Not Quite Another Manic Monday!

Monday, January 7, 2019
Bombay

Not Quite Another Manic Monday!

     Namaste from Bombay!
     It was quite a Mellow Monday actually! Not really much happened except that we had a big appointment with Russel's orthopedist about which Dad and I had been praying for weeks. It not go off too badly--thank the Lord!
     Awake at 6.00 am, I blogged, washed, dressed, and prepared my breakfast of one broon (also known as a gutli--a very crisp bun-like loaf with a crusty top and bottom and a soft center (a specialty of Bombay). I have a baker who comes and delivers it to the door of my neighbors. I have been pestering him for weeks to ring my bell on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays--but he claims he is too dumb to remember that I need it on alternate days and, therefore, simply doesn't come to me at all!  I have now solicited the help of my neighbor on the ground floor, Salma, who has said that she will see that he comes on the days I need him. Yesterday, he arrived promptly at my door, I had Rs. 3 (if you can believe it!) to hand over to him and I had a really yummy brekkie with peanut butter on one side of it and Nutella with chopped nuts on the other.  With coffee...just blissful!
     While eating, I started to watch The Murder Room--another P.D. James thriller starring her detective Adam Dalgleish played by the very dishy Martin Shaw whom I have had the pleasure of seeing in the flesh on the London stage, two years ago in a play called Hobson's Choice.  I have seen these mysteries before...but I cannot remember any of them.  So it is super thrilling to catch them on You Tube again. I watched Part 1 and then went off to the gym for my hour-long workout.
When I got back, I jumped into the shower and because it is Me Monday, I also had a shampoo and took care of other grooming needs. Before I knew it, it was 11.30 am and that was when I actually started to work.
     First order of the day was getting my paper ready for the Conference in Chennai for which I will be leaving on Wednesday.  I was deep in the heart of revising it and coordinating the text with the Powerpoint images that I shall be projecting when my cousin Blossom with whom I will be staying in Chennai called in panic to tell me that she has heard that there is to be a Bharat Bandh on Jan 8 and 9. She was concerned about how I would get to Bombay airport and how I will get from Madras (Chennai) airport to her place (if there is no public local transport). Boy oh Boy! That is all I need--a Bharat Bandh to screw up all my travel plans. I told her that I would google it and pass on any information I could find.  It turns out that there was news about the call for a nation-wide closure of all public amenities and facilities. So let's see what is going to happen...
     When I had finished going through my paper, I stopped for lunch: dal, chicken mince curry and gherkins--all very good. I had half a guava for dessert as through it all, I continued watching The Murder Room and finished Part 1. I loved it because it is set in Hampstead and there were lovely views of the Heath overlooking London's skyscrapers from a viewpoint that I know well and often visited.
    After lunch, I went back to the drawing board and rehearsed my paper by inserting each visual exactly as I would show them during my presentation in Chennai on Jan 11. I then transferred everything (including my air ticket) to a pen drive, ready to be photocopied. I then received a call from Dad reminding me that I had to go to the hospital at 4.00 pm to pick up a number so that we could see the orthopedist Dr. Derick D'Lima at 7.30 pm this evening on behalf of Russel with the fresh X-rays. I continued working and then stopped at 3.45 to get dressed and walk to the hospital.  By 4.10 pm, I got a number and left the hospital and then walked directly to my photocopy service where I got everything I needed for my trip photocopied (Pages from Lonely Planet for tourist literature in places like Chennai City, Pondicherry, Auroville, Kalpakkam and Mahabalipuram-which I shall be visiting on this trip). Once my photocopying was done, I went home and sat down with a nice pot of tea and cake and cheese biscuits and continued watching my show--feeling pleased with myself that the bulk of my work for Chennai had been accomplished.
     I spent the evening downloading three books from my Fairfield Public Library on to my iPad so that I will have reading material for my trip. I finished reading Helen Fielding's Bridget Jones' Mad About the Boy and I downloaded The Little Paris Book Shop by Nina George, The Summer Before The War by Helen Simonson and Bird Box by Josh Malerman which is currently one of the hottest shows being watched by the British public on their tellies.  Then I tidied about the house, washed my tiffin carrier containers, etc. as I put my food away.
     By 6.40, I left my house to go to Dad's. I visited with Russel for about 15 minutes and then Dad and I took a rick and went to Holy Family Hospital for our appointment with the orthopedist.
     We had good news and bad: so the bad news first--Russel will have to keep his plaster cast on for one more month (he will be disappointed as he was hoping it could be removed as he has become fed up of it). The good news? The compound fracture is definitely healing and in a month's time, we do not even need to take fresh X-rays--we can just bring him back directly for removal. I was so thankful to the Lord for working in our favor as I was so afraid that the lack of neuropathic (pain) impulses would make it impossible for the brain to receive the stimuli it needs to signal to it that the bones need healing. However, the doctor assured me that his fracture was so complicated that even normal people would need 4-5 months before they could remove their casts.  This made me feel deeply relieved.
     I hopped out of the rickshaw when it passed by my place (as it carried Dad further home) and got straight down to dinner (a repeat of my lunch) and finished up watching The Murder Room which I found compelling.  I will now be spending a lot of time with Adam Dalgleish!
     I switched my light off at 11.15 at the end of a fairly relaxed day that ended with fairly good news and a reason for me to feel optimistic about Russel's prognosis.
     Until tomorrow...