Visiting Another Orthopedist, Tea with Professor Friends at Bombay Gymkhana and Dinner with Friends at the CCI

Friday, April 5, 2019
Bombay

Visiting Another Orthopedist, Tea with Professor Friends at Bombay Gymkhana and Dinner with Friends at the CCI

     Namaste from Bombay!
     Today was another long and very productive day! As summer sets in, I am battling the heat with baseball cap, glares and my little portable fan that works on a digital battery--my Rs. 150 buy from the roadside at Crawford Market! It is making my outdoor work quite pleasant indeed despite the uncomfortable weather.

Celebrating Rohit's Birthday:
     So my day began with my blog post and my breakfast--muesli and coffee. I was just sitting down to transcribe one of my interviews when Dad called to tell me that it happened to be the birthday of his Man Friday Rohit and that Dad only got to know about it that morning. As Rohit had requested Dad to buy him a cake (for which he offered to pay), Dad decided to make a small ritual out of the cake-cutting by asking Rohit if he had any friends he would like to invite.  He suggested a couple of his pals but only one of them could make it. Dad and I had a doctor's appointment at 1.30 and I was busy in the evening. So we could only make his birthday special at about noon.
     Accordingly I showered, went out to Hersch's Bakery and bought mutton patties (forgetting that it was a Friday in Lent!) and wafers and then walked to Venus Bakery to buy him a Black Forest Cake--all of which were Dad's treats. With the goodies in my possession, I took a rick to Dad's and when his friend Priya arrived, in the present of Dad, Russel,myself and Meena, the maid who comes to do the domestic work, we sang for Rohit as he cut his cake and I served out the goodies so that we made it into a mini-party! Of course, he was quite delighted by the fuss we made of him and the cash gift I gave him and with that, Dad and I left and went to the doctor.

Seeing the Orthopedist at Lilavati Hospital:
     Lilavati Hospital is one of the finest medical institutions in Bombay and we are lucky to have it close by in Bandra.  Dad and I took a rick there and made our 1.30 pm appointment. We were going for a second opinion as we wanted to confirm that the rod insertion surgery to fuse Russel's knee bones might be the best way to proceed. And that was basically exactly what this physician Dr. Shridhar Archik told us too. He did recommend a few (very expensive) blood tests and new x-rays because he wants to confirm that Russel's fractured bones have really healed well before any further surgeries are carried out. Dad and I left feeling very happy with our visit (because it confirmed basically what we had been told by the other doctor, Harish Bhende).
     Leaving Lilavati in a rick, we stopped off at Holy Family Hospital so that Dad could go to the Lab and ask for the technicians to be sent home to carry out the blood tests and the X-rays that the doctor has ordered. These tests are, by no means, cheap--so we do hope that we will obtain more clarity on the subject and will be able to take better informed decisions, going forward, for Russel.
     I jumped off the rickshaw at my place and had my lunch: curd curry (kadhi), beans with a chapati--as it was Friday in Lent and I was off meat. I also ate my first Alphonso mango (which I picked up a couple of days ago)--it was very good indeed!
    I just about finished the transcribing of the interview that I had begun doing when it was time for me to get dressed for my next appointment in the city. I was invited to join in a Tea in honor of Meher Toorkey, a friend who is visiting from London and whom I had met a few days ago at a luncheon at the Yacht Club hosted by my friend Kamal. The tea was hosted by one of my former professors from Elphinstone College, Dr. Shireen Vakil (who has, for the past 30 odd years also been a very dear friend of mine).

