Giving a Public Lecture at the G5A and Dinner at a Friend's Home

Saturday, February 16, 2019
Bombay

Giving a Public Lecture at the G5A and Dinner at a Friend's Home
   
     Namaste from Bombay!
     It was another eventful day! But then, almost every one of them is, isn't it?
     Waking up at 6.30am, I began blogging and got my breakfast of broons and spreads organized with coffee as I watched You Tube clips that have to do with Oxford--it is my current obsession--thanks to the discovery of the Martin School Webcam. I also discovered that the Martin School, named for one John Martin, a writer of textbooks on Information Technology and someone who gave the University its biggest bequest ever, is a newly-created institution for interdisciplinary learning at Oxford. It is located in what used to be the Indian Institute--their collection of library materials has been moved to the Weston Library across the street. You can tell that it is the Indian Institute from the sculptures of cow heads and lion heads on the facade of the building.
     I am amazed at how many videos there are about Oxford--some utter rubbishy ones made by total amateurs who mumble, whose camera work is a joke and who act like the people they are--giddy- headed and, actually sometimes seemingly plain stupid. I did catch a tour with a proper Blue Badge guide which I watched through the day in small installments because it was very lengthy--but crammed with really interesting tidbits, many of which I was hearing for the very first time.

Russel's Physiotherapy with Valerian:
     I then hurried off to Dad's for Russel's physiotherapy session as I wanted to see how Valerian would progress with this exercises. During a single hour-long session, both Dad and I were amazed at how far he is pushing Russel and what he is making him do: really weird things like tearing newspapers into strips, squeezing them into a ball and throwing it up into the air to catch it; walking independently through small spaces, walking backwards, walking sideways, standing on toes and rocking, standing on heels and rocking, raising knees to the walker bars, using the dining table as a support and then continuing to walk.  Russel is making very slight progress, if any, and it is clear that his confidence is very weak, his balance is very poor and his abilities very limited. But I really admire Valerian's style of functioning. Like I said, this man means business--he describes himself as a "functional therapist"--he is determined to get his patients to start functioning again: in Russel's case, this means walking. Please please do continue to keep him in your prayers as he needs all the prayers he can get.

Errands At The Bank and Dairy:
    When the session ended, I sat and chatted with Dad for a while to find out how Rohit, the new house helper, is progressing. Dad told me that things are going fine--we can only hope he has been sent by the Lord; yet another angel in our lives to assist us. I then told Dad I was going to the bank to deposit a check and wondered if I could assist him in any way  He asked me to get his and Russel's passbooks up to date--which I was more than happy to do.
    So a quick stop at the bank on my way home, got the jobs done (I now know how to deposit a check and how to use the computerized machine to get passbooks updated in an Indian bank), another quick stop at the dairy to pick up yogurt and then I was home.

Getting Ready to Give a Lecture:
     I spent the rest of the morning getting ready for my appearance at the G5A, or the Center for Contemporary Art as it is called, where I had to give a public lecture at 4.00 pm. This was through an invitation from my friend Ishaan Jajodia who is a publisher himself of Curato Books and who curates this series of public lectures (I believe he schedules one each month). I was happy to oblige him. Reading through my lecture and trying to find out how to make it most accessible to a lay audience I really did have a very good time reviewing the material after ages. I also had my Oxford Webcam up and running and wondered for a very long time why the town showed no signs of life at all when I realized that it was a Saturday and that things move slowly at the weekends.
      Next, I put together my bag and things I needed for the afternoon, I also placed an order for the Corn and Pasta Salad at Bandra Gym to be picked up as a take out parcel in the evening as I had been invited for dinner to the home of my friends Vinita and Herman Rodrigues. When I asked what I could bring--either dessert or salad, she said she would take me up on my offer to bring salad--and so the order was placed. I would pick it up in the evening before getting to their place.
      There was only time left then for me to have my lunch: meatball curry, ladies fingers, cauliflower and dal (I have finished most of my food--thank goodness) and jump into the shower in time for my 2.00 pm pick up. Ishaan would be arriving to pick me up and together we'd go off to the venue which was at Mahalaxmi.

