Saturday, March 30, 2019
Bombay
One More Interview Closes the Work Week
Namaste from Bombay!
As Saturday rolled around, I awoke from a troubled sleep--I am not sleeping too well--what with the mounting heat, pesky mosquitos and the loss of my work on my computer that I am trying hard to re-transcribe, I find myself mentally troubled. However, I hope that once I have made up for the loss of my Documents, I shall feel less troubled and have a more peaceful mindset.
I had a broon with spreads and coffee and then left immediately for Dad's place to be present at Russel's physiotherapy session with Valerian. I have to say that it was very painful to see Russel panicking every time he was told to climb steps--he is gripped by intense fear of falling again and breaking bones. It was hard for both Dad and me to see him struggle with Valerian. But, at the end of the day, he had the satisfaction of having climbed a few steps. We are still hopeful that things will get better for him and that consultation sessions with orthopedists that we are soon going to see will provide some solutions on how he can acquire stability and get the knee bones of his left leg to align correctly--they are currently out of alignment.
After the physiotherapy session, I want straight to our family doctor, Dr. Abbas, as I have been having an intermittent gripe that suddenly grips my abdomen, leaves me feeling very comfortable and then goes away just as quickly as it starts. This has been going on for a few days and I am very worried about it. Dr. Abbas who has known me since my teenage years and remembered my name and asked after my Dad and Russel (also by name)--truly a Family Doctor--told me that I need to stop eating dal (as you know, I eat a lot of it!) and that I ought to eat a small bit of carbs with every meal--as I must eat a balanced diet. He has told me to eat one chapati with every meal and I shall do so now. Let us hope it is only a matter of recalibrating my food intake and nothing more serious that that. He left me with a prescription that I marched straight to the pharmacy to fill. Since I have read on Google that sudden abdominal pains can also be caused by stress, I can see that the events of the recent weeks (such as the loss of my Documents on my computer) might also be responsible for this strange development.
That done, I returned home and straight away plunged into transcribing an interview I did yesterday. My life is now all about doing interviews and then transcribing them. In the meanwhile, I am also trying to catch up with the old interviews that were lost on my computer--so I am feeling the intense pressure of work.
I stopped for lunch (mixed vegetables, chicken Curry (I forgot that I had to abstain from meat today!) and okra. While eating, I watched Mary Berry on You Tube, teaching us how to make a Lemon and Pistachio Roulade which I would simply love to try when I return home again. I suppose you could say that I am missing cooking and can't wait to get back to it again--especially if it involves making fun things.
Carrying Out Another Interview:
One of the most challenging things about the work I am currently doing is getting people to grant me interviews. Everyone is so busy that it is hard for them to carve time out of their schedules to accommodate meetings with me. Hence, I meet them at times that suit them and this afternoon was given to a man named Carl Mendes whose father, Melville, was a driving force in running the Bandra Zonals of St. Andrew's Church until he passed away, a few years ago. Carl too became a director and went on to produce drew Andrew Lloyd-Webber's Joseph and His Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat a few years ago in which many of the folk I have interviewed so far had acted.
I met Carl at the Bandra Gymkhana and found him to be a really nice guy, full of information and anecdotes and willing to share them with me. We had a lovely hour-long conversation until the Gymkhana closed for the afternoon after which we moved to his car and continued out chatter there. It is my hope that Carl will be able to pass on to me archival material in the form of pictures, brochures, program statements, etc. in the next few weeks.
With our interview done, I returned home and took a 20 minute nap and then awoke to take a shower and have a cup of tea with a few nuts. I did more transcribing until it was time for me to get ready to go for dinner to Byculla where my friend Nafisa invited me to dine with her. I took the Number 56 bus that goes directly from Perry Cross Road in Bandra to a stop right opposite her lane. I darted quickly into a Cafe Coffee Day to pick up a chocolate truffle cake for her and then sat down to enjoy being with very close friends. They had also invited a physiotherapist named Eustace D'Souza who happens to be a mine of knowledge on Bombay's local history and was very interesting to talk to.
A Grand Dinner with Close Friends:
We had a grand evening. Although Nafisa invited Dad to her place for dinner too,he declined as he does not like to leave Russel alone with his assistant for such a long stretch of time. Nafisa cooked us a splendid meal—from soup to nuts as they say. There was delicious Vietnamese Pho (soup) to begin with followed by Sweet and Sour Chicken, Vegetables in Garlic Sauce and Steamed Rice; and for dessert, walnut mousse (nuts), rice kheer and jalebis. Boy oh boy! There is truly no greater gift that a fiend can offer than a meal prepared with her own fair hands—and Nafisa outdid herself.
Since the evening wound down slowly, I elected to spend the night in her home. She and her husband Husefa offered generous hospitality as they prepared me a room for the night and made me comfy with the AC on and a cozy blanket if I should need it.
It was with a prayer of gratitude on my lips for the company of such fine old friends and their generosity that I fell off to sleep.
Until tomorrow
Sunday, March 31, 2019
Friday, March 29, 2019
Another Dental Visit for Dad and an Interview in a Drama School
Friday, March 29, 2019
Bombay
Another Dental Visit for Dad and an Interview in a Drama School
Namaste from Bombay!
The day flew by and wasn't very productive as I am dealing with an intermittent gripe in my tummy that comes and goes inexplicably. Thinking it is merely gas, I tried to have a drink made by a company called Rogers--called Ginger. But it has not done the trick. At Dad and Llew's suggestion, I will see a doctor tomorrow. When the gripe grips me, it is deeply uncomfortable and it ends up sapping one's energy and mood. So, off to the doctor tomorrow.
That said, I awoke and began blogging, reviewed Twitter, ate my breakfast of muesli with coffee and left by rick to accompany Dad to the dentist for his denture fitting follow-up. It did not take too long and since he saw the same one who had done my dental work last week, Sudha Shenoy, I asked her to look at some filling work she had done for me that needed some smoothing out--it was done in a few minutes and I was satisfied with my 'mouth feel".
Back home by rick, I visited with Dad and Russel for a bit and then went back home. Dad is in the thick of the IPL cricket matches and was describing to me how exciting the last one was. This resulted in me calling my friend Kamal to find out what she thought about it.
Back home, I sat down immediately and finished the transcribing of my interview with Louiz Banks which took much more time than usual as it was a very long interview and he was a magnificent interviewee. I finished it in time to get a quick shower and leave for my next appointment--an interview with Jeff Goldberg of the Jeff Goldberg Acting Studio off Linking Road which was actually right by where I had been with Dad in the morning.
An Interview with Jeff Goldberg:
Jeff Goldberg is an American actor (a New Yorker) and sometime academic who used to teach Acting in New York and France before he married an East Indian Catholic and made him home and life in Bombay. His is now one of the many Acting Schools that have mushroomed in the city to teach the craft to budding thespians who seek opportunities in the competitive world of show biz. HIs Studio is a beautiful space on one floor of a very conveniently located building in Bandra. The corridors are plastered with framed posters of the many dramatic productions in which he or his students have performed and staged.
I met him for about 45 minutes during which he gave me a lot of information in anticipation of the kind of questions I might ask. He told me about his own training and his own background, his stints in Los Angeles and France, his opinion on the current state of Bollywood film production, the aspirations and hopes of his students and the kind of opportunities available to them (apparently a whole lot--he said that 70% of his grads find work in the entertainment industry which is burgeoning in India with the growth of web entertainment).
I enjoyed our conversation and learned a good deal from it. It is amazing really how much Bombay has to offer actors today--while there are still aspiring actors who (provided they can afford it) go off to New York to study Acting, others can study the craft right here in Bombay--again, provided they have the bucks because his classes are not cheap. Still, at least they are available. He was kind enough to invite me to two of his upcoming shows--both at the Royal Opera House: A Streetcar Named Desire this weekend and next week, a show on the Bombay terrorist attacks starring Headley (the man who masterminded them), played by Goldberg himself. He seems to have found a gig that truly works because he is doing what he loves: he writes original material, he directs, he acts, he teaches Drama in what might be called repertory theater and he has a ready supply of income. He also has personal connections with the city that keeps him here for a while. Go Him!
A Varied Sort of Evening:
Back home in a rickshaw, following our interview, I had a late lunch and completely forgot I was supposed to stay off meat today--it being a Friday in Lent. I had chicken curry, mixed vegetables and dal while watching Mary Berry go to Morocco and teach us how to make a lamb tagine. I am truly grateful for You Tube and all the material that it lays bare at my fingertips. Really thrilling.
I took a short nap and then intended to transcribe one more interview but I was feeling really out of sorts. Instead I dressed and went off to Dad's to find him feeling out of sorts too. He elected to stay home as the pain in his lower gums had sapped him of all his energy too. I chatted with him and Russel for a while and then left for the Stations of the Cross followed by Mass--but I was feeling quite ill-at-ease too and had to sit down through most of it.
Dinner With New Friends:
Earlier in the evening, I had heard from Radhika, my friend who lives close by telling me that her husband Vivek is now in town--he has joined her after nine months from San Francisco: it made me realize how much I miss Llew and how long we have been apart. I am looking forward very much now to seeing him soon in South America--although we still have to wait for 2 months for that to happen. I then invited Radhika and Vivek to join me for dinner at the Bandra Gym at 8.00 and she was free and game.
So right after Mass, I found a rick that took me to the gym where she joined me just a bit later. We had a lovely meal--this time I remember that I was not supposed to eat meat today and all we did was feast on prawns and fish! We ordered Fried Peri Peri Prawns with Achari Paneer as starters with drinks. Our meal was Goan Fish Curry with steamed rice and Tawa-Fried Rawas with Red Reschad Masala--truly truly good. For dessert, the three of us shared Malai Kulfi. It was all absolutely delicious and Vivek turned out to be a really nice chap, very easy to get to know and to get along with and the three of us struck up a really nice new friendship that I hope will stand the test of time. It was almost 11.00 pm when we left the restaurant to walk home--both they and I live just a stone's throw from the Gymkhana and I was in bed and chatting to Llew before I called it a night.
Until tomorrow...
Bombay
Another Dental Visit for Dad and an Interview in a Drama School
Namaste from Bombay!
The day flew by and wasn't very productive as I am dealing with an intermittent gripe in my tummy that comes and goes inexplicably. Thinking it is merely gas, I tried to have a drink made by a company called Rogers--called Ginger. But it has not done the trick. At Dad and Llew's suggestion, I will see a doctor tomorrow. When the gripe grips me, it is deeply uncomfortable and it ends up sapping one's energy and mood. So, off to the doctor tomorrow.
That said, I awoke and began blogging, reviewed Twitter, ate my breakfast of muesli with coffee and left by rick to accompany Dad to the dentist for his denture fitting follow-up. It did not take too long and since he saw the same one who had done my dental work last week, Sudha Shenoy, I asked her to look at some filling work she had done for me that needed some smoothing out--it was done in a few minutes and I was satisfied with my 'mouth feel".
Back home by rick, I visited with Dad and Russel for a bit and then went back home. Dad is in the thick of the IPL cricket matches and was describing to me how exciting the last one was. This resulted in me calling my friend Kamal to find out what she thought about it.
Back home, I sat down immediately and finished the transcribing of my interview with Louiz Banks which took much more time than usual as it was a very long interview and he was a magnificent interviewee. I finished it in time to get a quick shower and leave for my next appointment--an interview with Jeff Goldberg of the Jeff Goldberg Acting Studio off Linking Road which was actually right by where I had been with Dad in the morning.
An Interview with Jeff Goldberg:
Jeff Goldberg is an American actor (a New Yorker) and sometime academic who used to teach Acting in New York and France before he married an East Indian Catholic and made him home and life in Bombay. His is now one of the many Acting Schools that have mushroomed in the city to teach the craft to budding thespians who seek opportunities in the competitive world of show biz. HIs Studio is a beautiful space on one floor of a very conveniently located building in Bandra. The corridors are plastered with framed posters of the many dramatic productions in which he or his students have performed and staged.
I met him for about 45 minutes during which he gave me a lot of information in anticipation of the kind of questions I might ask. He told me about his own training and his own background, his stints in Los Angeles and France, his opinion on the current state of Bollywood film production, the aspirations and hopes of his students and the kind of opportunities available to them (apparently a whole lot--he said that 70% of his grads find work in the entertainment industry which is burgeoning in India with the growth of web entertainment).
I enjoyed our conversation and learned a good deal from it. It is amazing really how much Bombay has to offer actors today--while there are still aspiring actors who (provided they can afford it) go off to New York to study Acting, others can study the craft right here in Bombay--again, provided they have the bucks because his classes are not cheap. Still, at least they are available. He was kind enough to invite me to two of his upcoming shows--both at the Royal Opera House: A Streetcar Named Desire this weekend and next week, a show on the Bombay terrorist attacks starring Headley (the man who masterminded them), played by Goldberg himself. He seems to have found a gig that truly works because he is doing what he loves: he writes original material, he directs, he acts, he teaches Drama in what might be called repertory theater and he has a ready supply of income. He also has personal connections with the city that keeps him here for a while. Go Him!
A Varied Sort of Evening:
Back home in a rickshaw, following our interview, I had a late lunch and completely forgot I was supposed to stay off meat today--it being a Friday in Lent. I had chicken curry, mixed vegetables and dal while watching Mary Berry go to Morocco and teach us how to make a lamb tagine. I am truly grateful for You Tube and all the material that it lays bare at my fingertips. Really thrilling.
I took a short nap and then intended to transcribe one more interview but I was feeling really out of sorts. Instead I dressed and went off to Dad's to find him feeling out of sorts too. He elected to stay home as the pain in his lower gums had sapped him of all his energy too. I chatted with him and Russel for a while and then left for the Stations of the Cross followed by Mass--but I was feeling quite ill-at-ease too and had to sit down through most of it.
Dinner With New Friends:
Earlier in the evening, I had heard from Radhika, my friend who lives close by telling me that her husband Vivek is now in town--he has joined her after nine months from San Francisco: it made me realize how much I miss Llew and how long we have been apart. I am looking forward very much now to seeing him soon in South America--although we still have to wait for 2 months for that to happen. I then invited Radhika and Vivek to join me for dinner at the Bandra Gym at 8.00 and she was free and game.
So right after Mass, I found a rick that took me to the gym where she joined me just a bit later. We had a lovely meal--this time I remember that I was not supposed to eat meat today and all we did was feast on prawns and fish! We ordered Fried Peri Peri Prawns with Achari Paneer as starters with drinks. Our meal was Goan Fish Curry with steamed rice and Tawa-Fried Rawas with Red Reschad Masala--truly truly good. For dessert, the three of us shared Malai Kulfi. It was all absolutely delicious and Vivek turned out to be a really nice chap, very easy to get to know and to get along with and the three of us struck up a really nice new friendship that I hope will stand the test of time. It was almost 11.00 pm when we left the restaurant to walk home--both they and I live just a stone's throw from the Gymkhana and I was in bed and chatting to Llew before I called it a night.
Until tomorrow...
Extraordinary Day! Visit to Jai Hind College and Interviews with Two Icons of Western Performing Arts in Bombay!
Thursday, March 28, 2019
Bombay
Extraordinary Day! Visit to Jai Hind College and Interviews with Two Icons of Western Performing Arts in Bombay!
Namaste from Bombay!
Once in a way you have the kind of day that so awes you by its special-ness that it quite takes your breath away. Today was one such!
My sleep patterns are out of whack as mosquitoes keep me awake far longer than I want--it is always just one pesky creature that ruins my nights. I have no staying power beyond 9.30 pm, so succumb, then awake at Silly O clock, get back to work, transcribe an interview and then fall asleep again at 5.00 am only to awake at 7.00 am! Hopefully, things will fall back on even keel again soon.
That said, I had my breakfast of a broon, spreads and coffee--the idea is to try and finish up all my pantry supplies (cream cheese, marmalade, sauces, etc.) before I am faced with my date of departure! I blogged and then I jumped into a shower to get ready for my 11.00 am appointment in the city--once again at the iconic Brabourne Stadium on whose grounds the Cricket Club of India is located--for my interview with Burjor Patel. As it turned out, just when I was leaving, I received a call from him, postponing it by half an hour. This gave me a chance to get the transcription of one more interview finished before I left my house, took a bus and a train and then walked to get to the venue at exactly the appointed hour.
An Interview with Burjor Patel:
Burjor Patel was in the lobby of the Club when I arrived. We made ourselves comfortable in The Idhar Room--an air-conditioned coffee shop, thankfully, where we settled down with fresh lemonade sodas and a plate of chilli cheese toast and began the interview. He had come beautifully prepared with notes on a small piece of paper to which he kept referring as the talk marched on. I found him absolutely delightful--a man of old-world customs and manners who offered hospitality, many an unknown anecdote, dates and places with enviable accuracy and then offered to send me a copy of his memoirs that, so far, have been purely for private circulation. I was simply charmed. There was a lot to talk about as he (and I) walked down Memory Lane with him rattling off the names of plays I saw and reviewed during my Theater Critic days in the Bombay press and name of actors who were once household names in the city--sadly, quite a few have left us and the ones who are left behind are the only receptacles of priceless memories that they are quite happy to share.
We spent more than an hour together after which I decided, on impulse, since I was so close, to visit Jai Hind College. I walked behind the bleachers and remembered my school days when I used to enter and leave this stadium (for our annual school sports) through this path as I emerged on to the main road facing the Ambassador Hotel Then, on another impulse, I stepped into K. Rustom's Ice-Cream factory, and purely by custom, decided to buy myself a Kesar Pista ice-cream sandwich (which would have to suffice as my lunch). That consumed, I walked along the Marine Drive Seaface to A Road where Jai Hind College is located.
A Visit to my Former Stomping Ground:
My academic career had started more than three decades ago at Jai Hind College, where I spent eight of the most fulfilling years of my life as a college Professor in the Department of English. As someone who was hired to teach in degree college within days of earning my Master's degree in English, I was way younger than all my colleagues, all of whom had been my own professors in the Master's Program. Whether it was my youthfulness--I was 21 but I looked about 13--is hard to tell...what I do know is that I was taken under the wing of everyone: from professors to administrators to lift men and canteen wait staff. I grew in the presence of these folks in ways that are hard to imagine or describe. The College offered me immeasurable opportunities--all of which I grabbed with both hands as I grew daily as a research-oriented academic.
