Another Interview, A Documentary Film and Visit to the Museum

Monday, February 4, 2019
Bombay

Another Interview, A Documentary Film and Visit to the Museum

       Namaste from India!
       Anther eventful day rolled around! And by the end of it, I was so drained that I actually missed my visit to Dad and Russel and missed Mass as well. So here is how full it was.
     Up at 6.00 am, I blogged, read rapidly through Twitter (I am engrossed right now in a controversy that is raging about the blackface minstrelsy of Mary Poppins Returns that has been initiated by my friend Daniel Pollack-Peltzner's article on the remake and his critique on her powdering her face with black soot). I then called the bread man up for my two broons which I ate with spreads and swallowed with coffee.
     By 10.00am, I was out the door and heading to the bus stop for a bus to Bandra Station followed by a train ride to Churchgate and a walk across the Oval Maidan to the Yacht Club near the Gateway of India where I had an 11.15 am appointment with the great Coomi Wadia, conductor of the Paranjoti Orchestra for the past 50 years. I cannot even begin to tell you how fulfilling an experience it was.

Interviewing Coomi Wadia:
     I have been seeing Coomi Wadia at all the HGLive operatic performances I have been going to at the NCPA where she is something of a fixture. I also had the privilege of listening to the Paranjoti Choir a few weeks ago when they gave their Christmas concert at the Afghan Church. I found her an absolute delight to chat with--in fact, her account of her early life and her entry into music was so moving that I actually had to excuse myself because I began to tear up! Indeed, her story is so full of poignancy and inspiration that I simply could not get enough of our conversation. Occasionally, she lapsed into Gujarati (but since I understand Gujarati, I had no problem with understanding her at all). Her English is impeccable, but it is interesting to me how in the midst of speaking perfect English with a Westernized accent one still clutches at the language of our mothers when we need to convey information about which we care deeply. Over a lemon soda for me and an iced tea for her, I procured so much valuable information. Plus she is the only interviewee I have met so far who came equipped with programs of her 35th and 50th anniversary brochures for me to take home plus pictures of herself (through the years) and of her choir at their various international concert tours. It was simply amazing. Before I knew it, it was almost 1.00 pm and I had to bid her goodbye--but seriously I could have chatted with her forever.

Off for Lunch to Copper Chimney:
     The entire Kala Ghoda area is still closed to traffic and is still hopping as the Festival continues. I could have eaten the street food but I was really keen to sit down in a cool quiet place and have a good meal and I opted for what has become my favorite lunch in the area--the lunch at Copper Chimney. For the Festival days, they have a specially priced buffet--Rs. 500 all you can eat. But they are not having their Rs. 200 soup and salad buffet (which is my preference). Still, I had chicken soup followed by Mince Biryani and Raita, a chicken curry, a delicious lamb (goat) curry, a mixed vegetable dish and two types of paneer (Paneer Badami and Paneer Hariyali). For dessert, I had gulab jamuns and rasgullas--all quite amazing and very good value for money. I did not overeat as I still have the rest of the day to get through.

Watching a Documentary Film on Guru Dutt:
     Next, I walked right through the Festival (not as crowed today, being a weekday, as it was yesterday) and made my way to the Museum where I bought a ticket and entered so that I could take in the attractions of the first floor (I have finished covering the second floor in detail).
     Only it turned out that the Cinema part of the Festival was being held in the screening room of the Museum and I noticed that there was a documentary film on the great Guru Dutt that was being screened. Now I have not seen Hindi films in a very long time but when I was a kid, we saw a lot of films on TV (as that was the only fare available) and a lot of song sequences during the Chaya Geet shows that were screened once a week. So I am very familiar with the great classic films of Guru Dutt (Sahib, Bibi Aur Gulaam, Pyaasa, Kagaz ke Phool, Chaudvin ka Chand, etc), and I am certainly familiar with the great sound track of those movies composed by the great S.D. Burma using the voice of his wife Geeta Dutt. So you can imagine with what joy I sat through the documentary and how much I enjoyed remembering my teenage self and the pleasure I had taken in such stirring music. It was just fantastic! Also, to hear about how immensely talented Guru Dutt was and yet what a lost soul he was! To hear about his affair with Waheeda Rehman, his failed marriage, the depression that dogged him for years, and his ultimate suicide that he committee at age 39 from an overdose of sleeping pills and alcohol--all of that was utterly heartbreaking. I was so happy that I saw clips again from some of his finest work and took such great joy in them. In fact, I have now decided that when I go back home to Connecticut, I shall try to see all these films in chronological sequence, one after the other, and become reacquainted with his immortal oeuvre.

