Bringing a Veena (Musical Insrument) from India..
Ramakrishna Chamarthy
>
> If anyone has ever brought (or has ideas on how to bring) a Veena
> from India, I would appreciate some tips.
>
I had the good fortune :-) of bringing Veena from India (specifically
from Secunderabad - this is important) about eight years back. I was living
in Detroit then. In contrast to Majety Subba Rao who brought Veena for
learning here, I, as ParOpakaari Paapanna, :-) brought the Veena for my
friend's wife. She promised me that it will not become a decorative piece at
home but will definitely continue to learn music. Ofcourse, aa tharuvaatha
jeevana veenaa naada ghOsha (anTe bOlDanni bhavbhava saagaraalanna maaTa) lO
paDi, :-) aa ammayi Veena nerchukOvaDam maanEsindi anukOnDi.
adi vErE 'sangathi'. :-)
> Specifically,
>
> * How did you pack it?
My friend's in-laws packed them in the Veena "box" (just as was done by
Majety Subba Rao). I think that this a logical and physical :-) choice.
They covered the Veena with some duppaTlu (that my friend's wife asked me
:-) to take them specificaly for this purpose) :-) and packed the box with
some soft packing material so that Veena does not move much. The remaining
space was packed (couldn't waste such a real estate while flying) :-) with
some "aandhra goodies". I made a deal that part of it belongs to me. :-)
They brought the Veena to SecBad Rly. Stn. and we arranged to get it
loaded in the "Luggage Van" of Minar Express (I got some paper work
done a few hours before). It went well upto Bombay. When I got out of
Bombay VT station and hired a Taxi to go to the airport, the taxiwala
put the Veena box on the "luggage rack" [top of the taxi], the policeman
whose post we have to cross to get to the road objected saying that it
is too high to clear the bridges of Bombay (couldn't believe it how
low the bridges came down in a few years after I left Bombay) :-).
The taxiwala suggested in a hush voice "vunkO paanch rupayaa dEdO.
sab theek hojaayega!". thappu chEsthunnanduku aa naTarajaswami ni,
bhaarathamaatha ni kshaminchamani manasulO ve'Dukuni, aa policewala
ki "O five" ivvagaanE, Bombay lO vunna bridges anni "Himalayaala
kanna yekkuva yetthu" ki yedigipOyayi. :-) "vineela gaganapu vEdika paina"
payaninchE "praakrutha veeniya" airport vaipu paruguletthindi.
> * Was it treated as ONE piece of luggage by the airline?
Yes, it was treated as ONE piece of luggage by the airline, it was
brought into US as ONE as well. :-)
I was flying by Air Canada Bombay-Toronto-Detroit.
But the problem I had was - I was counting it as ONE of my regularly
allowed (at no extra cost) pieces of luggage for check-in (I vaguely remember
checking about this a few days prior) and thus took one suitcase less.
But, they counted it as an "extra luggage item" based on its dimensions
and had to pay an extra amount. My friends are still paying for this. :-)
The problem I had at Toronto Airport (being an international transit passenger),
I had to check-out and check-in luggage myself. I had a few difficulties
in doing this based on the size of the Veena box and taking it by an
elevator etc.
> * Any problem from the Customs folks in the U.S
> Thanks in advance..
>
> Yashodhar
>
No problems. But the customs official asked me "Is this siiTaaarr"?"
I told him "No, it is called Veena but it is a similar string instrument."
But, he still had a Question Mark mokham.
I asked him "What is the matter?".
He said,
"Veena lOnaa, theega lOnaa,
yekkaDunnadii raagamu?,
(he asked me to show or declare where it is
as part of custom procedures), :-) :-)
adi yelagainadi gaanamu?
(answer as part of the questions in
customs procedures" :-) :-)
But, in the end, I felt that it was well worth it.
Good luck.
- Chamarthy Ramakrishna E-mail: ram_ch...@mcimail.com