5th of July 2011 I got a call from one of best friends in the world Megha Grover. Excitedly she let me know she is a part of the Kochi International Fashion Week. I was so excited for her, what an opportunity!! Then in typical Megha Grover style she told me with the sweetest, sadest puppy dog tone that for her previous fashion shows were attended by people who she barely spent time with and that her best friends in the world have never seen her showcasing her clothing line......
Soooooo with guilt that only a catholic nun should be able to inflict on me, I booked my husband gabriel's and my ticket to Kochi. I was soooooooooo excited to be a part of Megha's crew, helping her with the prep work and also getting to see Kochi, God's own country. My other best friend Namrata too had the same conversation with Megha and immeedaitely booked herself on the same flight as us.
So then came 5th of Aug, my flight was for 4:30pm, which i thought would give me time to put on my makeup and record a tutorial as well....in the mean time my Gabriel had other plans...he had to help his employee with medical assistance and also get his hair coloured a bright red, which put all the packing, closing up the house and informing all the people who had to be informed abt the trip on me, so i ended looking like i had a serious anemic condition with a husband with flaming red hair...atleast it was stylish. And i did let him know , not so gently i might add about it.
So Namrata, Gabriel and I reach Kochi by 6;30pm. We drink awful airport coffee (which was surprising, since we were in south India which is known for filter coffee) and waited for our pre paid taxi. Our Taxi driver who knew a little bit of English very sweetly gave us a heads up on South Indian celebrity hang outs and houses and all the famous malls and markets... Luckily Namrata knew Tamil which is a little similar to Malyalam and we were able to communicate efficiently...though there were quite a few times Namrata ignored what the cabbie said cuz she had no clue what it ment.....
Kochi greeted us with A LOT of rain...and our taxi driver didnt seem to be fazed by it and drove like a bat outta hell. Gabriel who was sitting in the front seat was quite (which is unlike him) waiting what he thought was eventual dooooommmmm. We reached the lovely Casino hotel and were greeted by a crowd of Kochi's elite , posers and everyone in between waiting for the next designers showing.
Megha met us and we rushed to freshen up in her room and go see Harianand and Archana Kocchhars shows.
The clothes were alright and post which we went to the Kingfisher lounge for a beer and an impromptu photo shoot.
After the Kingfisher lounge we went to have dinner at the hotels cafeteria and i must say the food was delicious, i was surprised the amount of beef dishes expected more sea food which was also available..incredible food though, after wards we went to the after party. And i have not seen these many talllll people gathered in one place ever...All the models were partying their head off and i must say for an overweight , 5' 2" girl it was initially intimidating, however, it eventually sunk in that im here to have FUN!
Day 2 at Kochi International Fashion Week went pretty chill... Got to do a little of sight seeing which i will write about separately and then got back showered and went to party like rockstar with Gabby, MG, Namrata and MG's mom ..... We attended the after party and i got to wear my JLO earring eventually...Ended up doing Namrata's makeup which is loved (HURRAY!) Megha seemed pretty chill though post the party she eventually started showing some cracks in that calm exterior and you could see the nerves for her first Kochi International Fashion Week showing.
My lovely makeup sported by Namrata the hottie! and thats her stylish friend Ami.
The entire day 3 went in a fog of clothing, steaming, makeup, hair and STRESS! It can't compare to the stress Megha went through , however, at the end of the night i thought i was going to have a heart attack or my tired legs will just fall off. Altering the clothes went well , the final fitting was fabulous, the makeup at the end looked amazing and the hair was exactly what megha wanted. Megha was a tiny blur of beauty through out the day, running from room to room getting her music, choreography, fitting makeup and hair finalised. Just writing all that has gotten be tired, she was just running on pure adrenalin. Namrata and I in our own novice ways did whatever we could. The final show as you have seen in my earlier blog was fabulous...after packing up and getting the clothes to Megha's room , gabriel and me crashed...literally! crashed on our bed and woke up the next morning at 9 for our flights.