Off for Tea:
     I hopped into a bus and bought a new monthly pass for myself at the Bandra Train station. Then in the train, I made my way to Churchgate but took a cab for the short distance to the Bombay Gymkhana as walking would have made me very late.
     My friends were already there when I arrived. Apart from Shireen, there was Dr. Shakuntala Bharvani as well as Dr. Soonu Kapadia, Meher, of course and a person I was meeting for the first time, Soonu Taraporewala, who once used to be a librarian at the British Council Library--I can still remember her very clearly serving me when I used to be an undergrad student of English and the British Council used to be at Sachivalaya behind the LIC building. In fact, I went out yesterday looking for it and once I reached its immediate vicinity, I was unable to pinpoint the exact building in which it was--I believe somewhere on the fifth floor--gosh all this was in 1976!--so you can just imagine how long ago it was!
     Tea was a delightful affair with a range of delicious eats: chili cheese toast, mushroom toast (so good!), idli sambhar, vegetable samosas. I had a fresh lime soda which is the most refreshing thing you can have in the humid stickiness of Bombay weather at this time of year.  We caught up on a whole host of things. Sadly, my Ph.D. mentor Dr. Vrinda Nabar was not around as she had taken ill--I was so looking forward to meeting her as we met only very briefly at the Elphinstone College Reunion in November and I am very keen to spend some more time with her before I leave. Our friend Dr. G (Firdaus) was very much missed but he has scooted off for two months' holiday in Europe (the lucky sod!) and will be following the opera route through Covent Garden in London, La Scala in Milan, Italy, and then Berlin in Germany! I am already missing his company here in Bombay.
     One never knows where time goes when you're having fun, reminiscing about old times and folks who have passed away, lovely people we once knew who are now ailing, plans we'd once made together and friends we had in common. By 6.15 pm, however, the lovely little tea party broke up and we went our separate ways. Shireen, Shakun and Soonu K. went off in a cab and I hopped into another cab with Meher (who is a trained concert pianist in London) and Soonu T. who were off to the NCPA to attend a concert being given by two pianists.  They actually had an extra ticket and asked if I wanted to join them. Had I nothing else to do, I would have gone. But I had dinner plans myself with more friends--this time at the Cricket Club of India--and so they offered to drop me there.

Dinner with Aban and Rusi at the CCI:
     So it turned out that I spent the entire evening in the company of a whole bunch of Parsis--all close friends of mine and very lovable people indeed.
     I was early and so sat and played with my phone in the main lobby of the club overlooking the iconic Brabourne Stadium--I have been coming to this place far more often that I had every expected.  My Friend Aban Davar was a fellow-Professor at Jai Hind College (where she had taught French and I had taught English) three decades ago. She still teaches French at the Alliance Francaise de Bombay and does a lot of interpretation and translation work for French corporations in Bombay. She speaks French far better than many French people I know and I have always been in awe of her abilities. Her husband Rusi, a chartered accountant by profession, is a wonderfully interesting person and in the many times we have met in Bombay and in the States (they have been our house guests in Southport, Connecticut), we've always had fun.
     So Aban joined me when her meeting upstairs was done and together we sat on the lawns and shot the breeze until the dining room opened at 8.00 pm for dinner. Russia joined us very shortly and since it was a Friday and there was the Fish and Chips special on the menu, both Rusi and I decided to have the prix fixe menu: we started with clear Vegetable soup, went on to Beetroot Salad, then ate the Fish and Chips with Tartar Sauce and ended with Praline Pudding. Of course, although the food was good, the main focus was the catching up with did as we talked about Aban's work, Rusi's health, their upcoming trip to Eastern Europe--they are also intrepid travelers--and our mutual interests in books and TV shows (Rusi is a voracious reader).
     At 9.30, they dropped me off to Churchgate station from where I took a fast train and was in Bandra in 20 minutes.  The bus came along in about 10 minutes and by 10.30 pm I was home and very sleepy. It did not take me long to merely brush and floss my teeth, take my medication and get straight into bed after what had been another incredibly enjoyable day!
     Until tomorrow...      
   

A Historic Walk with Kipling and Others, Interviewing a Legend and Feeling Fortunate to Still Be Alive

Thursday, March 14, 2019

Bombay

A Historic Walk with Kipling and Others, Interviewing a Legend and Feeling Fortunate to Still Be Alive

Namaste from Bombay!

I had a capital day! But, by the end of it, I felt fortunate to still be alive and kicking. No spoilers, however...you will need to read to the end to find out what I mean.

So, I awoke much later than usual. Birds were actually singing lustily by the time I opened my eyes today—at all of 6.30 am! Knowing that my first appointment was only at 4.30 pm and since I have decided to give my bashed knee a break for the week, I skipped the gym. Hence, I breakfasted on muesli and coffee and spent much of the morning trying to find someone in the city I could interview either in the morning or the afternoon—-so that I could  make full use of my day.

But no such luck.  No one was available to see me at the last minute.  After all my efforts, I only managed to schedule two interviews going forward.   The funny part was trying to get an appointment with a Parsi actress who told me that she was not able to leave her house because her dogs miss her too much, bark too much and annoy her neighbors. So I asked if I could meet her at her place and she said, her dogs get disturbed by the presence of strangers, bark too much and annoy her neighbors! My God! Dog-lover though I am, if     I had dogs like that...seriously... I would..