It was only fitting, therefore, that I make one visit to this place before my Fulbright stint in India ended. I am not sure what I expected to find...but in the end, I felt as bit like I had done, a few years ago, when I had returned to Exeter College, Oxford, on a frigid winter's evening and seated myself in its Quadrangle as dusk fell over the fabled city of dreaming spires and the tower clock tolled the twilight hours. I was filled with such bitter-sweet nostalgia: joy at the memories of those who had made my life there so memorably wonderful and sadness at the fact that they were no longer there to savor time or keep me company.
I felt the same bitter-sweetness when I entered the premises at Jai Hind College. There was the weird feeling of being in a familiar spot but being a complete stranger in it. There was not one familiar face to be seen--not among the admin staff in the office down below or in the Faculty room on the third floor to which I returned and where I had spent so many gratifying hours as I prepped for my next lecture, shot the breeze with my colleagues or consulted with students. Not having our own offices (no Indian faculty do), the Faculty Common Room was where so much interactions occurred. But when I got there, although it was packed with women (mainly), not a single person looked even vaguely familiar to me. Every single person from my time has retired--which made realize that were I still a professor here, I'd be facing retirement too.
Being there, I decided to do the Grand Tour of the main building (with which I was more familiar)--I scoured the library, poked my head into the classrooms in which I had once taught, skimmed through the labs, etc. and finding nothing to rekindle in me a sense of joyful reunion, I left. Again being in the space, I then popped into the new building at the back (where a very modest Junior college used to be, in my time) and found a glass and concrete tower that is fully air-conditioned. I took the elevator to the seventh floor and then worked my way downstairs on foot, passing by labs, computer labs, classrooms, common room areas, etc. But none of the spaces evoked in me more than just a passing curiosity.
Back on the ground floor, I took a few pictures and left. I did not even visit the canteen as that was never a space in which I had hung out as a faculty member. Yes, thirty years is half a lifetime and, of course, I did expect to see change. What I did not expect to experience were the conflicting emotions with which I had to deal--once again, I realize that tied up with all these sentiments was one of sadness and nostalgia at the passing away of youth. I will always be grateful to this institution for what it meant to me and what it did for me--it was a launching pad into an academic career that took me to Oxford and then to NYU: an academic could truly not ask for a better, more gratifying career.
Back Home and on to the Next Interview:
I had time, once I took the train home, for my 2-minute power nap. When I awoke, I realized I had about an hour to spare before I would need to set off for my next appointment. I dressed again and walked to the State Bank of India where I had not yet resolved the issue of resetting my internet banking login password. Bhavya, the lovely assistant, helped me without any difficulty and about a half hour later, my job was done. I shudder to think of all the hoops through which I will now need to jump as I re-set or change passwords everywhere that they are needed--as the loss of my Documents took my entire saved password file with it.
After leaving the bank, I walked to Dad's to leave some money behind for him. I had sat on the phone earlier and found out about a reservation at Lord's Hotel in Matheran where my friend Nafisa and I shall be spending two days next month. One of the items on my Bucket List for Bombay was a return to this venue as I had very fond memories of my time spent there when I was nine years old on a large extended family holiday in which about 35 member of my Dad's family had taken a trip together and spent a month one summer in the bucolic Western Ghats surrounded by misty hills, mango groves and monkeys. Nafisa was game to go with me and so we have zeroed in on dates that shall take us off to the nostalgic pathways of one of my childhood summers. The money I left for Dad's represents was our hotel tariff which will be picked up by someone tomorrow morning--a rep from the Bombay office of Lord's Hotel which is supposed to be one of the nicest hotels in the place.
I spent about a half hour with Dad and Russel but which point I was starving and ended up eating two chocolate biscuits and a bowl of papaya. Then, at 5.00 pm, I left Dad's and took a rick to my next appointment: an interview with Louiz Banks, jazz musician and composer.
An Interview with the One and Only Louiz Banks:
Louiz Banks is probably India's best-known jazz pianist and one of the most prolific composers of advertising jingles of all time--that and, of course, innovative experiments in jazz. He is managed today by his son, Neil, with whom I have been in touch to schedule this appointment. His lovely cottage-like home on the ground floor of a building in Santa Cruz that includes a full recording studio was easily reached by rickshaw in about twenty minutes. Once in the presence of the master, I prepared to be awed.
And awed I was! The musician just swept me off my feet with his vivid stroll down Memory Lane. It seems he might never have done such a lengthy or extensive interview before because he waxed nostalgic about everything--his life and early performing days in Nepal, his years among the jazz greats of Calcutta, his years spent composing advertising jingles that made him a millionaire, his tours in the West where, among other Jazz greats, he played with Dizzy Gillespie. I was simply hooked from the moment he opened his mouth speak. I cannot thank the Lord enough for giving me these opportunities to meet with these men and women who have punctuated the cultural life of the city of Bombay with so much talent and so many thrills.
As Louiz spoke, I remembered by own days as a passionate explorer of jazz--the new genre to which I first became introduced in my twenties through Jazz Yatra Festivals organized by the late Niranjan Zaveri. That is what is so marvelous about this data-collection in which I am steeped. While it does is allow my 'subjects' a chance to wallow in nostalgia, in doing so they pull me in a for a good long soak too! History and journalism are blending together in the most amazing ways for me as this project continues. What was more was that Louiz posed for me on his own piano and played me a couple of tunes before he presented me with a whole stack of his CD recordings before I left his place. I gave him a hug of gratitude and left with a lump in my throat.
I took a rick home--but skipped church today as I was too late for the 7.00 pm Mass. Back home, and starving, I dived into my dinner--a cup of soup, some dal, chicken curry and okra, and then I switched the TV on and watched some Mary Barry's Quick Cookinshow on You Tube--she happened to be in Rome sampling my favorite cuisine (Italian) and tasting her way to pasta, pizza and pasticceria! I watched until sleep beckoned. I then spoke briefly to Llew before calling it a night.
You would agree that it was a deeply productive day, right?
Until tomorrow...
Bombay
Extraordinary Day! Visit to Jai Hind College and Interviews with Two Icons of Western Performing Arts in Bombay!
Namaste from Bombay!
Once in a way you have the kind of day that so awes you by its special-ness that it quite takes your breath away. Today was one such!
My sleep patterns are out of whack as mosquitoes keep me awake far longer than I want--it is always just one pesky creature that ruins my nights. I have no staying power beyond 9.30 pm, so succumb, then awake at Silly O clock, get back to work, transcribe an interview and then fall asleep again at 5.00 am only to awake at 7.00 am! Hopefully, things will fall back on even keel again soon.
That said, I had my breakfast of a broon, spreads and coffee--the idea is to try and finish up all my pantry supplies (cream cheese, marmalade, sauces, etc.) before I am faced with my date of departure! I blogged and then I jumped into a shower to get ready for my 11.00 am appointment in the city--once again at the iconic Brabourne Stadium on whose grounds the Cricket Club of India is located--for my interview with Burjor Patel. As it turned out, just when I was leaving, I received a call from him, postponing it by half an hour. This gave me a chance to get the transcription of one more interview finished before I left my house, took a bus and a train and then walked to get to the venue at exactly the appointed hour.
An Interview with Burjor Patel:
Burjor Patel was in the lobby of the Club when I arrived. We made ourselves comfortable in The Idhar Room--an air-conditioned coffee shop, thankfully, where we settled down with fresh lemonade sodas and a plate of chilli cheese toast and began the interview. He had come beautifully prepared with notes on a small piece of paper to which he kept referring as the talk marched on. I found him absolutely delightful--a man of old-world customs and manners who offered hospitality, many an unknown anecdote, dates and places with enviable accuracy and then offered to send me a copy of his memoirs that, so far, have been purely for private circulation. I was simply charmed. There was a lot to talk about as he (and I) walked down Memory Lane with him rattling off the names of plays I saw and reviewed during my Theater Critic days in the Bombay press and name of actors who were once household names in the city--sadly, quite a few have left us and the ones who are left behind are the only receptacles of priceless memories that they are quite happy to share.
We spent more than an hour together after which I decided, on impulse, since I was so close, to visit Jai Hind College. I walked behind the bleachers and remembered my school days when I used to enter and leave this stadium (for our annual school sports) through this path as I emerged on to the main road facing the Ambassador Hotel Then, on another impulse, I stepped into K. Rustom's Ice-Cream factory, and purely by custom, decided to buy myself a Kesar Pista ice-cream sandwich (which would have to suffice as my lunch). That consumed, I walked along the Marine Drive Seaface to A Road where Jai Hind College is located.
A Visit to my Former Stomping Ground:
My academic career had started more than three decades ago at Jai Hind College, where I spent eight of the most fulfilling years of my life as a college Professor in the Department of English. As someone who was hired to teach in degree college within days of earning my Master's degree in English, I was way younger than all my colleagues, all of whom had been my own professors in the Master's Program. Whether it was my youthfulness--I was 21 but I looked about 13--is hard to tell...what I do know is that I was taken under the wing of everyone: from professors to administrators to lift men and canteen wait staff. I grew in the presence of these folks in ways that are hard to imagine or describe. The College offered me immeasurable opportunities--all of which I grabbed with both hands as I grew daily as a research-oriented academic.
It was only fitting, therefore, that I make one visit to this place before my Fulbright stint in India ended. I am not sure what I expected to find...but in the end, I felt as bit like I had done, a few years ago, when I had returned to Exeter College, Oxford, on a frigid winter's evening and seated myself in its Quadrangle as dusk fell over the fabled city of dreaming spires and the tower clock tolled the twilight hours. I was filled with such bitter-sweet nostalgia: joy at the memories of those who had made my life there so memorably wonderful and sadness at the fact that they were no longer there to savor time or keep me company.
I felt the same bitter-sweetness when I entered the premises at Jai Hind College. There was the weird feeling of being in a familiar spot but being a complete stranger in it. There was not one familiar face to be seen--not among the admin staff in the office down below or in the Faculty room on the third floor to which I returned and where I had spent so many gratifying hours as I prepped for my next lecture, shot the breeze with my colleagues or consulted with students. Not having our own offices (no Indian faculty do), the Faculty Common Room was where so much interactions occurred. But when I got there, although it was packed with women (mainly), not a single person looked even vaguely familiar to me. Every single person from my time has retired--which made realize that were I still a professor here, I'd be facing retirement too.
Being there, I decided to do the Grand Tour of the main building (with which I was more familiar)--I scoured the library, poked my head into the classrooms in which I had once taught, skimmed through the labs, etc. and finding nothing to rekindle in me a sense of joyful reunion, I left. Again being in the space, I then popped into the new building at the back (where a very modest Junior college used to be, in my time) and found a glass and concrete tower that is fully air-conditioned. I took the elevator to the seventh floor and then worked my way downstairs on foot, passing by labs, computer labs, classrooms, common room areas, etc. But none of the spaces evoked in me more than just a passing curiosity.
Back on the ground floor, I took a few pictures and left. I did not even visit the canteen as that was never a space in which I had hung out as a faculty member. Yes, thirty years is half a lifetime and, of course, I did expect to see change. What I did not expect to experience were the conflicting emotions with which I had to deal--once again, I realize that tied up with all these sentiments was one of sadness and nostalgia at the passing away of youth. I will always be grateful to this institution for what it meant to me and what it did for me--it was a launching pad into an academic career that took me to Oxford and then to NYU: an academic could truly not ask for a better, more gratifying career.
Back Home and on to the Next Interview:
I had time, once I took the train home, for my 2-minute power nap. When I awoke, I realized I had about an hour to spare before I would need to set off for my next appointment. I dressed again and walked to the State Bank of India where I had not yet resolved the issue of resetting my internet banking login password. Bhavya, the lovely assistant, helped me without any difficulty and about a half hour later, my job was done. I shudder to think of all the hoops through which I will now need to jump as I re-set or change passwords everywhere that they are needed--as the loss of my Documents took my entire saved password file with it.
After leaving the bank, I walked to Dad's to leave some money behind for him. I had sat on the phone earlier and found out about a reservation at Lord's Hotel in Matheran where my friend Nafisa and I shall be spending two days next month. One of the items on my Bucket List for Bombay was a return to this venue as I had very fond memories of my time spent there when I was nine years old on a large extended family holiday in which about 35 member of my Dad's family had taken a trip together and spent a month one summer in the bucolic Western Ghats surrounded by misty hills, mango groves and monkeys. Nafisa was game to go with me and so we have zeroed in on dates that shall take us off to the nostalgic pathways of one of my childhood summers. The money I left for Dad's represents was our hotel tariff which will be picked up by someone tomorrow morning--a rep from the Bombay office of Lord's Hotel which is supposed to be one of the nicest hotels in the place.
I spent about a half hour with Dad and Russel but which point I was starving and ended up eating two chocolate biscuits and a bowl of papaya. Then, at 5.00 pm, I left Dad's and took a rick to my next appointment: an interview with Louiz Banks, jazz musician and composer.
An Interview with the One and Only Louiz Banks:
Louiz Banks is probably India's best-known jazz pianist and one of the most prolific composers of advertising jingles of all time--that and, of course, innovative experiments in jazz. He is managed today by his son, Neil, with whom I have been in touch to schedule this appointment. His lovely cottage-like home on the ground floor of a building in Santa Cruz that includes a full recording studio was easily reached by rickshaw in about twenty minutes. Once in the presence of the master, I prepared to be awed.
And awed I was! The musician just swept me off my feet with his vivid stroll down Memory Lane. It seems he might never have done such a lengthy or extensive interview before because he waxed nostalgic about everything--his life and early performing days in Nepal, his years among the jazz greats of Calcutta, his years spent composing advertising jingles that made him a millionaire, his tours in the West where, among other Jazz greats, he played with Dizzy Gillespie. I was simply hooked from the moment he opened his mouth speak. I cannot thank the Lord enough for giving me these opportunities to meet with these men and women who have punctuated the cultural life of the city of Bombay with so much talent and so many thrills.
As Louiz spoke, I remembered by own days as a passionate explorer of jazz--the new genre to which I first became introduced in my twenties through Jazz Yatra Festivals organized by the late Niranjan Zaveri. That is what is so marvelous about this data-collection in which I am steeped. While it does is allow my 'subjects' a chance to wallow in nostalgia, in doing so they pull me in a for a good long soak too! History and journalism are blending together in the most amazing ways for me as this project continues. What was more was that Louiz posed for me on his own piano and played me a couple of tunes before he presented me with a whole stack of his CD recordings before I left his place. I gave him a hug of gratitude and left with a lump in my throat.
I took a rick home--but skipped church today as I was too late for the 7.00 pm Mass. Back home, and starving, I dived into my dinner--a cup of soup, some dal, chicken curry and okra, and then I switched the TV on and watched some Mary Barry's Quick Cookinshow on You Tube--she happened to be in Rome sampling my favorite cuisine (Italian) and tasting her way to pasta, pizza and pasticceria! I watched until sleep beckoned. I then spoke briefly to Llew before calling it a night.
You would agree that it was a deeply productive day, right?
Until tomorrow...
Thursday, March 28, 2019
A Physiotherapy Session for Russel and an Interview at Prithvi Theater
Wednesday, March 27, 2019
Bombay
A Physiotherapy Session for Russel and an Interview at Prithvi Theater
Namaste from Bombay!
Time is fleeting and I am trying hard to catch up with my past Fulbright interviews which were wiped out on my computer. I have to say that I am not doing too badly and slowly, but steadily, they are being re-input.
So brekkie was muesli with coffee before I whipped off to Dad's for Russel's physio session with Valerian. As it turned out both he and Dad had a lousy night--Dad's implants are causing Russel anxiety and keeping him up at night and when he is up, so is Dad. Suffice it to say that Dad looked dreadful when I saw him and Russel was fast asleep at 9.00 am when I got there! When he awoke, he was insistent that we should cancel our appointment, but Dad managed to convince him to co-operate. It was clearly not going to be the best of sessions, that was for sure!
Valerian did come around and as Russel all but refused to even walk to the living room, exercises were confined to his bed. Dad was very disappointed but Russel was simply not in the mood or the right frame of mind and kept telling me what a bad night he'd had. All we could do was make the best of a bad show and with Valerian completing exercises and reiterating that we should see another orthopedist about the instability in Russel's left leg that will always prevent him from walking independently and keep him prone to falls and fractures, he left. Dad was pretty despondent by the prognosis and told me as much in the evening when he said he is praying very hard that we will be inspired to go to the right doctors who will, in turn, be inspired to heal Russel.
Running Errands:
When Valerian left, I did too. I went straight to my photocopy man Jay to get the SBI form printed out for change of my online passwords. The loss of my Documents has hit me hardest in the loss of all my passwords. I have no idea now how I will get into my subscriptions of The New York Times, The Times of London, Waitrose in London, the Bobst Library at NYU or even my Fulbright shells! It is all a mess and I am really regretting that I had never emailed that file to myself! I guess I will cross each bridge as I come to it--for the moment, I have also lost my Twitter password and have no idea what to do to reset that! However, the banking one is most urgent as I need to stay abreast of my balance in my Indian bank account--hence the need to address that issue first.
Jay did the job in minutes and with the forms in duplicate, I walked to the SBI--only to find a huge notice on their front gate to say that all employees have been relegated to election duty training and so the bank would remain closed! Can you even believe it???!!! Apart from the fact that it causes so much inconvenience to patrons, just think of the loss to their business at a time when India's economy is in the doldrums and needs every shot in the arm it can get to boost it! I was aghast! However, with really nothing I could do in the matter, I returned home and got down to the task of transcribing interviews.
I managed to transcribe two more--with Mark Nunes and Francis Mendes of the Symphony Orchestra of India--before it was time for me to have my lunch: chicken mince with potato, dal and okra--and then to shower and get dressed for my next appointment. This involved an interview at the Prithvi Theater in Juhu and since it is quite far away, I gave myself more than an hour to get a bus (which goes right up to the spot from very close to my home) to get there.
