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...