I decided then, on impulse, to do another walk from my book Ten Heritage Walks in Bombay. Although I pride myself on knowing the city of my birth really well, there are still some bits of it that I have actually never ventured into and some bits of it that I have not ventured into for decades. The Ballard Pier area is one such...but today, I decided that I would cover just one single stretch from Flora Fountain to Crawford Market along Sir Pherozeshah Mehta Road. 

I had an early lunch (spinach, meatball curry and dal), had a quick shower and set out. Since I was heading to Victoria Terminus, I bought a single first class ticket on the Harbor Line which took me from Bandra to VT (instead of the terminus at Churchgate).  Since I took the train at about 12. 45 in the morning, it was empty and very pleasant and I promptly had a nap on the 20 minute run to the city after I got bored watching a group of male commuters stand in the vestibule and play cards!

At VT Station:

Once I got to VT, I had a chance to admire its beautiful bones—so similar to those of Paddington or Victoria in London.  It amazes me—the similarity of British Victorian engineering all around the world—so astonishing! Once I got out of the station, I was on Sir P.M.Road and needed to get to the other side—the one that runs along The Times of India Building. But I found that a great big island has been built in the center of the road to divide the two sides of the dual carriage way. Hence, I looked for a way to get across and saw that there was a Foot Over Bridge just a few steps from me but that I would need to return to the station platform in order to climb it.

On the Foot Over Bridge:

And that was exactly what I did! I climbed the stairs, was on the bridge high up  in the middle of the broad road. I was afforded amazing views of the road below stretching on one side towards Flora Fountain and on the other side to Crawford Market. I also noticed that the towering domes on the Indo-Saracenic heritage buildings that the British so lovingly constructed for us in this jeweled city in their crown were so magnificently magnified in size when I took pictures from the height of the bridge.  Also, at that time of the day (1.30 pm), the bridge was quite open as the peak hour rush that probably brings thousands of people on to it were missing. 

I must have been on that bridge for about ten minutes at least as I moved from one side of it to the next composing my pictures. When I was done, I climbed down on the other side.

In the Premises of the Anjuman-e-Islam School:

I knew I would not be allowed inside The Times of India Building as security is tight (and I had surveyed the Bombay Municipal Corporation Building quite well previously)—so I made my way to the Indo-Saracenic building that houses the Anjuman-e-Islam School. Inside the compound, I stopped to discover that it was designed by British architect John Adams and constructed in 1893. Because the premises are in private hands, the building and its compound are in immaculate condition.  It heartens me to see how much these private institutions value these heritage properties and how lovingly they are looked after.

In the long Hall, there was a Nutri Fair in progress.  This long Hall had a purdah gallery constructed for the first Muslim women to receive an education in Bombay at the end of the 19th century. Current female students of the School of Catering and Hotel Management had risen to the challenge set to them to create tasty sweet and savory treats using only healthy ingredients. Were I not watching my calories, I would have enjoyed  sampling their wares that included brownies, chocolates, chips, etc. made with beetroot, dates, jaggery, rye and whole wheat flours, etc. The girls were also just lovely to talk to—they are young Muslim gals with so much potential (and so much physical beauty).  Enjoyed chatting with them. They were disappointed that I refused their nibbles...but I wished them well and departed.

The Premises of the Sir J.J. School of Art and Architecture:

I had heard for ages about the fact that the first Principal of the Sir J.J. School of Arts and Architecture (named after Sir Jamshedji Jijibhoy, the 19th century Parsi millionaire and philanthropist) was John Lockwood Kipling.  If that name sounds familiar to you, it is because his son, the novelist and poet of “If”, Rudyard Kipling, was born in this compound. I do not know how far it is true that Kipling wrote The Jungle Book in this place—but I have yet to ascertain that fact. Suffice it to say that despite knowing this, I had never been in these premises. This is a major stop on a literary tour of Bombay and I am stunned that I have never been here. 

Still, it is never too late...and on surveying these premises, there was so much that fascinated me. 

First of all, the premises are huge. They are filled with glorious old established tropical trees such as banyan and laburnum and flame of the forest. Secondly, they are also filled with black stone structures, designed by Lockwood Kipling, that are embellished with stone porticoes that jut out and arched window and door tracery. These buildings house the different branches of the Fine Arts from Painting and Sculpture to Metalwork and Interior Design.  It is still the premier institution for the study of Fine Arts in Bombay and attracts only the most talented students. Among its illustrious alumni are M.V. Dhurandar (whose retrospective exhibition I was fortunate to catch at the beginning of my Fulbright stay in Bombay) and my own friend Siona Benjamin, a contemporary, who is now a very well-renowned artist in the USA—we grew up together as neighbors in Bombay. 

