A.R. RAHMAN STORY PICKS
By Rahmaniac.com
May 14, 2023
He didn't uproot himself completely and shift to California, but he decided he needed a second base in LA. Having gone from being a Tamil composer to an Indian composer, his next step was to go from Indian to global. He needed to be in LA. AR decided his move into his California house would only be complete if his mother went with him to see it and give the home her blessings. So the two of them booked their tickets to LA and, on the scheduled night, arrived at Chennai International Airport.
The two of them were whisked through check-in and security. However, just before they boarded the plane, they were told by airline staff that they could not get on. AR and Kareema Begum did not, as it turned out, have the passports in which their visas were stamped. Rahman's staff had forgotten to hand those over to them. And AR had not thought to check if all his paperwork was in order.
AR and his mother were in a fix. The airline staff told them, apologetically, that they could not possibly let them board the plane but added that they still had time to go back to Kodambakkam and get their passports if they wanted to. AR decided to take them up on that. The pair hurried out of the airport. The car that had dropped them off had departed by then, and AR decided not to waste more time by asking the driver to return to fetch them. He figured that the best thing to do, given the circumstances, was to take a cab home.
The article which appears above, was originally published on "Notes Of A Dream" the authorized biography of A.R. Rahman.
It would have been a good idea if not for the trifling fact that this was A.R. Rahman, in Chennai, right after winning two Oscars. I was literally pushing people away because they were trying to get into the cab with us, AR recounts very seriously, oblivious to the hilarious outrageousness of this story. 'Everybody was trying to climb in. It was full chaos. People were trying to get pictures with me and I was like "Yo, po ya!" (Not now, man!) Mother and son finally ended up taking a flight the following night.