Emily's Wedding in CA

After my time in the spotlight, aka 40 ft behind the spotlight behind the 2nd tier extras, I slept for a few days and then headed off to CA for a wedding. Well, I tried to. Tracy, one of my closest friends and a flight attendant for US Airways, graciously gave me a buddy pass to fly as a standby passenger home. I went to the airport and tried to get on any flight that would get me home. I sit at the bar at 11am, wait for my first chance to leave and lose. Then I am told that I can wait for the next flight, but it doesn’t look good. I wait, lose again and 4 hours later, leave the airport, defeated. Grouper picks me up we get some lunch, go to a movie and try again the next day. The next morning I am back at the airport bright and early, hoping that today I will get out. It doesn’t look good. I can get to PHL but I’d get stuck there. I can overnight there or come back to the airport again tomorrow. I ask the gate manager to look up alternate routes and success. If I go through Vegas (and lay over for 6 hrs) instead of Phoenix, I can make it home around 1am that night. Done, Im off. I get into Vegas with 6 hrs to kill. So I take a cab onto the strip to see what Vegas has to offer. I start at the Bellagio and do a drinking tour of all the hotels I can fit in. From the Bellagio I move onto Ceasar’s, NY NY, the Venetian, gambling and drinking the whole way. I won a total of $50 on the slots within 5 minutes, cash out and end at Paris where I have my final nightcap before taking a cab back to the airport for my last leg home. I get home around 1am, my sleepy mom picks me up and I pass out after a long day of flying. I don’t do much at home. I fulfill the shopping lists my Bahamian friends have sent me home with, run, read, sleep, and catch up with my high school girlfriends. My sister flies in at the end of the week for the wedding. A good family friend of ours, Emily is getting married to a wonderful Canadian guy named Jason. The wedding was a bit controversial for our Indian community because Jason isn’t Indian and the wedding wasn’t pre-arranged, but in the end, everything worked out. We spent the weekend in the bay area, attending the henna party the day before the wedding and dinner with Emily and her family that night. Henna is a traditional adornment for the bride and the ladies of the wedding, so usually a party is hosted by the bride where everyone can get it done. After that, we hit up California Pizza Kitchen with Emily’s family for dinner and then went to the wedding the next day. The wedding was outdoors in the green hills of Oakland. The wedding ceremony was Indian so Emily wore a traditional Lengha, the bridemaids wore Saris, and Jason a Sherwani. (Pictures below) It was nice to see family friends that I haven’t seen in ages, and to see Emily so beautiful on her wedding day. My mom was heartbroken when she saw me with a glass of wine (my family is dry) otherwise the wedding was pretty low key. We headed back home the next morning, my sister flew back to TX and I continued to loiter at my parents place until I left around the 1st. I went to see the premiere of Sex and the City with my HS friends and went to a house party and flew thee next day to Nassau with nearly the same difficulty as my leg home. I got to Vegas just fine, had a another 6 hr layover (where I did more of the same hotel bar hopping) but when I got back to the airport for my overnight to Philly, it was trouble. There was a problem with an earlier flight and they bumped a ton of passengers to my flight. So now there was 1 seat left and 17 people on standby. And I was last on the list. I was totally screwed, drunk and tired. I had to be back in Nassau the next day for work, so I was a bit stressed out. Since the slots took my money earlier that night, it seems that my luck was a bit delayed. It turned out that all 16 passengers before me where flying in pairs or groups. And they wouldn’t break up. So I completely lucked out and made it on as the only single flying. I still can’t believe I got on the plane. I made it into Philly, then into Nassau and started my final push of work and last couple of months in paradise.