The first thing I did was saunter around the beautifully shaded property under the gorgeous trees that were punctuated by all manner of small to medium sculptured pieces in various media (stone, metal, wood, etc). I then came upon a splendid seated sculpture of a worthy dressed in medieval robes—he turned out to be Donald Mackay, 11th Lord Reay (of Reay Road fame and Governor of Bombay from 1885 to 1890). He built the famous Harbor Line route to encourage and facilitate cotton trade through the Ports of Bombay. This explains why his sculpture is still in situ and has not been relegated to some obscure sculpture graveyard in the city just because he happens to be a colonial!

I circled the statue and took pictures before I wandered into one of the adjoining buildings that houses the departments of metalwork and interior design. I still saw no sign of the Kipling area. That was when I saw a young girl (named Siddhi) coming towards me.  She looked like someone who could speak English. So next thing I did was stop and ask her if she knew where Kipling was born! Not only did she know it, but she offered to take me there herself. 

In the Former Kipling House:

And so it was that I crossed the building that teaches classes on Art (Paintings and Sculpture) and went on to the other side of the campus. It was she who informed me that Kipling wrote The Jungle Book in this house—it is something I will need to back check.  To the best of my (rather sketchy) knowledge, he was born here and lived here (raised by colorful Indian female ayahs) till the age of twelve—at which point, he was sent to school in England. I believe he also completed university in England (Cambridge?) before he returned to Bombay as an adult. I would like to review the finer points of his life.

By the time, we had reached the ‘bungalow’, I could see that it was far from a bungalow. It was a mansion. Three-storied, entirely built with a sturdy teak frame, characterized by a grand wraparound verandah, Gothic-style pointed windows and doors and understated embellishment.  The glorious mosaic floors on the outer terraces are still intact. Inside, the place is empty, but outside I found workmen hard at their craft—carpentry, masonry—as the building has been closed to visitors and is being refurbished before it reopens with much fanfare.  Siddhi told me that loads of foreign visitors come to this place and she is glad they are re-doing it. 

     In the front porch, there is a lovely bronze bust of Rudyard Kipling with one of the plaques that the British use on the homes of their eminent citizens in the UK that announce that someone of merit lived there. There is a round plaque saying that Rudyard’s father, John Lockwood Kipling, was the first principal of the School and a second rectangular plaque stating that Rudyard was born in this place. It was all highly atmospheric and well shaded by spreading fully-foliaged trees all around it. I took many pictures and posed in the porch besides the sculpture. The feelings of exhilaration that filled me as I stood on this spot are just hard to describe. I thought, Wouldn’t it it be nice to create a Literary Tour of the city of Bombay? This spot would feature, of course, as would Breach Candy where Salim Sinai was raised in Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children and Cusrow Bagh in Colaba where Robinson Mistry set his novels, especially Such a Long Journey, there and Byculla which the novelist Ashok Banker exploited in his novel Byculla Boy.  

     When we were done with the Kipling home, we sauntered back to the main building where Siddhi excused herself to go to class.  I wandered around and re-entered the lobby of the main building which houses classrooms that double as studios for teaching Painting and Sculpture. In the lobby, I found reproductions of a number of recognizable paintings hung at the very top of the walls close to the rafters—how on earth anyone could see or admire them at that height is anyone’s guess! There was Turner’s The Fighting Temeraire, two self-portraits of Rembrandt and a couple of other Renaissance works that I did not recognize.  Up the wide stone steps I went along the beautiful wrought-iron bannister and curving wooden handrail—beautiful elements of antiquated buildings that one does not find anymore—to arrive at the first floor where I found a miniature cast court.  There were full-size plaster casts of famous sculptures such as Venus de Milo by Leonardo da Vinci and Antonio Canova’s Perseus Sans the Head of the Medusa—which is normally seen with this sculpture.  There were also several Greek sculptures as found at the Louvre such as The Athlete, etc. Amazing!

      I then wandered into some of the classrooms and actually watched students at their easels sketching real live models—one was a very young man sitting sideways; another was an elderly man sitting and staring straight ahead.  There were vitrines filled with skeletons so that the students could study anatomy in the anatomical drawings they were executing. There was zero security and I walked in and out of their classrooms without anyone asking me any questions or even stopping to take any notice of me! In fact, the entire atmosphere in these classrooms is very casual indeed. I did not see a professor or teacher anywhere—the students seemed to be working independently. I enjoyed my little snoop into this school and was so glad I went there. 

