![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() The first was toward the end of my first tour with him in 2005, when I had just been accepted at UCLA. I had two very important conversations with the master, which began to shape my journey to where it is now: I took several months off during my senior year of high school to tour with Ravi Shankar (trying to keep up with my classmates, studying textbooks on my own, getting tutoring sessions via Skype, even taking my SAT exams at a random high school in New York on the morning of our Carnegie Hall performance!). Can you imagine the surprise of my friends, who went from vaguely knowing that I sang to discovering that I was performing at Carnegie Hall, Disney Hall and The Hollywood Bowl? Months later I received a call from Ravi Shankar himself, asking if I would like to join him on an extensive tour of the USA and Canada from 2005-2006. What started as a half-hour showcase became a two-hour concert as he requested more songs and ragas, making me feel comfortable and at ease singing and improvising - and forgetting that I was performing for a legend and the other esteemed invitees. I had no idea that this would be my audition - to be accepted to tour with him. and invited me to perform a 30-minute set at his home in nearby Encinitas. All things changed when maestro Ravi Shankar heard about a talented 15-year-old Carnatic singer in L.A. ![]()
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