A TV Set! I am Now All Set!

Monday, September 10, 2018
Bombay

A TV Set! I am now All Set!

     Namaste from Bombay!
    Today is a red letter day for me! I am finally the owner of a TV set! But to begin at the beginning.
     Having had a lousy caffeinated night (two glasses of caffeinated lemon tea kept me awake until 4.00 am), I only woke up at 7.00 am--which, by the way, is a long lie-in for me and the latest I have woken up since I arrived in India! (I have learned a valuable lesson: at meetings, when offered a drink, go for a lassi or a nimbi pani--lemonade).
        Hence, today I decided not to go out for an exercise walk. Instead, I washed, blogged, responded to and sent out email and completed the novel The Word is Murder by Anthony Horowitz--which I realized, after I read the Acknowledgements page at the back--is not fiction at all but based on a real story of a double murder in London.  Good book. I am now on Harland Coben's Don' Let Go.  Now I always though Coben was a British writer (after watching The Five and Safe on Netflix). This one is set in New Jersey! Will need to google and check his nationality and whereabouts.
     Brekkie were the delicious dahi wadas that my next-door neighbors sent me. They were just lovely and such a nice break from the bischersmuesli I have been devouring--I love muesli too, but this was a welcome change. That and hot decaff coffee really makes my day.  I have carried decaff tea bags for a few months and decaff coffee--neither of which are easily available in India.  I will have to make sure my supplies are topped up as the weeks go by or I will be in bad trouble.
     I spent a good part of the morning on research reading--still using online resources based on the bibliography I had previously prepared.  I also sent out email asking people to send me the contact details of persons I can now start interviewing.  For the moment, I am compiling a list of prospective interviewees and hopefully, I will actually start doing the interviews soon.
     At 11.00 am, I went in for a shower and at 11.30 am, I left my home to go out and buy my TV set. But, at Llew's advice, I did some comparison shopping. I walked to Vijay Sales at Linking Road to see what their final price would be.  Fortunately, the store was open although I had to use a side entrance. Today has been declared a Bandh--a protest of sorts that closes down shops and keeps traffic off the streets. However, I took a rickshaw to get to the store at Bandra Station from where I actually wanted to buy the TV that had been arranged for me at a special price through my Dad's TV techie. It was actually quite a pleasure to be out on the Bombay streets in a bandh for the crowd and traffic were thinner.
     I saw the TV working in the shop, tried to negotiate further with the price, did not succeed and ultimately, bought the TV. They told me they would deliver it by the end of the day. I was quite excited. I was the owner of a Samsung state-of-the-art smart TV with all the bells and whistles--this includes a Smart Hub and internet surfing.  Now all I need is a cable package and I will be all set! Yesssss!
       Next, I took a 'rick' to Cheap Jack on Hill Road from where I did buy the simplest, plainest goose neck table lamp as the ones I had seen at Kapoor Lampshade were all in the Rs.5,000 range. And this one cost me Rs. 700 and is perfectly functional. I also stopped at Nature's Basket, the upscale gourmet food store on Hill Road and bought Schwepps canned tonic water and Theo Broma's multi-grain bread. I have two meetings lined up tomorrow--one at 12.30 with the new Principal of St. Xavier's College and one at 2.00 pm at the Asiatic Library where I will be introduced to the digital collection and to their resources. Since I will only have time for a sandwich lunch, I figured I would need to make myself one. Hence, the bread. I also bought a mutton patty from AI Bakery--for my tea.
     From Laxmi, the store right by my lane, I piked up Bisleri bottled water, cheese and mayonnaise. I returned home to set up my lamp and have a very late lunch lunch at almost 3.00 pm--the last portions of my previous tiffin. I then had a quick nap--20 minutes did just fine.
     I continued working on my computer till 6.00 pm when I called the store to find out if my TV was actually going to be delivered today.  They assured me it would.  I then called Dad and told him I could not visit with him or accompany him for Mass as I was waiting for my TV delivery.
      At 7.20,  the TV man delivered my new set and placed it on the stand. He also showed me the rudiments of its use but an engineer from the company shall come on Wednesday to wall mount it and show me the actual ropes. I will also need to call my cable operator Subhash to tell him to set me up with a cable box so that I can watch the shows I like. Meanwhile, I am quite content to look at Netflix which I can access through my wifi! The Miracles of Modern Home Entertainment.
     Naturally, after the TV delivery man left, I had to watch something! I only have Netflix and other pre-programmed channels so far that work through my wifi connection.  But it will be a few days before I can watch BBC News and CNN. I watched something called In The Line of Duty--a British cop drama while eating my dinner. Ah, the days of watching and eating are back!
    However, the days of falling asleep while watching are also back! I was out like a light by 10.30 pm.
     Until tomorrow...