On to Crawford Market:

     My next port of call was Crawford Market which is named after the city’s first Municipal Commissioner Arthur Crawford who took office in 1865.  Needless to say, in post-colonial times, the name has been changed to Mahatma Phule Market, but I do not know anyone who uses this name! If you have seen Empress Market in Karachi or the Natural History and Pitt-Rivers Museums in Oxford, you will know what this building looks like. It has a lovely turret which is topped by a clock—a clock-tower of sorts. John Lockwood Kipling designed the building as well as the drinking fountain in the main hall that was donated by the city’s well-known benefactor Sir Cowasji Jehangir (after whom the famous C.J.Hall opposite the Shivaji Museum is named). 

     I have to admit, somewhat ashamedly, that although I have passed by this building a hundred times through the years, I have never been inside. And I could have kicked myself. I have loved the covered markets in places like London (Spitalfields, for instance, or Covent Garden), Oxford and Leeds where the Victorian artistry and craftsmanship have charmed me endlessly.  And yet, here in my own city, there is a splendid covered market into which I had never strolled!! What was I thinking? As it turned out, it is also beautifully refurbished. It is bright, clean and airy and devoid of pigeons or their droppings.  The floor tiles gleam, the ceiling is freshly painted, there are giant fans that cool the place and vendors who keep their stalls tidy and very enticing. There were fruits (Yes, I did see the first of the Alphonso Mangoes!), veg, loads of chocolates (Quality Street boxes everywhere), dried fruit, nuts, confectionery, staples like dal and rice. You name it, you could buy it. I also noticed large groups of foreign tourists being led on walking tours by local tour guides who were telling them about the history of this incredibly large space. 

     Seriously, I was so thrilled I took this walk. Place after place, historical tidbit after historical tidbit thrilled me completely. 

Off for a Falooda to Badshah’s:

     I had been on my feet for about two hours by then and although the weather was perfect for an outdoor jaunt, I was ready to sit somewhere and have a cool drink.  And what better place than Badshah—the Irani Cold Drink House that has done roaring business from this same spot for decades? We were brought here for a special treat, a few times a year, by our parents when they came to Crawford Market to do Christmas shopping! I can remember being fascinated by the mountains of fresh fruit that decorate the front of the place and the twin mangoes that were hung at every table on the ground floor.  We always used to go up to the air-conditioned top floor and it was there that I headed, not the slightest bit embarrassed that I was alone. I asked for a table for one and proceeded immediately to order a falooda—drink of the Gods.  It is for very good reason that it is called a Royal Falooda. It comes in a tall glass—layered with vivid pink rose syrup at the bottom, cornflour noodles, plumped chia seeds (known as isabgool), milk and a big blob of vanilla ice-cream floating on the top. I did what my parents had taught me to do as a child: eat a bit of the ice-cream first, then use the long spoon to go deep into the bottom and stir the whole thing up. Wow! Was it delicious??!! I adored it then and I adore it now. At Rs. 95 (about a dollar and half) this is such a steal.  A few years ago, on a visit to Bombay, I had introduced my nephew Arav and my niece Anaya to this childhood treat and to this day, Arav still wants to return to Badshah’s when he is in Bombay!

     So there you have it! It was a fantastic walk and it ended in a really special way with a well-remembered treat from my childhood. That’s what’s so great about living in Bombay! At every turn, I am reminded of the child I once was or of the clueless adolescent I used to be. These reminders are poignant and embarrassing and amusing in turn. 

On to my Interview with Vijaya Mehta:

     It was about 3.30 by this time and I needed to find my way to the Bombay Gymkhana to keep my 4.30 pm appointment with Vijaya Mehta, doyen of the Marathi stage who has also acted in some English language plays over the years. I jumped into a bus, got off at Metro Cinema and walked along Cross Maidan to get to the entrance of the Bombay Gymkhana where our meeting was scheduled.

     I was there a little early (at 4.00 pm) so I sat to look at my phone and enjoy the colonial atmosphere of this charming place that overlooks the cricketing green where a large number of youngsters were at the nets;  but a few minutes later, Vijaya arrived with her husband Farokh, who had a meeting upstairs.     

