Galloping Back to Routine in Bombay On A Packed Sunday

Sunday, June 9, 2019
Bombay

Galloping Back to Routine in Bombay On A Packed Sunday 

      Namaste from Bombay!
      Don't even ask where the day went. All I know is that I awoke at 8.35 am and ripped through a wash before I got dressed and galloped off for the 9.15 am Mass that was said by Fr. Lancy D'Souza. Because it was Pentecost Sunday, we were served slices of fruit cake and a mango Frooti outside church, but I merely picked them up and rushed off. I did not even stop at Dad's as I thought I would simply hand over the goodies to Russel when I went there for lunch.
     I spent the morning making a To-Do List of the urgent pending tasks ahead of me...then I went through them as speedily as I could. With my unpacking done, I put my case away and filled a bag to be taken for laundry at Dad's. Next, I got down to cleaning and I spent about an hour and a half making my place spotless all over again. It is beyond my understanding how the dust accumulates in Bombay when every single window and door is closed! Still, there is absolutely nothing more rewarding than the feeling of having a super clean house and I reveled in the feeling.
     It was time for lunch and I ordered Manglorean Chicken Sukka (Dry), Palak Lasooni (Garlic Spinach) and Vegetable Biryani from the Bandra Gymkhana. When I got the call from Uday (as Sameer is on leave), I walked over and picked the food up. The heat is simply killing at the moment. It is sweltering during the day time. When I leave my air-conditioned studio, I feel as if I am walking into a steaming sauna (so hot and humid is it!). With the food in my hands, I walked to Dad's and sat down to have lunch with Russel and him. Russel does not know that he has to be admitted to hospital tomorrow; but Dad and I were talking in whispers of the arrangements we need to make to get him ready for it.
     I left after lunch and got back home. I spent the whole of the afternoon on the phone with friends in the UK (to thank them for their hospitality to me on my recent stay in London), writing Thank you emails to friends in London and in Brazil, to my administrative staff in New York for working so hard to make our conference such a success and to my cousin Blossom to catch her up on what has recently happened in our lives. My calls and emails brought responses and wedding pix of my friends Roz (in London) and Christie (in Chennai). And then before I knew it, I was on the phone with Christie as I congratulated him on the wedding and got a big bunch of news and pictures from him. I had my Oxford webcam on throughout the afternoon as I suddenly felt as if I wanted to be in England again--clearly my few hours layover in London provided an inadequate fix!
     Dad then called to ask if I was coming across for dinner and I decided to have a quick shower and get there. We spent the evening together as dinner was served and eaten. I got back home and then returned to my laptop. I was full of beans and deeply jet lagged and since it was a Sunday and Llew was home, we had long chats on the phone until he told me that since it was about 2.00 am in Bombay, I ought to get some sleep!
     So, I think I am now ready for what the week will bring--indeed I have hit the ground running and with Russel being hospitalized tomorrow, the next two weeks of my life will be very different as I do hospital day duty (Dad will do duty at night). Let us hope that between the two of us, we will be able to support each other and Russel and that he will come out of this hospital stint in a far better position than he is right now. May I request you to keep us all in your prayers?
     Until tomorrow...