Do you consider yourself an NRI or a part of the NRI community?
I guess to a certain extent, but I wouldn't necessarily put myself in that because I don't live my life as an NRI. An Indian, to a certain extent I do. I don't know. I've never been asked that.
Have you been keeping in touch with the American Idol people and have you seen the most recent season?
I was at the finale for the most recent season. I wanted to watch this past season. Like I said, with the Bollywood movies, I was able to watch it with a different perspective because I know, especially on American Idol, I know what goes on behind the scenes. I know exactly everything they're going through in the week before they perform.
It's nice to be able to watch it from that perspective; it gives you a totally different idea of what they're going through. And if they don't sing to their full potential, you kind of feel for them because you know that they've been stressed out, they haven't been able to sleep a lot, they haven't been able to practice as much as you would think because they have a lot of things to do throughout the week.
So I made a point to pay attention to this season. I have kept in touch with the other idols from my season. When I went to the finale, I saw a couple of them, and that was cool, to be able to reconnect, and have a little bit of a reunion.
On Mother's day, I texted them all and wished them happy mother's day, just because, when you go through something like that with someone, you get really close. It's like a family. They're the only people that understand what you're going through because they're going through exactly the same thing as you. It's a bond that you can't really form with anyone else.
What have you been doing post-American Idol?
I've been travelling all over, meeting producers and musicians. I'm just getting a feel for the international music scene and international music in general. Because that's my goal, to be an international artiste. I don't want to limit myself to America. So I've been doing a lot of travelling, a lot of musical research, and yes, I've been getting songs together for an album, working with producers, just keeping busy...
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