Luca modeling in India

Dutch in Delhi

Delhi, you either love it or hate it, there is no in between. Personally,
I fell in love with the people, culture, colours, food and the atmosphere. Being able to have the opportunity to live and work in Delhi for four months
as a model made me realize how special this city is within its culture, food
and vibrating energy. Delhi impressed me in many ways. You can’t compare it to anything, there is nothing like it. Living in
Gurgaon, the cyber city next to New Delhi, showed me a glimpse of the Caste
system they have. Seeing and feeling the huge difference between the poor and
rich made me realize to be grateful for everything that I have.

When I first arrived in the end of January the weather was still cool,
now it’s the middle of May I am having difficulties with the heat going from 40
to 45 degrees. The apartment is located in Gurgaon (Gurugram), a city in the Indian
state of Haryana, Its 32 kilometres southwest of New Delhi and its known for a
leading financial and industrial hub in India. The apartment is a 3 floor
building with multiple rooms share by models from all over the world. The first 3 months I shared my room with a model from Uzbekistan and a
model from France. Later, I happily shared my room with a model from the same
country as me, which is The Netherlands and another lovely model form Serbia. Throughout
the experience, I have met models from Ukraine, Russia, Italy, France, Germany,
Bulgaria, Slovakia and Brazil! All of them where unique in their personalities,
behaviour and beauty.

Living in
Delhi as a model can be difficult, everything is different from what you know.
As you can guess I did experience the “Delhi Belly” which comes with all is
flaws like dhiarroea, vomiting and infections. Luckily this was easy to cure! With
two,
three or four jobs a week I had a good insight about what modelling in Delhi is
like. Every job has been extremely different, and I won’t lie about it. Either
absolutely horrifying jobs with unbearable working environments, (try to
imagine, no changing rooms, filthy clothes and working hours from 9 up to 11
hours per day with at least 100 changes or more) or absolutely amazing jobs
that fly you over to different cities and make you shoot for the most
well-known designers of India.

The best job I had wasn’t because of the budget, it was because of the
experience. The client flew me over to Nagpur for a one-day job with an
upcoming designer from Mumbai. As soon as I arrived there was driver picking me
up and bringing me to my destination: a five-star luxurious hotel with
everything included! Think about massages/pool/gym and spa. The job took only
two hours and was in the evening, so you can imagine what I did that day!

So far, I have done two Indian commercials, a magazine print, variety of
catalogue prints, look books, fashion shows and websites. Moreover, I have
been visiting Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Nagpur, Hyderabad and everywhere in Delhi
for a various of jobs!The modelling life in Delhi isn’t like other places, safety is the first
priority with everything that you do. The agency had strict rules which were
important because Delhi is not known as being one of the safest cities in Asia. For example, every time they was a party or event planned for the models there
would always come a booker to keep an eye. There are time limits which forced
us to be home at strict times, all for safety. However, I must admit that I
have experienced weekly crazy partying in so called Farmhouses in Delhi which
included all possible drugs, alcohol and food imaginable. It has been a crazy
experience!

If you are modelling with CJ and joining Auraa models soon in Delhi try
to prepare for a couple of things:

- Bring all necessary clothing that fit the weathers of
the season -Bring enough medicine/bandages etc. for a possible
infection  - Make sure you get all your vaccinations that are
required - Prepare for a culture chock!  

Take some
delicious food from home with you! (I took French wine, goat cheese, Dutch spelt
crackers and loads, loads of Dutch peanut butter, my favorite!) Food in Delhi is something different, the colours that you find in
everyday life in Delhi you will find in food. I have experienced the crazy
curries/ masalas, and traditional sweets! Especially Coconut Ladoo is my
absolute favourite. Be careful though, the food is quite fattening and can be
incredibly spicy (they do use loads of sugar in all curries). As you must know, India is the mother of all kinds of Yoga practise, I
found a yoga school near the apartment to practise Hatha and Vinyasa Yoga. Not
only does it keep you fit it keeps you mind healthy too! My next trip will be
in Darjeeling at Himalayan Yoga Bliss to start my teacher course in June.

The 31st of May my contract with Auraa will be finished and I
must admit that their team made my stay memorable. Always willing to help and
complete transparency with my financial status. You must know that as a model I
had a lot of expenses that needed to be covered before I could start actually
making money. Expenses like my personal driver, pocket money, rent costs etc.
But I am happy to say that I did made money!

A huge thanks to CJ models who gave me this opportunity, I was able to
reach Carla at all times, when I had issues or any questions she helped me. We kept
each other up to date every week. Looking forward to another new adventure with
CJ Models!!

With my experience in Delhi I’ve learned that being rich is not about
money or possessions, it’s about freedom and having few wants. I believe that
you are essentially who you create yourself to be and all that occurs in your
life is the result of your own making.  (Stephen Richards)

“Seek not greater wealth, but simpler pleasure; not higher fortune, but
deeper felicity” (Mahatma Gandhi)

I’m Luca a Dutch model from a city called Utrecht in The Netherlands,
currently working with CJ Models. Thanks to both CJ and Auraa for this amazing
experience!