Russel is Moving On--With a New Knee Brace

Monday, February 11, 2019
Bombay

Russel is Moving On--With a New Knee Brace

     Namaste from Bombay!
     It felt good to wake up and know that I have no interview lined up today. But I had enough to do at home to keep me so occupied that at the end of the day, I actually wondered where it had gone!
    So, as usual, I was up at about 5.30 am to blog, download and read The Times and then got a Whatsapp call from my friend Bonnie (in Connecticut) with whom I spent an entire hour chatting. It was wonderful to get all the news from Southport friends after which I had another brief chat with Llew who is working on our taxes and needs some information from me. I was finally able to get set for the gym after ages. I had my breakfast of muesli and coffee and watched Still Game--I realize that they have a whole new season tacked on at the end--am hoping it will not end in a hurry. This show provides me daily laughs and I really do mean belly-wobbling laughs.
     At the gym, I was not quite able to do my usual routine--20 minutes on the elliptical machine, 20 minutes on the stationery bike, 20 minutes on the rowing machine--as it was inordinately crowded today. Instead, I did the bike, then the treadmill and then the rower. On the threadmill, I had a lovely long conversation with a man called Joaquim who is very interesting and always full of really worthwhile conversational exchange.
     I did not go straight home from the gym as I had errands to run on Hill Road: first, I went to Cheap Jack for a new draining sieve for my kitchen sink--a five-minute stop that got me what I wanted. Next,  Bandra Medical Stores to pick up the new knee brace for Russel that Dr. Parth Patel recommended. They told me that it was not in stock but I could pick it up from them in the evening. I left them an advance and my phone number and moved on Next stop, Nature's Basket for my occasional supply of goodies--this time, it was Danish Blue Cheese, Kellogg's Muesli (which I am trying for the first time as I usually buy Bagry's), Walker's Shortbread with Pecans and Cranberries, Cup-A-Soup in Chicken Noodle flavor for Dad and Ruissel and Chicken andLeek for me, Amul's Herb flavored butter (I had tried it while at Blossom's in Madras and found it really delicious). Next stop: Giani's Ice-Cream Parlor for my liter-supply of Chocolate Almond Fudge. I had to take a rickshaw to get back home or my ice-cream would have melted--so that was what I did.
     I called Dad to tell him that I would stop by in the evening with the brace. He had his own share of hassles this morning--washing machine went kaput again, two pipes in his bathroom were leaking, his housekeeper appeared after a few days' off unexpectedly...he had so much to juggle in the morning when his life is stressed enough as it is!
     Next, I had a shower--it was Me Monday, but all I managed to do was shampoo my hair--barely time for anything else. My nails, however, as in good shape as I did attend to them mid-week. Next, I sat down at my computer to look at my To-Do List and decided first to alter one of my past lectures on my research among Anglo-Indians for presentation at the G5A Center for Contemporary Arts on Saturday, February 16, 2019. It went faster than I thought--all I did was cut it down to about 20 minutes and make it less academic. I shall continue to edit it today and make it still crisper.
    I was in the process of working when the lady who lives below me dropped in to inquire why water from my flat is falling on the clothes she puts out to dry in her balcony below. I told her that I had water accumulating in my balcony and had no idea from where it was collecting. She came inside, had a look at my pipes in my balcony and told me there was a leakage in one of them! She then returned to my place with a plumber who informed me that there was a choke in the pipe that leads from my kitchen sink. This is causing water to leap out of a naked pipe and fill my balcony! He suggested I pour acid down the sink drain and into the pipe to see if it would dissolve the debris. Salma, my neighbor, returned with two bottles of acid, but it did not seem to do the trick. She told me to open my tap again after a half hour to see if the problem had been resolved. It had not. She said that she would bring another plumber in tomorrow to clean up all the debris--because she pushed a long wire into the pipe and said that she could feel twigs and other debris--of course, I have no idea where or how that has accumulated and it is clearly an issue that had origins in a time before I occupied this studio. Welcome, I thought, to the woes of housekeeping! Hopefully, the issue will be resolved tomorrow.
    Next, I worked on the accompanying Powerpoint presentation--which also went fairly quickly as this has become pretty routine for me. That done, I turned my thoughts to lunch as I finished up the the food from my last tiffin. I received a new one today (but I shall only get down to that at dinner this evening).
     A nap followed for a short 20 minutes after lunch while I watched clips from Midsomer Murders--references to the settings in the various villages of Berkshire and Oxfordshire in which it is shot were very exciting for me as I have been on two Midsomer Murders driving tours in the UK and enjoyed them hugely--Wallingford (which is the location of the fictitious Casuton in the series) , Watlington, Ewelme and, of course, Dorchester (although they did not make reference to it). These postcard-worthy villages are a film-maker's dreams and they make the perfect backdrop for the English country murder mystery. It was fun looking at John Nettles (the lead actor who plays Tom Barnaby) talking about them.
     Next, I spent a couple of hours working on the personal project to which I had said I would devote a few hours each day. I made some headway without getting entirely frustrated. In fact, I made a couple of valuable contacts and need to follow up on them.
     I was in the process of having a pot of tea with the last of my chocolate eclairs and two of my super-delcious shortbread biscuits (I will certainly go back for more) when Bandra Medical Stores called to tell me that my knee brace had arrived. So back I strolled there on a lovely evening--bumping along the way into my friend Lira, a school-mate from St. Agnes, with whom I exchanged numbers and visited for a bit) and then I picked up the item and walked back to Dad's. The walk to the place and back to Dad's took me an hour--so I had more than my fair share of exercise for the day.
     Russel was eager and excited to try out his new knee brace. He was not entirely comfortable with it but I have no doubt that he will get more and more accustomed to it as the days go by. I was able to use the internet to find out how the contraption is to be adjusted--it has a hinge at the knee which allows him to flex his knee quite comfortably. He has now to get more stable on his feet and he will do better as the days go by.
       Fortunately, all Dad's woes of the morning had been sorted through his trusted handyman Clement who arrived on cue to help him out. He told me that he has fixed up with a new physiotherapist to see Russel on Wednesday for the first time. The man, who comes highly recommended by friends, seems very competent and, according to Dad, inspired confidence on the phone. We feel more optimistic abut Russel's chances of walking independently again. Dad also wanted to talk to me about the hiring of the new full-time domestic helper as his regular housekeeper is now back and is prepared to train him and show him what he needs to do and what she has been doing thus far.
     I left Dad's place for my own dinner feeling as if most of my day had been spent trouble-shooting. For some reason, I feel sort of dejected by everything that had happened today and I badly needed to chill with a good movie. I tucked into Valerie's new tiffin of chicken curry, snake gourd and Waldorf Salad as I watched The Invention of Lying that I thought would be a good comic film with Ricky Gervais and Jennifer Garner--but it is doing nothing for me. However, halfway into it, I had a long catch-up chat on the phone with Chriselle who was just beginning a new day in Los Angeles. It was great talking to her and going through some of her plans before I returned to the film. Not long after, without finishing it, I cleaned and washed up my dishes (in my bathroom--not my kitchen sink--and called it a night.
     Until tomorrow...