But as fate would have it, the bus did not come for 20 minutes and since I did not want to be late, I hailed a passing rick and sailed off down Carter Road to Juhu Beach and was at the venue on time. So much for my consciousness to be on time. I was settled down in a spot where mosquitoes were eating me alive and told that Kunal Kapoor, whom I was scheduled to meet, had been delayed in a previous meeting and would be with me in 15 minutes. They were excruciating minutes as the mosquitoes made mincemeat of me! And his 15 minutes turned into a half hour. Good Job I had carried along my former student Priti's novel to read: Out With Lanterns--which, by the way, I am enjoying immensely. It is beautifully written and quite quite funny indeed.
An Interview with Kunal Kapoor:
Apart from finding out about the Prithvi Theater itself, which Kunal runs as a Trustee of the establishment, I was keen to find out about his pedigree in terms of English-language theater. He is the grandson of two famed theatrical families--on his paternal side, his grandfather is Prithviraj Kapoor, founder of the Prithvi Raj Studios and on his maternal side, his grandparents are Geoffrey and Laura Kendal who founded the traveling theater troupe in India that was called Shakespeareana. As a child, I'd had the privilege of seeing them perform in my school (when I was in Std VII) and it was definitely my first introduction to Shakespeare. I can clearly recall seeing Laura play Lady Macbeth in the famous "Out Damned Spot" monologue and Geoffrey playing Othello in the scene before he strangles poor Desdemona. It is only now in retrospect that I realize how lucky I was to have been witness to history for the Kendals brought The Bard to the attention of countless school children in India. As Kunal put it, it is unlikely that anyone in India over the age of 55 who went to an English medium school did not have the pleasure of watching his grandparents in action. Of course, they were joined in this endeavor by their daughters, Jennifer, who met her future husband Shashi Kapoor when he joined the troupe, and Felicity who, after her parents folded up their business, went to London and pursued a career in acting there. She aced it quite early in the game with Good Neighbors (a show I love--with Penelope Keith, Richard Briers and Paul Edington--all of whom became small-screen stars in the UK). In more recent years, I have seen Felicity on the London stage at the Trafalgar Studios playing opposite Nicholas Le Prevost in The Last Cigarette. And, of course, she became a household name in the US with Rosemary and Thyme, the TV show, in which she plays the role of a amateur gardening detective, opposite Pam Ferris.
My interview with Kunal went along smoothly. He was kind and thoughtful enough to call for a mosquito coil when he found how much I was fidgeting under the onslaught of those pesky mosquitoes. He offered me refreshment but I took nothing as I'd just had lunch and was counting calories. He spoke with ease about his memories of the Kendals and his contribution to Prithvi Theater and what their aims and objectives continue to be as the establishment enters its 40th year. It was a time for back-patting but also for reaching forward. Kunal then put me on to two books that were upstairs in the offices of Prithvi Theater--the autobiography of Geoffrey Kendal and a commemorative book called The Prithviwallahs that was brought out on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the theater.
Expressing my gratitude to Kunal, I made my way up into the bowels of the theater, through semi-darkness, past the wings and the Green Rooms and arrived at the office where I then spent the next hour browsing through the books. I have added them to my bibliography and hope to find them at the library of the NCPA as Kunal could not part with them--and very sensibly too! If I do not get them at the NCPA library, I shall see if my South Asian Studies section librarian Aruna Maguier at the Bobst Library at NYU can get them for me when I go back home. Finally, there is always Amazon through which I can purchase the books using my faculty development funds--but, of course, this will have to be after I get back home.
I left the Prithvi Theater after taking pictures of some of the posters of its English plays. I also surveyed the premises--the book store and the cafe of which Kunal had spoken--and then I was on my way. I took a rickshaw and got home feeling ready for a hot pot of lemony tea and a slice of cake.
At this point, a nap felt very temping and I curled up for one. About a half hour later, I left straight for church for the novena which began at 6.45 followed by Mass at 7.00.
Dad and I walked back home to his gate together where I took my leave and went home. At my door, my next-door neighbor--bless his heart--asked me if I was up for a vegetable sandwich! I told him I would be delighted. He told me they were making them at home. About fifteen minutes later, he rang my doorbell and presented me with a freshly toasted sandwich filled with cucumber, tomato, beetroot and potato--the typical Bombay vegetable street sandwich that is absolutely delicious with a lick of tomato ketchup. I enjoyed it while watching the second part of Hinterland. Then, a quick chat with Llew who is hard at work in our Southport home installing central air-conditioning ducts, and I found myself feeling really sleepy. I decided not to fight it. But 9.30 pm, I switched the light off, ignoring the determination I had felt to input one more interview before calling it a day. You simply have to succumb to fatigue, sometimes!
Until tomorrow...
Bombay
A Physiotherapy Session for Russel and an Interview at Prithvi Theater
Namaste from Bombay!
Time is fleeting and I am trying hard to catch up with my past Fulbright interviews which were wiped out on my computer. I have to say that I am not doing too badly and slowly, but steadily, they are being re-input.
So brekkie was muesli with coffee before I whipped off to Dad's for Russel's physio session with Valerian. As it turned out both he and Dad had a lousy night--Dad's implants are causing Russel anxiety and keeping him up at night and when he is up, so is Dad. Suffice it to say that Dad looked dreadful when I saw him and Russel was fast asleep at 9.00 am when I got there! When he awoke, he was insistent that we should cancel our appointment, but Dad managed to convince him to co-operate. It was clearly not going to be the best of sessions, that was for sure!
Valerian did come around and as Russel all but refused to even walk to the living room, exercises were confined to his bed. Dad was very disappointed but Russel was simply not in the mood or the right frame of mind and kept telling me what a bad night he'd had. All we could do was make the best of a bad show and with Valerian completing exercises and reiterating that we should see another orthopedist about the instability in Russel's left leg that will always prevent him from walking independently and keep him prone to falls and fractures, he left. Dad was pretty despondent by the prognosis and told me as much in the evening when he said he is praying very hard that we will be inspired to go to the right doctors who will, in turn, be inspired to heal Russel.
Running Errands:
When Valerian left, I did too. I went straight to my photocopy man Jay to get the SBI form printed out for change of my online passwords. The loss of my Documents has hit me hardest in the loss of all my passwords. I have no idea now how I will get into my subscriptions of The New York Times, The Times of London, Waitrose in London, the Bobst Library at NYU or even my Fulbright shells! It is all a mess and I am really regretting that I had never emailed that file to myself! I guess I will cross each bridge as I come to it--for the moment, I have also lost my Twitter password and have no idea what to do to reset that! However, the banking one is most urgent as I need to stay abreast of my balance in my Indian bank account--hence the need to address that issue first.
Jay did the job in minutes and with the forms in duplicate, I walked to the SBI--only to find a huge notice on their front gate to say that all employees have been relegated to election duty training and so the bank would remain closed! Can you even believe it???!!! Apart from the fact that it causes so much inconvenience to patrons, just think of the loss to their business at a time when India's economy is in the doldrums and needs every shot in the arm it can get to boost it! I was aghast! However, with really nothing I could do in the matter, I returned home and got down to the task of transcribing interviews.
I managed to transcribe two more--with Mark Nunes and Francis Mendes of the Symphony Orchestra of India--before it was time for me to have my lunch: chicken mince with potato, dal and okra--and then to shower and get dressed for my next appointment. This involved an interview at the Prithvi Theater in Juhu and since it is quite far away, I gave myself more than an hour to get a bus (which goes right up to the spot from very close to my home) to get there.
But as fate would have it, the bus did not come for 20 minutes and since I did not want to be late, I hailed a passing rick and sailed off down Carter Road to Juhu Beach and was at the venue on time. So much for my consciousness to be on time. I was settled down in a spot where mosquitoes were eating me alive and told that Kunal Kapoor, whom I was scheduled to meet, had been delayed in a previous meeting and would be with me in 15 minutes. They were excruciating minutes as the mosquitoes made mincemeat of me! And his 15 minutes turned into a half hour. Good Job I had carried along my former student Priti's novel to read: Out With Lanterns--which, by the way, I am enjoying immensely. It is beautifully written and quite quite funny indeed.
An Interview with Kunal Kapoor:
Apart from finding out about the Prithvi Theater itself, which Kunal runs as a Trustee of the establishment, I was keen to find out about his pedigree in terms of English-language theater. He is the grandson of two famed theatrical families--on his paternal side, his grandfather is Prithviraj Kapoor, founder of the Prithvi Raj Studios and on his maternal side, his grandparents are Geoffrey and Laura Kendal who founded the traveling theater troupe in India that was called Shakespeareana. As a child, I'd had the privilege of seeing them perform in my school (when I was in Std VII) and it was definitely my first introduction to Shakespeare. I can clearly recall seeing Laura play Lady Macbeth in the famous "Out Damned Spot" monologue and Geoffrey playing Othello in the scene before he strangles poor Desdemona. It is only now in retrospect that I realize how lucky I was to have been witness to history for the Kendals brought The Bard to the attention of countless school children in India. As Kunal put it, it is unlikely that anyone in India over the age of 55 who went to an English medium school did not have the pleasure of watching his grandparents in action. Of course, they were joined in this endeavor by their daughters, Jennifer, who met her future husband Shashi Kapoor when he joined the troupe, and Felicity who, after her parents folded up their business, went to London and pursued a career in acting there. She aced it quite early in the game with Good Neighbors (a show I love--with Penelope Keith, Richard Briers and Paul Edington--all of whom became small-screen stars in the UK). In more recent years, I have seen Felicity on the London stage at the Trafalgar Studios playing opposite Nicholas Le Prevost in The Last Cigarette. And, of course, she became a household name in the US with Rosemary and Thyme, the TV show, in which she plays the role of a amateur gardening detective, opposite Pam Ferris.
My interview with Kunal went along smoothly. He was kind and thoughtful enough to call for a mosquito coil when he found how much I was fidgeting under the onslaught of those pesky mosquitoes. He offered me refreshment but I took nothing as I'd just had lunch and was counting calories. He spoke with ease about his memories of the Kendals and his contribution to Prithvi Theater and what their aims and objectives continue to be as the establishment enters its 40th year. It was a time for back-patting but also for reaching forward. Kunal then put me on to two books that were upstairs in the offices of Prithvi Theater--the autobiography of Geoffrey Kendal and a commemorative book called The Prithviwallahs that was brought out on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the theater.
Expressing my gratitude to Kunal, I made my way up into the bowels of the theater, through semi-darkness, past the wings and the Green Rooms and arrived at the office where I then spent the next hour browsing through the books. I have added them to my bibliography and hope to find them at the library of the NCPA as Kunal could not part with them--and very sensibly too! If I do not get them at the NCPA library, I shall see if my South Asian Studies section librarian Aruna Maguier at the Bobst Library at NYU can get them for me when I go back home. Finally, there is always Amazon through which I can purchase the books using my faculty development funds--but, of course, this will have to be after I get back home.
I left the Prithvi Theater after taking pictures of some of the posters of its English plays. I also surveyed the premises--the book store and the cafe of which Kunal had spoken--and then I was on my way. I took a rickshaw and got home feeling ready for a hot pot of lemony tea and a slice of cake.
At this point, a nap felt very temping and I curled up for one. About a half hour later, I left straight for church for the novena which began at 6.45 followed by Mass at 7.00.
Dad and I walked back home to his gate together where I took my leave and went home. At my door, my next-door neighbor--bless his heart--asked me if I was up for a vegetable sandwich! I told him I would be delighted. He told me they were making them at home. About fifteen minutes later, he rang my doorbell and presented me with a freshly toasted sandwich filled with cucumber, tomato, beetroot and potato--the typical Bombay vegetable street sandwich that is absolutely delicious with a lick of tomato ketchup. I enjoyed it while watching the second part of Hinterland. Then, a quick chat with Llew who is hard at work in our Southport home installing central air-conditioning ducts, and I found myself feeling really sleepy. I decided not to fight it. But 9.30 pm, I switched the light off, ignoring the determination I had felt to input one more interview before calling it a day. You simply have to succumb to fatigue, sometimes!
Until tomorrow...
Tuesday, March 26, 2019
More Dental Implants for Dad and Tea with Favorite Former Students in an Iconic Location
Tuesday, March 26, 2019
Bombay
More Dental Implants for Dad and Tea with Favorite Former Students in an Iconic Location
Namaste from Bombay!
The peaceful tenor of the last few days was interrupted (pleasantly!) by the goings-on of today.
So, up at 6.30 am, I blogged (a very short--and boring!--post indeed) before I summoned the breadman, had brekkie of a broon with spreads and coffee and hit the keyboard with a determination One more interview transcribed and I was ready to get to Dad's for our 10.30 am date with the dentist for the second phase of Dad's dental implants--he was getting the lower set ones lodged in today.
Accordingly, we took a rickshaw to Linking Road and while Dad was busy inside, I opened by laptop and actually input yet another interview--go me! This time round, there was more preparedness, less pain, as Dad emerged and the dentist put me through the post-surgery paces. In readiness for Dad's return home, I had ensured that cold liquid food supplies were well stocked: lassi, ice-cream, cold mink, smoothies.
I settled Dad at home, gave him the cold ice compresses which he held to his jaws for twenty minutes, prepared him a mug of cold milk with Complan and was delighted to see that he had no pain at all--unlike last week when he had been in unbearable pain. This was because the dentists gave him a pain killer as we were leaving his office. Also the anesthesia took a much longer time to wear out today than it had done last week when the pain had begun even before we reached home.
At the appointed hour, the top woman Meena arrived and did the daily sweeping and swabbing as Russel asked for his lunch on cue. Dad told me to stay and have lunch at his place--which I did: chole, spinach and fried fish--all very tasty--with an orange for dessert.
By 1.30 with everyone ready to settle down for their afternoon siesta, I took my leave and returned home to transcribe one more interview, take a shower and a short nap. But then, I realized I had to get to my bank as the loss of my Documents have also led to my loss of all my passwords (I had them in a file on my computer) and I can no longer carry out any online banking as I no longer have the passwords.
I got dressed for a visit to the bank and was put through the paces by the officer there. Since I could remember nothing--not my username or my login password or my profile password, the system for regeneration of them all was far more complicated than I had thought. Still, I did whatever I could under the guidance of the officer and was told that an OTP number would be sent to my mobile phone after which I would need to follow the prompts.
Armed with this information, I left the bank and jumped into a bus that took me to the city. Once at Churchgate, I walked alongside the Oval Maidan to get to the Cricket Club of India on the grounds of the iconic Brabourne Stadium where I had a very special date with my favorite former students of Jai Hind College who had majored in English under me about 35 years ago! Wow that does age me and them somewhat!
Tea in an Iconic Location:
The reason for our visit was that one of the members of that Batch of 86, Poonam, who currently lives in Dubai happened to be visiting Bombay briefly and had told us so (on one of our Whatsapp groups). Rashida then took the lead in trying to herd five of us together on the same day and at the same time and we managed eventually to do so when Priti suggested we meet at the CCI Club where she is a member. Soniyaa had to bow out as she was away from Bombay traveling on work. We would miss her sorely as the evening passed by.
An Iconic Location:
I was excited to be at the CCI--where I have been before on past visits to India as a guest of my friends, Aban and Rusi Davar. The CCI is a part of the historic Brabourne Stadium where Bombayites first become introduced to world-class cricket and where some of the greatest names in cricketing history have played. I can still remember the days before TV, when my Dad (a passionate cricket fan) used to have the radio belting out ball-by-ball commentary. The commentator would always begin a broadcast by reminding us that he was coming to us Live from the Brabroune Stadium. After the competitive cricket matches moved to the much larger Wankhede Stadium (which, by the way, I saw very clearly from an aircraft when leaving Bombay for Kerala), the Brabourne was dedicated to school sports teams and their meets. Although I was never an athlete, I did participate in my school march pasts at the end of our annual sports days--and it is on these ground that I have marched, many a time, with the Blue House!
After we were signed in, we scouted around for a suitable venue. It has grown warm very suddenly in Bombay and air-conditoning is now warmly (pun unintended!) welcomed. After settling down with a lemonade soda, sev puri and the speciality of the house, chilli cheese toast, we did the initial catching up as Rashida had not seen Poonam in 35 years! I had been the recipient of Poonam's hospitality on two occasions when I have been in Dubai and Priti meets her regularly at the frequent Sindhi dos to which they are invited.
When the sun fell deeper into the western sky and disappeared behind the grand bleachers of the stadium, Priti suggested we move outdoors and find a table on the stadium grounds. It was a very good idea indeed as we tucked into dahi bata puri, chicken sandwiches and jalebis--warm, sticky and truly delicious--so delicious that a passing crow actually swooped down and helped itself to one! We talked about the goings on of over three decades in an hour as the sun set and twilight descended upon the well-loved stands of my Bombay sporting life. (I remembered our annual school sports at the Brabourne Stadium and as I munched, I remembered that it was upon these very storied lawns that I had participated in House March Pasts).
I heard for the first time that Poonam lives with a mother-in-law afflicted with polio from birth, that Priti's husband had pancreatis while they were on their Silver Wedding cruise in the Caribbean and had to be air-lifted to a hospital in Miami where he fought for his life, and that Rashida has recently become a mother-in-law after having gone through not one, but two, of her son's broken engagements! Needless to say there was a lot of soul-baring and heart-sharing and fun, fun fun...because in the mist of recounting sadness, there was also much joy.
One of the best parts about living in Bombay again after so many years has been the opportunity to catch up with so many segments of my past life and reconnecting with these very special former students has been one of its highlights. It is hard for me to see how these scatter-brained kids of yesteryear to whom I had taught Chaucer, Shakespeare and Keats and with whom I share the unforgettable experience of meeting Mick Jagger and his brother Christopher in the desserts of Jaisalmer in Rajasthan on a college trip, ended up becoming these beautiful, poised, thoughtful, perceptive and intelligent women, now in their mid-50s, savoring the lessons that life has taught every single one of us in its own drastically different way. I will always cherish gatherings like this.
