Return to Bombay from Calcutta and Hunkering Down for Christmas

Saturday, December 22, 2018
Calcutta-Bombay

Return to Bombay from Calcutta and Hunkering Down for Christmas
 
     Namaste from Bombay!
     Christmas got under way while I was traveling in Orissa and Calcutta! One has no choice but to fall in line with the festivity.
     I was up at 6.30 am in my hotel. The shower in my hotel was much too skinny and much too tepid and I was reaching Bombay soon enough anyway--soI decided to shower when I got back home. I got dressed, packed in my last-minute stuff and went down to the dining room in the Fairlawns Hotel for breakfast. I was looking forward to dosas but today they had another Indian item on the menu: chole puri. I decided it was going to be another (almost) Full English breakfast (because who knows when I will have the chance to have such a breakfast again?!). I took my seat in the dining room and had a Spanish-Indian woman from Barcelona for company. She was at my table for about 20 minutes and then had to leave. I ordered my chicken, mushroom and cheese omelette and seemed to wait for it forever. Meanwhile, my friends Robyn and Keith came downstairs for breakfast and joined me at my table as my breakfast finally arrived and I helped myself to hash browns, baked beans, mushrooms, grilled tomatoes and chicken sausage. I call it an Almost-Full English Breakfast because there was no bacon! I literally wolfed it down as I had a flight at 11.00 am and did not want to be late.
     Check-out followed in a swift ten minutes. I paid up, had my case brought down from my room and called Uber. Ten minutes later, I was in a cab and driving to the airport at Dum Dum which is now called the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Airport--a full hour away. En route, I passed by Calcutta's landmarks--the huge Maidan (which is like Central Park in New York--the lungs of the city) with its monument to David Octerlony, the spectacular imposing Victoria Memorial (I was so thrilled to catch a really substantial glimpse of it), the newer five-star hotel buildings that are still in construction. The airport is grand and very enticing with so many shops in which to pass time. I did not linger, however, as I had given myself barely 90 minutes to go through all formalities and be ready to board.
      While in the Security line, I entered into conversation with another lady--just a few friendly words--and then we were airborne.  I used my three-hours of flight time to catch up with my blog posts. Because I had eaten such a huge breakfast, I skipped lunch and, in no time at all, we seemed to be landing in Bombay. At the conveyor belt when retrieving our baggage, the lady and I began to chat again and next thing I knew, she was offering me a ride home.
     And it was on the ride that we discovered we have so many things in common: she too is from the States (Bay Area, Northern California); she too is in India for a year (to give her daughters, 7 and 10, a different global cultural experience: they are in an international school); her husband too has remained in the States while she and the girls get their India Fix; she too is a teacher (she teaches Design and Computers at an international school in the Bandra-Kurla Complex); she too grew up in Bandra (went to Learner's Academy and NM for Junior College before leaving for her undergrad studies in the US twenty years ago); she too has parents in Bandra; she too lives on Perry Cross Road--in her parents apartment! The coincidences were simply too plentiful for words! We both felt as if we were fated to meet. Her name is Radhika and she has chosen to live with her parents for this year--only a block away from my parents! Naturally, we exchanged contact information and shall be in touch.
     Once at my building, I entered my studio, grateful to have a haven into which I could sink. Chriselle was out having lunch with my niece Menaka who has also arrived in Bombay for Christmas. I called Dad and told him I had arrived.  Next I began unpacking and separating those clothes items that needed laundering. Because it was 3.00 pm and I was suddenly hungry, I ate my chicken sizzler leftovers which I had carried carefully back with me (as I did have a fridge in my hotel room). Having eaten, I felt the need for a nap--but although I tried to get to sleep, I was just too keyed up. Besides, having given my bed linen for laundering in my absence I needed to get it all back and to remake my bed before I felt as if I could actually sleep on it! I had a phone chat with Chriselle and a little later, I left for Dad's place with my laundry in tow.
     Chriselle and I had a nice reunion and were happy to be together again and to catch up. Dad, Russel, Chriselle and I sat chatting in the living room for a while.  After about an hour, I picked up the things I asked Chriselle to bring me (mixed unsalted nuts, unsalted pistachio nuts, Fantastic household cleaner, Olay Regenerist Face Wash, salmon cream cheese, Toblerone from Zurich airport). I brought my laundered bed linen back home as well as some gift-wrapping material. Chriselle accompanied me. She helped me make my bed and sort through my things as she surveyed my studio.
     We did not linger long as I needed to buy some more gift-wrap material from Cheap Jack as well as some trays for Dad's distribution of Christmas cake. Chriselle also wanted to stop at my Mum's gravesite at St. Andrew's Graveyard and we did that. As we walked along busy Hill Road (getting busier by the minute as Christmas approaches), we caught up on things. She is still a bit jet lagged and needs to get her energy levels up. However, we got what we needed from Cheap Jack.  Next, we walked to the jewelry stores opposite Elco Arcade as Dad wanted me to buy some costume jewelry as gifts for Chriselle and for Russel's physiotherapist. I wanted Chriselle to choose the items herself--so that she could get exactly what she wanted. And she did!
     Armed with all those goodies, we were fortunate enough to find a rick that took us back to Dad's where we then all sat down to have dinner. Again, I stayed for about an hour and then left them to get back home. I began packing gifts that Dad had handed me to be packed and then, of course, since I had used the last of Chriselle's sellotape, I ran out while I still had a few more gifts to pack!
     I caught up with my email, had a shower and sank into bed.
     Until tomorrow...