Saturday Slog!

Saturday, December 8, 2019
Bombay

Saturday Slog!

     Namaste from Bombay!
     The other thing about living in Bombay is that while on the weekends at home in Connecticut, I do not work at all, here in Bombay, I work all week long. At home, there was always groceries to shop for, cooking for the week to accomplish, voluntary work at the Pequot Library to do...here, I wake up and think of a Saturday as just another day.
     So I awoke at 5. 30am, blogged, read the news on Twitter, downloaded The Sunday Times of London and had my full breakfast of two slices of multi-grain bread (bought last night from the French Bakery at the Novotel) with a number of spreads and cheeses and coffee.  Then I dressed and left for the Gym, taking my IPad with me. I have also downloaded Helen Fielding's latest Bridget Jones book Mad About the Boy and I read it for about an hour while on the machines at the gym. One hour later, I returned home and showered.
     I then set down to work--transcribing the interview I did with film-maker Shyam Benegal took up the rest of the morning. It was about 1.30 pm when I stopped to have lunch--the last leftovers in my fridge--while I watched The Two Fat Ladies who were in Connemara, Ireland. They were cooking for a group of Benedictine nuns at the Benedictine abbey known as Kylemore which Llew and I had visited on our driving tour of Ireland about 20 years ago   It made me feel so homesick for that glorious county that I wanted to drop everything and go there immediately. Such sharp memories were evoked! It is such a fabulous show that I am enthralled all over again with their skills, their humor and the gorgeous parts of Britain to which they lead viewers. 'The Two Fat Ladies' are Jennifer Patterson and Clarissa Wright and I own their cookery books as well.
      Then, I proofread my transcription and took a 20 minute nap.  Sadly, I only nodded off for ten minutes when my friend (and former student) Soniya called and woke me up. We had a chat and a catch-up. Then, being awake, I sat down to take on another task on my To-Do List--the drafting of our annual Almeida Family Christmas Letter.
     It took me the entire afternoon to get all the information down and to fit in within the two pages of our standard letter format. By the time I had a first draft down, it was 5. 30 pm and I stopped for a cuppa and two biscuits, dressed and left to spend the evening with my Dad and Russel.
     Dad was not going to Mass tonight as he will go tomorrow--it is the holiday celebration of Malla Village (under which my Dad's building falls)--evening Mass will be followed by a dinner get-together. I have been attending this event for the past few years and would love to have gone...but I realize that I have tickets to see The Mousetrap--yes, the actual London production has come to Bombay with the current London cast of the world's longest-running stage production based on a novel by Agatha Christie! Despite having been to London multiple times for at least the past 35 years--possibly since it was first staged, I have never seen it.  Shahnaz and I have tickets for it for tomorrow (which will be a busy day).
     At Dad's. we sat and chatted for the entire evening. Dad was filled with opinions about the coming Assembly elections in India and the possible fate of the different opposing parties. We also discussed cricket (India is currently playing a Test match against Australia) and hockey (the World Cup is currently on and India is not doing too badly in the initial rounds). Dad is a keen sportsman and really gets his kicks watching sports on TV--plus it keeps him occupied and his mind stimulated. Russel (who enjoys cricket but does not watch hockey) and I continued to chat about a number of things.
     Llew called while I was at Dad's and switching to video, he was able to talk to Russel and Dad as well. We had a lovely chat before he rang off, Russel had his dinner and I left to go home. I had a very relaxing evening, very well spent.
     Back home, I fixed myself a gin and tonic and crunched on blue cheese with crackers and nuts while watching Midsomer Murders--Crime and Punishment!  I had a very light dinner of dal (Dad's leftovers) and papri, the last of the vegetable in my fridge (which is now, finally! empty). I had ice-cream for dessert. For once I actually watched the entire (almost two hour) show at one go and really enjoyed it.
     I thought I would go to bed right after but I sat editing our Christmas letter and before I knew it, the clock showed 11.30 pm! Time for bed, for sure!
     Until tomorrow...