Saturday Rolls Around...Mercifully!

Saturday, May 4, 2019
Bombay

Saturday Rolls Around...Mercifully!

     Namaste from Bombay!
     I love Saturdays! But then, who doesn't? There is something wonderful about having a whole day off and knowing that there is one more day off to follow! Just that psychological knowledge is the most soothing thing in the world! After my hectic week in Uzbekistan, return to Bombay, catching up with pending work on my laptop, planning and organizing Dad's 89th birthday party, I was ready for some downtime.
     Not that I was entirely permitted it! You see, after I awoke and hailed the bread man and ate my broon with spreads and coffee for brekkie, I went to Dad's to organize the excess food containers that had not even been opened after his party. That took me just five minutes (and I had hoped to get back home right away). But, of course, when I go to Dad's with one task to be accomplished, there are always three others that are thrown unexpectedly at me.
     So, this time Dad needed me to discuss with him what we should do about the course of treatment that Russel is taking from our family GP Dr. Abbas for the swelling (edema) to come down on his ankle. I told Dad we need to do one of two things: get the doctor back home to take a look at it himself or I take pictures on my phone and we go to the doctor together to show them to him. Well, Dad wanted to go at 11.00 am. I told him I had plans for the rest of the morning and could go right away, if he wanted me to join him. Dad was not happy as this meant he had to adjust his plans for the morning. Anyway, he did get ready and we set off for the dispensary only to discover that the doctor is off for 3 days and will only be back on Wednesday. OK, so that put paid to our plans.
     I was annoyed...but I tried to get over my annoyance and just plan ahead. Dad decided to continue the line of treatment until the doctor gets back. If ever there was a complicated case with any patient, it is this one with Russel. It just does not seem to end...there is one complication after the other that needs to be tackled and just when you think you are out of the woods, you come upon another ghastly obstacle that must be surmounted. What is further annoying is that I am now in Return Home mode and the last thing I need is to have to worry that I will be detained in Bombay longer than I hope or expect because Russel's situation shows no signs of getting any better.
     That done, we had to go to Plan B. I called Sakshi at Dr. Bhende's office in Dadar to find out when I could bring Russel in so that the orthopedist could (finally) see him personally (instead of getting reports relayed to him by Dad and me)--only to find out that the doctor had gone off for 2 weeks! That's when it hit me. It is so hot and humid in Bombay during the month of May that most sensible people leave the city for cooler climes. In fact, even my mochi (cobbler) Ramesh has gone off for the month and there is no sign of him at his little shack.
     With no choice, I made a tentative appointment to bring Russel in (by ambulance) only on May 14 so that hopefully, the next phase of his surgery will be on May 18 and, hopefully, he will be back home by May 23 so that I leave Bombay on May 24 (my ticket has already been booked) for South America. Now I can only hope that things will fall in place as we expect and that Russel's surgery will be scheduled on time and that he will be able to get back home before I can leave.
     Those tentative appointments made, I called the agent in Jaipur with whom I have decided to sign a contract for the publication of my memoir on the Indian sub-continent. Her name is Mita and she was just lovely. She is the CEO of a company named Siyahi and she answered all my questions with patience and great courtesy and told me, again, that she loved my book and hopes very much to get me the best possible publisher for it. I will now need to print out, sign, scan and email the contract to her so that she can countersign and send it back to me. I shall do this on Monday.
     I then got down to editing chapter 1 and chapter 2 to send them off to Brooke Bures, my editor at Hamilton Books, in the US, who is bringing out the US edition for world-wide distribution, other than the Indian sub-continent. That took me until lunch time, when I had to stop as I was meeting my friend Kamal at the Bandra Gymkhana and taking her for lunch.
     Kamal came on the dot and we made ourselves comfortable at the upstairs well air-conditioned dining room where we had...guess what? ...the same thing I have tons off in my freezer--Goa Sausage Pullao (Kamal's choice) with Chicken Lasooni Kebabs (which I also have in my freezer!). She had a Virgin Mary and I had something called a Cinderella (a virgin cocktail that had everything but the kitchen sink in it) and with that settled, we had a lovely meal and a lovelier chinwag. Dessert was a brownie for her and brownie a la mode for me--a very healthy dessert indeed!
     Kamal dropped me back home (even though my building is literally just around the corner) and I spent the afternoon working on two more pairs of shorts for Russel (replacing the elastic) and continuing on the editing of Chapter 2 of my memoir for Brooke.
          Then, it was time to leave again for Dad's. He goes for the 7.00 pm Mass on Saturdays and so I usually stay with Russel and keep him company--which I did. We chatted about all sorts of things but mostly about Russel's anxiety that he has to go for another surgery. He hates the thought and has started obsessing about it.
     When Dad came home at 8.15, I left and decided I needed a drink at my studio. I made myself a cocktail with gin, pomegranate juice and lime juice over ice and topped with club soda. Anything with ice in it is welcome in this weather. I sat and sipped it and nibbled on nuts as I watched another episode of Hinterland and ate my dinner--still trying to finish up Valerie's meal.
     I had hoped for a relaxed Saturday and I had anything but a relaxing day...but then, what's new?
     Until tomorrow...