At 7.30, Poonam dropped me off to Churchgate station from where I took a train and a bus and got back home. I called Dad twice during the evening to find out that he was doing really well and was coping superbly. He told me not to stop by although I offered to.
Back home, I spoke on the phone to Llew for a very long time before calling it a night. I had promised that I would start reading Priti's gift--her first published book, Out With Lanterns, that she had gifted me when we had met three months ago and I had not turned over a page--so I ended my day by beginning to read her book until I could not keep my eyes open anymore.
Until tomorrow...
Bombay
More Dental Implants for Dad and Tea with Favorite Former Students in an Iconic Location
Namaste from Bombay!
The peaceful tenor of the last few days was interrupted (pleasantly!) by the goings-on of today.
So, up at 6.30 am, I blogged (a very short--and boring!--post indeed) before I summoned the breadman, had brekkie of a broon with spreads and coffee and hit the keyboard with a determination One more interview transcribed and I was ready to get to Dad's for our 10.30 am date with the dentist for the second phase of Dad's dental implants--he was getting the lower set ones lodged in today.
Accordingly, we took a rickshaw to Linking Road and while Dad was busy inside, I opened by laptop and actually input yet another interview--go me! This time round, there was more preparedness, less pain, as Dad emerged and the dentist put me through the post-surgery paces. In readiness for Dad's return home, I had ensured that cold liquid food supplies were well stocked: lassi, ice-cream, cold mink, smoothies.
I settled Dad at home, gave him the cold ice compresses which he held to his jaws for twenty minutes, prepared him a mug of cold milk with Complan and was delighted to see that he had no pain at all--unlike last week when he had been in unbearable pain. This was because the dentists gave him a pain killer as we were leaving his office. Also the anesthesia took a much longer time to wear out today than it had done last week when the pain had begun even before we reached home.
At the appointed hour, the top woman Meena arrived and did the daily sweeping and swabbing as Russel asked for his lunch on cue. Dad told me to stay and have lunch at his place--which I did: chole, spinach and fried fish--all very tasty--with an orange for dessert.
By 1.30 with everyone ready to settle down for their afternoon siesta, I took my leave and returned home to transcribe one more interview, take a shower and a short nap. But then, I realized I had to get to my bank as the loss of my Documents have also led to my loss of all my passwords (I had them in a file on my computer) and I can no longer carry out any online banking as I no longer have the passwords.
I got dressed for a visit to the bank and was put through the paces by the officer there. Since I could remember nothing--not my username or my login password or my profile password, the system for regeneration of them all was far more complicated than I had thought. Still, I did whatever I could under the guidance of the officer and was told that an OTP number would be sent to my mobile phone after which I would need to follow the prompts.
Armed with this information, I left the bank and jumped into a bus that took me to the city. Once at Churchgate, I walked alongside the Oval Maidan to get to the Cricket Club of India on the grounds of the iconic Brabourne Stadium where I had a very special date with my favorite former students of Jai Hind College who had majored in English under me about 35 years ago! Wow that does age me and them somewhat!
Tea in an Iconic Location:
The reason for our visit was that one of the members of that Batch of 86, Poonam, who currently lives in Dubai happened to be visiting Bombay briefly and had told us so (on one of our Whatsapp groups). Rashida then took the lead in trying to herd five of us together on the same day and at the same time and we managed eventually to do so when Priti suggested we meet at the CCI Club where she is a member. Soniyaa had to bow out as she was away from Bombay traveling on work. We would miss her sorely as the evening passed by.
An Iconic Location:
I was excited to be at the CCI--where I have been before on past visits to India as a guest of my friends, Aban and Rusi Davar. The CCI is a part of the historic Brabourne Stadium where Bombayites first become introduced to world-class cricket and where some of the greatest names in cricketing history have played. I can still remember the days before TV, when my Dad (a passionate cricket fan) used to have the radio belting out ball-by-ball commentary. The commentator would always begin a broadcast by reminding us that he was coming to us Live from the Brabroune Stadium. After the competitive cricket matches moved to the much larger Wankhede Stadium (which, by the way, I saw very clearly from an aircraft when leaving Bombay for Kerala), the Brabourne was dedicated to school sports teams and their meets. Although I was never an athlete, I did participate in my school march pasts at the end of our annual sports days--and it is on these ground that I have marched, many a time, with the Blue House!
After we were signed in, we scouted around for a suitable venue. It has grown warm very suddenly in Bombay and air-conditoning is now warmly (pun unintended!) welcomed. After settling down with a lemonade soda, sev puri and the speciality of the house, chilli cheese toast, we did the initial catching up as Rashida had not seen Poonam in 35 years! I had been the recipient of Poonam's hospitality on two occasions when I have been in Dubai and Priti meets her regularly at the frequent Sindhi dos to which they are invited.
When the sun fell deeper into the western sky and disappeared behind the grand bleachers of the stadium, Priti suggested we move outdoors and find a table on the stadium grounds. It was a very good idea indeed as we tucked into dahi bata puri, chicken sandwiches and jalebis--warm, sticky and truly delicious--so delicious that a passing crow actually swooped down and helped itself to one! We talked about the goings on of over three decades in an hour as the sun set and twilight descended upon the well-loved stands of my Bombay sporting life. (I remembered our annual school sports at the Brabourne Stadium and as I munched, I remembered that it was upon these very storied lawns that I had participated in House March Pasts).
I heard for the first time that Poonam lives with a mother-in-law afflicted with polio from birth, that Priti's husband had pancreatis while they were on their Silver Wedding cruise in the Caribbean and had to be air-lifted to a hospital in Miami where he fought for his life, and that Rashida has recently become a mother-in-law after having gone through not one, but two, of her son's broken engagements! Needless to say there was a lot of soul-baring and heart-sharing and fun, fun fun...because in the mist of recounting sadness, there was also much joy.
One of the best parts about living in Bombay again after so many years has been the opportunity to catch up with so many segments of my past life and reconnecting with these very special former students has been one of its highlights. It is hard for me to see how these scatter-brained kids of yesteryear to whom I had taught Chaucer, Shakespeare and Keats and with whom I share the unforgettable experience of meeting Mick Jagger and his brother Christopher in the desserts of Jaisalmer in Rajasthan on a college trip, ended up becoming these beautiful, poised, thoughtful, perceptive and intelligent women, now in their mid-50s, savoring the lessons that life has taught every single one of us in its own drastically different way. I will always cherish gatherings like this.
At 7.30, Poonam dropped me off to Churchgate station from where I took a train and a bus and got back home. I called Dad twice during the evening to find out that he was doing really well and was coping superbly. He told me not to stop by although I offered to.
Back home, I spoke on the phone to Llew for a very long time before calling it a night. I had promised that I would start reading Priti's gift--her first published book, Out With Lanterns, that she had gifted me when we had met three months ago and I had not turned over a page--so I ended my day by beginning to read her book until I could not keep my eyes open anymore.
Until tomorrow...
Monday, March 25, 2019
Working Hard to Play Catch-Up
Monday, March 25, 2019
Bombay
Working Hard to Play Catch-Up
Namaste from Bombay!
As it turns out, I did not have any appointments today and so I was able to play catch-up on the many interviews I now need to re-transcribe after losing them all in my recent computer crisis. So upon waking, I began typing right away, then blogged, breakfasted on muesli and coffee and continued working again.
I took a break only to have a shower and shampoo and then was back at my laptop. Slowly but surely, the interviews are being done and a good thing about re-visiting them is that I can now make connections between things people have told me and the views they have shared with me.
I stopped again for lunch: although I received a new meal today, I still have leftovers from my old one--and so I finished them. I took a much-needed nap for about half an hour (as I had been kept up for more than half the night by a single pesky mosquito that I simply could not nab). Then it was back to the drawing board again for another transcription. By the time I finished at 5.00 pm for a pot of hot lemon tea and nuts, I had transcribed five interviews.
This was more than enough work for a day and so I dressed and went to Dad's, a bit earlier than usual. I spent about an hour with Russel as Dad showered and got ready for Mass and we left for church together on the feast of the Annunciation.
Back home, I had my dinner--my new tiffin of dal, chicken curry and okra. While eating I watched Hinterland as I am not able to access any more Vera episodes on You Tube for copyright reasons. I had an early night, switching off the light by 10.15 pm.
Until tomorrow...
Bombay
Working Hard to Play Catch-Up
Namaste from Bombay!
As it turns out, I did not have any appointments today and so I was able to play catch-up on the many interviews I now need to re-transcribe after losing them all in my recent computer crisis. So upon waking, I began typing right away, then blogged, breakfasted on muesli and coffee and continued working again.
I took a break only to have a shower and shampoo and then was back at my laptop. Slowly but surely, the interviews are being done and a good thing about re-visiting them is that I can now make connections between things people have told me and the views they have shared with me.
I stopped again for lunch: although I received a new meal today, I still have leftovers from my old one--and so I finished them. I took a much-needed nap for about half an hour (as I had been kept up for more than half the night by a single pesky mosquito that I simply could not nab). Then it was back to the drawing board again for another transcription. By the time I finished at 5.00 pm for a pot of hot lemon tea and nuts, I had transcribed five interviews.
This was more than enough work for a day and so I dressed and went to Dad's, a bit earlier than usual. I spent about an hour with Russel as Dad showered and got ready for Mass and we left for church together on the feast of the Annunciation.
Back home, I had my dinner--my new tiffin of dal, chicken curry and okra. While eating I watched Hinterland as I am not able to access any more Vera episodes on You Tube for copyright reasons. I had an early night, switching off the light by 10.15 pm.
Until tomorrow...
A Parish Bible Quiz on a Sunday Morning
Sunday, March 24, 2019
Bombay
A Parish Bible Quiz on a Sunday Morning
Namaste from Bombay!
Although most Sundays are fairly relaxed for me, this was anything but as I am still playing catch up!
I awoke early and blogged and checked Twitter and transcribed one interview before I gobbled down my breakfast of a broon with spreads and coffee and rushed off to the 9.00 am Mass. I met Dad at his gate and the two of us walked together to church. I am finding it exceedingly trying to go through these Masses in Bombay where the sermon, Sunday after Sunday, under this one priest, has become excruciating. Today was no exception. I think I really have to switch churches now and start finding joy in returning to church for Sunday Mass--as going and attending just as a habit is not what my personal worship means to me.
After Mass, Dad and I picked up a vada pau for Russel and then made our way up to the Parish Hall to be spectators in the Bible Quiz organized for the parish by the Youth--who were completing one year since their formation. As I had been a part of the youth group of this same church, over 30 years ago, I figured I should encourage today's youth group in its efforts.
I have to say that the turnout was simply pathetic. There were no more than 20 parishioners who attended--indeed, there were more participants than spectators. The parish was divided into five groups or zones--each group had about four team members. The Quiz Master was a priest-in-the-making whose name is Brother Keith--I understand that he is to be ordained very shortly.
The questions were of unequal degrees of difficulty. Some were really easy and some were really difficult. They did have a round of questions for the audience and Dad was clever enough to get one answer right--his prize was a bar of chocolate. We sat through about an hour of it during which time chutney sandwiches and a juice box were distributed and the participants took a break. I was pretty bored by it, at this point, and asked Dad if we could leave. I think he too had seen enough by this point to receive the impression that it was not worth staying any longer.
Back at Dad's, I placed an order for our lunch with the folks at Bandra Gymkhana and left to go home to change out of my church clothes and into something more comfortable. I picked up the lunch order about a half hour later and took it back to Dad's, where he, Russel and I sat down to eat it: hot and sour soup, chicken biryani and raita. It was all very delicious indeed.
After lunch I went back to my studio for a nap and to transcribe yet another interview. I then stopped for a shower and tea and nuts and then got back to my laptop to transcribe the third interview. With this, I caught up with the current interviews I have done and can now start to work on the backlog based on the 40 interviews I have lost.
My cousin Blossom called and I had a nice chat with her before I excused myself and left for dinner at Dad's. The IPL cricket matches have begun and Dad is quite glued to his TV now. Russel is also involved but is less enthusiastic. We finished dinner after which I left and came back home to watch another episode of Vera. These are all old episodes that I have watched before with Llew--but I do not remember any of them.
I went to bed but had a very restless night as a single mosquito kept bothering me incessantly and I simply could not kill it.
Until tomorrow...
Bombay
A Parish Bible Quiz on a Sunday Morning
Namaste from Bombay!
Although most Sundays are fairly relaxed for me, this was anything but as I am still playing catch up!
I awoke early and blogged and checked Twitter and transcribed one interview before I gobbled down my breakfast of a broon with spreads and coffee and rushed off to the 9.00 am Mass. I met Dad at his gate and the two of us walked together to church. I am finding it exceedingly trying to go through these Masses in Bombay where the sermon, Sunday after Sunday, under this one priest, has become excruciating. Today was no exception. I think I really have to switch churches now and start finding joy in returning to church for Sunday Mass--as going and attending just as a habit is not what my personal worship means to me.
After Mass, Dad and I picked up a vada pau for Russel and then made our way up to the Parish Hall to be spectators in the Bible Quiz organized for the parish by the Youth--who were completing one year since their formation. As I had been a part of the youth group of this same church, over 30 years ago, I figured I should encourage today's youth group in its efforts.
I have to say that the turnout was simply pathetic. There were no more than 20 parishioners who attended--indeed, there were more participants than spectators. The parish was divided into five groups or zones--each group had about four team members. The Quiz Master was a priest-in-the-making whose name is Brother Keith--I understand that he is to be ordained very shortly.
The questions were of unequal degrees of difficulty. Some were really easy and some were really difficult. They did have a round of questions for the audience and Dad was clever enough to get one answer right--his prize was a bar of chocolate. We sat through about an hour of it during which time chutney sandwiches and a juice box were distributed and the participants took a break. I was pretty bored by it, at this point, and asked Dad if we could leave. I think he too had seen enough by this point to receive the impression that it was not worth staying any longer.
Back at Dad's, I placed an order for our lunch with the folks at Bandra Gymkhana and left to go home to change out of my church clothes and into something more comfortable. I picked up the lunch order about a half hour later and took it back to Dad's, where he, Russel and I sat down to eat it: hot and sour soup, chicken biryani and raita. It was all very delicious indeed.
After lunch I went back to my studio for a nap and to transcribe yet another interview. I then stopped for a shower and tea and nuts and then got back to my laptop to transcribe the third interview. With this, I caught up with the current interviews I have done and can now start to work on the backlog based on the 40 interviews I have lost.
My cousin Blossom called and I had a nice chat with her before I excused myself and left for dinner at Dad's. The IPL cricket matches have begun and Dad is quite glued to his TV now. Russel is also involved but is less enthusiastic. We finished dinner after which I left and came back home to watch another episode of Vera. These are all old episodes that I have watched before with Llew--but I do not remember any of them.
I went to bed but had a very restless night as a single mosquito kept bothering me incessantly and I simply could not kill it.
Until tomorrow...
Sunday, March 24, 2019
Discovering Foy Nissen's Bombay, Brunch at the Yacht Club and Another Interview
Saturday, March 23, 2019
Bombay
Discovering Foy Nissen's Bombay, Brunch at the Yacht Club and Another Interview
Namaste from Bombay!
I had such a lovely Saturday! It was the perfect combination of leisure and work and it filled me with a sense of accomplishment. I am also beginning to feel that sense of urgency to accomplish work when the knowledge that time is fleeting hits you--the fact that soon I will not have access to all these people here in Bombay is starting to worry me... I have miles to go before I sleep.
That said, I had much to accomplish today. I awoke very early--about 3.00 am (if you can believe it!) and since I could not get back to sleep, I got to work and transcribed another interview as I am still trying to catch up. Then a quick breakfast of muesli and coffee later, I dressed comfortably, carried a bottle of water and my camera, and was off. I was headed to the city for my 9.00 am appointment on the steps of the Town Hall at Fort for my guided historic walk to discover Foy Nissen's Bombay.
I took a bus and a train (sadly, I had to change trains as the one in which I jumped terminated at Dadar--I had to change platforms before getting into one that ran all the way to Churchgate). There, I found a cab and made it to the appointed spot at the appointed hour with time to spare.
Who was Foy Nissen And Why Was the Tour Named After Him?
So who was this man with the strange name and why was the tour named after him? At the outset, let me say that I knew Foy. His last name is a result of the fact that his grandfather was Danish. At some point, marriage with an Englishwoman brought the family in contact with England where, I believe, Foy's father was born. He was a British civil servant at the time of the Raj and his work brought him to India. Foy was born in Poona. The family moved to Bombay when he was a child. He studied at the Cathedral and John Connon School where his mother was a teacher. He then left for England for University. He earned his Bachelors and Master's degrees at the University of Cambridge after which he returned to Bombay, his first love, where he began working at the Times of India and developed his hobby as an amateur photographer and amateur historian. Later, he took on a full-time job at the British Council (which is where I got to know him, about thirty years ago, when I was being given a British Council Scholarship to go to Oxford).
Foy lived in the same building called Olympus on Altamount Road in Bombay, for most of his life, the neighbor of two spinster sisters called the Mehra Sisters who looked after him as the years went by and especially through the dementia that plagued him and eventually took his life. He made them executors of his will and his estate and they turned over the bulk of his books to the Asiatic Library and the bulk of his photographs to the Jehangir Nicholson Foundation that was named after a Parsi collector who had amassed a vast modern art collection that is now in the possession of the foundation that is named after him.
The Jehangir Nicholson Foundation and the Prince of Wales Museum (now called the Shivaji Museum) are running an exhibition, for the first time, on the photographic work of Foy Nissen, who passed away last August. The walk was organized by a company called Bombaywalla which is headed by an Oxford-educated historian called Simin Patel (whose father is Jehangir Patel, Editor of the magazine, Parisana, that I had interviewed a few days ago). Simin did her Ph.D. at Balliol College, Oxford, under the guidance of historian Polly O'Hanlon, the subject of her thesis being 'Colonial Bombay and the Parsis of Colonial Bombay'. She is currently working on a book on the Irani Restaurants of Bombay. I have followed her on Twitter for a long time and have gotten to know quite a lot about Bombay's older monuments through her writing and her passion for the city, which I share. Meeting her was a real delight as she turned out to be a very sweet and very knowledgeable person. I must also state that I was put on to her by my friend Murali Menon who is based in London and who is an avid reader of my blog and her's! These global Twitter and blog contacts are also very interesting to me.