My 15 minutes of fame as a big movie extra

Jamie and Tracy’s last day in Nassau was my first day as an extra in the film Duplicity starring Clive Owen and Julia Roberts. The film, about two corporate spies, was set to film on the island at the Atlantis Casino needing extras for a two day shot before moving onto to NYC, then Rome. I have never been an extra before and the idea of being in a movie was exciting. What wasn’t exciting was the 5am call time the first day and the 5:30am call time the second day. Having not woken up before 9:00am since I left Boston, 4:00am was a shock to my system, especially since I usually don’t come in from the bars until then. But Nelly and I, coffee in hand, showed up on time in dress and make-up as directed, and began our experience as Extras. Nelly, having lived on the island for three years now, has been an extra in several films and commercials from Casino Royale to Atlantis Cove ads, so she is a seasoned patient extra. Me on the other hand, did not take well to waiting around for 12 hours a day in dress and makeup. The first day, the first scene they were shooting took longer than expected so almost all the extras spent the day in holding (the nightclub above the casino) reading, playing cards, eating, and sleeping. I taught my new friend Leo how to play a card game called Speed, watched a bit of the taping with Clive Owen getting manhandled at the bar (and coming within 5 feet of him), lost some money on the slots, worked on my computer, and ate the gross amounts of food they gave us out of boredom. Exhausted for having only slept two hours, when they called wrap at 4:00pm, Nelly and I went to the bar, had some drinks, and then went home and passed out at 7:00pm. I woke up very confused at 12:00am and lay in bed until 3:00am annoyingly awake, until sleep finally came over me until my 4:00am very unpleasant alarm. But Day 2 was much more exciting. I actually sat two scenes. One where I cross over the scene after Julia Roberts walks in, and one where I sit at a blackjack table when Clive Owen is taken out of the bar by security. Neither of which I actually made it on screen, but came within one foot and eye contact of both actors. Now, apparently being an extra with Director Paul Liman (Bourne Identity) is more tedious that usual. We re-shot the same scenes for hours, walking back and forth, back and forth, while they changed lenses, lights, angles, to his liking. He is actually one of the nicest people we worked with, but caused me to stand for hours. Nelly got a really cool placement, two barstools away from Clive Owen when security comes up to him. I am pretty sure she made it on screen, which is totally awesome. In my off-scene time I befriended Clive’s stand in (for light and camera set ups) a guy named James from Kansas that has been his stand in for three years and looks pretty close to Clive Owen. Funny thing is I saw him at a bar the day before filming and he thought he reminded me of someone, and alas, he’s Clive Owen’s stand in, weird. I met a few light and sound guys from NY that were pretty cool and got yelled at by the militant scary staff woman for trying to take a picture. Apparently, because we were in a casino, due to gaming laws no pictures are allowed, so the only picture (below) I could take was in holding. But any picture I took would’ve sucked anyway because I wouldn’t have been able to come close enough to capture anything but lights and ladders. Day 2 we wrapped at 5:00pm and then waited around for our checks. Overall my experience was exhausting but I met so many cool people, staff and extras, and got the movie magic experience that it was worth it. But I’ll never do it again. Until the Bollywood film next month, that is.
My only photo, in holding:

Tracy and Jamie's Visit!

Just two days after my crazy weekend in Eleuthera, Jamie and Tracy came to visit again. We all used to work together in Nassau so they were not only excited to see me (hopefully!), but also to come back home and visit their old stomping ground. Tracy’s friend, Jesse, also came and hopefully enjoyed her first visit to Nassau. Unfortunately, I sucked and was not feeling well from too much partying the weekend before. A chest cold had set in so there were no 6am club mornings for me, but I think we still had fun together. We visited some of their old haunts, went to Grouper’s weekly dart matches where we caught up with friends, went to the comedy show at the Atlantis, caught a sunset at the Green Parrot, and do what we do best, drink Tequila together. It was a short visit, just three days, but it was great to see them, even for a short time. I can’t wait for their next visit!

Harbour Island

As one of my favorite family islands, Briland for short, I have visited Harbour Island almost a dozen times since I started coming down to the Bahamas in 2002. A short ride from Nassau, and an even shorter ride from Eleuthera, we decided to take a daytrip to Briland during Homecoming weekend. Driving north we took a dingy over to from Eleuthera where we rented golf carts and putted around the island. Harbour Island is 3x1.5miles and known for its pink sand beaches, background for several Sports Illustrated Bikini issues in the years past. It is also known for being quaint and peaceful with plenty of opportunities to enjoy the beach and the friendly community on the island.

I took a small video of the beach shore for you to take a timeout with me in your busy lives. This moment is one of the main reasons why I love the beach and love the Bahamas, so take a timeout with me and exhale.

The Glass Window Bridge

One of the most spectacular sights in the Bahamas, and to me, in the world is something called the Glass Window Bridge located on Eleuthera. The Glass Window Bridge is a narrow bridge that connects Eleuthera in the north part of the island. This narrow strip of island shows the most impressive separation of the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. One the east you see the rough dark waters of the Atlantic Ocean and your turn your head just a bit and west you see the calm clear Caribbean waters. Look under the bridge and the waters meet, crashing over the rocks. It is incredibly amazing and beautiful to see in person so I hope this video gives it justice.

