life had been easy on sebastian, but, now, his best-kept secret was leaving his closet and it could change everything. days like that, when the worries got too much, he just needed something to numb things out a bit, which was why he found himself at a bar, a tumbler filled with scotch in front of him. “has life been giving you a hard time too?” he asked the person sitting next to him, even before taking a proper look at them.
amrita wasn’t a drinker. she was raised in the hindu faith and drinking wasn’t generally seen as a positive thing, though her family wasn’t that strict, she still tried to keep the drinking to a minimum. it didn’t seem to do most people very well. after her perfomances, she generally went home but tonight, she had agreed to go to a bar with some fellow mucisians. to her left, her collegeages were happily talking but honestly, she wasn’t that interested in the music related conversation. couldn’t they talk about anything other than work. the sparkling water in front of her looked a little odd between all the alcoholic beverages but she tried not to feel too out of place, although her sari and golden jewelry generally did do that. a man sple to her and she smiled. “actually, no. things are going quite well for me.” she said, honestly but sympathetically. “i take it you aren’t as lucky.”
PRIYANKA CHOPRA ? oh no ! it’s actually AMRITA SINGH ! she’s a FORTY year old VIOLINIST who just so happens to be walking around san diego, leaving her to be known as VIRTUOSO ! their family knows them to be TALENTED & DRIVEN, but also POSSESSIVE & STUBBORN. rumor has it SHE HAS BURN SCARS ON HER STOMACH FROM AN ACID ATTACK WHEN SHE WAS A TEENAGER but their family loves her no matter what !
“ music produces a kind of pleasure that the soul cannot live without ”
1978 her birth. in the state of jharkhand, in india a little girl was born on the 2nd of july to pandit and premlata singh. at that time, she had three older siblings: ishaan, kabir and aadhira (two older brothers and an older sister). the family was quite well off.
1985 her first instrument. amrita get her first music lesson and immediately takes to the violin.
1990 her first performance. amrita also picks up piano and guitar on the side but her violin stays her main instrument, which she is now performing with. her mother supports her but her father things that she is too young to be doing all of this. she should focus on school, but amrita’s big doe eyes made him let go a little bit.
1994 her first love. amrita meets bandhura, when the other girl moves into the house next door and she falls deeply in love with her. they spend all their time together and bandhura checks off all of her firsts: first love, first kiss, first time... they are all tied to bandhura.
1996 her first heartbreak. bandhura is arranged to marry a local boy and told her, quite coldly that it was always going to be like this. they couldn’t be together, they were both girls and that just didn’t happen.
1997 first proposal. she rejects a boy her parents want her to marry and says she wants to focus on her music. her father is angry, but eventually let up and told her that it was her choice, he didn’t want to force her.
1998 second proposal. she rejects yet another man and now her father’s ego is hurt. also their standing in the community was starting to waver. he kept on pressuring her and eventually, she broke down and told her parents that she was gay. a big mistake. they pretty much lost it. they said she brought shame on the family, that she was their biggest mistake. it cut deeply.
1999 acid attack. tw abuse. amrita doesn’t know how it got ot that she was gay, but it did. maybe their housekeeper overheard and gossipped about it. no one knows but one day, she was at the market, getting vegetables when someone threw acid on her. she didn’t realize at first, all she could do was scream. her whole stomach was scarred. it was when she got out of the hospital two months later that she had to get out of india, she couldn’t live here.
2000 move to the US. with a work visa, she managed to get to the united states. she was twenty-two when she arrived. she worked in small orchestras at first, but she managed to survive on that and low wage jobs.
2000-2006 traveling around the US. she travelled around the united states and on her travels, she met the woman that is now her wife. they travelled to places where she could get work as a violinist and wherever ali wanted to follow her.
2007 setting down in san diego. when amrita got a position at the san diego orchestra, that paid quite well, she took it and she told ali that she wanted to settle down. she was tired of the six years of travelling. it had been exciting, but she was done now. she wanted a family.
2018 currently. she is still with the orchestra. she is married to ali and together they have three children: minjae, hara and tbd. amrita is still hurting from not having her family around and wonders how they are, if her parents are still alive, how many nieces and nephews she has but the scars on her stomach that only her wife knows about, remind her of why she can’t go back to india. they don’t hurt her physically anymore but the deep shame she feels about them, is still there.