A Walking Tour of Foy Nissen's Bombay:
The tour cost Rs. 300 per head and Simin was on the steps of the Town Hall collecting money from participants when I got there at just before 9.00 am. It was not long before we started the tour with a short introduction to Foy Nissen whose English relatives were actually on the tour with us--they were visiting Bombay from the UK and were able to add some tidbits to the commentary that Simin offered.
Following an introduction to Foy Nissen, we entered the Town Hall where the Bombay Asiatic Society is based. I had done an extensive self-guided tour myself of this space last October--but it was nice to be told about Lord Malcolm, former Governor of Bombay, whose marble sculpture dominates the vestibule upstairs. Foy adored books and adored libraries and he spent a great deal of time at the Asiatic Society Library pouring for hours over the records to be found here. We were able to see a facsimile copy of his library card (which I thought was a very thoughtful addition to our tour) before Simin told us a little bit about the marble worthies scattered about the place: Frere, Carnac, Sir Jamshedji Jijibhoy, Bombay's first baronet, etc. Sadly, we did not enter the Reading Room which rather surprised me! What is a library without its Reading Room? To see just the foyer was most disappointing to me: luckily, I had spent a lot of time here about six months ago and clearly remembered its gorgeous Corinthian columns with their freshly refurbished gilding, the grand chandeliers and the gorgeous round teak tables that accommodate modern-day readers just as they once did colonial ones.
Past the Asiatic Society, we walked along the arcades of Horniman Circle, past the swanky showrooms of Hermes and Christian Louboutin to pause outside the Bombay Samachar Building and take a picture of the vintage Roller (Rolls-Royce) parked outside it--apparently belonging to the Editor, one Mr. Cama (according to Simin). We took a group picture there...I have to state that we were about 25 participants on this walk from different walks of life--there were lawyers, historians, journalists and simply people, like me, with a passion for Bombay and its colonial monuments. I met a cheese-maker named Mansi who was a former student of NYU--she did her Master's there and was quite delighted to meet me.
Simin spoke about the garden at Horniman Circle especially the decorative, tall wrought iron gates and railings--these features had also caught my eye and reminded me very much of the gates of London's parks. I was especially reminded of Victoria Park in the East End that I had toured with my friend, the same Murali Menon mentioned above--also an amateur historian and lover of old buildings and local history. I have taken many an interesting walk in London in his company and I would dearly wish to meet someone else who shares my passion for these colonial parts of Bombay with whom I could stroll around at leisure.
Just past Horniman Circle, we paused right opposite the premises of St. Thomas' Cathedral, Bombay's premier Anglican Church, and one of my very favorite places in the city. Although we stopped to take in the facade and Simin commented on the clock that dominates the tower stating that Foy would have been disappointed to see its black hands (as he always believed they ought to be gilded), again, I was disappointed that we did not go inside the church to admire examples of the most outstanding Victorian mortuary sculpture in the city. But then I realized that since Foy photographed mainly the exteriors of these buildings that was where we were being led and what we were being shown.
From here, we walked along Sir Pherozeshaha Mehta Road towards Flora Fountain which has been recently refurbished and unveiled. The fountain was actually playing and we had a chance to see it up close and personal and to take in the name of the sculptor, one R.N. Shaw. carved into the top tier of the monument that features Flora, Roman Goddess of flowers with the four accompanying female icons that represent various aspects of agriculture--fruits, flowers, grain and foliage.
Past the Fountain, we continued our walk along D.N. (Dadabhai Naoroji Road) in the direction of the Museum and arrived at Kala Ghoda where we stopped outside the Army and Navy Building which is one of the trinity of grand colonial buildings in that spot--the other two being the David Sassoon Library and Reading Room and, of course, my own alma mater, glorious Elphinstone College.
Simin paused to tell us something of Foy's association with the Army and Navy Building which is named for the Army and Navy Stores which was one of the three department stores of which the city of Bombay could boast prior to Independence. The other two were Whiteway and Laidlaws (where my Aunt Alice, my Dad's sister, once use to work)and Evans-Fraser which is where The Bombay Store is now located (on Sir P.M. Road). As the Army and Navy stores was the most expensive of the three, Foy's parents only shopped there on rare occasions and he could only afford the rare cup of tea there. Simin dropped a nugget of fascinating information when she told us that the former colonial restaurant known as The Wayside Inn, in which, in my college days, I had often enjoyed fish and chips and where I had eaten Colman's mustard for the first time, had closed a few years ago. Apparently, its counter was purchased by the David Sassoon Library and is used now as its main Reception Desk. I love these stories of the recycling of old furniture. A few days ago, the actor Vijaya Mehta had told me, in an interview, that when the Bhulabhai Desai Institute on Warden Road was being closed down, Bhulabhai Desai, the lawyer who had fought so many legal cases against the colonial British Government from his desk, had asked her if there was anything she would like from the premises. She opted for his desk--not only because it would always remind her of him but because it was a part of the Indian Freedom Struggle. I love stories like these that the people I am interviewing are sharing with me.
Once we got to know what this part of Bombay meant to Foy, we were marched past the Jehangir Art Gallery into the compound of the Shivaji Museum where tickets were obtained on our behalf and we were led inside to see the actual Exhibition itself.
Viewing the Exhibition Called 'Foy Nissen's Bombay':
I have now become very familiar with the Shivaji Museum and its layout, thanks to the many visits I have paid during the last six months as I have examined and studied its entire collection. This exhibition is on the second floor near the Textile Gallery. One is greeted by a large-scale black and white photograph of Horniman Circle that we had just traipsed through. Inside, there are only black and white photographs that are grouped thematically: still lives of the various sculptures of colonial men and women who had played a role in the development of the city--some are headless and all are in the Sculpture Graveyard at the Victoria Garden (the Bombay Zoo) where Foy made many visits just to photograph these remnants of our city's colonial past. There was a Religious grouping which features mosques, temples, churches, synagogues, even a Parsi Fire Temple. The architectural splendor of the monument groups around the Fort got pride of place on the main wall with a map graphically presenting their locations. There were also pictures taken outside Bombay as in places like Bhuj. I think the exhibition gave a very good idea of the obsession of this man with history, photography, architecture and the past. All lovers of Bombay ought to go and see this lovely little exhibition.
What was also quite wonderful about this exhibition and could easily be ignored was the vitrine containing Foy's own actual cameras, cases, lenses, and other equipment with a couple of the rolls of negatives and his own hand-written instructions and cataloguing system that he had in place. It is these gems that add to the overall quality of an exhibition--so it is not just the photos alone that ought to have been pointed out to us but the equipment that he used (that he actually handled himself) through which these wonderful works were produced that any visitor ought not to miss.
I have to say that I am glad to find what they call "walk-throughs" of art galleries (but what we call 'docent tours' in the West) now being given in Bombay. This one was given by Kamna, an employee of the Jehangir Nicholson Foundation. It left me wanting to know more about the Foundation and its work.
Brunch with my Friend Kamal at the Yacht Club:
I was done with the Walk and Museum Visit at exactly 11.30 am when I was just in time to make it to my next appointment--brunch at the Yacht Club to which my friend Kamal Mulla had invited me. I walked to the venue and then met her at the elevator as she was riding upstairs with two other ladies. She introduced me to her friends Shireen and Meher and at the top, we ran into the guest of honor of the afternoon, a lady named Linda White, who was visiting Bombay from Montreal, Canada, before attending a conference in Delhi. There was one more person expected to join us later, Meenal Kshirsagar who is a retired French Professor at the University of Bombay and had graduated also from Elphinstone College in his heyday. Her husband has a senior position at the Shivaji Museum and she had attended the opening of the Foy Nissen Exhibition last week.
The two other ladies (Shireen and Meher) happened to be visiting from London and I soon discovered that Meher is a good friend of my friend Firdaus (Dr. G) and the niece of my former professor of English (and good friend), the late Homai Shroff. I asked Meher if her surname was Toorkey and when she said Yes, I told her that her name has been in my phone book for thirty years--although I had never met her. The reason she exists in my phone book is because, thirty years ago, when Firdaus and I were at Oxford, he had left to spend a weekend in London and would be staying at her place. Before he left, I had asked him for a contact number and he had given me Meher's! She is a concert pianist and music teacher in London and we had a lot to talk about as the afternoon went on.
Most of us had the Mulligatawny Soup (most delectable!) and a sandwich (though I had the Chicken Lemon Pepper Salad) as I am staying high-protein in my diet. I had a diet Coke too and all of us passed on dessert. There was never a dull moment as many of these ladies present had attended Queen Mary School and had stories to swap about their classmates and friends. I enjoyed the happy camaraderie around the table and even though I was meeting all these ladies (except Kamal) for the first time, there was so much to keep me stimulated that I wasn't left at a loose end for a minute. What a lovey afternoon it was!
Back Home for Another Interview:
We were all done by 2.15pm when I said my thanks and goodbyes and hopped into a bus from across the Museum that took me to Churchgate Station. I picked up a Waldorf Salad from Gaylords and took it home on the train to Bandra. A bus then took me to the Bandra Gymkhana where I had an appointment at 3.30pm with Danesh Khambata--only to discover the the gym is closed in the afternoon from 3.15 till 4.30 pm. So we made our way to Candies's, a teenage hangout which is a tad too noisy for me and not conducive to the conducting of an interview. We found a quiet corner away from the noise but in a non-air-conditioned part of the place where I was very uncomfortable as there was not even a fan there.
My interview with Danesh went well, however, and I learned so much about the very interesting work that he and his partners are doing through a theater group called Silly Point Productions. He was kind enough to pick up a Chocolate Mousse for me and a coffee for himself although I told him I was on a strict diet and would not have anything to eat or drink as I had just finished lunch. I ended up having the mousse but I carried the cheesecake back home for Russel and Dad who enjoyed it. Danesh was wonderful to chat to--again, he is very unassuming and casual about what he and his mates have accomplished. I am realizing that a lot of Bombay's performers work with a group--this is the sort of group that offers camaraderie, lasting friendships and the support that actors need on the long struggle to get work, funding, etc. Unlike writers or actors in the States who seem to go for long periods of time with no work, these folks create their own working opportunities by writing their own material, then going out to find corporate sponsors who will fund their ventures, give them work and make them money. It is quite an amazing example of entrepreneurship and I am quite impressed by their efforts and their output.
By the time I finished with Danesh, I was quite exhausted and decided to spend the evening with Dad and Russel. I was there for over an hour when I said bye to them. Dad was not going for the 7.00 pm Mass as he decided to go for the 9.15 Mass tomorrow which is to be followed by a Parish Quiz on the Bible (that both he and I are interested in attending).
Back home, I finally had a chance to kick back and relax and I marked the arrival of the warm days by pouring myself a wonderful G and T which I enjoyed with a few nuts on which I nibbled as I watched a movie called Wild Oats with Jessica Lange and Shirley McLaine. It was not too bad actually and worth a few good laughs. I loved the role of the con man played by Billy Connolly.
What is really amazing to me is that true to all predictions, it turned warm and humid the very day after Holi! So I guess the lovely weather of the past three months is a thing of the past and I will need to steel myself for the uncomfortable months ahead of me. Thank goodness for my air-conditioned studio!
Having accomplished so much today, I was ready to call it a day at 10.30 but after a long chat with Llew on the phone, it took me a very long time actually to fall asleep--during which time I watched a few episodes of Grace and Frankie.
Until tomorrow...
Bombay
Discovering Foy Nissen's Bombay, Brunch at the Yacht Club and Another Interview
Namaste from Bombay!
I had such a lovely Saturday! It was the perfect combination of leisure and work and it filled me with a sense of accomplishment. I am also beginning to feel that sense of urgency to accomplish work when the knowledge that time is fleeting hits you--the fact that soon I will not have access to all these people here in Bombay is starting to worry me... I have miles to go before I sleep.
That said, I had much to accomplish today. I awoke very early--about 3.00 am (if you can believe it!) and since I could not get back to sleep, I got to work and transcribed another interview as I am still trying to catch up. Then a quick breakfast of muesli and coffee later, I dressed comfortably, carried a bottle of water and my camera, and was off. I was headed to the city for my 9.00 am appointment on the steps of the Town Hall at Fort for my guided historic walk to discover Foy Nissen's Bombay.
I took a bus and a train (sadly, I had to change trains as the one in which I jumped terminated at Dadar--I had to change platforms before getting into one that ran all the way to Churchgate). There, I found a cab and made it to the appointed spot at the appointed hour with time to spare.
Who was Foy Nissen And Why Was the Tour Named After Him?
So who was this man with the strange name and why was the tour named after him? At the outset, let me say that I knew Foy. His last name is a result of the fact that his grandfather was Danish. At some point, marriage with an Englishwoman brought the family in contact with England where, I believe, Foy's father was born. He was a British civil servant at the time of the Raj and his work brought him to India. Foy was born in Poona. The family moved to Bombay when he was a child. He studied at the Cathedral and John Connon School where his mother was a teacher. He then left for England for University. He earned his Bachelors and Master's degrees at the University of Cambridge after which he returned to Bombay, his first love, where he began working at the Times of India and developed his hobby as an amateur photographer and amateur historian. Later, he took on a full-time job at the British Council (which is where I got to know him, about thirty years ago, when I was being given a British Council Scholarship to go to Oxford).
Foy lived in the same building called Olympus on Altamount Road in Bombay, for most of his life, the neighbor of two spinster sisters called the Mehra Sisters who looked after him as the years went by and especially through the dementia that plagued him and eventually took his life. He made them executors of his will and his estate and they turned over the bulk of his books to the Asiatic Library and the bulk of his photographs to the Jehangir Nicholson Foundation that was named after a Parsi collector who had amassed a vast modern art collection that is now in the possession of the foundation that is named after him.
The Jehangir Nicholson Foundation and the Prince of Wales Museum (now called the Shivaji Museum) are running an exhibition, for the first time, on the photographic work of Foy Nissen, who passed away last August. The walk was organized by a company called Bombaywalla which is headed by an Oxford-educated historian called Simin Patel (whose father is Jehangir Patel, Editor of the magazine, Parisana, that I had interviewed a few days ago). Simin did her Ph.D. at Balliol College, Oxford, under the guidance of historian Polly O'Hanlon, the subject of her thesis being 'Colonial Bombay and the Parsis of Colonial Bombay'. She is currently working on a book on the Irani Restaurants of Bombay. I have followed her on Twitter for a long time and have gotten to know quite a lot about Bombay's older monuments through her writing and her passion for the city, which I share. Meeting her was a real delight as she turned out to be a very sweet and very knowledgeable person. I must also state that I was put on to her by my friend Murali Menon who is based in London and who is an avid reader of my blog and her's! These global Twitter and blog contacts are also very interesting to me.
A Walking Tour of Foy Nissen's Bombay:
The tour cost Rs. 300 per head and Simin was on the steps of the Town Hall collecting money from participants when I got there at just before 9.00 am. It was not long before we started the tour with a short introduction to Foy Nissen whose English relatives were actually on the tour with us--they were visiting Bombay from the UK and were able to add some tidbits to the commentary that Simin offered.
Following an introduction to Foy Nissen, we entered the Town Hall where the Bombay Asiatic Society is based. I had done an extensive self-guided tour myself of this space last October--but it was nice to be told about Lord Malcolm, former Governor of Bombay, whose marble sculpture dominates the vestibule upstairs. Foy adored books and adored libraries and he spent a great deal of time at the Asiatic Society Library pouring for hours over the records to be found here. We were able to see a facsimile copy of his library card (which I thought was a very thoughtful addition to our tour) before Simin told us a little bit about the marble worthies scattered about the place: Frere, Carnac, Sir Jamshedji Jijibhoy, Bombay's first baronet, etc. Sadly, we did not enter the Reading Room which rather surprised me! What is a library without its Reading Room? To see just the foyer was most disappointing to me: luckily, I had spent a lot of time here about six months ago and clearly remembered its gorgeous Corinthian columns with their freshly refurbished gilding, the grand chandeliers and the gorgeous round teak tables that accommodate modern-day readers just as they once did colonial ones.
Past the Asiatic Society, we walked along the arcades of Horniman Circle, past the swanky showrooms of Hermes and Christian Louboutin to pause outside the Bombay Samachar Building and take a picture of the vintage Roller (Rolls-Royce) parked outside it--apparently belonging to the Editor, one Mr. Cama (according to Simin). We took a group picture there...I have to state that we were about 25 participants on this walk from different walks of life--there were lawyers, historians, journalists and simply people, like me, with a passion for Bombay and its colonial monuments. I met a cheese-maker named Mansi who was a former student of NYU--she did her Master's there and was quite delighted to meet me.
Simin spoke about the garden at Horniman Circle especially the decorative, tall wrought iron gates and railings--these features had also caught my eye and reminded me very much of the gates of London's parks. I was especially reminded of Victoria Park in the East End that I had toured with my friend, the same Murali Menon mentioned above--also an amateur historian and lover of old buildings and local history. I have taken many an interesting walk in London in his company and I would dearly wish to meet someone else who shares my passion for these colonial parts of Bombay with whom I could stroll around at leisure.
Just past Horniman Circle, we paused right opposite the premises of St. Thomas' Cathedral, Bombay's premier Anglican Church, and one of my very favorite places in the city. Although we stopped to take in the facade and Simin commented on the clock that dominates the tower stating that Foy would have been disappointed to see its black hands (as he always believed they ought to be gilded), again, I was disappointed that we did not go inside the church to admire examples of the most outstanding Victorian mortuary sculpture in the city. But then I realized that since Foy photographed mainly the exteriors of these buildings that was where we were being led and what we were being shown.
