Bombay
Celebrating Dad's 89th Birthday in Bombay after Ages!
Namaste from Bombay!
It had dawned! The day my Dad completely his 89th year and began his 90th. We were all excited--not least of them Dad himself who claims this was his first birthday party ever! I am skeptical. I am pretty sure that although I have missed his birthday for the last 30 years (while I lived in America), my Mum would have given him memorable birthdays, year after year, cooking a dinner for the many drop-ins that Dad would, undoubtedly, have had. What he probably meant was that he'd never had a dinner to which guests were actually invited and given an actual time to come by. Be that as it may, I was hosting a party for him and I was going to make it memorable.
Birthday Mass with Dad:
My day began when I awoke at 5.45 am (having set the alarm) to meet Dad at his gate at 6.15 am so that we could go for the 6.30 am Mass--as neither of is would be able to go to our usual evening mass. On schedule, we met and walked up to church which, both of us were surprised to see, was quite packed. Evening Mass gets no more than 50 people--morning mass had all the nuns from Auxilium Convent and Prithi Kunj Convent and a bunch of familiar faces. The Mass was said by a priest who looked like he was taking the role of Jesus in Jesus Christ Superstar--all long hair up to his shoulders and a full thick beard!
Mass done, Dad and I walked up to his gate where I parted and told him I would run a bunch of errands and see him about noon. I got back home and began taking stock of my day and all the tasks I had to perform in readiness for the evening's celebration. I fixed myself my muesli brekkie with coffee and enjoyed it while watching Hinterland. Then, I had a quick shower and got everything ready for my errands.
Running Errands for the Party:
First stop: Bandra Gymkhana to pay Samir, my catering chappie, for the food that he agreed to deliver in the evening.
Next stop: Upstairs at the office at Bandra Gymkhana to pay my annual membership dues--this time I remembered to take my check book.
Third stop: A rick to Linking Road to get to Theo Broma Patisserie to pick up the Dutch Chocolate Truffle Cake that I'd ordered for Dad. That done, I walked out with a large cake box in a bag and a loaf of multi-grain bread for me.
Fourth Stop: A stationery store to buy small paper plates on which to serve cake. Done.
Fifth Stop: A general store to buy Doritos which would be served as nibbles with drinks. (Dad was taking care of buying the drinks).
Then, armed with these buys, I hailed a rick and arrived at Dad's place where I dropped off all my purchases and made sure that Dad's Man Friday Rohit had taken out, washed and kept ready the china, glassware, napkins, cutlery, etc. that we would need for this evening. All that work supervised, I returned home.
An Afternoon Catching Up At Home:
Back home, I had my lunch: Valerie's offerings of meatball curry, gherkins and noodles with one chapati. I cannot believe that although (at Dr. Abbas' suggestion), I have returned to eating carbs, I am actually losing weight! Yes!!! And at the moment, I am lighter than I have been in ages. Cutting off all the fried foods that Valerie used to send (cutlets, potato chops, pan rolls, etc) has been a brilliant idea as has been cutting off the items I used to eat for tea (cakes, cookies, etc). I am now eating just a few nuts with my pot of tea and what a huge difference it is making. Of course, I had given up ice-cream for Lent and that has helped too!
After lunch, I sat down to continue the alteration of Russel's shorts--this task is going to take me a good few days if I do one pair per day--which is really all I can manage as it is close and very time-consuming work. I also worked on my mail (there is always work-related email to respond to). That done, I had a pot of tea and nuts and got dressed for Dad's party. I was at his place by 5.30 pm just to make sure everything was under control--and it was!
Dad's Birthday Party!
By 7.30, my relatives began pouring in--my cousins were the first to come. This was followed by many of Dad's friends. Three people dropped off mainly because they had been 'maybes' to begin with. By 8.15, the house was rocking, everyone had a drink in hand and I was raising a short but meaningful toast for Dad's birthday--and, thankfully, he did not weep!
We had a great time as almost everyone knew everyone else and there was a lot of fun. What followed was a nice sing song which is something Dad always loves to do--he pulled out his sheets with the lyrics and we sang. Fr. Austin was very much the life of the party (other than Dad). Jyoti helped me organize the drinks and Rohit and Dad took care of snacks.
Russel was in his element and I saw him smiling for the first time in a very long time--which was really terrific. In fact, he had a smile plastered on hs face for most of the evening and grew more and more voluble as the evening progressed--although he'd had only one shandy!!! The entire evening took me back to the huge parties my parents used to have at their place when my Mum was still living and I could just imagine her getting the food organized in the kitchen, then coming out to join in the sing song and then setting the table and getting it ready for dinner. It is at times like these that I miss my Mum dearly and Dad does to. Russel certainly does because he was talking about my Mum for most of the evening and said that he wished she could come back to life.
Dinner was fabulous with all the food being as tasty as we expected: there was Goa Sausage Pullao, Pork Chilly Fry, Chicken Lasooni Kebabs, Paneer Makhanwala and Subzi Kohlapuri with a bread basket that included naans, rotis and parathas. Dad cut the cake while we all sang for him and then we served the cake for dessert after everyone had eaten their fill of a very delicious dinner during which I said Grace. Finally, Dad had to say a few words himself to thank everyone for coming and to reiterate, once again, that it was the first birthday party he'd every had!
I helped Rohit clear up all the food--he took care of all the washing--and with so much of the food containers not even opened, it was clear that we had over-ordered---but no sweat. Dad and I will freeze the lot and eat it slowly in the next week as both of us order our meals from Valerie.
What a lovely end to a very special day! Dad told me he'd had a great birthday and was sure that everyone else seemed to have a good time too. He thanked me very much for throwing him a party.
But the time I got home it was 10.45pm, I watched a bit of TV and then falling asleep in front of it, I washed up and went to bed.
Until tomorrow.
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