Holy Saturday: An Interview with a Thespian and Easter Vigil with Dad

Saturday, April 20, 2019
Bombay

Holy Saturday: An Interview with a Thespian and Easter Vigil with Dad

     Namaste from Bombay!
     Holy Saturday is that strange kind of day when you are relieved not to be fasting anymore but still reeling from the solemnity of the previous evening's service. I awoke and began blogging as usual and savored the silence punctuated only by birdsong that seems more distant now that my apartment is air-tight and air-conditioned.

A Doctor's Visit:
     I had a broon with spreads and coffee and left at 9.30am for Dad's place as we had called our family GP, Dr. Abbas, to take a look at Russel's leg and the wound that is not healing. After our last visit to Orthopedist Number 1, we felt it important that a doctor actually has a look at Russel's leg to determine whether or not there is an infection at the surgery site. Thankfully, Dr. Abbas does not think it is an infection. He had prescribed some antibiotics, about six weeks, ago, for what he is calling cellulitis. He was annoyed with us that we had not followed up at that time--it appears that the tablets he had prescribed were a course and that we ought not to have stopped after five days.  However, after five days, his wound had scabbed over--we had thought no more of it.  Why do these doctors not give clear instructions to their patients? Why did he not say, as he was leaving the house, that I have prescribed for five days--take this medication and call me again after five days to tell me how he is doing so that I can decide whether or not I need to see him again and continue the course of treatment? Dad and I felt as if we were responsible for Russel's present condition. Anyway, we were also happy and deeply relieved to know that it was not necessarily an infection at site that will now need to be re-opened so that healing can commence.
     Darryl, a good friend of Russel's, came to see him during the doctor's visit. He stopped by to wish Russel a Happy Easter and leave him an Easter egg. This was the first of the Easter eggs that Russel shall be receiving--by the end of the day, he received two more: one from Dad and one from me!
       After Darryl visited with Russel and left, I took the doctor's prescription and walked to the pharmacy to pick up the medication so that Russel could start taking it right away. I also stopped at my photocopiers Jay, to print out additional copies of my Agreement to Participate that I need to distribute to the people I have already interviewed.
     Back home, I left the medication with Dad (who also woke up this morning with another vertigo attack--sadly, these seem to have returned after a very long hiatus, possibly a result of the increased TV watching and later nights due to the IPL cricket matches). Let us hope they will not continue to plague him.
     I left soon after as I had an 11.00 am interview with Naseeruddin Shah.

An Interview with Naseeruddin Shah:
     Naseeruddin Shah is one of India's best-known and most highly decorated actors. He is also a most unusual actor--although he has earned Bollywood success, he remains most un-filmi like. He and his wife Ratna who used to hang out at Elphinstone College (I think she was in our college for a year), live not far from where I grew up in Bandra on Perry Cross Road in a modest apartment in a building, the likes of which any of us would live in. There is no dazzling film bungalow, no high walls to keep them away from the public gaze--nothing of the sort. In fact, they are the immediate next-door neighbors of my friend Maria who currently works for the World Bank and is posted in Washington DC. About thirty years go, I had interviewed both founders of the theater group called Motley--Naseeruddin and his pal, Benjamin Gilani--in this same space. So I was very flattered indeed when he said that he remembered me!
     Ratna was not around and Naseeruddin and I had the most enlightening talk. He spoke extremely eloquently about his student days at the National School of Drama in Delhi and the Film and Television Institute in Poona. He talked about the early influences upon him of teachers like Ibrahim Alkali and Satyadev Dubey. He talked about the difference between extravagant Theater and the Poor Theater of Jerzy Grotowski and he talked about the differences in the genres of theater and cinema. I found everything he said exceedingly fascinating and wonderfully quotable. He offered me tea or coffee (but, of course, my caffeine intolerance precludes any acceptance of these). I settled for a glass of cold water. He was just a delight to meet and talk to and I thoroughly enjoyed our 90 minutes together. Once again, I keep thinking how fortunate I am to be able to do work like this. I can only hope that the book/s I eventually write will be worthy of the time that these wonderful people have given me so freely.

