Back to Work at the NCPA Library and Doing One More Interview

Friday, October 19, 2018
Bombay

Back to Work at the NCPA Library and Doing One More Interview

     Namaste from Bombay!
     It has been a week of steady work and but for the Dussehra holiday that was yesterday, I have made great headway. So, it was back to work at the NCPA today.
     As usual, I awoke at 5.00 am. Even if I do wake up earlier, I try to force myself to go back to sleep until at least 6.00 am so that I can make sure I am getting enough sleep for my health. Functioning on an adrenalin high might be great for the amount of work I can accomplish, but I am well aware that, in the long run, it is detrimental to one's health. I blogged, downloaded the daily Times of London, glanced at the main stories on my iPad and then washed and tidied up my bed. I decided not to go to the Gym today as I have a pulled muscle on my right hip and I do not want to aggravate the condition. As it is a very mild pull, I am certain it will feel better in a day or two.
     Accordingly, I sat on my computer and finalized the booking for my trip to Orissa and Calcutta in December.  My friend Nafisa (who had recently traveled with me in Italy) her husband Hosefa and I, will be traveling together for a week before arriving in Calcutta where I shall be giving a paper at the Anglo-Indian Researchers Conference at St. Xavier's College. They will stay longer in Calcutta and will also proceed onwards into the tea gardens of Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Siliguri, etc--places that I had covered on past trips on which I had led my NYU students.
     Wth my tickets booked, I can now focus on getting my hotel booked in Calcutta. Nafisa will take care of the hotel and transport in Orissa--we will be visiting Bhubaneswar (mainly to see the Jaganath Temple), Puri (where we will be based in the hotel owned by friends--great beach resort), Konark (to see the famed Sun Temple) and Raghuram (a tribal village). As I have never been to Orissa in all my extensive travels in India, I am happy to tick one more box off my India To-Do List.
      I was all ready to have a shower when I realized that, for some reason, I had no running water. With nothing I could do about it, I made myself a sandwich with the chicken cutlets that were in my tiffin, got dressed and left for another day of work at the NCPA.

Working at the NCPA:
     I was at my desk at the library of the NCPA at 10.45 am after a very peaceful journey--bus, train, bus. It is a bit complex but it is still much quicker than my commute from Southport, Connecticut to Manhattan in New York. I took a Bandra Local train (which starts at Bandra--which means it was empty--I realize there is one at 9.45 am daily--what a boon!), and found that the bus right outside Churchgate station drops me right outside the NCPA--honestly, it could not be easier.  All the nightmares you hear about commuting in Bombay...well, either things have changed drastically, or I am simply lucky in that I have found niche travel times when conditions are not so bad or my tolerance thresholds for inconvenience are very high.  I don't know what it is, but I am just not at the receiving end of any hardship--and for that I am very grateful to the Lord above.
      I researched and read and typed on my iPad (with detachable keyboard--best purchase I ever made) until 12.00 noon when I had an interview scheduled with Aida Bissengalieva, the resident pianist and piano teacher in the Special Music School run by the NCPA. She took me up to her office (a tiny room which was eaten up by her piano) where I did the interview. I found her extremely interesting and very articulate despite the fact that English is a foreign language to her. Best of all, after the interview, she introduced me to the rest of the musicians from Kazakstan who are teachers at the school--each teaching a different instrument.
     She also took me to the practice cubicles where I became aware of the fact that there are musicians practicing full time, all day long, as they prepare for recitals and concerts that are on the roster at the NCPA. Many of them are Goan or East Indian Christians and all of them would be worthy subjects for my interviews! This is what is meant by networking--it happened to me in the UK when I was researching my book on Anglo-Indians (one Anglo-Indian who introduced me to two or three others and they, in turn, would introduce me to others--and so on and so forth). This time I was introduced to Mark Nunes and Francis Mendes, both of whom live in Bandra--both violinists with the Symphony Orchestra of India. They were at rehearsal with another Russian violinist. I spent a few moments introducing myself and taking their contact numbers. Since they are in Bandra, it might be very easy to chat with them on my own home turf. They will be putting me on to the other Goan Christian musicians, also from Bandra.
     Sadly, I had received an email from Xerxes Unwalla, Director of Western Music at the NCA, with whom I had scheduled another interview at 2.00 pm. He was unwell and had not reported for work and asked if our meeting could be rescheduled.
     This gave me time to go back to the library and continue to work until 1.30 pm when I stopped for my sandwich lunch for about 20 minutes. I stayed back at my desk in the library for the next few hours--I am minutely going through A Double Life, the autobiography of Alyque Padamsee who is a leading light among theater practitioners in Bombay. It is my aim to get an interview with him as soon as possible so that I can ask him questions while I have all this knowledge that I have gained from his book still fresh in my mind. I will have to spend at least one more day with the book and since the Director of the NCPA, Khushroo Suntook, has given me an appointment to meet him on Tuesday, that is when I shall return to the library to continue my research and do the interview as well.  Things, as you can see, are moving along at a brisk speed, and I am simply thrilled.
     I was back home at 5.30 pm when I went straight into the shower.  I had running water again--so it was quite easy to freshen up, get dressed and go to Dad's. He had work for me that has not ended yet--I have to print out the long 3-page letter he drafted (with just a tiny bit of input from me) and take a whole bunch of Russel's hospital receipts to Jay, our photo copy man, so that Dad can courier the lot off to the insurance company for Russel's reimbursement.  It is amazing how much I am learning about how medical systems operate in India--so different from the States where our hospitals would have dealt directly with the insurance companies without creating any work for us.  No wonder Dad was so meticulous about retaining all his receipts and keeping a file on them. Still, he says that with the systems he has created and has in place, he has never faced any administrative problems or delays with the insurance company which, in the past, has been quick to reimburse (if all documents are in order). Like I said, this is all a sharp learning curve for me (but I am a very eager and willing learner and I have a fabulous teacher--the best!)
     Dad and I then went through the changes he wanted to make in the letter and went together to Jay's tiny outfit that is incredibly efficient for the small space it occupies. Both Dad and I are known well to Jay who is always respectful and helpful when we go to his shop. By then I had received a phone invitation to lunch tomorrow at the Willingdon Gymkhana at Mahalaxmi opposite the Bombay Race Course from my Elphinstone College classmates Vaman and Milind. I was delighted to accept as I am free and cannot wait to see them again and catch up with them--after four decades! The location, however, is unfamiliar to me...so I am hoping I will be able to get there by Uber. Since it is a Saturday, hopefully, the traffic will not be too bad into the city and out.
     When we finished printing out the letter and Dad had all the documents photocopied, we got back to his home. Dad has called me back to his place tomorrow morning to review the entire packet and make sure all the papers are in order before he can send them off by courier. I told him I would be there by 9.45 am.
     Back home, I had a phone chat with Llew and then sat to eat my dinner--I still have so much food in my fridge because I was not home for lunch the entire week and carried sandwiches with me. I tucked into Chicken Curry, beans, leftovers from my lunch with Patsy of Fettuccine Arrabbiata and Ceasar Salad. While eating, I watched Midsomer Murders (Season 20) on my big screen TV through my laptop and You Tube. It is amazing what technology can do!!!
     My pulled hip muscle already feels much better. I shall return to the Gym tomorrow. But I am looking forward to the weekend as it has been a busy and tiring week--but a most productive one (and for that I am very happy).
       At 10.30, with my eyes closing, I fell asleep.
     Until tomorrow...