     We settled down in a quiet air-conditioned part of the Gymkhana where she began to speak and in no time transported me back to Bombay of the 1930s and 1940s and 1950s—she is 84 years old—when she had first trained under the great Ibrahim Alkazi and come under the protection of our mutual friend, the late  poet Nissim Ezekiel, who had taught me English at the University of Bombay and became a dear friend of Llew and me. Vijaya was absolutely amazed about the number of people that she and I knew in common in the Arts (Roger Pereira, Sam Kerawala, etc) and asked me repeatedly how come I had kept such a low profile and had remained unknown. Best part of all, she told me that I was a fantastic interviewer, that I showed sensitivity and empathy and understanding, that my memory was phenomenal and that I was reminding her of aspects of her past life that she had not revisited in decades. Those compliments were like music to my ears!!! 

     By the end of the interview, after she had consumed a cappuccino and I had a fresh lemonade soda while we shared a plate of delectable chicken mayonnaise sandwiches, she had told me so much and reminded herself of what her early years as a performer were like. Her achievement is simply staggering.  And it is not surprising that she had been decorated with some of India’s best-known awards including the Padma Shree. Certainly, she is the most eminent performing artist I have interviewed so far and I was specially honored to have so much of her time. We seemed to hit it off really well and at the end, when Farokh’s meeting ended and he joined us, we took a bunch of photos together.

     Farokh and Vijaya Mehta gave me a lift in their chauffeur-driven car to Churchgate station from where I took a train (in peak hour rush—it was past 6.00 pm) and got home after a truly enlightening day.

No Word from Himanshu:

     On my way back, I texted Himanshu to find out where I stood with my computer, but he told me that only 230 GB of 1 TB had been downloaded so far and he could not interrupt it. So I would have to wait for another day. Oh well! As I said, apart from the fact that I cannot use my laptop, I have reconciled myself to the losses and the recovery of what I have found so far. I still am praying and hoping for the best—that my deleted files will still appear.  Let us hope I am correct. 
 I got home for a hot pot of lemony tea with just a few nuts as I had eaten sandwiches and enjoyed a falooda and needed to stay light. I watched some TV (The Sinner is getting really creepy now) but was too late for Mass. I made a call to Russel to find out how he was doing and as Dad had just come back from church, I spoke with him too. 

Then the Bombshell Struck!

     Just a little later, I got news about a Foot Over Bridge collapsing in the city. And guess what????It was the exact same bridge on which I had stood only a few hours previously! I was just beside myself. I simply could not believe what I was hearing. It had collapsed taking 6 lives and injuring about 40 people who were rushed to the nearby St. George’s Hospital. My God! My Guardian Angel was looking after me, that was for sure. It is amazing how close we come to death at different points in our lives. I was still reeling with shock when I decided to do some reading and go to bed as I suddenly felt deeply fatigued. 

     What a way to end the day! I thought of all those people who so suddenly had their lives snatched from them and of how, but for the Grace of God, I could have been one of them. What are the odds?? I have never, ever, been on that bridge. And yet I was on it—the one day that it would collapse and kill people. I am still reeling with the sense of the mysteries of happenstance. 

     Until tomorrow...      

 

Interviewing the Inimitable Sam Kerawala and a Rotary International Reunion after 30 years!

Tuesday, November 28, 2018
Bombay

Interviewing the Inimitable Sam Kerawala and a Rotary International Reunion after 30 years!

     Namaste from Bombay!
     I had a profoundly fulfilling day--the interview I did today more than made up for the unsatisfactory one of yesterday.  Plus, I met friends from long ago for a lovely reunion at the Bombay Gymkhana. But let's begin at the beginning...
     I woke at 6.30 and blogged, went through Twitter, downloaded today's Times of London (to read on the train into the city), showered, dressed, ate my breakfast super fast (muesli--no coffee as I did not have the time), showered, made myself a Club Sandwich of cheese and chicken cutlets and rushed to Dad's to be in time for Russel's session with the physiotherapist Lenita, as I wanted to chat with her.
     Once at Dad's, Lenita, Dad and myself sat down for a quick meeting.  I could only spare 15 minutes as I had to catch a train to go into the city for my interview. But our meeting was productive. It seems that trying to teach Russel to climb stairs had been a daunting task and traumatic for him. If I remember correctly, another person I had seen with such a fracture and a cast had moved from the walker to a walking stick and from the stick to walking independently before tackling stairs. I suggested to Lenita that perhaps we should proceed in that manner and she agreed. So the next task is to get a hold of the walking stick that had been used by my Aunt Ella who passed away a few months ago.  Her daughters had offered it to us if we needed it for Russel.  I decided to text them to find out if they could deliver it to Dad's and one of them said she would do so tomorrow. When Lenita comes next on Saturday, we shall try to get Russel to progress towards using a stick.  He is--touch wood--doing very well with the walker now and is able to move independently with it around the house. Please continue to pray for his recovery.

