Transcribing and Yet Another Interview

Monday, November 26, 2018
Bombay

Transcribing and Yet Another Interview

     Namaste from Bombay!
     Today, what Indians refer to as 26/11, took me back to ten years ago when I lived in London and watched the horror of the terrorist activity in Bombay unfold on my TV screen in my Holborn flat. Without any Indian TV channels here now, I did not have to relive that experience. But the very date sends shudders down my spine.
     I was going to spend most of the day transcribing the two pending interviews I had carried out that needed to be done--with Jini Dinshaw and Yohan Jeffereis. Following the physical exhaustion of yesterday, I skipped the gym today. So I simply washed and blogged--the blogging took ages as it was a very lengthy post. Then I ate my breakfast of muesli and coffee and began working.
     I finished transcribing the interview with Jini by the time lunch rolled around--I ate leftovers of shrimp curry, cutlets and red pumpkin--and watched Still Game on Netflix--I adore this Scottish show. I don't understand half of what they say  as their Glaswegian accents are so heavy, but the plots are so hilarious that I never fail to chuckle right through each episode.
     I took my 20 minute power nap and got back to work again--this time I transcribed the interview with Yohan and felt so relieved that I had caught up. I also emailed my article to Fr. Tony Charangat, Editor of The Examiner--really pleased with the final outcome of it. I got an instant acknowledgment from him--he told me that the staff had been waiting for it to arrive! It will appear in the December 15 (Christmas) issue of the magazine.
     Then, I showered and shampooed and got ready for my next appointment--an interview with the singer-actor Sharon Prabhakar. Except that I had wanted to stop off at Dad's to see Russel before I went there. At that moment, I got a call from the man who is renewing Dad's passport for him. He wanted Dad to come and check that he had entered all the data correctly.  As Dad's eyesight is so poor, I went along to check things out. This meant that I could not get to Dad's.
     I finished with the passport job and then took a rick and went off to Sharons'. She lives on the border between Bandra and Khar and I found her place easily as the directions she gave me were very good.
     The interview lasted an hour. She was obviously very tired after what had been a very long day for her. I don't know whether she thought she was speaking to a journalist who would report on her doings in some glamorous magazine but she didn't seem to get that mine was a scholarly inquiry into the historiography of English theater in Bombay.  It seemed as if we were speaking at cross-purposes. After an hour--with both of us obviously not really 'connecting' at all--I felt I'd really had enough (and it was clear she felt so too). So I left feeling less than satisfied with what I had picked up from her. There was none of the depth of history that I was seeking.  She seemed more keen to speak about herself and her current work--which is not related to my study at all.
     Back home by rickshaw, I had my dinner--finished some Singaporean Chilli Crab that I had taken home in a doggy bag from Bandra Gym and ate with with a few more leftovers. As I ate, I watched The Princess Switch, a light rom-com that was recommended to me by my friends Bishop Michael and Cynthia Colclough in London--they said that the female protagonist reminded them of me! I simply had to see the movie and got quite hooked into it. Does she look like me? Well, I suppose if you take in her olive skin and dark hair and maybe her wide smile--then yes...there is some resemblance! I need to find out the actress' name--she plays a double role (an American baker and a European princess with a marked British accent). But then I began to feel sleepy.
     I shall watch the second installment tomorrow.  I went to bed at about 10.15 pm after brushing and flossing my teeth on a not-so-fulfilling day.
     Until tomorrow...