From here, we walked along Sir Pherozeshaha Mehta Road towards Flora Fountain which has been recently refurbished and unveiled. The fountain was actually playing and we had a chance to see it up close and personal and to take in the name of the sculptor, one R.N. Shaw. carved into the top tier of the monument that features Flora, Roman Goddess of flowers with the four accompanying female icons that represent various aspects of agriculture--fruits, flowers, grain and foliage.
Past the Fountain, we continued our walk along D.N. (Dadabhai Naoroji Road) in the direction of the Museum and arrived at Kala Ghoda where we stopped outside the Army and Navy Building which is one of the trinity of grand colonial buildings in that spot--the other two being the David Sassoon Library and Reading Room and, of course, my own alma mater, glorious Elphinstone College.
Simin paused to tell us something of Foy's association with the Army and Navy Building which is named for the Army and Navy Stores which was one of the three department stores of which the city of Bombay could boast prior to Independence. The other two were Whiteway and Laidlaws (where my Aunt Alice, my Dad's sister, once use to work)and Evans-Fraser which is where The Bombay Store is now located (on Sir P.M. Road). As the Army and Navy stores was the most expensive of the three, Foy's parents only shopped there on rare occasions and he could only afford the rare cup of tea there. Simin dropped a nugget of fascinating information when she told us that the former colonial restaurant known as The Wayside Inn, in which, in my college days, I had often enjoyed fish and chips and where I had eaten Colman's mustard for the first time, had closed a few years ago. Apparently, its counter was purchased by the David Sassoon Library and is used now as its main Reception Desk. I love these stories of the recycling of old furniture. A few days ago, the actor Vijaya Mehta had told me, in an interview, that when the Bhulabhai Desai Institute on Warden Road was being closed down, Bhulabhai Desai, the lawyer who had fought so many legal cases against the colonial British Government from his desk, had asked her if there was anything she would like from the premises. She opted for his desk--not only because it would always remind her of him but because it was a part of the Indian Freedom Struggle. I love stories like these that the people I am interviewing are sharing with me.
Once we got to know what this part of Bombay meant to Foy, we were marched past the Jehangir Art Gallery into the compound of the Shivaji Museum where tickets were obtained on our behalf and we were led inside to see the actual Exhibition itself.
Viewing the Exhibition Called 'Foy Nissen's Bombay':
I have now become very familiar with the Shivaji Museum and its layout, thanks to the many visits I have paid during the last six months as I have examined and studied its entire collection. This exhibition is on the second floor near the Textile Gallery. One is greeted by a large-scale black and white photograph of Horniman Circle that we had just traipsed through. Inside, there are only black and white photographs that are grouped thematically: still lives of the various sculptures of colonial men and women who had played a role in the development of the city--some are headless and all are in the Sculpture Graveyard at the Victoria Garden (the Bombay Zoo) where Foy made many visits just to photograph these remnants of our city's colonial past. There was a Religious grouping which features mosques, temples, churches, synagogues, even a Parsi Fire Temple. The architectural splendor of the monument groups around the Fort got pride of place on the main wall with a map graphically presenting their locations. There were also pictures taken outside Bombay as in places like Bhuj. I think the exhibition gave a very good idea of the obsession of this man with history, photography, architecture and the past. All lovers of Bombay ought to go and see this lovely little exhibition.
What was also quite wonderful about this exhibition and could easily be ignored was the vitrine containing Foy's own actual cameras, cases, lenses, and other equipment with a couple of the rolls of negatives and his own hand-written instructions and cataloguing system that he had in place. It is these gems that add to the overall quality of an exhibition--so it is not just the photos alone that ought to have been pointed out to us but the equipment that he used (that he actually handled himself) through which these wonderful works were produced that any visitor ought not to miss.
I have to say that I am glad to find what they call "walk-throughs" of art galleries (but what we call 'docent tours' in the West) now being given in Bombay. This one was given by Kamna, an employee of the Jehangir Nicholson Foundation. It left me wanting to know more about the Foundation and its work.
Brunch with my Friend Kamal at the Yacht Club:
I was done with the Walk and Museum Visit at exactly 11.30 am when I was just in time to make it to my next appointment--brunch at the Yacht Club to which my friend Kamal Mulla had invited me. I walked to the venue and then met her at the elevator as she was riding upstairs with two other ladies. She introduced me to her friends Shireen and Meher and at the top, we ran into the guest of honor of the afternoon, a lady named Linda White, who was visiting Bombay from Montreal, Canada, before attending a conference in Delhi. There was one more person expected to join us later, Meenal Kshirsagar who is a retired French Professor at the University of Bombay and had graduated also from Elphinstone College in his heyday. Her husband has a senior position at the Shivaji Museum and she had attended the opening of the Foy Nissen Exhibition last week.
The two other ladies (Shireen and Meher) happened to be visiting from London and I soon discovered that Meher is a good friend of my friend Firdaus (Dr. G) and the niece of my former professor of English (and good friend), the late Homai Shroff. I asked Meher if her surname was Toorkey and when she said Yes, I told her that her name has been in my phone book for thirty years--although I had never met her. The reason she exists in my phone book is because, thirty years ago, when Firdaus and I were at Oxford, he had left to spend a weekend in London and would be staying at her place. Before he left, I had asked him for a contact number and he had given me Meher's! She is a concert pianist and music teacher in London and we had a lot to talk about as the afternoon went on.
Most of us had the Mulligatawny Soup (most delectable!) and a sandwich (though I had the Chicken Lemon Pepper Salad) as I am staying high-protein in my diet. I had a diet Coke too and all of us passed on dessert. There was never a dull moment as many of these ladies present had attended Queen Mary School and had stories to swap about their classmates and friends. I enjoyed the happy camaraderie around the table and even though I was meeting all these ladies (except Kamal) for the first time, there was so much to keep me stimulated that I wasn't left at a loose end for a minute. What a lovey afternoon it was!
Back Home for Another Interview:
We were all done by 2.15pm when I said my thanks and goodbyes and hopped into a bus from across the Museum that took me to Churchgate Station. I picked up a Waldorf Salad from Gaylords and took it home on the train to Bandra. A bus then took me to the Bandra Gymkhana where I had an appointment at 3.30pm with Danesh Khambata--only to discover the the gym is closed in the afternoon from 3.15 till 4.30 pm. So we made our way to Candies's, a teenage hangout which is a tad too noisy for me and not conducive to the conducting of an interview. We found a quiet corner away from the noise but in a non-air-conditioned part of the place where I was very uncomfortable as there was not even a fan there.
My interview with Danesh went well, however, and I learned so much about the very interesting work that he and his partners are doing through a theater group called Silly Point Productions. He was kind enough to pick up a Chocolate Mousse for me and a coffee for himself although I told him I was on a strict diet and would not have anything to eat or drink as I had just finished lunch. I ended up having the mousse but I carried the cheesecake back home for Russel and Dad who enjoyed it. Danesh was wonderful to chat to--again, he is very unassuming and casual about what he and his mates have accomplished. I am realizing that a lot of Bombay's performers work with a group--this is the sort of group that offers camaraderie, lasting friendships and the support that actors need on the long struggle to get work, funding, etc. Unlike writers or actors in the States who seem to go for long periods of time with no work, these folks create their own working opportunities by writing their own material, then going out to find corporate sponsors who will fund their ventures, give them work and make them money. It is quite an amazing example of entrepreneurship and I am quite impressed by their efforts and their output.
By the time I finished with Danesh, I was quite exhausted and decided to spend the evening with Dad and Russel. I was there for over an hour when I said bye to them. Dad was not going for the 7.00 pm Mass as he decided to go for the 9.15 Mass tomorrow which is to be followed by a Parish Quiz on the Bible (that both he and I are interested in attending).
Back home, I finally had a chance to kick back and relax and I marked the arrival of the warm days by pouring myself a wonderful G and T which I enjoyed with a few nuts on which I nibbled as I watched a movie called Wild Oats with Jessica Lange and Shirley McLaine. It was not too bad actually and worth a few good laughs. I loved the role of the con man played by Billy Connolly.
What is really amazing to me is that true to all predictions, it turned warm and humid the very day after Holi! So I guess the lovely weather of the past three months is a thing of the past and I will need to steel myself for the uncomfortable months ahead of me. Thank goodness for my air-conditioned studio!
Having accomplished so much today, I was ready to call it a day at 10.30 but after a long chat with Llew on the phone, it took me a very long time actually to fall asleep--during which time I watched a few episodes of Grace and Frankie.
Until tomorrow...
Three Interviews and Three Transcriptions!
Friday, March 22, 2019
Bombay
Three Interviews and Three Transcriptions!
Namaste from Bombay!
Wow! My holiday from work is over and it was back to the salt mines with a vengeance! Thankfully I am something of a workaholic...so this sudden increase in pace and volume was taken in stride.
It was my broon day--so after awaking and checking Twitter, I got down to eating my breakfast (broons, spreads and coffee) and dashing off to the gym where I am finding renewed reason for zeal and ardor as my weight is falling--much to my delight--as is the girth around my waist. Suddenly, my clothes feel looser and I am feeling more energetic too!
Back from the gym, I had a shower and got down to transcribing. I had a few interviews with which I had to catch up in the time that my laptop was in the shop. And so I finished one and was just in time for my first interview--with Siddharth Meghani, Bombay's answer to Elvis. Luckily, his office was just a five minute walk down my road at Studio Sinera, which is the photography business that he inherited from his father, an old family friend of ours called Madhu.
Siddharth was lovely and answered all my questions adequately. He is the most modest young chap and had to be probed to get answers that in any way revealed his sense of ego--for he has none. How refreshing to come across someone who has actually to be pushed to talk abut himself! I loved our hour-long chat during which time I learned so much about his rise to stardom in Bombay, at least.
Back home, I had my lunch: beans, dal and chicken mince with potatoes with half a guava for dessert and then it was time for a short nap before I was back at my laptop working on the second transcription. When I was done, it was time for me to rush off to Bandra Gym for my 5.00 pm appointment with actor Shernaz Patel whose work I remember seeing on stage even before I left India for the US. She comes from an illustrious family of actors but has carved a niche just for herself in Bombay's English theater world by being part of the founding team that created Rage, a theater group that has done so well, over the years, that it is now giving back to the theater-loving community in the city. Again, I feel deeply inspired by the efforts and achievements of these young people who energize me deeply by their accomplishments. With that interview in the bag, Shernaz and I walked together as far as Dad's lane where we parted company--as she too lives in Bandra and decided to walk it back home to her place at Sherly-Rajan.
I then spent a while visiting with Dad and Rusel before it was time for us to leave for the Stations of the Cross in our church at 7.00 followed by Mass. En route to church, we caught my friend Sharon who was just emerging from her building that is just next door to Dad's. As she is returning to Toronto on Monday, I do not know when I will see her again..so it was great to have that bit of time with her. However, I had to leave church right after Communion as I had another appointment and Sharon told me that she would be happy to walk with Dad back to his building (which Dad told me later that she did very sweetly, actually holding his hand all the way home).
My third interview for the day was with Brian Tellis, a continuation of the one we'd started at the library of the NCPA, a couple of weeks ago, Brian is extremely popular in Bandra and very well-known--so our time together was punctuated by a whole ton of people stopping at our table to Hello him. He answered the rest of the questions I posed, most of which had to do with the Zonals of which I was eager to gain more information. I sipped a lemonade soda while he had Red Bull during our time together.
Back home, I dived into my dinner--a repeat of the afternoon's fare--and sat down to transcribe yet another interview as I was determined to catch up with all six that have accumulated in the past week. Slowly but surely I am adding to my interviews and, now, because it is better late than never, I am saving each one to my Google Drive, on instruction from my friend Michelle. Soon I hope to actually start catching up with the ones I did in the past.
Then, having done three interviews and three transcriptions, I switched the light off and went to bed.
Until tomorrow...
Bombay
Three Interviews and Three Transcriptions!
Namaste from Bombay!
Wow! My holiday from work is over and it was back to the salt mines with a vengeance! Thankfully I am something of a workaholic...so this sudden increase in pace and volume was taken in stride.
It was my broon day--so after awaking and checking Twitter, I got down to eating my breakfast (broons, spreads and coffee) and dashing off to the gym where I am finding renewed reason for zeal and ardor as my weight is falling--much to my delight--as is the girth around my waist. Suddenly, my clothes feel looser and I am feeling more energetic too!
Back from the gym, I had a shower and got down to transcribing. I had a few interviews with which I had to catch up in the time that my laptop was in the shop. And so I finished one and was just in time for my first interview--with Siddharth Meghani, Bombay's answer to Elvis. Luckily, his office was just a five minute walk down my road at Studio Sinera, which is the photography business that he inherited from his father, an old family friend of ours called Madhu.
Siddharth was lovely and answered all my questions adequately. He is the most modest young chap and had to be probed to get answers that in any way revealed his sense of ego--for he has none. How refreshing to come across someone who has actually to be pushed to talk abut himself! I loved our hour-long chat during which time I learned so much about his rise to stardom in Bombay, at least.
Back home, I had my lunch: beans, dal and chicken mince with potatoes with half a guava for dessert and then it was time for a short nap before I was back at my laptop working on the second transcription. When I was done, it was time for me to rush off to Bandra Gym for my 5.00 pm appointment with actor Shernaz Patel whose work I remember seeing on stage even before I left India for the US. She comes from an illustrious family of actors but has carved a niche just for herself in Bombay's English theater world by being part of the founding team that created Rage, a theater group that has done so well, over the years, that it is now giving back to the theater-loving community in the city. Again, I feel deeply inspired by the efforts and achievements of these young people who energize me deeply by their accomplishments. With that interview in the bag, Shernaz and I walked together as far as Dad's lane where we parted company--as she too lives in Bandra and decided to walk it back home to her place at Sherly-Rajan.
I then spent a while visiting with Dad and Rusel before it was time for us to leave for the Stations of the Cross in our church at 7.00 followed by Mass. En route to church, we caught my friend Sharon who was just emerging from her building that is just next door to Dad's. As she is returning to Toronto on Monday, I do not know when I will see her again..so it was great to have that bit of time with her. However, I had to leave church right after Communion as I had another appointment and Sharon told me that she would be happy to walk with Dad back to his building (which Dad told me later that she did very sweetly, actually holding his hand all the way home).
My third interview for the day was with Brian Tellis, a continuation of the one we'd started at the library of the NCPA, a couple of weeks ago, Brian is extremely popular in Bandra and very well-known--so our time together was punctuated by a whole ton of people stopping at our table to Hello him. He answered the rest of the questions I posed, most of which had to do with the Zonals of which I was eager to gain more information. I sipped a lemonade soda while he had Red Bull during our time together.
Back home, I dived into my dinner--a repeat of the afternoon's fare--and sat down to transcribe yet another interview as I was determined to catch up with all six that have accumulated in the past week. Slowly but surely I am adding to my interviews and, now, because it is better late than never, I am saving each one to my Google Drive, on instruction from my friend Michelle. Soon I hope to actually start catching up with the ones I did in the past.
Then, having done three interviews and three transcriptions, I switched the light off and went to bed.
Until tomorrow...
Thursday, March 21, 2019
And Yet Another Uneventful Holi and Navroze Day!
Thursday, March 21, 2019
Bombay
Any Yet Another Uneventful Holi and Navroze Day!
Namaste from Bombay!
Living in Bombay after so many years is taking me back to the holidays of my growing years in the city. Today happened to be both Holi and Navroze. First days of spring, celebrated with the hurling of color and soaking in colored water to symbolize the arrival of spring mainly among the Hindus of North India and the celebration of the spring equinox in Persia for the Parsis came together splendidly in a Bank holiday. The city came to a standstill as I recalled "playing Holi" as a teenager with the other teens in my building in Bandra. I have a lovely picture from those days (when we were all so young and so beautiful!) sitting in the compound of our building and grinning for the camera. Those were the days!
Today, I woke up at 5.30am and began blogging and checking out Twitter, just as I do each day. I had a calendar with no engagements on it as I had kept the day free for Dad in case he needed help following his oral surgery. Luckily, he is not faring badly at all and I can only hope that the second phase of fixing implants (which will take place on Tuesday) will go just as smoothly.
I caught the bread man and had a broon with spreads and coffee for breakfast before heading out to the gym where I worked out for an hour. In the interest of losing a bit of weight, I am stepping up the length and intensity of my cardio workouts and it seems to be working as I am steadily losing about half a pound a day--that exercise with savage carb control in my diet and portion control is doing wonders. However, I have to wonder how long I can sustain this deprivation as I am craving chocolate and desserts! I have given up ice-cream for Lent---and that might be a very good thing, in more ways than one!
I then sat and worked at my laptop all day. Basically, I caught up with NYU and other email and I asked the IT folks at work how I could access my email prior to the 2010 as I have managed to retrieve a lot of work related material through my NYU email. Not so lucky on the personal front. I have also begun the transcribing of interviews I did through the week that my laptop was in the shop--so six interviews had to be transcribed--and today I finished three of them: Vijaya Mehta, Naresh Fernandes and Jehangir Patel. Tomorrow I intend to finish the other three and get caught up (after which I shall valiantly try to get back to the 40 interviews I had transcribed earlier and start working on them again).
I stopped for lunch (during which time I had returned to watching Come Dine With Me) and had a short nap and then I had tea with nuts (while watching more of the same show). In the evening, I set out for Dad's--just a little earlier than usual because I wanted to put his food into a mixer to mash it up to make it easier for him to swallow. I did this and was delighted to find that my mother's mixer-blender is still working although it has not been used for about 8 years! Dad's food pulverized, I went with him to Church. Russel had a visitor, one Hazel from the parish, who also left with us for church.
After Mass, I returned to Dad's home to help him with some bank figures--those did not take too long before it was time for them to have their dinner.
I returned home and had mine: beans, dal and chicken mince with potatoes--I ate only a tiny piece of the potato. For dessert, since my guavas are over, I had a small piece of dark chocolate. I watched another episode of Vera as I turned sleepy and switched off the light.
I warned you that it was a totally uneventful day..but the interviews will resume tomorrow and I shall be busy once more. However, this quiet time was a blessing in disguise as it gave me the time to download my Documents that I had deleted and to catch up on my transcription.