Off to the City and my Next Interview:
     I left Dad's in time to make my 9.45am Bandra Local train that got me to the city in a half-hour. Next I hopped into the waiting bus at Churchgate Station that took me to Nariman Point where at 11.00 am, I had scheduled an interview with a man who has been an English language theater veteran for 66 years. It turned out to be one of the most fruitful interviews I have done so far.
     I remember, before I left Bombay, seeing plays by Sam Kerawala whose name used to be in the playbills we received at the time. He is so well known to the folks at the NCPA that he kept saying Hello to every person who passed by as we sat to do the interview in the foyer of the Little Theater. When I had told Sam that I would meet him at the Reception area as I was not sure they would permit him to go up to the library, he said to me, on the phone, "My dear girl, I have been associated with the NCPA even before they broke ground to construct the building!" I loved it!
     Well, it turned out to be actually true. Sam was able to go back historically to the time even before the construction of the NCPA. He took me to his childhood and his boarding school in Panchgani where his passion for theater developed. He took me to the time when he lost his voice for six months because he was spray painting stage sets and had inhaled paint that had stuck in his vocal cords and prevented them from vibrating. I had that much in common with him as I told him about my thyroidectomy and my loss of voice for six months and the trauma through which I had lived as I undertook speech therapy to get it back.  Once again, I heard the name of Sam Berkeley-Hill, the father of my friend Owen in London, who Sam Kerawala said taught him the aduction exercises that had allowed his voice to return. He was able to comment on what it was like working with some of the greatest Bombay English stage directors of all time--Adi Marzban, Pearl Padamsee,  Hima Devi, Alyque Padamsee, Burjor Patel, Hosi Vasunia, etc. He was full of anecdotes at every turn. It was endlessly fascinating to me.

Lunch at the Wodehouse Gymkhana:
     As our interview began at 11.00 am and we were still deep into it at 1.00 pm, Sam asked me when my next appointment was. I told him it was at 3.30 pm at the Bombay Gymkhana.  He then invited me to have lunch with him at his Club--the Wodehouse Gymkhana--so that we could continue our conversation. I thought of my sandwich in my bag but then I figured I could simply have it for breakfast tomorrow. So I graciously accepted his invitation and off we went in his little Smart car to the venue.
     The Club is one of those old-world bungalows that still stands in the heart of Colaba's Wodehouse Road. It has the graciousness of colonial times stamped all over it--a far more modest affair that the grand Willingdon Sports Club or the Bombay Gymkhana--to which I would be headed later.  As a point of clarification, I ought to mention that everyone in Bombay is now a member of a 'gymkhana' which has come to mean a private, Members Only, Club.  I am simply astonished at how many of them there are in Bombay and how the oldest ones now exist side by side with the newer ones that have mushroomed in the last ten years.
     We settled outside on the patio overlooking a lovely garden and were waited on by a man who had no one else to look after. Sam offered me a drink but I simply chose water and we had a cold Bisleri brought to the table.  For starters, he ordered Eggs Kejriwal--which was toast with grilled cheese and a beaten egg on it sprinkled with chopped green chilies and coriander. It was very good. Sam is a pescatarian--and so we chose to eat fish: Rawas in a Lemon-Mustard Sauce which was served with mashed potato and mixed vegetables--very English that. We also had Pad Thai with prawns. The food was good and filling and the setting perfect for a late summer's afternoon.  All the humidity has disappeared from the air in Bombay and it is really very pleasant now. The joy of being able to wear shorts and capris and sandals in late November is something I am truly savoring here.
     During lunch, Sam continued to talk about his association with so many theater greats.  He truly knew everyone in the field including a very dear friend of mine called Vinod Mehta who died a few years ago.  I still miss my friend so much and feel sorry as he too could have been such a valuable resource for me in the study I am now conducting.  Vinod used to be my contact man when I needed press passes for all the theater shows I used to report on, thirty years ago. He grew very fond of Chriselle whom he always referred to as "your little girl" (she was only 6 or 7 then) and became a close family friend. At several junctures in the work I am now doing, I think of Vinod with affection.
     At 3.00 pm, when we had finished our lunch with lovely malai kulfi for dessert, Sam drove me to my next point of contact--the Bombay Gymkhana.