A Surprize at G5A:
     The drive was long but Ishaan did a very competent job of it in his car as we arrived at the venue in Mahalaxmi in what used to be the former Phoenix Mills. There, I had a huge surprise.  I was introduced to another Ishaan--Ishaan Benegal--who is the manager of a cafe called Port which is attached to the G5A Cultural Center. This Ishaan shook hands with me and told me that he had taken a course with me at NYU, about four years ago, and that I had been his professor! My Goodness! I suppose as I get older, I will find past pupils turning up in the most unexpected of places! He was delightful. In fact, as part-manager of the place, he is in-charge of the lecture schedule too and he says he recognized my name immediately, as soon as he saw the month's program. Naturally, I then requested him to introduce me as he does actually know me and can speak about me from his own experience. He said that he would be honored to do that! And with that matter settled, I sat down at his cafe to have a ginger lemonade which was just wonderfully refreshing.

Giving a Lecture on Britain's Anglo-Indians at the G5A:
     The lecture began at 4.15 pm. in a lovely space filled with globe lighting and offering views of the full foliage of mango trees outside the full-length glass widows--very cosy and very hip indeed. It is amazing to me how marvelously these old cotton mill spaces have been reconfigured to serve as wine bars, beer parlors, art galleries, interior decor showrooms and the like, for a well-heeled new clientele that is newly rich.
     The audience was small, to say the least! Not more than 12 people listened to me speak about my research in the UK over a period of ten years. But they were rapt with attention and had a lot of questions to ask of me which I was quite delighted to answer. The entire talk was also videotaped and many photographs were taken. I enjoyed every minute of discussing my research--I guess I will never really get tired of it as each time I have a different audience and everyone is curious about different aspects of my work.
     It was not long before we sat down in the cafe again to munch chilly cheese toast and beer (for the guys) while I made do with iced water. In a little bit, we got back into Ishaan's car and drove to Bandra where we stopped at Bandra Gym to pick up my salad. To my horror, it was far from ready. In fact, they had just begun to cook the corn when I arrived to pick it up  This meant an infuriating wait of half an hour, but eventually I got my parcel and left.

A Dinner Party at the Rodrigueses:
     Ishann then dropped me off to Silver Sands, the beautiful building on Carter Road overlooking the Arabian Sea in which my friends, the Rodrigueses--Herman and Vinita--have an absolutely huge flat---it is, in fact the entire floor of the building. When I arrived at 8.00 pm., there were already a few people present. Introductions were made, drinks orders were taken (I had a G and T) and I sat down to make conversation with a few folks that I was meeting for the first time. Later, more people joined the party with Naresh Fernandes, a journalist whom I have wanted to meet for a few days in order to interview him about his work on Jazz in Bombay, also arriving. We renewed acquaintance after 25 years. I had met him last in New York in 1995 when I had taken him for lunch to The Torch Club, the faculty dining room on our campus. We spent a lot of time during the evening talking about my current research project and promising that we would meet again to actually talk about jazz in Bombay.
     Dinner was made up of Vinita's good cooking and a few contributions from guests: there was chicken curry to be eaten with fuggias, pork sorpotel to be eaten with chitaps (which look like South Indian appams), steamed rice, roast suckling pork, my corn and pasta salad. For dessert,there were two types of kulfi: malai and kesar and I have to say that I was greedy and had both! There was also wonderful fruit cake that Vinita had made for Herman's birthday which was a few days ago.
     Overall, we had a very jolly evening indeed in the company of friends who offered stimulating conversation about classical music in Bombay, Bandra's historic churches, my current research, etc. I was very glad that I went as such occasions offer great opportunities to relax and unwind as the weekend draws near; but they also allow me to get to know interesting new people. Vinita and I used to be members in the Youth Movement of our church, St. Anne's at Pali Hill, Bandra, aeons ago and we always talk about the friends we had then...we have lost touch with most of them.
     At about 11.15pm, the party broke up and a man called Owen offered me a ride in his rickshaw. I was home a little later after which I went straight to bed.
     Never a dull day, eh?
     Until tomorrow....