A Visit to the Museum:
     When the film ended, I walked out with dozens of lovers of classical Bollywood cinema and entered the Museum. I noticed that a new special exhibition entitled, "Indian Life and People in the Nineteenth Century" was on and so I headed to the second floor. I found it to be an exhibition of what is called "Company Paintings"--these were watercolors that depict Indians in the throes of their daily lives and occupations in pieces that were commissioned by British officials of the time. They are beautifully exhibited and curated and include items in the collection of the museum that date from that century.  A lovely small exhibition that I would urge anyone with an interest in sociology and cultural studies to see.
     Next, I wandered into a small exhibition on 'The Mummy'--which brings emphasis to the actual Egyptian Mummy that is in the possession of the Bombay Museum--who knew?? Although the wooden sarcophagus is not in a very good state of preservation, for those visitors to the museum who will never have the opportunity to go to say the British Museum or to the Cairo Museum to take in their treasured mummies, this is a good example of the kind of burial customs and rituals associated with the ancient Egyptians.
     The Mummy happened to be in the room that houses the Karl Khandalawala Collection which was also interesting. Khandalawala, a London-trained barrister who did his undergraduate studies from my college (Elphinstone) developed a love for Indian art early in life and began an assiduous process of collecting works of his liking. His small collection comprise small terra-cotta busts, stone carvings from Indian temples, sculptural works in bronze plus larger pieces such as a full-sized wooden altar from Rajasthan for housing an Indian Hindu deity. Accompanying the exhibition of these works are black and white pictures from his life--from childhood to his ultimate acceptance of a position on the Board of Directors of the Museum and his very final position as its Director. I found the entire capsule of his life and its times quite fascinating indeed and in looking at it juxtaposed against the art works he collected, it was even more fascinating to me.
     My perusal of the Museum's first floor collection continued with a look at its lovely Prints section where I saw colonial architecture wonderfully immortalized through engravings that results in the mass production of prints.  Unbelievably, these are still available for sale by the connoisseur and a few years ago, I had picked up a set of four prints that make up a pack depicting the 'Battle of Mooltan (now in Pakistan) from one of my favorite shops in Bombay, Phillips Antiques. I got them framed in Bombay and they proudly adorn by dining room back in Southport. They are museum-quality and standard and looking at the softly tinted prints in this collection, I felt so proud that I had the foresight to buy these woks while they were still pretty affordable.
     Next, I wandered into the Indian Miniature Section which was wonderfully curated. Sets of miniature paintings were displayed according to their style and chronology and by the end of an hour, I learned about the difference in Mughal Miniatures as opposed to Rajasthani Ministaures, about the differences between Kangra Schools of Painting Miniatures as opposed to others,such as Amber. There were actual differences even within the grand Mogul period with miniatures produced during the reign of Akbar (who started the trend of posing for portraitists) differing from those of his descendants (Jehangir, Shah Jehan and Aurangzeb). Really and truly fabulous stuff because it was not just the scene that was incredible, it was the back drop against which they were painted that really caught my eye.
     On my way downstairs, I took in the photographs of Old Bombay on the walls in the main concourse and the few small sculpted items in the vitrines on the ground floor.
     But all this close examination of Indian miniature paintings exhausted me deeply and I was ready to get home and get some rest by this stage in the day. So off I went in a No. 133 bus from the bus-stop just across from the museum to Churchgate station from where I took a seat in a practically empty first class general compartment to get home. At Bandra station, I got a bus almost immediately and was home within the hour for a hot shower.
     When I felt human again, I sat down to a nice pot of tea, wafers and part of my chocolate eclair. I was so relaxed that I simply could not face the thought of getting up and going over to Dad's. So I called and asked him to excuse me as I simply wanted to have a quiet evening at home by myself today. I told him to go to Mass on his own.  All as well at home anyway and I was happy. In the morning, I contacted Dr. Derrick D'Lima to get Russel's plaster cast removed.  That has been set for this coming Saturday at 10.30 am. Please keep Russel in your prayers.  It will be such a relief for him to have the plaster removed after 4 long months--but the rehab will then begin and we can only hope that with the arthritis still problematic in his knee, it will not be too challenging.
     I ate my dinner--yes!! Valerie began delivering her tiffin to me again today although I have now told her to send no fried foods and only to supply on Monday and Thursday as I do want to cut down my portion size and calories. I am amazed how much weight I have put on in four months and how tight all my clothes are! Real shame on me!
     I watched another episode of Agatha Raisin and quite liked it. Then it was time to take a look at email and respond to very urgent ones before I took stock of my work for the next week--I am feeling overwhelmed!--before I went off to sleep feeling completely drained.
     Until tomorrow...