Swotting at the Library and Dinner with Shahnaz at Otter's Club

Thursday, May 16, 2019
Bombay

Swotting at the Library and Dinner with Shahnaz at Otter's Club

     Namaste from Bombay!
     After absolutely weeks of either making and keeping doctor's appointment or making and keeping interview appointments, it was such a joy to have a clear calendar. It was the perfect day to take the train to downtown Bombay to the library at the National Center for the Performing Arts to to return to some note-taking. So that was how I decided o spend my day.
     Up at 6.30 am, I had my brekkie of muesli and coffee, wrapped cutlets with HP sauce around a paratha and tin-foiled it into a roll (for my lunch). Then, when I realized that Ramadan has changed the schedule of almost all Muslims in my building and my neighborhood and has resulted in the later pumping of water to the residents, I decided to have my shower in the evening--I would probably be hot and sweaty by that point and a shower would be far more welcome.
     So I dressed and hopped into a bus that took me to Bandra station (where I am bummed because re-construction of the entire station, being done in phases, has suspended the running off the Bandra Local trains). I end up taking a regular fast train that comes in from the distant suburbs and it is not half as comfortable (although in the Ladies First Class it is not too bad at all) as the empty locals are. I kept reading my novel Missing, Presumed on the train and before I knew it, I was at Churchgate and jumping into the shuttle bus to get me to Nariman Point to the library.

Swotting All Day in the Library:
     My objective today was to review again the Ph.D. Thesis of Kumud Mehta, done in 1960, under Kamal Wood, once Head of the English Department at Elphinstone College (my alma mater) on English Drama in the 18th and 19th Centuries in Bombay.  Her work is so historically thorough that it provides all of us, scholars, working on later epochs in the same history, a peep into its origins. Little has changed, it would appear, through the centuries, in terms the taste of the Bombay audience--even though the demographics have altered hugely. No more British army soldiers, visiting sailors or white memsahibs in the audience. Now, the audience is home-grown, still reveres Shakespeare but thrives on the standard farce and topical burlesque. I had so many chunks of the thesis that I wished to type out that I worked straight off until 1.30 pm when I was starving and decided to stop for lunch.
     Lunch was my kathi kebab roll which I ate in Hutoxi's company at her desk in her office. It was literally a 15 minute lunch break and then, I was back to the salt mines again and I worked straight through until 4.00 pm. I have just 50 pages more to complete of this 300 page thesis and I shall return to the library on Monday to complete my work on it--after which I shall return to Geoffrey Kendal's autobiography entitled The Shakespearewallah. I will spend a lot of time going forward in the library as most of my field interviews are done. I only need to reschedule about five more of them and then turn to the issue of pictures--for which I need to contact a bunch of people. All this concluding work will keep me busy for the next couple of months, no doubt, in-between my bouts of traveling.
 
Evening Entertainments:
     I took a cab back from Nariman Point to Marine Lines and got off in such a way that I was right opposite K. Rustom where I stopped to buy a mango ice-cream sandwich. Now that the the King Alphonso has flooded the Indian market, everybody is making desserts with Mangoes--and quite rightly so! I wanted to taste their mango ice-cream before it stops being seasonal. And it was good!
     Then, I walked one block down to Gaylord Restaurant from where I ordered their Waldorf Salad to go. I took my parcel home on the train to Bandra station where I found my 220 bus waiting right across the road for me. I jumped in and was home in 10 minutes.
     I had a bunch of calls to make for the next half hour as I am not allowed to use my phone in the library.  Russel's orthopedist's clinic called to schedule his next round of surgery to clean up the infection that has attacked the surgery site. It is now schedule for Jun 10. So as soon as I return from South America, I shall be hitting the ground running with regards to the next phase of Russel's treatment.
     I also had a call from my cousin Bonnie who has some recommendations for domestic helpers--sadly, we were playing phone tag and have finally decided, by text, to chat tomorrow morning. I made a call to Shahnaz then to confirm our dinner plans for this evening. She told me to meet her at Otter's Club to try out Artisan, their new restaurant. She confirmed; and I was ready to finally settle down with a cup of tea and a slice of the most delicious sponge cake, studded with pistachios, that Dad was given, a few days ago, by someone called Capuchina. It has the taste and texture of a mawa cake and I was determined to get the recipe from this lady.
     Then, I had a shower, got dressed and left for Dad's. I visited briefly with Russel before Dad and I left for Mass. On my way back from Mass, I stopped off at Ajit's store to renew my Vodaphone package that takes me on to the next 84 days--by which time, I will be ready to return to the US (so it might work out well, time-wise).
    Back at Dad's, I visited with him for a while and discussed Indian politics with him. Things are certainly hotting up, elections-wise and there is no saying who will form the next Indian government. I personally think it will be a coalition as I do not believe that any one party will get a clear majority--then the fun will really begin as you start to see the defections that will occur as a government is clubbed together! It is certainly a very exciting year for a South Asian Studies specialist to be in India.      
     Shahnaz called to tell me that she was running late--I told her I would meet her at Otter's and I walked there on a nice summer's evening. Once the sun has set, the cool breezes playing off the Arabian Sea make it very pleasant to take a late-evening stroll and I wish I were able to do more of it.
 
Another Pasta Dinner at Otter's Club:
      Having had such a delicious pasta dinner last night at the CCI, I felt ready to plunge into another bowl of pasta. So, when I met Shahnaz and we were seated in Artisan Restaurant at Otter's Club (where she is a member who signs me in), we settled down to have fresh lime sodas, a Greek Salad for a starter, Lemon Pepper Grilled Fish and a bowl of Fetticine Carbonara with a fabulous Chocolate Pot for dessert. Everything was superb but the dessert comprising a chocolate shell filled with hazelnut mousse was something to write home about. At the table, the waiter pours a warm caramel sauce over the sides of the chocolate pot so that they melt into this gooey mass of chocolatiness! Honestly, I cannot believe how many memorable meals I am having, thanks to the generosity of my friends and the time they give me for such soul-lifting gabbing. I shared with Shahnaz the good news about having found a literary agent in India--only the best one in the business!--and how excited I am that my next book is now in the works. She was so happy for me and shared with me the good news that, after nine hard months of trying to wrap her head around financial matters following the sudden and very tragic death of her husband Muharram (whom I miss dearly), she has mastered all monetary aspects of her future and feels liberated, empowered and less worried about her tomorrows. This was definitely the best news I could get from my very dear friend and I congratulated her on what has been a very challenging achievement for her. Of course, I also brought her up-to-date on what is happening with Russel and Dad and she offered, once again, to help in any way she can after I leave and am no longer in Bombay.
     She had brought her car--so she dropped me a couple of blocks to my home, where I brushed and flossed my teeth and went to bed with the thought that I shall catch up with my work-related email tomorrow morning.
     What a hugely productive and varied day it was! I went to bed with a prayer on my lips for these incredible experiences that are being thrown at me and the manner in which each day continues to bring surprises--not always the most welcome ones...but hey, in life, you win some, you lose some-- and I have lived long enough now to know how to roll with its punches.
     Until tomorrow...