The Asia Diaries: Qrion tours India

My first day in India. Mumbai is very warm, it reached 38 Celsius in the morning!

I took this thing called 'Auto' to go to the clothing shop. I really liked Fabindia. They sell beautiful traditional clothes. I really wanted to wear a saree!

The way people drive, walk, and talk is very different than how I grew up. Everything felt super new and refreshing to me. I enjoyed taking these ‘Autos’ to get around the city.

I spent two nights in Mumbai. I had a crazy jet lag so I mostly stayed in the hotel room watching tv and enjoyed room service, their chicken biryani was tasty!

The first gig in Mumbai was amazing. There are many Anjuna fans, one of the best energetic crowds I've ever seen. I chatted with them after the set. I was so happy that they liked my set (and they were so welcoming to me)... What a great night!

I traveled to Goa with my promoter Onkar from SLiCK!. His DJ name is Orion... we laughed at how similar our stage names are.

One of my tour managers Andrea took me to 'Anjuna Beach' — yes it's where they founded the name for the label. We enjoyed the sunset with some Indian food. I passed out on the way back to the hotel and took a nap before my set later that night.

As we were on this beach I was deeply thinking about how interesting my life has been (and how I'm now in India for a show). I remembered when I didn’t have any gigs like six years ago. Time flies fast, those days feel like yesterday. I'd never imagined I would be touring in India! This is much different and positive than some of the very earliest memories of my career — I have played at festivals in the past that only had two people on the floor, didn't have a green room, and my stuff got stolen before my set. I’m happy that this is my career now working with great promoters in new cities and countries.

On the way to Hyderabad, we connected with my best friend Chelsea. She flew in to support me all the way from the US. We've been living together for almost a year now and it's been great. She's one of my kindest, happiest, and most amazing friend. She’s like my emotional support puppy (we joke about that a lot) haha! It was a relief having her for part of the tour.

I had this traditional Indian breakfast called Dosa. It's a crispy crepe with mashed potatoes inside, with curry dipping sauce. I wasn't familiar with Indian foods much before I visited but now I'm so into them. One day I want to make butter chicken curry from spices!

One thing there's a big difference from US nightclubs, Indian nightclubs always have food services at tables. It’s like Izakaya style in Japan, we like drinking and eating at the same time and that’s one of the things I miss about Asian cultures. Sometimes I wish US clubs had food, that would be super epic.

‘Indian Chinese food’ is a thing in India too. I would say the flavor is more garlic-y and spicier. Momos (they're like dumplings) was my top fav of the night. Very spicy, and good for beer.

On the last day in India, we flew to Bangalore for my final stop on the tour. This was the view from my hotel room!

I had a little bit of a hangover from the show last night (lol) but it disappeared as soon as I arrived in the next town. Curry always helps! I had a great curry lunch with Chelsea, it was this sampler of curry and naan.

I love roti! It’s sweeter than naan in my opinion and very crispy and soft on the inside. I’m not used to eating bread usually, so roti was a perfect fit for me. Their butter chicken curry was super delicious, it had a very tomato flavor to it.

We went to the venue called Block 22. It was half an indoor/outdoor venue. The floor was super packed. A few people came up to me and said they liked my album. That was the sweetest moment on this tour. I played a 2h set (more progressive house than the usual set and tracks from my album). Finishing my tour with a good vibe show and a delicious meal felt really nice!

The one week of my India stay was amazing overall. I caught a flight back to Mumbai to relax for a day before heading home.

I could touch on the cultural differences of the country, and feel the atmosphere of local people and towns. I can’t appreciate sLick! enough who invited me to do this, of course, the Anjuna team who helped me with my “I Hope It Lasts Forever Album”, my manager and bestie who are and have been here for me through this journey. DJing for a living is interesting because you don't always leave any object or physical things behind; it's mostly memories. All I can do is help to create new memories for people. I’m so grateful to be a tiny part of people’s lives.

Making and being in music connects me and the memories of my childhood, and it almost recreates other good memories. I am so happy that the tour went well and I have fun new memories that are left in my heart. I can’t wait to be back in the studio to make music from this experience and feeling.

Read this next: The Asia Diaries: Benji B

Follow Qrion on Instagram.