Visiting Another Orthopedist, Tea with Professor Friends at Bombay Gymkhana and Dinner with Friends at the CCI

Friday, April 5, 2019
Bombay

Visiting Another Orthopedist, Tea with Professor Friends at Bombay Gymkhana and Dinner with Friends at the CCI

     Namaste from Bombay!
     Today was another long and very productive day! As summer sets in, I am battling the heat with baseball cap, glares and my little portable fan that works on a digital battery--my Rs. 150 buy from the roadside at Crawford Market! It is making my outdoor work quite pleasant indeed despite the uncomfortable weather.

Celebrating Rohit's Birthday:
     So my day began with my blog post and my breakfast--muesli and coffee. I was just sitting down to transcribe one of my interviews when Dad called to tell me that it happened to be the birthday of his Man Friday Rohit and that Dad only got to know about it that morning. As Rohit had requested Dad to buy him a cake (for which he offered to pay), Dad decided to make a small ritual out of the cake-cutting by asking Rohit if he had any friends he would like to invite.  He suggested a couple of his pals but only one of them could make it. Dad and I had a doctor's appointment at 1.30 and I was busy in the evening. So we could only make his birthday special at about noon.
     Accordingly I showered, went out to Hersch's Bakery and bought mutton patties (forgetting that it was a Friday in Lent!) and wafers and then walked to Venus Bakery to buy him a Black Forest Cake--all of which were Dad's treats. With the goodies in my possession, I took a rick to Dad's and when his friend Priya arrived, in the present of Dad, Russel,myself and Meena, the maid who comes to do the domestic work, we sang for Rohit as he cut his cake and I served out the goodies so that we made it into a mini-party! Of course, he was quite delighted by the fuss we made of him and the cash gift I gave him and with that, Dad and I left and went to the doctor.

Seeing the Orthopedist at Lilavati Hospital:
     Lilavati Hospital is one of the finest medical institutions in Bombay and we are lucky to have it close by in Bandra.  Dad and I took a rick there and made our 1.30 pm appointment. We were going for a second opinion as we wanted to confirm that the rod insertion surgery to fuse Russel's knee bones might be the best way to proceed. And that was basically exactly what this physician Dr. Shridhar Archik told us too. He did recommend a few (very expensive) blood tests and new x-rays because he wants to confirm that Russel's fractured bones have really healed well before any further surgeries are carried out. Dad and I left feeling very happy with our visit (because it confirmed basically what we had been told by the other doctor, Harish Bhende).
     Leaving Lilavati in a rick, we stopped off at Holy Family Hospital so that Dad could go to the Lab and ask for the technicians to be sent home to carry out the blood tests and the X-rays that the doctor has ordered. These tests are, by no means, cheap--so we do hope that we will obtain more clarity on the subject and will be able to take better informed decisions, going forward, for Russel.
     I jumped off the rickshaw at my place and had my lunch: curd curry (kadhi), beans with a chapati--as it was Friday in Lent and I was off meat. I also ate my first Alphonso mango (which I picked up a couple of days ago)--it was very good indeed!
    I just about finished the transcribing of the interview that I had begun doing when it was time for me to get dressed for my next appointment in the city. I was invited to join in a Tea in honor of Meher Toorkey, a friend who is visiting from London and whom I had met a few days ago at a luncheon at the Yacht Club hosted by my friend Kamal. The tea was hosted by one of my former professors from Elphinstone College, Dr. Shireen Vakil (who has, for the past 30 odd years also been a very dear friend of mine).

Off for Tea:
     I hopped into a bus and bought a new monthly pass for myself at the Bandra Train station. Then in the train, I made my way to Churchgate but took a cab for the short distance to the Bombay Gymkhana as walking would have made me very late.
     My friends were already there when I arrived. Apart from Shireen, there was Dr. Shakuntala Bharvani as well as Dr. Soonu Kapadia, Meher, of course and a person I was meeting for the first time, Soonu Taraporewala, who once used to be a librarian at the British Council Library--I can still remember her very clearly serving me when I used to be an undergrad student of English and the British Council used to be at Sachivalaya behind the LIC building. In fact, I went out yesterday looking for it and once I reached its immediate vicinity, I was unable to pinpoint the exact building in which it was--I believe somewhere on the fifth floor--gosh all this was in 1976!--so you can just imagine how long ago it was!
     Tea was a delightful affair with a range of delicious eats: chili cheese toast, mushroom toast (so good!), idli sambhar, vegetable samosas. I had a fresh lime soda which is the most refreshing thing you can have in the humid stickiness of Bombay weather at this time of year.  We caught up on a whole host of things. Sadly, my Ph.D. mentor Dr. Vrinda Nabar was not around as she had taken ill--I was so looking forward to meeting her as we met only very briefly at the Elphinstone College Reunion in November and I am very keen to spend some more time with her before I leave. Our friend Dr. G (Firdaus) was very much missed but he has scooted off for two months' holiday in Europe (the lucky sod!) and will be following the opera route through Covent Garden in London, La Scala in Milan, Italy, and then Berlin in Germany! I am already missing his company here in Bombay.
     One never knows where time goes when you're having fun, reminiscing about old times and folks who have passed away, lovely people we once knew who are now ailing, plans we'd once made together and friends we had in common. By 6.15 pm, however, the lovely little tea party broke up and we went our separate ways. Shireen, Shakun and Soonu K. went off in a cab and I hopped into another cab with Meher (who is a trained concert pianist in London) and Soonu T. who were off to the NCPA to attend a concert being given by two pianists.  They actually had an extra ticket and asked if I wanted to join them. Had I nothing else to do, I would have gone. But I had dinner plans myself with more friends--this time at the Cricket Club of India--and so they offered to drop me there.

Dinner with Aban and Rusi at the CCI:
     So it turned out that I spent the entire evening in the company of a whole bunch of Parsis--all close friends of mine and very lovable people indeed.
     I was early and so sat and played with my phone in the main lobby of the club overlooking the iconic Brabourne Stadium--I have been coming to this place far more often that I had every expected.  My Friend Aban Davar was a fellow-Professor at Jai Hind College (where she had taught French and I had taught English) three decades ago. She still teaches French at the Alliance Francaise de Bombay and does a lot of interpretation and translation work for French corporations in Bombay. She speaks French far better than many French people I know and I have always been in awe of her abilities. Her husband Rusi, a chartered accountant by profession, is a wonderfully interesting person and in the many times we have met in Bombay and in the States (they have been our house guests in Southport, Connecticut), we've always had fun.
     So Aban joined me when her meeting upstairs was done and together we sat on the lawns and shot the breeze until the dining room opened at 8.00 pm for dinner. Russia joined us very shortly and since it was a Friday and there was the Fish and Chips special on the menu, both Rusi and I decided to have the prix fixe menu: we started with clear Vegetable soup, went on to Beetroot Salad, then ate the Fish and Chips with Tartar Sauce and ended with Praline Pudding. Of course, although the food was good, the main focus was the catching up with did as we talked about Aban's work, Rusi's health, their upcoming trip to Eastern Europe--they are also intrepid travelers--and our mutual interests in books and TV shows (Rusi is a voracious reader).
     At 9.30, they dropped me off to Churchgate station from where I took a fast train and was in Bandra in 20 minutes.  The bus came along in about 10 minutes and by 10.30 pm I was home and very sleepy. It did not take me long to merely brush and floss my teeth, take my medication and get straight into bed after what had been another incredibly enjoyable day!
     Until tomorrow...