Drafting Yet Another Presentation (For Cochin)

Tuesday, February 19, 2019
Bombay

Drafting Yet Another Presentation (For Cochin)

     Namaste from Bombay!
     The cool days are passing and when I have so many pressing assignments to complete, they seem to fly. The weather is still delightful with almost zero humidity. Mornings and evenings are very cool, very pleasant, with the afternoons getting a tad warmer. Everyone should be blessed enough to live in Bombay for the months of January and February--they are truly delightful.
     I awoke at 6.30 and immediately began reviewing the presentation for Nagpur that I had completed yesterday.  Looking at a paper with "overnight" eyes is always good as it helps perfect grammatical expression and lends further clarity to important points. I am quite happy now with the shape this paper has taken and I know that the Powerpoint presentation that will accompany it will make it quite engaging.
     Next: I began drafting a blog post and finished it before I got up to get some breakfast--it is going to be muesli and coffee for a few days as I am watching the weighing scale. While eating, I watched Couples Come Dine With Me (alas, I have finished Still Game and feel really sorry as I will miss those daft Scots characters with their heavy Glaswegian accents that I could barely understand but who never failed to crack me up with laughter). Then I got dressed for the gym and left my studio intending to stop off to see Russel first so that I could bandage his legs with the crepe bandages.
     I arrived at Dad's place to find that the swelling is his ankle is rather pronounced. This is concerning for us all. In fact, it had actually oozed during the night--which means that the antibiotic ointment needed to be applied with a fresh dressing. I did that and I showed Rohit how to wrap the bandages around his leg--which he did quite well.  I also resolved to let my friend Anita Chatterjee in Cleveland, Ohio, know what was going on with Russel so that she could give me the benefit of her experience and let me know if this swelling is normal as she works closely with patients rehabilitating from fractures and other orthopedic problems.
     Russel's forearm is also still aching. I applied Moov and put the heating pad on his arm and showed Rohit how to do that too. After having it on for 10 minutes, I took it out and was all set to go to the gym when Dad detained me because he needed me to take a look at some of the pots and pans in his pantry. With his regular housekeeper Satyavati leaving at the end of this month, he wants to come to grips with all household equipment and wanted me to be present while he is taking stock of it all.  Of course, this meant that I could not go to the gym as intended as it closes at 11.00 am. With that task accomplished, I left and returned home.
     At home, I showered and then sat right away with my computer as I had a second presentation to draft--this one for the South and Central Asia Fulbright Conference which will take place in Cochin Kerala, from February 25-28, 2019. As it is supposed to fit into 15 minutes and be presented before a lay audience that knows nothing about my field, I have decided to make it a very light and amusing account of some of the interesting, little-known, sad, funny and scary incidents of which my interviewees have given me details during my chats with them. I would need to draft about 10 double spaced pages. So off I went.
    I continued working until 1.30 pm when I stopped to lunch on dal, brinjal and mince with potatoes with an orange for dessert as I watched Grace and Frankie. After lunch, I got back to my presentation as I was on a roll and did not want to lose my trend of thought. I stopped at 5.30 to put the kettle on for a pot of tea with chocolate cake and one cookie as I watched House Hunters International in Hampshire, England. They were looking for homes around the area of St. Albans which I have visited and rather enjoy as it is the heart of very pretty English countryside that is only a half hour away from London--which is hard to believe.
     I then got dressed and left early for Dad's place as I needed to remove the crepe bandages and apply Moov and the heating pad to Russel's arm again. I did so while chatting with him and keeping him company. Dad also asked me to look at some kitchen supplies that he had found in the various cabinets and which he has no idea how to use. I had a cursory glance but then it was time for us to go to church and we left at 6.45pm.
     After Mass, I went off with Dad to Jay's shop to get my presentation for Nagpur photocopied and then returned to Dad's place where I applied Moov and the heating pad to Russel's arm once again, While it was on, I reviewed the bottles and cans and told Dad how to dispose of them.
     This did not take too long. Meanwhile, I wrapped Russel's leg in the crepe bandages again, removed the heating pad and left them to have their dinner.
     Back home at mine, I got my dinner organized--a cup of Broccoli and Cauliflower Soup with crackers, brinjal and mince with potatoes with a piece of guava for dessert.

Fun With the Oxford Webcam:
     I routinely have on the Oxford Broad Street webcam now in my studio as it offers me a window on the Oxford world. Today started beautifully in Oxford with the sun out--however, heavy cloud cover during the day caused many dull spells. It is very interesting to watch the behavior of people on a street--for the first time today, I saw two females actually meeting on the street outside the Weston Library and hugging each other warmly, visiting for a few minutes, then hugging each other goodbye again! It is absolute fun to watch the day unroll on 'The Broad'--the cleaning crews are out with their vehicles in the morning as they empty garbage bins and replace bin bags; some dog walkers (only a couple) walk this street (I suppose most dog-owners take their dogs for walks in Oxford's vast parks); and many groups of children are trooping in and out of the Science Museum. In fact, I am beginning to wonder if it is half-term holiday week in the UK as there are so many children about the streets. The tour buses also fill up by 11.30 am and I can see a few people on the upper deck even though it is still quite cold from what I can see of their clothing. So far, I have seen only one Oxford university person (student? don?) clad in a black gown. I suppose it is too cold still to wear only a gown. Anyway, it is a wonderful minor distraction as I work for hours on end on my laptop drafting these presentations--so I am vey grateful for this find. It has also induced me to make contact with my friend Sue in Oxford who is now emailing me again. Great fun!
     I decided to watch a movie and picked a really awful one called Are We Officially Dating? which is barely holding my interest. Some of these rom-coms are just ridiculous, I think--which is why I adore the work of Richard Curtis. Anyway, I did stay up a little longer as I finished washing up my dinner things and getting ready for bed.
     Until tomorrow...