Until tomorrow...
Bombay
Any Yet Another Uneventful Holi and Navroze Day!
Namaste from Bombay!
Living in Bombay after so many years is taking me back to the holidays of my growing years in the city. Today happened to be both Holi and Navroze. First days of spring, celebrated with the hurling of color and soaking in colored water to symbolize the arrival of spring mainly among the Hindus of North India and the celebration of the spring equinox in Persia for the Parsis came together splendidly in a Bank holiday. The city came to a standstill as I recalled "playing Holi" as a teenager with the other teens in my building in Bandra. I have a lovely picture from those days (when we were all so young and so beautiful!) sitting in the compound of our building and grinning for the camera. Those were the days!
Today, I woke up at 5.30am and began blogging and checking out Twitter, just as I do each day. I had a calendar with no engagements on it as I had kept the day free for Dad in case he needed help following his oral surgery. Luckily, he is not faring badly at all and I can only hope that the second phase of fixing implants (which will take place on Tuesday) will go just as smoothly.
I caught the bread man and had a broon with spreads and coffee for breakfast before heading out to the gym where I worked out for an hour. In the interest of losing a bit of weight, I am stepping up the length and intensity of my cardio workouts and it seems to be working as I am steadily losing about half a pound a day--that exercise with savage carb control in my diet and portion control is doing wonders. However, I have to wonder how long I can sustain this deprivation as I am craving chocolate and desserts! I have given up ice-cream for Lent---and that might be a very good thing, in more ways than one!
I then sat and worked at my laptop all day. Basically, I caught up with NYU and other email and I asked the IT folks at work how I could access my email prior to the 2010 as I have managed to retrieve a lot of work related material through my NYU email. Not so lucky on the personal front. I have also begun the transcribing of interviews I did through the week that my laptop was in the shop--so six interviews had to be transcribed--and today I finished three of them: Vijaya Mehta, Naresh Fernandes and Jehangir Patel. Tomorrow I intend to finish the other three and get caught up (after which I shall valiantly try to get back to the 40 interviews I had transcribed earlier and start working on them again).
I stopped for lunch (during which time I had returned to watching Come Dine With Me) and had a short nap and then I had tea with nuts (while watching more of the same show). In the evening, I set out for Dad's--just a little earlier than usual because I wanted to put his food into a mixer to mash it up to make it easier for him to swallow. I did this and was delighted to find that my mother's mixer-blender is still working although it has not been used for about 8 years! Dad's food pulverized, I went with him to Church. Russel had a visitor, one Hazel from the parish, who also left with us for church.
After Mass, I returned to Dad's home to help him with some bank figures--those did not take too long before it was time for them to have their dinner.
I returned home and had mine: beans, dal and chicken mince with potatoes--I ate only a tiny piece of the potato. For dessert, since my guavas are over, I had a small piece of dark chocolate. I watched another episode of Vera as I turned sleepy and switched off the light.
I warned you that it was a totally uneventful day..but the interviews will resume tomorrow and I shall be busy once more. However, this quiet time was a blessing in disguise as it gave me the time to download my Documents that I had deleted and to catch up on my transcription.
Until tomorrow...
Another Uneventful Day!
Wednesday, March 20, 2019
Bombay
Another Uneventful Day!
Namaste from Bombay!
Sadly, today was another routine day--I had kept it free in light of Dad's oral surgery. If he needed help, I wanted to make sure, I would be free to help him. As it turned out, these down time days have helped me catchup with the downloading of my documents. I am feeling far happier now than I have done in days--because I have actually managed to salvage quite a lot of my files. I have also learned, through this crisis, how to save my files on Google Drive and also how important it is to email them to myself through my NYU email as soon as I am done with transcribing each interview. I have always been a believer in the wisdom that comes from mistakes--and I have taken a load of lessons from this. So there!
I awoke, ate my muesli breakfast with coffee while watching a few clips on The Graham Norton Show--ones with Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie. It is really amazing what you can find on You Tube. I then went to the gym and because I have lost at least six pounds in the past two weeks, I really stepped it up at the Gym. The result was that I returned home exhausted to jump into the shower.
Then, I continued with my downloads. I also decided to tackle the formatting of Chapter 1 of my forthcoming memoir which had been sent to me by my Editor, Brooke. I found that I could not understand her instructions and so I called Michelle to find out if I could pick her brain. She was game.
I then had my lunch--finished the last of my dal with drumsticks, my cabbage and meatball curry--and then off I went to Michelle's. She told me exactly what I should do and how to figure out the formatting. I sent a sample chapter to Brooke and hope that I have understood now what I am supposed to do.
Back home, I took a short nap but was awakened by someone calling to fix up an appointment for an interview--Jeff Goldberg--who runs an Acting School in Bandra. I will be seeing him tomorrow (Friday). Being that I was awake, I made myself some lovely hot lemony tea which I had with nuts before I got ready to go to see my friend Sharon who lost her father recently and is returning to Toronto on Monday. We had a very nice visit for about 45 minutes after which I said goodbye and rushed off to church for the 6.45 pm Novena followed by Mass.
After Mass, I went over to Dad's to visit with Russel as I had not seen him today--however, I did not stay long as it was time for his dinner and I was keen to get home. I bought myself a few fresh vegetables as I had finished up my tiffin. Back home, I made myself a salad with lettuce, broccoli, tomatoes, cucumber, figs. blue cheese, nuts and a garlic lemon vinaigrette. I had my salad with a cup of Golden Vegetable soup as I watched another episode of Vera. IT felt fabulous to eat a salad after such a long time.
These down time days have indeed allowed me to catch up with a lot of my downloading of Documents from my NYU email and I will now turn to the transcribing of interviews I have done in the past two weeks--without my laptop at home, I could not transcribe them. So I have a lot of work cut out for me as I transcribe about 45 interviews!!! But there you go--the longest journey begins with the first step: and I am rarin' to get goin' again!
Until tomorrow...
Bombay
Another Uneventful Day!
Namaste from Bombay!
Sadly, today was another routine day--I had kept it free in light of Dad's oral surgery. If he needed help, I wanted to make sure, I would be free to help him. As it turned out, these down time days have helped me catchup with the downloading of my documents. I am feeling far happier now than I have done in days--because I have actually managed to salvage quite a lot of my files. I have also learned, through this crisis, how to save my files on Google Drive and also how important it is to email them to myself through my NYU email as soon as I am done with transcribing each interview. I have always been a believer in the wisdom that comes from mistakes--and I have taken a load of lessons from this. So there!
I awoke, ate my muesli breakfast with coffee while watching a few clips on The Graham Norton Show--ones with Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie. It is really amazing what you can find on You Tube. I then went to the gym and because I have lost at least six pounds in the past two weeks, I really stepped it up at the Gym. The result was that I returned home exhausted to jump into the shower.
Then, I continued with my downloads. I also decided to tackle the formatting of Chapter 1 of my forthcoming memoir which had been sent to me by my Editor, Brooke. I found that I could not understand her instructions and so I called Michelle to find out if I could pick her brain. She was game.
I then had my lunch--finished the last of my dal with drumsticks, my cabbage and meatball curry--and then off I went to Michelle's. She told me exactly what I should do and how to figure out the formatting. I sent a sample chapter to Brooke and hope that I have understood now what I am supposed to do.
Back home, I took a short nap but was awakened by someone calling to fix up an appointment for an interview--Jeff Goldberg--who runs an Acting School in Bandra. I will be seeing him tomorrow (Friday). Being that I was awake, I made myself some lovely hot lemony tea which I had with nuts before I got ready to go to see my friend Sharon who lost her father recently and is returning to Toronto on Monday. We had a very nice visit for about 45 minutes after which I said goodbye and rushed off to church for the 6.45 pm Novena followed by Mass.
After Mass, I went over to Dad's to visit with Russel as I had not seen him today--however, I did not stay long as it was time for his dinner and I was keen to get home. I bought myself a few fresh vegetables as I had finished up my tiffin. Back home, I made myself a salad with lettuce, broccoli, tomatoes, cucumber, figs. blue cheese, nuts and a garlic lemon vinaigrette. I had my salad with a cup of Golden Vegetable soup as I watched another episode of Vera. IT felt fabulous to eat a salad after such a long time.
These down time days have indeed allowed me to catch up with a lot of my downloading of Documents from my NYU email and I will now turn to the transcribing of interviews I have done in the past two weeks--without my laptop at home, I could not transcribe them. So I have a lot of work cut out for me as I transcribe about 45 interviews!!! But there you go--the longest journey begins with the first step: and I am rarin' to get goin' again!
Until tomorrow...
Wednesday, March 20, 2019
Running Errands for Dad
Tuesday, March 19, 2019
Bombay
Running Errands for Dad
Namaste from Bombay!
Not much to report today as I had kept the day free believing that Dad would need my help as he recovered from dental surgery.
Up at usual at about 6.30 pm, I got to work on the recovery of my computer documents--a project that will consume the next couple of days for sure. I did not even have the time to blog. At 8.30, Dad called me to say that Valerian was headed to his place for his appointment with Russel and Dad requested me to be present. So I wolfed down my breakfast of one broon and spreads with a cup of coffee and headed to his place.
Valerian's session with Russel was successful insofar as he actually managed to get Russel to climb two steps today and to sit on the sofa (as opposed to the chair). Yes, baby steps. It is hard getting Russel to oblige as he can be very obstinate. Still...all things considered, progress is being made.
I left and returned home to sit at my computer for another two hours after which I ran two errands for Dad. I went to the Bandra Post Office (by rickshaw) to pay his telephone bill--which was simplicity itself and then I walked a block to the Bandra Police Station. I obtained the form necessary to be filled for registering a domestic hire. This too was a breeze and I must say that I had the most polite experience with everyone at the police station. It was far from the nightmare I had expected it to be.
Naturally, since I was just half a block from Marks and Spencer, I wandered in there thinking that this is probably the closest I can get to London in a hurry! The new summer line is in and I was quite pleased to browse through the racks and take in the lovely linen pieces--I prefer the tailored look and do not like the baggy wear. However, when I converted the price to dollars, it made no sense at all for me to be paying about $50 for two light cotton tops! Really...being in the States spoils you for shopping anywhere else in the wold. We are so lucky to pay the kind of prices we do for quality wear. At the designer outlets (where I am accustomed to shopping), I could have obtained those two pieces for no more than $20! Still, that said, it was good to browse through the various floors of this lovely department store and know exactly what is available. Now if only they would add a Food Hall--my joy in being in Bombay would be complete! Think of all those chocolate eclairs I would greedily consume!
A quick walk then saw me over at my friend Michelle's place as my laptop suddenly started playing up at the very end of my work on it as I tried to download the documents that I am trying to salvage. It was a very easy matter to fix it--first of all, Michelle advised me to install all the updates which I had not done in ages and to quit Word and restart the program, if it does so again. Very easily done!
Off I went back home for a nap and a spot of tea after which I found the time to blog. It was then time for me to go to Dad's to pick him up before we went to Mass. Dad was feeling well enough to actually go to church with me and said that he is pain-free. Thank goodness for that!
It was St. Joseph's Feast and I was the Lector for the second reading--it went well and with that Dad and I returned to his gate where we parted company. I went back home and had my dinner hastily while watching another episode of Vera. Then I did some more downloading of Documents before I went to bed.
Like I said...a boring day overall...but not every one can be filled with excitement. And a bit of down time is not such a bad thing after all.
Until tomorrow.
Bombay
Running Errands for Dad
Namaste from Bombay!
Not much to report today as I had kept the day free believing that Dad would need my help as he recovered from dental surgery.
Up at usual at about 6.30 pm, I got to work on the recovery of my computer documents--a project that will consume the next couple of days for sure. I did not even have the time to blog. At 8.30, Dad called me to say that Valerian was headed to his place for his appointment with Russel and Dad requested me to be present. So I wolfed down my breakfast of one broon and spreads with a cup of coffee and headed to his place.
Valerian's session with Russel was successful insofar as he actually managed to get Russel to climb two steps today and to sit on the sofa (as opposed to the chair). Yes, baby steps. It is hard getting Russel to oblige as he can be very obstinate. Still...all things considered, progress is being made.
I left and returned home to sit at my computer for another two hours after which I ran two errands for Dad. I went to the Bandra Post Office (by rickshaw) to pay his telephone bill--which was simplicity itself and then I walked a block to the Bandra Police Station. I obtained the form necessary to be filled for registering a domestic hire. This too was a breeze and I must say that I had the most polite experience with everyone at the police station. It was far from the nightmare I had expected it to be.
Naturally, since I was just half a block from Marks and Spencer, I wandered in there thinking that this is probably the closest I can get to London in a hurry! The new summer line is in and I was quite pleased to browse through the racks and take in the lovely linen pieces--I prefer the tailored look and do not like the baggy wear. However, when I converted the price to dollars, it made no sense at all for me to be paying about $50 for two light cotton tops! Really...being in the States spoils you for shopping anywhere else in the wold. We are so lucky to pay the kind of prices we do for quality wear. At the designer outlets (where I am accustomed to shopping), I could have obtained those two pieces for no more than $20! Still, that said, it was good to browse through the various floors of this lovely department store and know exactly what is available. Now if only they would add a Food Hall--my joy in being in Bombay would be complete! Think of all those chocolate eclairs I would greedily consume!
A quick walk then saw me over at my friend Michelle's place as my laptop suddenly started playing up at the very end of my work on it as I tried to download the documents that I am trying to salvage. It was a very easy matter to fix it--first of all, Michelle advised me to install all the updates which I had not done in ages and to quit Word and restart the program, if it does so again. Very easily done!
Off I went back home for a nap and a spot of tea after which I found the time to blog. It was then time for me to go to Dad's to pick him up before we went to Mass. Dad was feeling well enough to actually go to church with me and said that he is pain-free. Thank goodness for that!
It was St. Joseph's Feast and I was the Lector for the second reading--it went well and with that Dad and I returned to his gate where we parted company. I went back home and had my dinner hastily while watching another episode of Vera. Then I did some more downloading of Documents before I went to bed.
Like I said...a boring day overall...but not every one can be filled with excitement. And a bit of down time is not such a bad thing after all.
Until tomorrow.
Tuesday, March 19, 2019
D-Day For Dad! Dental Implant Work Begins
Monday, March 18, 2019
Bombay
D-Day For Dad! Dental Implant Work Begins
Namaste from Bombay!
It was a very different sort of day--removed from routine. But fulfilling, all the same.
I was awake at 6.30 am and had only enough time to check Twitter and draft a blog post before it was time to have my breakfast--muesli with coffee--and off I went. I was headed to Dad's to pick him up for his dental appointment. It was D-Day for Dad! He was getting dental implant work started today and although I did not say so, I was far more nervous for him than he seemed to be.
Off With Dad to Get Implants:
I was at Dad's place by 9.30 am as his appointment was at 10.00. We hailed a rickshaw and got there on time. The dentist, Dr. Kher, seemed all set and rarin' to go. I was seated outside for an hour as I pottered around with my phone and leafed through a few Femina magazines lying around. Needless to say, I was also praying that all would go well for Dad.
When he emerged at 11.15, he looked very shaky on his feet. Dr. Kher explained to me the after-care and Dad sat down outside for about ten minutes while printed instructions were given to us. About ten minutes later, he seemed well enough to leave. We took another rickshaw and were home about 15 minutes later.
At Dad's gate, I stopped to pick up a family pack of butterscotch ice-cream for him as well as a carton of litchi juice. For today, he has to have a cold liquid diet only--yogurt, lassi, milk, juice, ice-cream. By the time we got home, he was in really bad pain and immediately asked me for a glass of cold milk and a pain-killer--which I administered to him. I made sure he was comfortable on his bed with an extra pillow placed behind his head to keep his neck at a height. He could barely speak as his mouth was still Novocained. Funnily enough, he had a heaviness and numbness in his mouth but he could still feel pain which was mounting steadily.
Funnily enough also, in the midst of his pain, he was able to tell me that his TV was not working and he was not able to get his cable channels. He wanted me to call the company to get someone to fix it right away. I tried to get the company on the phone but they refused to pick up. Since it was only around the corner, I told Dad I would go there myself--and that was what I did. I gave them a piece of my mind for being so unprofessional as not to pick up their phone. They were deeply apologetic and said they would send a technician right away to get it done.
Long story short, the guy came in about twenty minutes and about an hour later, Dad's TV was up and running again, much to his relief. He really cannot do without his news telecasts in the evening, those endless raging debates and, of course, his sports programs and relays! When that was done only, did he feel free to sleep.
By then it was after 12 noon and I realized I would never be able to make the lunch appointment to which I was invited at the Rippon Club at Kala Ghoda by the Editor of Parsiana magazine, Jehangir Patel. My friend Firdaus ("Dr. G") was also invited and I had been looking forward to seeing him again...but, as it turned out, I had also made plans to meet my friend Nafisa after lunch for a walk in Ballard Estate--and she texted me to let me know that her back was out and she was not up to a walk. So that worked out well. I cancelled my lunch plans and stayed put in Bandra.
By 12.45pm, I made sure Rohit got Russel's lunch organized and with Dad asleep and Russel ready to nod off for his nap too, I left Dad's place and got home. I was starving by then...so a little lunch hit the spot: dal with drum sticks (vegetable), meatball curry and cabbage--all delicious, even if the meatball curry was a repeat of what I'd been sent last week. I watch the beginning of The Great British Bake-Off for Comic Relief (which was fun) After lunch, I stepped into the bathroom for a shower and feeling nice and fresh, it took a nap.
More Computer Woes--But Rolling With the Punches!
