Entering Into A New Family Project...And A New Publishing One

Saturday, December 29, 2018
Bombay

Entering Into A New Family Project...And A New Publishing One.

     Namaste from Bombay!
     The year is swiftly drawing to a close and, inevitably, one's thoughts and prayers (of Thanksgiving) turn to its blessings (and challenges). I find myself waking up with a gratitude prayer on my lips and much foreboding for what's in store.
     Awake at 6.30 am (as I only really fell asleep at 2.00 am), I blogged quickly and ran through email. I love the many Xmas letters we get...plus Llew has been scanning and sending me the many photo Xmas cards we receive each year from American friends. That's the one thing that makes me feel homesick.  That and pictures of Southport Harbor regularly posted by two Twitter accounts that I follow (The Southport Globe is one and I forget the name of the other). At this time of year, they have been sending misty pictures of Harbor Road at dawn and of Southport Marina shrouded in fog--virtually invisible but still beautiful.
      I fixed myself some breakfast--back to muesli and coffee--and watched Doc Martin.  Then, I had a shower and got ready to face my day. It is a matter of 'getting ready' and of 'facing' for I am now undertaking a big (and very difficult) family project about which I cannot reveal too much at this stage.  Suffice it to say that it involved making a couple of calls that took up most of my morning...but those two calls launched it. I need to make notes as I go along so I can keep it all under control. I honestly wish I wasn't doing this alone--it would have been so much better to have had Llew work on this with me...but from the other side of the world, he simply cannot. I am praying for the courage and the skill to be able to handle this. Please lift me up in prayer...that's all I can say right now.
     I then began work on sending out the proposal for my next book to a bunch of Indian publishers with the idea of trying to get it published. I am also going to contact a bunch of literary agents here--if that will help me position my next book, I would be happy. The manuscript is ready--it is the memoir I wrote about my life in the UK ten years ago. Let us hope someone will bite.  Reading the websites of the publishing houses here and getting a sense of their submission requirements (different for each publisher) means that one has to work on the project with focus. Each query takes a lot of time as I draft a different cover letter for each Acquisitions Editor.  I am very much hoping that something will come out of this.  If not, I do have my American publisher, Hamilton Books, who has already offered me a contract for it.  However, there are some terms in that contract with which I am not entirely happy.  Let us wait and watch...
     I left my studio for lunch at Dad's. It was chicken curry with red pumpkin--I actually ate it with a chapati as the replacement meal delivery service lady sent him almost a dozen! Right after lunch, while Dad still continued eating, I worked on sorting through the many boxes of Christmas sweets and cakes that Dad had received from a number of neighbors and friends.  It always overwhelms him--these little things--in terms of sorting through them and putting them away.  A couple, of years ago, when I was visiting Bombay at this time, I had given him a hand with this task.  So it was child's play and a very simple undertaking for me to go through each box and separate the goodies into: cake, fried items (kulkuls, neurees, rose cookies), cookies and tarts (shortbread, nankatais), 'sweets' (milk cream, marzipan, jujubes, milk toffee, chocolate fudge, coconut toffee, guava cheese). Good God! What a sugar high for Dad and Russel lies in store! I shudder when I think about it: diabetes just waiting to take hold...Dad's housekeeper then helped me tear up each box and throw it away with its accompanying paper napkin inside--such a waste and such an environmental nightmare! I prefer the good old days when we went from house to house with the same one glass tray covered with a pretty embroidered cloth. In each house, we were invited in...we visited for a few minutes with the residents while someone (usually the lady of the house) disappeared inside with the tray, took away the goodies offered and returned the same tray, then and there, usually with her own sweet offering (a bar of chocolate, a few sweeties or, if nothing else was available, a small mound of sugar)! I loved those Indian customs of old!
     Dad and I left for Hill Road so that we could exchange the sari we had gifted Dad's housekeeper for Christmas.  It tuns out that he had picked out the exact same color for her last year and she requested us to exchange it and get her something quite different--which we did.  The shopkeeper who knows Dad and myself fairly well by now was more than nice about making the switch.  On our way back, as we traipsed through the market, both Dad and I bought a ton of fruit (apples, figs and guavas for me) and for Dad it was oranges, guavas and a papaya.
     Armed with our produce, we got into a rick. I jumped off at my place while Dad carried on. Back home, I took a short 20-minute power nap, then returned to my task of sending out publishing queries. I am still working on it and, no doubt, in the next couple of days, I will have finished sending out a bunch of them.   Fingers crossed!
     I stopped for a pot of tea, Flury's almond, honey and fig cake (nice!) and cheese sandwich biscuits (which remind me very much of Tuc's biscuits which I used to buy and eat in London). As it was Saturday evening, I called Dad and told him I would not be joining him for Mass as I will be going tomorrow morning. Instead I went off to keep Russel company while Dad went to Mass.  I found a pack of cards and for the first time, Russel and I began to play cards. I shall do that with him from now on.  Mum had taught him to play Pairs and Seven Hands. It will be a nice way to help him pass time when I am with him.
     My friend Shahnaz called to invite me over to her's. She suggested we watch a movie on Netflix, sip some wine (I would have carried my own gin and tonic), have dinner, shoot the breeze. I told her I would love to, but I had told Dad I would have dinner with them. Sadly, she is out tomorrow...so we might have to wait till next week to do this. It all began when I suggested we keep up my annual tradition--of watching Love, Actually together. Of course, I then find out that the movie is not licensed to be screened on Netflix in India--so I cannot continue my tradition this year! Nor could I find it th whole movie on You Tube (just extracts and the trailer)! Bummer! We might have to watch something else.
     We had visitors during the evening. My brother Roger's friend Jumbo came along with his daughter Roxanne. They chatted with us and asked me for an update on Russel and on Dad--everyone is so concerned about how Dad is doing with all this extra strain of Russel's long prognosis. I have to say that I feel concerned when I see how stressed he has become and how he is reacting to this stress. It is very worrying for me too.
     When Jumbo left, Russel wanted a nap. I sat and browsed through their newspaper as I waited for Dad's return.  He came back very shortly and we started to get dinner organized. I ate quickly and then picked up my laundry. We tried to call my nephew Arav to wish him for his birthday--I had hoped to Whatsapp video call with him while Dad and Russel could also see him and chat with him...but it seems he was still asleep in Connecticut.  We will try again tomorrow.
    I got back home, ate some ice-cream for dessert while watching Still Game (which was hilarious!) and feel asleep rather early.
     Until tomorrow...