Bombay
Working in the Library of the NCPA
Namaste from Bombay!
It was a very busy day in which I tried to squeeze in so much! This is an indication, I guess, that things are finally moving along with my work...but phew! it was a bit of a rush.
I awoke, as usual, at 5.30 am and dashed off my blog post. This takes me about 45 minutes if it is of average length--far longer when I have more than usual to write. Then, I washed and dressed and put the kettle on for a cup of coffee before I left for my workout at Bandra Gym. I could only stay for about 45 minutes today as I was needed to shower speedily, get dressed for a day in the city, have my breakfast (muesli with coffee--we're back to routine again!) and get to Dad's by 8.30. It was about 8.45 when I got there as I also had to make myself a tongue sandwich for lunch. With an apple in my bag, I had a snack too, should I feel peckish.
Helping Dad with Paperwork:
Dad needed help as he put together the paperwork for Russel's recent hospitalization in connection with the reimbursement he is due. We set to work soon after I popped into his room to say Hello to Russel who was having a cat nap. We worked along steadily with Dad telling me exactly where he needed my input. In 45 minutes we were done and I was able to leave. There is one final stage in the paperwork which Dad will do later today.
Off to Downtown Bombay:
I now feel familiar enough with the public transport system in Bombay that I can find my way quite easily on it. I jumped into a bus that was practically waiting for me, got off at Bandra Station, jumped into a fast train (Ladies First Class compartment this time as it was about 10.00 am and trains still had commuter traffic). I did not get a seat today but it was not oppressive. From Churchgate, my quest for a suitable bus to get me to Nariman Point began. I found two long lines snaking outside the station--one for Ladies, another for Gents. It turns out they were waiting to take 'shared' cabs--four passengers get into one cab and pay a flat fare of Rs. 10 each (the bus fare is Rs. 8). At the rate the cabs were coming, they would be there till tomorrow.
I crossed the street in search of the 137 bus stop--as the same bus brings me from Nariman Point to Churchgate. But there was no bus stop to be found. I did, however, find a conductor. He told me that a No. 2 would go from that stop, but he also directed me to a bus stop around the corner from Eros Cinema where he said there were frequent buses going to Norman Point. I took his advice and there it was! The bus stop for the 100 bus had hundreds of people waiting in line--but there were buses coming along steadily as if in a stream and it was a very orderly crowd that boarded the bus in perfect harmony. I waited till the line ended and entered the second bus--there was another bus right behind me. This was a crowd of white-collar office folk who thought it made so much more sense to stand in this line that actually kept moving than in a cab line that was static.
I was at Nariman Point in 5 minutes and also found the way to get from there to the NCPA--another five minute walk. It was a complicated commute from door to door, but I assure you it was much better than using a car and sitting in traffic for two hours! In fact, I was just thinking that I do not miss a car at all in this city--like London, it is so beautiful connected by public transport that there is absolutely no reason to put oneself through misery in a private vehicle (when all one does is add to the unbearable traffic situation).
At Work at the Library of the NCPA:
I also found the shortest way to get to the Library from the bus-stop. It took some doing as the NCPA is a vast complex of about five theaters knit together with vast landscaped gardens. I actually had to ask for directions to the library after I made one full circle of the premises and missed the entrance.
Once upstairs, I found a spot in the library and asked if there was a computerized catalogue by which I could find out if the books on my bibliography were available. I was told that only the staff had access to the computerized catalogue. I would have to wait until one of the staff members came along and found me my books. Meanwhile, I was invited to browse through the stacks and pick up anything that might appeal to me. I did so right away and pulled out a few books on the Parsis to get some clues to the reason for their involvement in Western performing arts.
I was just in the midst of accessing my Bibliography on my iPad when the librarian Sujata came forward and gave me one of the books on my list which she had found in another section. For the next couple of hours, I read steadily and made notes on my iPad.
I met my friends Jimmy and Hutoxi Bilimoria who fixed up my appointment for an interview with Jimmy's brother for tomorrow at 11.00 am. I also joined them for lunch at Hutoxi's desk as there would be no other place for me to eat apart from the garden downstairs. I was hungry by 12.45--so eating my sandwich lunch at 1.00 pm was just what the doctor ordered.
I went back to my desk and my reading in about 15 minutes and worked steadily until 4.00 pm. The peak rush hour (which probably begins about 5.00 pm) is too scary for me to sit working in the city longer than 4.00pm. I said Bye and thanks to the librarians and informed them that I would need the same book/s tomorrow.
My reverse journey home to Bandra then began. The 137 bus took about 10 minutes to come, I took a slow train (Ladies First Class compartment) to Bandra and hopped into a waiting 220 bus at Bandra station that took me home in 10 minutes. I was having a cup of tea and Chocolate Walnut biscuits in my studio by 5.25 pm. My back was breaking, for some reason, and I had to do stretching exercises to ease it. This probably has to do with the chair on which I was sitting in the library--probably not best designed for prolonged hours of work. I will probably spend this whole week in the library and hopefully get some interviews done too at the NCPA. Thursday is a bank holiday and the complex will be closed...but by Friday, I hope to have done substantial work.
If I was expecting to do some city walks after I had done work in the library, I realize that is unlikely to happen. I am too tired after long hours spent reading and making notes in a library--not to mention hot (as the temperatures are still quite high here) and worried about taking public transport in peak hour rush to be able to achieve those lofty aims.
Mass, A Meeting with a Priest and then Dinner:
I was at Dad's again at about 6.30 pm and wanted to visit with Russel for a few minutes but Dad had to leave early to do the singing in church. I left with him and told Russel I would be back after Mass. However, after Mass, Fr. Savio wanted to see me as I was required to write a letter to the parish priest to inform him that I would be worshipping at his church of the next year. I did so. I also inquired about the possibility of being a lector and was informed that I would have to attend a 'training' session. I informed the good priest that I had been a lector for 35 years of my life at least! He was taken aback, but told me that the training also included faith formation. I asked if this was related to the program called VIRTUS which in the States is mandatory for any lay person involved with the church. If it was VIRTUS that he meant, then I informed him that I was already certified in the States. He said No--he did not know what VIRTUS was. I told him that it had been made mandatory by a Vatican directive about five years ago after the sexual scandals in the Church had begun. It was basically a way of training lay people on how to interact with the clergy and other lay people in an attempt to prevent the proliferation of such allegations in the future. If anything, the Catholic Church in India should initiate such training, I told the priest, as that was a mandatory requirement as per the Vatican. He was completely taken aback by my comments. Our interaction continued in this vein for a few minutes when I told him that I was not the kind of person to mindlessly go by the directives of individual priests--I told him that I needed to know who was issuing the directives: if they came from Bombay's Archbishop's House, I was prepared to fall in line with conventions; but if they were based on the arbitrary whims of individual priests in individual churches, I would not co-operate.
I have a feeling that I will never be a Lector in this church!
Poor Dad had been waiting for me all along and wondered what was going on when I joined him again. I reported my conversation with the priest to him and he remained perplexed at what seem to be whole new procedures being introduced in the parish. I only stopped by briefly again at Dad's to pick up a spare blanket as the long and unexpected meeting had delayed dinner for them.
Back home, I had a long whatsapp phone chat with my friend Delyse and then (feeling really hungry) sat to eat my own dinner while watching Dead Wind on Netflix.
It had been a very productive day as I now feel that I am making substantial inroads into my research.
Until tomorrow...
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