When I awoke, I called Himanshu to find out where he stood with my computer and I finally received the very sobering news that none of my deleted files could be retrieved. Oh well. I had by this time reconciled myself to the will of the Lord and if He did not want me to get them back, then so be it. It gave me cause to reflect on what had happened and to realize that one should always back up and one should never ever trash something until and unless one is absolutely 100% sure that there is some kind of back up. I was purely foolish and I would pay the price for my idiocy by having to do some work (the Fulbright work of the last 6 months all over again)--that was all. I had my notes and I have, by the grace of God, been blessed by a good memory--so at my leisure and perhaps even when I get back home to Connecticut, I will slowly start the transcribing process again--one interviewee at a time. Most of my other material (including my CV and my book manuscript) were safe as I had emailed them at some point or the other. In the final analysis, I think I would be able to retrieve about 60% of my work (with many hours of labor spent trying to decipher the garbled 'numbers only' files that have come up. About 20% of it needed to be junked anyway and if I lost 20% well, it was fine. I have another computer at home with a lot of my Documents still on it and I was pretty sure I would be able to recover much of it from there. So there you go...as Llew told me, so wisely, nothing in life is ever as horrific as it seems and when you look at the bigger picture, we human beings have the capacity to cope with any calamity.
A Leisurely Evening:
In the evening, I had a pot of tea with nuts and left for Himanshu's office to pick up my PC. He gave me the new external hard drive he had bought me for Rs 6,500 (less than the Rs 8,000 I was being asked for last week by a dealer) and told me that he would let me know what his labor costs were in due course. He also showed me what to do to transfer the files from my Downloads to my Documents and how to sift through what is in my external hard drive so that I can remove whatever I do not need.
I took my computer and went straight to Dad's place and was happy to see that Dad looked so much better. He said that the pain had gone completely (for which he praised the Lord). He was actually seated in the living room after having slept for most of the afternoon asleep, he said. Once I got there (after picking up some lassi packs and a smoothie for him from the dairy), I saw to it that he had a smoothie and that Russel had a lassi.
At 6.45pm, I left for the 7.00 pm Mass--it happened to be the month's mind mass for my friend Hermione whose death I found out about after she was buried. I condoled with her siblings and then returned home for my own dinner--a repeat of the afternoon's fare. I did not watch any TV as I simply could not wait to begin the salvaging and retrieval of my material and after I ensured that the most important items were safely saved again in my Documents, I began saving other things--mostly from my NYU email.
It was after midnight when I went to sleep after having a bowl of cereal as my retrieval work had made me hungry again!
Until tomorrow...
Bombay
D-Day For Dad! Dental Implant Work Begins
Namaste from Bombay!
It was a very different sort of day--removed from routine. But fulfilling, all the same.
I was awake at 6.30 am and had only enough time to check Twitter and draft a blog post before it was time to have my breakfast--muesli with coffee--and off I went. I was headed to Dad's to pick him up for his dental appointment. It was D-Day for Dad! He was getting dental implant work started today and although I did not say so, I was far more nervous for him than he seemed to be.
Off With Dad to Get Implants:
I was at Dad's place by 9.30 am as his appointment was at 10.00. We hailed a rickshaw and got there on time. The dentist, Dr. Kher, seemed all set and rarin' to go. I was seated outside for an hour as I pottered around with my phone and leafed through a few Femina magazines lying around. Needless to say, I was also praying that all would go well for Dad.
When he emerged at 11.15, he looked very shaky on his feet. Dr. Kher explained to me the after-care and Dad sat down outside for about ten minutes while printed instructions were given to us. About ten minutes later, he seemed well enough to leave. We took another rickshaw and were home about 15 minutes later.
At Dad's gate, I stopped to pick up a family pack of butterscotch ice-cream for him as well as a carton of litchi juice. For today, he has to have a cold liquid diet only--yogurt, lassi, milk, juice, ice-cream. By the time we got home, he was in really bad pain and immediately asked me for a glass of cold milk and a pain-killer--which I administered to him. I made sure he was comfortable on his bed with an extra pillow placed behind his head to keep his neck at a height. He could barely speak as his mouth was still Novocained. Funnily enough, he had a heaviness and numbness in his mouth but he could still feel pain which was mounting steadily.
Funnily enough also, in the midst of his pain, he was able to tell me that his TV was not working and he was not able to get his cable channels. He wanted me to call the company to get someone to fix it right away. I tried to get the company on the phone but they refused to pick up. Since it was only around the corner, I told Dad I would go there myself--and that was what I did. I gave them a piece of my mind for being so unprofessional as not to pick up their phone. They were deeply apologetic and said they would send a technician right away to get it done.
Long story short, the guy came in about twenty minutes and about an hour later, Dad's TV was up and running again, much to his relief. He really cannot do without his news telecasts in the evening, those endless raging debates and, of course, his sports programs and relays! When that was done only, did he feel free to sleep.
By then it was after 12 noon and I realized I would never be able to make the lunch appointment to which I was invited at the Rippon Club at Kala Ghoda by the Editor of Parsiana magazine, Jehangir Patel. My friend Firdaus ("Dr. G") was also invited and I had been looking forward to seeing him again...but, as it turned out, I had also made plans to meet my friend Nafisa after lunch for a walk in Ballard Estate--and she texted me to let me know that her back was out and she was not up to a walk. So that worked out well. I cancelled my lunch plans and stayed put in Bandra.
By 12.45pm, I made sure Rohit got Russel's lunch organized and with Dad asleep and Russel ready to nod off for his nap too, I left Dad's place and got home. I was starving by then...so a little lunch hit the spot: dal with drum sticks (vegetable), meatball curry and cabbage--all delicious, even if the meatball curry was a repeat of what I'd been sent last week. I watch the beginning of The Great British Bake-Off for Comic Relief (which was fun) After lunch, I stepped into the bathroom for a shower and feeling nice and fresh, it took a nap.
More Computer Woes--But Rolling With the Punches!
When I awoke, I called Himanshu to find out where he stood with my computer and I finally received the very sobering news that none of my deleted files could be retrieved. Oh well. I had by this time reconciled myself to the will of the Lord and if He did not want me to get them back, then so be it. It gave me cause to reflect on what had happened and to realize that one should always back up and one should never ever trash something until and unless one is absolutely 100% sure that there is some kind of back up. I was purely foolish and I would pay the price for my idiocy by having to do some work (the Fulbright work of the last 6 months all over again)--that was all. I had my notes and I have, by the grace of God, been blessed by a good memory--so at my leisure and perhaps even when I get back home to Connecticut, I will slowly start the transcribing process again--one interviewee at a time. Most of my other material (including my CV and my book manuscript) were safe as I had emailed them at some point or the other. In the final analysis, I think I would be able to retrieve about 60% of my work (with many hours of labor spent trying to decipher the garbled 'numbers only' files that have come up. About 20% of it needed to be junked anyway and if I lost 20% well, it was fine. I have another computer at home with a lot of my Documents still on it and I was pretty sure I would be able to recover much of it from there. So there you go...as Llew told me, so wisely, nothing in life is ever as horrific as it seems and when you look at the bigger picture, we human beings have the capacity to cope with any calamity.
A Leisurely Evening:
In the evening, I had a pot of tea with nuts and left for Himanshu's office to pick up my PC. He gave me the new external hard drive he had bought me for Rs 6,500 (less than the Rs 8,000 I was being asked for last week by a dealer) and told me that he would let me know what his labor costs were in due course. He also showed me what to do to transfer the files from my Downloads to my Documents and how to sift through what is in my external hard drive so that I can remove whatever I do not need.
I took my computer and went straight to Dad's place and was happy to see that Dad looked so much better. He said that the pain had gone completely (for which he praised the Lord). He was actually seated in the living room after having slept for most of the afternoon asleep, he said. Once I got there (after picking up some lassi packs and a smoothie for him from the dairy), I saw to it that he had a smoothie and that Russel had a lassi.
At 6.45pm, I left for the 7.00 pm Mass--it happened to be the month's mind mass for my friend Hermione whose death I found out about after she was buried. I condoled with her siblings and then returned home for my own dinner--a repeat of the afternoon's fare. I did not watch any TV as I simply could not wait to begin the salvaging and retrieval of my material and after I ensured that the most important items were safely saved again in my Documents, I began saving other things--mostly from my NYU email.
It was after midnight when I went to sleep after having a bowl of cereal as my retrieval work had made me hungry again!
Until tomorrow...
Monday, March 18, 2019
Mass at St. Peter’s and Attending Funeral of Journalist Darryl D’Monte
Sunday, March 17, 2019
Bombay
Mass at St. Peter’s and Attending Funeral of Journalist Darryl D’Monte
Namaste from Bombay!
When I awoke this morning, I had absolutely no idea what shape my day would take—and little did I imagine that it would involve a funeral. But then I have reconciled myself to the fact that I am attending more funerals during these few months in Bombay than I have ever done in my entire life.
Awake at 5.00 am (yes, early again!), I sat reading the news on Twitter and The Sunday Times before I spent time blogging. It was a short post as yesterday was pretty uneventful. When the bread man came a-knocking, I bought one broon but had no time for breakfast as I had to get to Mass.
Mass at St. Peter’s Church, Bandra:
I elected to go for Mass to St. Peter’s Church today in the interest of field-research. The Conductor of the choir at the 9.00 am Mass is Alfred DSouza, Director-Conductor of the Stop Gaps. He had told me, when I had interviewed him, a few weeks ago, that he conducts the 9.00 am Choir every Sunday at St. Peter’s. Merlin de Souza had told me that she conducts the 10.00 am choir every Sunday at the same church! So, off I went to see Alfred and his choir in action.
I walked briskly down the lovely side streets of Bandra for 15 minutes while the rest of the suburb was enjoying a quiet Sunday morning lie-in. The air is still crisp in the mornings and birdsong accompanied me throughout my stroll. I arrived at the church five minutes before Mass began and took a seat, as I usually, do in the front.
I do not know who the priest was who said the Mass. The church is run by the Bombay Jesuits—brilliant priests in every sense of the term. They have done more for education in India that has any other organization. My Dad and my brothers are all proud graduates of their glorious schools and as an aged man, looking back now upon his life, my Dad cannot stop saying enough good things about the good fathers who raised him—and indeed they did, for Dad was a boarder at St. Stanislaus School from the tender age of nine. These priests were his own Dad, Mum, Brothers, Friends, Spiritual Mentors and Professional Guidance Counsellors, all rolled into one.
As it turns out, my cousin Blossom just forwarded to me a link to a film available on You Tube called The Bombay Jesuits made by one Adi Pocha at the instigation of Roger Pereira, who is retired from an ad agency that he founded and ran as CEO for decades. It is a very moving tribute to this amazing order of the Society of Jesus who made education their life’s mission and do it in the most selfless, caring way imaginable. More strength to them! As someone associated for this academic year while on the Fulbright Fellowship with a Jesuit Institution (St. Xavier’s College, Bombay), I am simply filled with admiration for the excellent hosting they are doing of my year and the support they have provided me. I am indeed so honored.
But I digress—so back to the Mass. The choir was good. I realize that it was small and that it was not by any means a performance, but they were good and I enjoyed listening to them. It was the sermon that absolutely floored me. In a country in which I am getting sick of the nonsensical sermons I am forced to hear, it was enough to get me rejoicing in my seat. I have no idea who the guest priest was that preached as he was not introduced. But he came up to the podium and preached the most stirring and enlightening sermon I have heard in India so far. Based on the concept of living minimalistically, it brought in ecological conservation, the encyclical that Pope Francis put out last year that I had the privilege to read through my Book Club (Laudatum Se), the lyrics of Queen (“I Want it all and I want it now!”) and the concept of selfishness that is destroying our planet. He had facts and figures at his disposal (“One quarter of the world uses up three-quarters of the earth’s resources”) and he used them with logic, informed argument and sense throughout his sermon. Furthermore, he delivered it with style and finesse, knowing exactly where to place emphasis, where to heighten his tone, where to modulate, where to drop his voice. Such style, such elegance!~ For about ten minutes (and that was just how short but effective it was), I was transported to the UK and the various Anglican churches in which I heard such stirring rhetoric, Sunday after Sunday. Needless to say, I was simply beside myself with joy. I could have listened to him speak for a whole hour. Thank you, good father, whoever you are, for making my week so much more enlightening, thought-provocative and reflective.
After Mass, I walked back home and went straight to my brekkie as I was starving—it was past 10.00 am and I had eaten nothing. A broon with spreads and a cup of coffee did the trick as I watched the last episode of The Sinner. I was too chicken to watch it at night—it was that scary. A really good serial indeed. It kept me guessing till the end.
It was while I was breakfasting that I got a text from my friend Ashley D’Mello in Goa informing me that veteran journalist and retired Resident Editor of The Times of India, Darryl D’Monte had passed away last night. Ashley served as the Goa Correspondent of The Times of India for years and was a personal friend of Darryl’s—he had introduced me to Darryl, a few years ago, when he had sponsored me for membership of the Bandra Gymkhana. I have had occasion to meet Darryl several times since then at the Gym and through my friend Shahnaz whose late business journalist husband Muharram, was also a good friend of the D’Monte’s. I immediately asked Ashley if he had funeral information and he told me about the viewing at Darryl’s residence followed by cremation at the Shivaji Park crematorium. I then told Shahnaz about it and the two of us decided to attend the funeral together at 3.30 pm.
I then tried to call the Bandra Gym to order Sunday lunch for Dad, Russel and me, when I was told by my man Samir that the Gym was closed today out of respect for Darryl D’Monte. His family who had once owned half of Bandra, had donated land on which the Gym was constructed in the late 1800s. As a Trustee of the Gym, Darryl continued to be actively involved until he passed away. I then called Dad and told him to go ahead and order lunch for Mr. Chow’s, the Chinese place that they like.
The Funeral of Darryl D’Monte:
I joined them for lunch at 12.30 and stayed chatting with them till 2.30 pm when I went home. As I walked home, I could hear the sounds of a full-throated choir singing ‘How Great Thou Art’ from Darryl’s building, Kinara, opposite the Otter’s Club facing the mighty Arabia Sea. I got home, had a brief nap and then dressed to walk five minutes down the road to Darryl’s place. The last of the viewing was on, crowds were still present although they were slowly winding their way towards their cars to get to the crematorium. I spied many of my journalist friends there—Samira, Naresh—and other friends—Marguerita Colaco and her sister Fatima, Roger Pereira, etc. Plus my friends Vinita Rodriguez and her husband Herman.
When Shahnaz did arrive, I hopped into her car and we reached Shivaji Park in about a half hour. Thankfully, it was a Sunday, when the traffic is not too bad. However, the digging that is going on all over Bombay to install the proposed metro service, is doing a number on traffic all over the city. When we reached the crematorium, I remembered nothing of it except the great hall in which my own Mum had been cremated. Darryl’s, like my Mum’s, was an electric cremation. Since Darryl was a non-believer, there was no religious service of any kind and no priest present.
I saw that a number of people who had not come to the viewing were at the crematorium—people who live in South Bombay, for instance, such as Dolly Thakore and her son, Quasar (both of whom I have interviewed recently and so said Hello to).
As for tributes and eulogies, there was Farokh Dhondy, veteran journalist of The Times of India who had been Darryl’s classmate at the University of Cambridge and remained his closest friend throughout his life. He spoke of their undergrad days at Cambridge and the tricks to which they got up—including looking through the student roster to try to find the names of Indian female students. They identified three of them from Newnham College (then an all-girls college) and invited them to their room for Tea. One of the girls happened to be one Zarine Jussawala who was reading Psychology. Darryl hit it off with her right away and, as Farokh put it, they have remained together ever since. Zarine and Darryl married and had one son, Samir, who was tear-struck throughout the funeral. Farrokh offered some funny insights into a man who was well-loved for his fearless journalism, his championing of varied causes, his mentorship of young journalists, his passion for the environment (he pioneered environmental journalism in India). He was also lauded as a warm friend, a man with a delightful sense of humor and a great intellect.
Farokh’s tribute was followed by one delivered by journalist Naresh Fernandes—whom I had interviewed last week. Naresh read from a prepared script but he talked about Darryl’s mission as a passionate writer. Next came Narendra Panjwani who talked about Darryl’s project to plant trees all over Bandra. He said that a long as those trees were standing, Darryl’s spirit would remain in Bandra and Bombay. Mariam Dossal, an old friend of Darryl’s then spoke—I remember her vaguely as a fellow Elphinstonian from my time. Her mother Mrs. Dossal taught me Public Administration at Elphinstone College. Finally, the tributes ended with a very tearful son, Samir, talking about his relationship with his father. As an only child, Samir spoke about the lessons he has learned from his father—the best legacy that he leaves behind.
It was all very simple and very moving. Shahnaz and I consoled with Zarine and Samir and while the attendees moved towards the body in the very simple casket to strew rose petals on it just before it was relegated to the flames, I said a prayer for a man whose illustrious and generous family has sowed the seeds of the benefits that I enjoy today through the Bandra Gymkhana. D’Monte Park is named after the DMonte Family and D’Monte Park Road, which is literally a block away from my studio, was also named after them. While having descended through landed gentry, the D’Montes shared their resources with much generosity so that all of society could benefit from them. He will be much missed in the community.
Spending the Evening with Shahnaz:
Shahnaz then drove us back to Bandra and asked me to come over to her place to spend the evening—which I did. We sat doing nothing more than chatting and catching up as we have not seen each other for the past couple of weeks. She is juggling a great deal with year-end closing as she grapples with the financial affairs of her family, the coping methods and strategies for dealing with grief after their sudden loss for herself and her children, the plans she has for the way forward. She gave me a glass of chaas which was delicious and redolent with black pepper and curry leaves—low-fat, low-calorie and just wonderfully tasty! I then introduced her to You Tube and the Oxford Webcam and told her that it has become my happy place—because as I spoke to her I realized that all of us use coping mechanisms that work for us. As I am missing Llew more and more each day (for we have never been parted for such a long time before this), Oxford has become the place to which I escape in my imagination. She thought it was incredibly clever of me to have carved this mental niche for myself.
I then walked over to Dad’s by climbing lovely Pali Hill as twilight descended upon the city. Dad, Russel and I then sat eating dinner—the remains of the afternoon’s noodles, chilli chicken and won tons from Mr.Chow and about 8.30, I left and walked home.
I then finally had a shower and settled down to watch some TV—I watched an episode of Vera, then spoke on the phone to Llew and went to bed rather late-close to midnight.
Until tomorrow...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)