Paperwork with Dad, Lunch with a Friend and a Quiet Rainy Evening at Home

Thursday, July 25, 2019
Bombay

Paperwork with Dad, Lunch with a Friend and a Quiet Rainy Evening at Home

     Namaste from Bombay!
     The days are flying and my calendar is filling up with lunch and dinner appointments with the many friends to whom I want to say Goodbye and Thank-You before I leave! But there is also concern about Dad's health and the outcome of Russel's next orthopedic visit scheduled a week from now. And, of course, I am still packing...
     But awake at 6.30 am, I blogged and listened to a bit more of my audio book (The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith aka JK Rowling). I had two important tasks I wanted to finish today: Send out the final application for a new grant and get Dad's dental implants paperwork done.
     But first....I had the biggest and best surprise! I discovered that one of my closest friends in Connecticut, Bonnie, has planned a 10-day package tour of the UK with her husband Art and will actually be in London at the same time that I will be there en route to the US. We have talked, for years--literally for years--about being in London together. And suddenly, purely by coincidence and without any planning, it is actually happening! How cool is that???!!!
     So naturally Bonnie had to chat with me and she called and we spent about a half hour on the phone going over options. Their package tour will whirl them around for about 10 days through England, Wales and Scotland, but they have given themselves two days in London on their own at the beginning and two days in Edinburgh, Scotland, at the end.
      Although I am fairly flexible, I do have my friend's birthday party to attend on Aug 17 in Connecticut--so I am slightly constrained. However, we figured out that we will have most of one day together in London before I will need to push off for Oxford to catch supper with my friends who will then depart the next morning for Bristol leaving their home to me for the next 3 days. And guess what? Bonnie and Art's tour will also bring them to Oxford! So we will have lunch and an afternoon there together too! I had to make a couple of slight adjustments with my own plans, but they were fairly easy to do. I am getting excited now although I have not yet had my ticket booked as I am still waiting to firm up my accommodation prospects in London.
    That call done, I was filled with excitement. What a glorious way to end my incredible year! At the start of my year, I had given a walking tour of Bombay to Bonnie and Art's daughter, Halle, who had arrived from the US for a wedding in Poona...and now I will be ending the year giving a walking tour of London to her parents! No marks for guessing that I will be giving them highlights tours of the National Gallery and the British Museum, including a pub lunch and Afternoon Tea and going walkabout a little bit through Leicester Square, Bloomsbury and King's Cross. Should be a blast! Not sure what we will do in Oxford, but I'm thinking a swift half at the White Horse Tavern, a favorite watering-hole of Inspector Morse and then Inspector Lewis, followed by lunch at the Turf Tavern where Bill Clinton was a regular might be in order before they are whisked off to the Cotswolds. Equally excited to be meeting the daughter of a dear late friend of mine whom I got to know first on Twitter. The daughter moved to Bicester, a few miles outside Oxford, a couple of years ago and my visit to the city of dreaming spires will finally give us a chance to meet after years of communicating on Twitter alone! I am so looking forward to this last spurt of travel activity--my last hurrah--before I return to the comfort of routine at home in the US.
     It was supposed to pour and so the lecture I was supposed to give at noon today at SNDT University was rescheduled to August 1. And what do you know? It was dry as the Kalahari dessert all morning! Not a drop in sight! I am told that nothing can be more wrong that Indian weather forecasts!!!! How is it possible for them not to get it right, considering the sophistication of modern-day instrumentation? Anyway, with the morning free, I called Dad and told him that I would go over to his place to complete the pending paperwork for his dental implants. And so, on cue, I was there by 11.00 am.
     Dad and I spent about an hour sorting through the questions that were posed, calling his dentist and talking to him on the phone for clarification and when we were all done, I had to scoot off to our photocopy man, Jay, to get the material photocopied for Dad's file. That done, I  texted my friend Patsy with whom I had lunch plans at the Bandra Gymkhana. She was ready to meet me there in 15 minutes.

Lunch with Patsy:
     Lunch with Patsy was a way of saying Bye and Ta. She is a very old friend and was one of the first folks I had met when trying to put together my list of potential interviewees for my Fulbright project. Patsy is extremely well connected, especially in Bandra, where she has lived her entire life and has been very much involved with the Arts and Culture scene. It was thanks to her that I was able to make such rapid headway with my calls for interviews and the huge amount of data I collected. I could not leave Bombay without meeting her one more time to say Thanks.
     Patsy had already arrived when I got there. Our time together was one long gab fest as we simply could not shut up. We had fresh lime sodas for drinks and ordered lunch keeping it as light as possible: Roast Chicken with Bell Peppers (which came with mashed potato and grilled vegetables) and a Chicken Caesar Salad which was delicious.We talked about the manner in which I had filled my year--the 80 interviews I completed, the numerous conferences at which I gave papers and keynote addresses, the immense amount of travel I undertook in India, Uzbekistan and South America. She, in turn, told me about her forthcoming travels to Austria, Slovenia and Croatia on a driving tour with girl friends from around the world. It sounded like so much fun! The predicted deluge which had caused my lecture to be cancelled started off with the most benign showers and ended just as suddenly as they had begun. I bet that when August 1 dawns, the day to which my lecture has been postponed, we will be drowned in torrents!
     After we said our Farewells with many kisses and tight hugs, Patsy and I parted company and I returned home to take a really long nap--more than an hour. When I awoke, I got down to sending off my grant application which took much longer than I had expected even though I had all my answers ready. But it was successfully filed online in the end.
     I was just about to get into the bath when it came crashing down again. I had a shower but decided not to go to church today as I had one more important thing to do. I needed to sit down with my calendar and make a petition for an Aadhar card to which I am now entitled as I have spent more than 6 months in India. Last week, I found out where I can get it done (in town at the Fort branch of Bank of Maharashtra). I am hoping to meet the person concerned tomorrow as I have to go into town for lunch with my Ph.D. mentor, Vrinda.
     Sitting and drafting the letter for the card that details my movements with dates in and out of India over the last one year took a while. I was glad I stayed home and focussed on it as it is a major step and I do not want to make multiple trips to the bank to get it done.
     And finally I confirmed that my money was transferred from my provident fund to my current account. The huge fire that occurred at the MTNL (Telephone Company) building last week has caused the break down of 22,000 landlines in Bandra--Dad and so many of my cousins are affected. Thankfully Dad has a mobile too and is managing with it. It has also affected computer and internet lines and so the transfer was done at another branch of my bank. But the saga has finally ended! 
     I also managed to get in a bit more of my packing and with all the time that I will be spending out in the next few days, I really ought to do as much of it as I can now. I am amazed at how many things I have to give away.
     Dinner was Valerie's new meal which was delivered today: chicken mince, paneer with peas, potatoes with spinach with one appam that Felcy had sent over for Dad and which he insisted I share with him! Dessert was a mango. I actually turned my fruit man away when he came calling at my door this afternoon as I do not want to buy anything more as my Operation Fridge Clean-up continues. While eating I watched a movie called Money Monster with George Clooney and Julia Roberts--while it started out well, it just dragged on and became almost farcical at the end. Julia Roberts was a study in the art of underplaying...she was so effective with such a sigh or a slight eye roll. Overall, however, it is not a movie I would recommend.
     I was asleep after 12 midnight as I spent a while listening to my audio book.
     Until tomorrow...