Meeting Visiting Cousins from Canada and a Dental Appointment

Thursday, January 31, 2019
Bombay

Meeting Visiting Cousins from Canada and a Dental Appointment

     Namaste from Bombay!
     I had hoped for an event-free day--and I got it! Well, almost. After the hectic activity of yesterday, I wanted to do nothing more than catch up quietly at home with my To-Do List.
     Up at 7.00 (because I'd had a troubled night from over-eating the previous day!), I eased gently into my day.  Blogging, reading Twitter, responding to email...before I knew it, it was time for brekkie (muesli and coffee) while I watched a new movie The Hillside Strangler--however, it has reached a stage when it is a tad too gruesome for me...so I shall be abandoning it.
     Back to the drawing-board, I continued reading and re-viewing my memoir manuscript which my new young publisher wants me to turn in soon.  Chapter after chapter, I went through it, until at 11.00 am, I got a call from Dad to tell me that my cousin Betty from Toronto, Canada, and her husband Toby would be visiting him in half an hour together with Betty's sister, Zita. Dad asked if I wanted to see them too. I groaned. I had really hoped to get so much work done...and I had really hoped for nothing on my plate today...and I had hoped I could work undisturbed till 3.00 pm when I would need to leave for my dental appointment.
     But then I figured that if I did not see Betty and Toby today, who knows when I will see them next. So, I put my work aside and made time for family. I reached Dad's place at 11.30 am (as that was when he expected them to get there), but, needless to say, with Bombay's traffic being what it is, they only arrived at 12.35! My time with Dad was not entirely wasted, however, as I was able to read him all the coverage attached to the death of George Fernandes, who was known as 'George the Giant Killer'. Fernandes, a Manglorean Socialist politician, who acquired national status when he defied Indira Gandhi during her obnoxious Emergency, is an iconic figure in Indian Catholic circles. Because Dad can only really now read the headlines, he wanted me to read the eulogies that had poured in for Fernandes on the front page of every newspaper with even vaster coverage inside. I also read the comments of author Nayantara Sagal with regards to Bollywood and its refusal to stand by its own--as in the case of the controversy that has dogged the actor Naseeruddin Shah. So that was how we all passed time (Russel getting more inpatient for their arrival with every passing minute), until they finally made an appearance,
     We spent the next hour together as I caught up with some of my cousins on my Dad's side. The Canadian couple began their travels in Sri Lanka where they attended a wedding and then made their way to Bombay. Tomorrow they are off to Goa. My cousin Zita, on the other hand, has just returned from two months in Australia where she visited Sidney, Melbourne, Canberra and Adelaide, and was full of her accounts of other cousins now scattered as far away as the Antipodes! It is interesting how the tentacles of the D'Souza family have spanned the countries of the British Commonwealth--from Canada to Australia.
     When they left to visit other Bandra-based cousins (and there are a ton of them!), I left too, Back home, despite Dad's invitation that I stay for lunch, I declined as I had to return to his place again, two hours later, as he insisted on accompanying me on my dental visit. I have reached a point when I no longer refuse Dad's offers to accompany me as I realize that it gives him great pleasure to do so and that he is very proud to undertake the task of escorting me! Lunch was simple: a cup of soup, two slices of toast that I turned into open sandwiches with cheddar cheese, pickles, blue cheese and figs.
     Then, I got back to work and worked steadily for another hour before I had to leave for my dental appointment.
     The said dental appointment was at the dental practice of a dentist that my family has been using for four generations: Dr. Kher at Khar! My grandmother Valerie used to go to the current dentist's father (whom we refer to as Dr. Kher Senior). My Mum, Dad, Russel and I had all seen him, over the years. When he got too old to manage the practice (which was run from a tiny place on the edge of Bandra-Khar), he passed it on to his son, Dr. Udatta Kher who is US-trained.  Chriselle saw this dentist before she moved to the US--which makes it four generations of the same family using the same dental practice!
     Well, time and prosperity have left their mark and I was stunned to find that the practice has moved to a fancy place on Linking Road to a glass and chrome office that sparkles and could easily be located anywhere in the US! it is swanky, spiffy, cool (air-conditioned), clean and very friendly. I was in for a routine cleaning as I had promised my dental hygienist in the US, Mary, whom I have been seeing every six months routinely for the past twenty years, that I would see a dentist in Bombay after six months for a cleaning. So there I was!
      The cleaning, I was told, would not be done by Dr. Udatta Kher but by another dentist named Dr. Sudha Shenoy. Fair enough! Well, Dr. Sudha Shenoy has a beautiful voice and sings with the Stop Gaps Choir (whose Director Afred D'Souza I will be interviewing on Sunday!). She was a pure delight and chatting with her before I finally got into my examination chair was sheer fun. Sudha took a look at my teeth and asked, "Are you sure you last saw your dentist six months ago?" I said I had seen Mary in July (just before I had left for China). Suds told me that there was nothing she needed to do as my teeth were immaculate! Boy, was I chuffed! She did a cavity check and I got a clean bill of health there too. However, she found some issues associated with recession which she discussed with me. She took pictures and told me to actually consult with my American dentist, Dr. Paul Irapolli.  She said that if she got the green light from him, she could go ahead and do very slight preventive work on my teeth to make sure there is no enamel erosion in the future from my own over-zealous brushing!.  For all this, examination and consultation, she did not charge me a paise! Only in India, kids, only in India!
     I was glowing when I left her office. Dad was surprised to see me emerge in just twenty minutes. He had the chance to visit with Sudha who had actually attended to my Mum.  She remembered my Dad and Mum very well indeed. She also gave us a full tour of the new premises of which the entire team is very proud--yes, they are now a team of 5 dentists, each of whom specializes in a different aspect of dentistry from surgery to orthodontics to implants (which Dad is now seriously considering as the Reserve Bank's medical policy for retirees now covers the procedures entirely). How fabulous! What a lovely visit it turned out to be!
     We returned together to Dad's place as he needed me to help him complete a letter he had drafted with regards to family banking issues. I also visited with Russel for a little while and then I returned home. I told Dad that as I had lost so much working time today, I would not be attending Mass with him. I would spend the rest of the evening at work. He understood completely.
    Back home, I brewed a pot of tea and had it with a few potato crisps and a cupcake as I watched Couples Come Dine With Me--back to mindless TV again. Then, I set to work and continued reading through two chapters of mu manuscript before I took a call from Chriselle. A little later, I stopped for dinner--another cup of soup and a cold roasted tongue sandwich--the tongue was a gift from my friend Marianel--it is sheer deliciousness!
     I had fresh pomelo for dessert as I continued watching Roma--I had started a few weeks ago with Shahnaz but only finished it today. It is the first Netflix film that has been nominated for 10 Oscar awards! Made entirely in black and white and in Spanish (it has English sub-titles), it is based on the political upheavals of Mexico City in the early 1970s and deals with racial disparities, rebel groups, and the attachment of domestic staff to their wealthy white employers. I found it extremely slow (some might say lyrical) but the last hour has such powerful segments that it will leave you reeling. A great feat of film-making towards the end.
     That was it. A not-too-eventful day...but then a not fully productive one either. I will have to continue to work steadily tomorrow until I leave to accompany Dad to his ophthalmologist for his follow-up appointment--about which we both have deep dread. Please keep him in your prayers.
     Until tomorrow...