Lunch at the Pequot Yacht Club With Southport Book Club Friends and Dinner with a Lovely Family in Fairfield.

Wednesday, August 23, 2023

Southport and Fairfield, Connecticut

Lunch at the Pequot Yacht Club With Southport Book Club Friends and Dinner with a Lovely Family in Fairfield.

Today was another eventful day! Indeed, most of my days seem to be crammed with activity as I am focusing on meeting friends whom I last saw nine months ago, in November, just before we relocated to India. I awoke early, did some blogging and tried to get back to some reading, I am expected to finish reading The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Sheyan Karunatilaka, a Sri Lankan author whose novel won the Booker Prize last year. Except that the Magical Realism of the book makes it so abstract and so complicated that almost 100 pages into the book, it all still seems like gibberish to me. I am sticking with it, still hoping it will all start to unveil itself like the layers of an onion.

Appointment with my Radiologist:

My day began with an appointment in Trumbull with my radiologist of 25 years, Dr. Neil Specht to whom I go every year for my annual mammogram and ultra-sound. This year, as I am on Medicare for the first time, I am learning exactly how it works. All my physicians accept it, of course, for existing patients—which is a big relief because at this stage in my life, I don’t want to go looking for new doctors who do not know my medical history.

I know Sandra, the technician, very well and she is always wonderful. I usually have a different person doing the ultra sound every year and this year it was Ashley. Fortunately, the doctor told me all was well and very stable and I did not need to worry for another year. I made an appointment for next year and I was off. It is wonderful that Leslie gives me her car to use as I go to these doctor’s appointments as they have made my life very easy—however, these morning appointments are clashing with my tutoring schedule and I am required to do some creative juggling of days and dates—all of which is quite a nuisance.

I stopped at Cathy’s place and picked up a bottle of tequila to take back to Bombay from the stash of alcohol we had left with them. Similarly, I drove to Bonnie’s place to pick up a bottle of Drambuie which she is also holding for me. I hoped to take these two bottles to India. With them in my trunk, I drove to Leslie’s place to return the car to her, but I was well aware that I had a luncheon appointment with my Southport Book Club folks at the Pequot Yacht Club and needed a ride from Leslie’s place. I sent out a text requesting a ride and received a response from Joanie who said she would come and pick me up. In the end, however, it was Laura who came as she now lives in Westport (not too far from Leslie).

Lunch at the Pequot Yacht Club with a Fun-Loving Bunch of Friends:

We were blessed by a truly glorious late summer’s afternoon when the Mill River looked spectacular and there was a bit of wind to provide relief from the sun. We sat on the patio outside overlooking the sea craft passing by. So idyllic! Made me realize how blessed Llew and I were to live in such a heavenly location for 30 years of our lives and how lucky I was to make friends with these gals who are members here!

Alison signed me in and while everyone else had a Cobb Salad with Grilled Chicken, I opted for the Crab Cakes with Remoulade Sauce which were just lovely—except that they were meant to be an appetizer and did not come with a starch to provide any bulk. Even so, they made a good light lunch. I had an iced Diet Coke to go with it. It was a bit chilly as the wind was picking up and I forgot to bring a cardigan.

We had a really lovely two hours, chatting about our families and our summers. Laura has moved to Westport and is building a home in South Carolina into which she will be moving in a couple of days. Ruthie was leaving with her family for London, Alison’s children no longer need home schooling as they are all at uni now. She has begun a new voluntary project called World Tutors that links up voluntary tutors with students around the world (mainly in the Global South) to help them do better in their studies. After she told me about the project, I volunteered to be part of her teaching corps. She will fill me in on the details later.

Lunch done, the ladies drove off with Alison offering to pick me up again at 3.00pm. I strolled to the village, hoping to get back to Foxtrot Vintage but found that it was closed. I walked instead to The Carousel and looked around a bit, but did not find anything. At 3.00 pm, I phoned Alison who came to get me. We chatted more about her tutoring project until we arrived at Leslie’s.

Dinner with Close Friends at their Fairfield Home:

I had a bit of time to relax with a short nap and then take a shower before it was time for me to call Mimi, my friend, who was working up to 6.00 pm, to let her know that I was ready to be picked up. She and her husband Shayon came along to Leslie’s in their spiffy red Tesla and off we went. It was wonderful catching up with them in the car as I had last seen Mimi last year when she and her family had treated Llew and me to a farewell lunch at our favorite Thai restaurant (Ru Thai) in Bridgeport. Mimi has since changed jobs (she is a corporate lawyer and works as Legal Counsel for Credit Suisse Bank in Manhattan) and Shayon, her husband, is a Professor of Physics at the University of Hartford—and is currently on summer break.

Back at Mimi’s beautiful, spacious home in Fairfield, right opposite the Brooklawn Country Club and Golf Links, we settled down into a really plush and very comfy sofa. It was actually the first time I had been to their place as we usually meet in restaurants. They gave me the tour of their home and showed me their large back yard which is really very well manicured by professional gardeners. I was also thrilled to see the things that Mimi had taken from our estate sale—two masks (one we had bought in Poland and another in South America) that joined her collection of masks on the wall and the Royal Doulton porcelain flowers (which I had always loved) and which are now in a glass vase on the buffet of her dining table. She also has our Stratford-on-Avon plate. Like me, Mimi is a confirmed Anglophile as she studied British Jurisprudence at the University of Cambridge in the UK—the Other Place (as we, from Oxford, call it!).

Their twin children—Anshul and Ankshita—joined us for dinner. The family had just returned from a fabulous holiday in Crete where they had rented an Air B&B for a week. They had also toured Athens. We had a lot to talk about in terms of their wonderful holiday experiences. As for the food, well, what can I say??? They made me a typical Bengali meal (as they are Bengalis, of course) that included everything: 3 types of vegetables, chicken curry (made by Shayon), shrimp with potatoes (made by Mimi), rice, dal, hot and fresh off the tava (griddle), plus pakoras and a delightful salad. Dessert was gulab jamuns and chocolate fudge ice-cream! I mean, truly, it was a meal fit for a king and we all ate well. There was much laughter and chatter around the table as the entire family regaled me with all sorts of stories and I had a really grand time.

By 10.00 pm, I asked if I could stop at another friend’s place—Swapna’s—so that I could pick up two belts that belong to Llew and which he had left behind to be brought back to India later by Swapna’s husband, Rasik. Swapna was still up and told me I was welcome to come and pick up the belts. This gave me a chance to introduce Swapna to Mimi and Shayon and, of course, immediately, they found out that they had met before at someplace else. I did pick up the belts and then off we went. The Sinhas dropped me back to Leslie’s place where we reached at close to 11.00 pm.

What a splendid day it had been! I consider myself so blessed to have friends who are so warm, hospitable and welcoming and who are making my stay here in Connecticut so special.

Until tomorrow…cheerio!