Finding a Literary Agent:
     And talking of books I will write, I am delighted to way that I received an email from an agent based in India who has offered to represent me in the publication of my memoir. I had sent a bunch of agents my query letter with sample chapters about three months ago. I received a few rejections right away but this agent said she would get back to me within 12 weeks--and indeed she has! So it is good to hear from someone who loved my sample chapters and wants to get my book published.
     I wrote back and told her that I have already signed a contract with a publisher in the US for global rights except for South Asia and that I would be happy to explore the possibilities that she might be able to offer me for the market on the Indian sub-continent. She came back to say that she would be very happy to offer me representation just for South Asia. Well...that is great news and I am keen to see what possibilities she might throw up. If she is able to hook me up with any of the Big Five, then I am in business. I will look into this when I return from Uzbekistan as I can only focus on one thing at a time.
     Back home, I had my lunch: the ready meal from my Spice Jet flight (which being Chicken Methi Malai, I was not able to eat on Good Friday--a day of fasting and abstinence). It was very good for airline food, I have to say. I continued watching Hinterland into which I have deeply sunk.
     After lunch, I continued working on the Writing Workshop that I will conduct in Uzbekistan. I finished the two Lesson Plans I needed to put together. The internet men came to my house to work on the broken cables and seem to have set things right. And finally, I was able to get a short nap of 20 minutes which always does wonders for me and gives me my second wind.

An Evening of Chores and then Off to the Easter Vigil:
     When I awoke, I spent an hour transcribing my interview with Naseeruddin Shah as I do want to finish doing this before I leave on my Fulbright trip to Europe. But I had to stop after an hour (without completing it) as Dad called.
     He asked me to pick up the Easter eggs he had ordered from a lady who makes them--she lives close by and he orders from her each year for Russel and the kids in his building. I did as he told me. I discovered that these are marzipan eggs that are then very prettily decorated. It seems that no one makes, gives, orders or eats chocolate Easter eggs here!
     Back home at Dad's, I found him feeling much better and more energetic. He insisted on attending the Easter Vigil service which was at 8.00 pm. But before I got dressed to leave with him (I had carried my clothes to his place and would change there), I cooked the Goa Sausages that someone had gifted him more than two months ago. I thought that Easter would be a good time to enjoy them especially as he has a few good friends that he has invited over for the holiday.
     So with Rohit helping me, I cooked the Goa Sausages: with juicy fresh tomatoes and a lot of red onions, they simmered on a low heat for about an hour until their succulent aroma assailed the entire house. I checked them for seasoning and then got ready  for the Vigil.
     The Easter Vigil was held outdoors under a warm and humid sky--April in Bombay is not pleasant. Yes, there were hand-held Spanish fans being waved all over the place but I had my lovely little electronic personal fan and was cool as a cucumber through it all. The service made me miss my home in Southport, Connecticut, and especially the excellent services that are held in my church of St. Anthony at Fairfield. The five Readings are among the most stirring in the Bible and they were so badly done...it was most disappointing. Far better readers than the ones appointed are actually available and I kept missing my friend Wendy Long who has mastered the Creation Reading from Genesis and her husband Jim's stirring rendition from Exodus: "Horse and Chariot are washed into the Sea." Our choir in Connecticut is simply splendid and they always do Handel's Hallelujah Chorus after Communion after which they actually get an ovation!
      So you can just imagine how disappointed I was by this service that simply seemed to stretch on forever and offered absolutely nothing that was moving except perhaps for a really uplifting and very positive homily.  This was given by Fr. John Baretto who is a professor at the St. Pius Seminary--he speaks well and the content was deeply provocative. It was just the sort of message that Dad and I needed to hear: about finding hope when we are facing despair. He told us that the message of the Resurrection is that despite the fact that life may throw all sorts of challenges at us, we ought to rest in the knowledge that just as Christ rose on the third day to life triumphant, so too will our sorrows turn to joys--ultimately!
     There were a number of people to wish and meet when the service was over. This is the beauty of returning to live in India--you are never anonymous when you leave church for a multitude of people will come up and wish you. I must be getting old because a few of the younger folks actually address me now as "dear". One young man wished me saying, "Happy Easter dear!" I found it quite amusing!
     Back home, I wished Russel as the four of us sat down to enjoy the fruit cake that was distributed to us at the end of Mass together with coffee. I stayed for just another few minutes as it was already close to 11.00 pm and then I took my leave of the family and walked home.
     I sat watching Hinterland and eating a toasted chicken tikka sandwich (from Baker Street at Delhi airport) and then spoke to Llew's niece Katherine in New Jersey where Llew had reached to enjoy Easter Eve (Evester?) late lunch-early dinner with them all. And yes, I missed Llew and our close friends, Ian and Jenny, who were also at Katherine's. I guess I have exchanged one family for another one this year. And I am grateful for both my families on different sides of the world as I revel in the blessings of the Easter season.
    I wish you all a Happy and a very Blessed Easter!
     Until tomorrow.