A Rotary International Reunion After 30 Years!
     I was very excited about my next appointment.  Not many people know that the first time I ever visited the United States was in 1988 when I had been selected by Rotary International Bombay as one of four professional women to go to Los Angeles, California, on a Graduate Study Exchange (GSE) Program. I was one of four female professionals. The other gals who are selected (after several rounds of interviews plus group discussions and tests of public speaking) were Usha Meghani who was a banker at Scotiabank, a pathologist called Indu Nair who ran her own research laboratory, and a librarian who worked at the Alliance Francaise de Bombay named Shubhada Moghe. The tour leaders were a couple called Ajit and Sushu Kamlani.
      The six of us had traveled from Bombay to Los Angeles where we had spent 6 weeks--each week each of us was hosted by a local Rotarian and introduced to the manner in which our respective professions were carried out in California. Being a professor, I was put through a series of visits to high schools, colleges and universities in Southern California. The other ladies were led to places that were associated with their professions.  In the evenings and at the weekend, Rotary arranged all sorts of recreational activities for us that included going up in the Goodyear blimp, trips to Disneyland, Knott's Berry Farm, Magic Castle, etc., our first roller-coaster ride called Montezuma's Revenge. Plus we were taken on a three-day cruise to Mexico! All this was All Expenses Paid--we were treated like royalty and lived in some of the grandest homes in some of the most expensive parts of the United States such as Malibu, Hollywood Hills, Pacific Palisades, Rancho Palos Verdes, etc. So you can just imagine what sort of a 6-week experience that was for us all--straight out of Bombay at that!  Chriselle is still amazed that when she wants to take me to any place in LA, I keep telling her that I had Been There, Done That--with Rotary International, 30 years ago!
     So, as it turns out, two of us (Usha and I) settled in the US (Usha lives in Minnesota) while the other two (Shubhada and Indu) continued to live in Bombay and very close to each other in Chembur. This is the first time in 30 years that Usha and I happened to be in Bombay at the same time and decided to meet at the Bombay Gymkhana (where Usha is a member). We invited the other two, Indu and Shubhada, to join us and despite the fact that we gave them very short notice and Indu has to rearrange her hospital schedule to see us, they both made it possible to join in.
     What a historic day it was for the four of us! Naturally, we kept exclaiming about the changes that time has wrought in our appearances and the fact that we have remained so young at heart.  Naturally, we kept recalling things that had happened so many years ago--which some remembered vividly and others had forgotten completely. Naturally we talked about the highs and lows of that time we had spent together and about the different paths through which Life has led us.
     It was nothing but fun through every second of it.  Usha, meanwhile, ordered freshly squeezed juices and eats for us.  I had watermelon juice and we shared a lot of chaat--dahi batata puri, sev puri and chili cheese toast (which is found on every Gymkhana menu, by the way--a decidedly Bombay thing). As we ate, we chatted. We took so many pictures--posed, unposed, you name it. We talked about our husbands, children and grandchildren (Indu has three!) and about the place we currently find ourselves in life. One has a mother who is 90, another has a disabled brother (me), another has just gone through a bitter divorce. Indu, who is the only one who joined Rotary International and has contributed and given back hugely is currently competing for the position of District Governor. More strength to her! It was Indu who had arranged for me to speak to her Rotary Club this past January on what Rotary International had done for me and how many doors it had opened on my own route through life. It had been a great opportunity for me to express my thanks to the organization for the great work they do in the lives of individuals and communities.We thought it would be a good idea for the six of us (including the Kamlanis) to join us on a trip somewhere out of Bombay next time we can all be together--which will be in March when Usha returns to Bombay. I will still be here at that time--so that might be a plan. And of course, we could not leave without forming a whatsapp group so that the four of us can now keep in touch privately. What a blast we had!
     At 5.30, Indu jumped up to leave as she was addressing a Rotary Club at 7.30 pm. She had a car and a driver who dropped me off at a spot from where I could walk across to Churchgate station for my train home.
     Although I did not have a physically tiring day, for some reason I felt really fatigued by the time I got home. I decided to skip Mass today and went straight home to relax. I read another story from my friend Michael Anderson's book Heaven's Above and then served myself an early dinner--the leftovers in my fridge as I will receive a new tiffin tomorrow--and finished watching The Princess Switch which really put me in the Christmas mood as it is set in the days before Christmas. Thanks to my friends the Colcloughs for recommending it to me from London and for flattering me by telling me that the female protagonist reminded them of me ("a real beauty" wrote Michael--music to my ears!)! She turns out to be the actress Vanessa Hudgens.
     I decided to do my nails as I had no time for my home-manicure yesterday and with that done, I turned off for the night after a truly memorable day!
     Until tomorrow...