Homecoming Weekend in Eleuthera

I was invited to a weekend on a family island called Eleuthera. The history of the island dates back to the Eleutheran adventurers that first came to the island in search for a new, free life. The island is larger than New Providence, 110 miles long, but the population far smaller, only 11,000 compared to 200,000 in Nassau that is 21x7 miles. Needless to say, traffic is welcomingly non-existent. I was invited by one of Nelly’s friends, Ineisy and her husband Juan for Palmetto Point’s Homecoming weekend. Juan is originally from Palmetto Point, a settlement about midway on the island. The term "homecoming" refers to an annual settlement reunion that all family islands have. It usually consists of a regatta, a lot of home-cooked food stands, bars, and live music. Bahamians party all the time, but homecoming is a special reunion celebration giving extra reason to celebrate. And the term “family islands" is a literal term: islands of the family, your family. Most people move to Nassau for work, leaving their family home on the outer/family islands. So these reunions are a time for everyone to come home and party together. So, from the moment we left the dock it was rum and coke all the time. I drank more coke this weekend that I have in five years. Seriously. I met the group at the dock at 4pm on Friday, after a mix-up of going to the wrong boat and buying the wrong ticket in typical Priti fashion. We took a boat called the Island Link (not the SeaLink which was my original ticket), which is a barge with a ½ floor of benches. People come on with coolers and booze it up for the 3.5 hour ride. So here I was rum and coke in hand, making new friends and enjoying the ocean breeze. There were 10 of us on the trip, Juan, Ineisy and the baby, Grammy, Kim, Bertram, Rhoda, Sandra, Kristen, and myself. I didn’t know everyone very well at the beginning, but with Bahamian friendliness and hospitality we were fast friends soon enough. Bertram was the number tennis pro on the island before he retired. His daughter Kim was a 30th of a second short of qualifying for the Olympics in swimming, an accomplished triathlete and swimming medalist. Sandra was married to a music producer for Paula Abdul in LA for years with her daughter Kristen. (They met when he was recording in Lenny Kravitz’s studio in Nassau back in the 80s before anyone knew who Lenny was). Rhoda is the controller for John Bull, so we were able to talk a little shop. We spent our days driving, drinking, eating, and sunning. We went to the big blue hole (literal hole in the island that extends down 1500feet to the ocean below) in Rock Sound that I explored. It was pretty cool, lots of fish. We took a day trip to Harbour Island (seperate entry to come on this) where we had lunch and putted around in a golf cart in search for fresh baked bread for Rhoda. We went to the beach every night for homecoming, where we drank, ate, danced, made new friends, and watched Juan catch up with everyone on the island. The last day when we were driving back to the boat we stopped at a day party in Hatchet Bay where I had the best Bahamian Mac n’Cheese I have ever had. I really wish I could digest cheese. After watching the local town drunk dance his butt off (video below) we made our way back to the boat where we drank even more rum and coke and fought off eating all the pineapple tarts we bought for friends at home. (Eleuthera is known for their pineapples, holding the Eleuthera Pineapple Fest every year showcasing some of the sweetest, juiciest pineapples that you will ever taste. And of course lots of partying and drinking.) We got home around 10pm and after the boat captain (my new BFF) dropped me home, I passed out and a week later am still recovering.

Snapshots over the last few weeks

Scene1:
Discussion with my co-worker Kevin:
Kevin: Priti when we started the program I thought you were a real bitch but it turns out that you're ok.
Priti: Thanks Kevin, right back at ya.


Scene 2:
Out at a late night bar after work:
Man at bar: My friend here wants to have sex with you, want to go in the back for a few minutes?
Priti: Just a few minutes? Totally not worth my time, but thanks.


Scene 3:
At a bar on our way to darts match/only in Nassau:
Grouper: Guys we have to drive now or we are going to be late.
Ricky: Not until I get my f-ing drink fo the road.
Todd: Yeah man, I need a beer for the traffic.
Grouper: Yeah, you're right, I'm running a little low too. Beers!


Scene 4:
Man in car driving past me: Are you pregnant?
Me: What?
Man: You pregnant right.
Me: No fool, I'm not.
I turn to my friend: Erin, what the hell was that about?
Erin: Priti, you must be getting fat.
Me: Oh, ok.


Scene 5:
On Justin's boat going to Rose Island:
Justin, as I'm taking my cover-up off: Man, that is a nice bikini.
Priti. Thanks, and by bikini do you mean breasts?
Justin: Yes I do.
Priti: Alright, thanks man.

Scene 6:
Overheard by friend that was playing an extra while filming:
Chris (acting security guard): Hello Julia, I'm Chris, I"ll be working with you today, just wanted to introduce myself. (extends hand to shake)
Julia Roberts: I'm not shaking hands with everyone today. (and then turns her back to him)

Scene 7: (to end on a postive note)
At filming where I was an extra (and above scene occured):
Gary: Hello, we haven't met, I'm Gary.
Me: Hi Gary, I'm Priti.
Gary: Oh Creepy, it's so nice to meet you.
Me (semi-annoyed): Well, Hairy, it's nice to meet you too.
Gary: Wine? I'm on my third.
Priti: Clearly.