chair so he could check my teeth. He said all was looking good. I went with him to his home and the Jag therapy office, which was started by his father in law and is now all over the world. It is a natural type of therapy that helps in all aspects of health. It is a bit of a lifestyle more than anything else.
Mysore is really a great city, big city with a small city feel.

I spent most nights with Manoj and his other friends and even got to spend a night at Manoj's house playing with his kids who had loads of energy. After so much time dealing with adults and talking with managers, it was so refreshing to play with kids and just have that simple relationship.

On the day of the Harvest Festival where they paint the cows and in the night have the cows jump over fire a group of us went for a long drive to the forest to try and spot a tiger and some wild life. We saw lots of elephants, some warthogs, spotted deer, samba, and other small things, but no tiger. It still was a lot of fun.

After some days in Mysore, I headed up to Bangalore to stay with Kiran and Vibha again. When I arrived they weren't home, so as I waited I asked his neighbor to use their bathroom. After the bathroom we got talking and I ended up spending the next eight hours their talking with Frank, Nilini, and their 1.5 yr old Arjun. We listened to lots of music, ate lunch and watched a movie; really nice people who I will stay in touch with.

Another friend of ours, Haley was visiting with Kiran too. As soon as they came home I found out that Kiran had planned a day trip for Haley and I for the following day to visit some different cities with different monuments, including one that we arrived to after it was closed, but since we weren't coming back I decided to run past the guards and climb the many stairs. They ended up not caring at all and when getting to the top, besides the gate being closed I thought I was going to faint due to the fact I haven't ran in a long, long time; never the less, up many stairs.

The next day I went to a tourism expo and met with many different tour operators only to confirm that 99% of the tours that people book online to India are overpriced, on the normal tourist circuit, staying in not the best hotels, but the ones where they get the most commission, and trying to get as many in and out as possible. I did however go to one booth which advertised a serviced apartment in bangalore called Green apts. The owner is very into eco friendly activities and promotion. The apartments are all made out of eco friendly materials and the meals served are all from organic crops. I was invited to a talk that they host once a month that included folk singing and a presenter of some eco topic. This topic of the night was how to convert your roof into a garden of sorts using normal waste that would usually pollute the environment if disposed of the normal ways.

It is so nice to be able to stay with friends where it is just comfortable and their is no pressure to do things and they don't feel obligated to entertain. Especially after being on the go, it just makes everything sort of settled and recharges the batteries to go again.

Beaches, Celebrations, and more beaches!

This is one of the homestays that I went to visit in a village on an island near the city of Cochin.

On the island I did one of the many activities that they offer which is to go and see a prawn farm (half of the year it's a rice paddy). I also learned how they catch the prawn and then how to cook them; I know how to eat them.

Some good size ones.
On a side note: you can buy coconuts everywhere on the street here. The people selling them will then hold it in one hand and wack at it with an extremely sharp, big knife with such precision that it amazes me everytime. after you drink the juice, they wack it again in half so that you can eat the meat of it from inside. they shot a sliver of the side of the coconut for you to use as a spoon. I will have to get a video of this.


After Cochin I headed south to the beaches. In Varkala I met up with Kiran and some of his friends who were over from England; one being "Stretch" who recently ran the London marathon in the borat speedo, in 3.5 hours. He also had a flag made that says "stretch club" that was easily spotted for our group (which grew) at the beach. A few days of beach time and some good fresh fish eating for dinner, along with sharing too small of a bed with Kiran before his wife Vibha came. After she came I decided just to sleep outside instead of getting a room.

Varkala sits up on a cliff above the beach which for this time period had way too many tourists.


That is stretch next to me and a new friend Karthik who we hung out with for the days.

For new years we decided to hire a big fishing boat to go on to watch the sun set which was great!!! The ride was a bit shakier than we had anticipated, but great fun.


After the boat trip we took over a restaurant, played our ipod, ordered loads of food and did the count down with our group before yelling and passing hugs all around.

The next morning I headed out of town before anyone woke and went down to Kovalam. After getting many buses and settling in I had a very lazy rest of the day. The folowing day I walked through villages and along the coast (where I saw this goat below) and went to visit resorts, homestays and specifically ayurvedic treatment centers/ayurvedic resorts. There are alot of these in this area.


That night I met the only other people staying in my little unlabeled place behind a restaurant on a hill above one of the more quiet beaches. It was an english family, Sally, Tony, and the daugthers, Rachel and Kate. Really a great family. I also had Sandra, my friend from Columbia that I had traveled with some weeks previously meet up for a couple of days. This group then hung out together for the next few days, resting on the beach, going into town, swimming in some great waves that just pounded us.
In general Indians are scared of the water because they can't swim. So at the beach, they tend to stay where they can stand, which is also where the waves break. They are fully clothed (this doesn't bother them) and in general I don't think have very good coordination (of course this is a broad generalization). So as they stand where these huge waves come down, they get taken out like bowling pins and to be honest it is extremely entertaining!!!
I was exhausted everyday after playing in these waves.

This is the view from where we would eat dinner every night at the restaurant where we stayed, absolutely stunning view and so peaceful.

It turned out that Tony and I share the same birthday and we got along well. Since he had been traveling with the 3 girls for a couple of weeks, his family thought he would appreciate "guy time", so they surprised us in the morning of our birthdays for a boat trip and some snorkeling. The water was moving pretty good and some areas would be completely murky and some we could see fine. As you may know, when you are snorkeling you have very little sense of where you are since you are looking under water. We would be looking down and then come to the very murky area and wouldn't be able to find where the good viewing was and so come up to ask the boat guy (who does this all the time) we would ask and he would say, here no good, you must go where you can see. (thanks buddy, please point us in that direction)
The rest of the day was more swimming and laying in the sun (also the last day before taking off again).
That night we enjoyed dinner on the hill one more time. (this is the family below)

After dinner, the staff, who we had gotten to know, brought out a cake with candles and everyone sang happy birthday to us. After blowing out the candles, all the power went out around us; the restaurant, the beach, the houses near to us. We were so used to power cuts in India at this point that it didn't surprise us....until there were huge, personal fire works going on from the beach below us that the staff put on for us. They had cut the power and for about 5 solid minutes we enjoyed a fireworks show...awww what a memorable birthday.

This was followed up with the cutting of the cake. In India, tradition is to feed the first bites to everyone else. This is a photo of Tony and I feeding each other at the same time.
You will notice the real light, comfortable, good looking shirt that Sandra got for me for my birthday. Thanks to all of you for making it such a wonderful birthday!!!!!

The next day I had a 10.5 hour train ride to Coimbatore which is the center for making cotton clothing and where I had scouted out to meet with people about making onelovetours.net t-shirts, which has turned out to be worth the trip and I can't wait to show them to you later one. Final talks to comfirm everything tomorrow. This is one of the shops where I met with to make the shirts.

I am now living the 30th year of my life. So far, so good.