Moving Day! From the West End Hotel to a Bandra Studio

Sunday, September 2, 2018

Bombay

Moving Day! From the West End Hotel to a Bandra Studio

            Namaste from Bombay!

            It was a red letter day for me! I left the wonderful West End Hotel in downtown Bombay about which I cannot say enough god things after a week.  Had the privilege of meeting the owner and general manager, a gracious old Sindhi man named Mr. Ramani. He told me that the hotel was opened in 1948, right after the Partition of India and the arrival of enterprising Sindhis from newly-formed Pakistan who threw in their lot with Independent India. He told me that there were retainers who had worked for the hotel for 20-30 years. I told him that the situation spoke well for him as a manager and for their loyalty and fidelity.  It is great to know that in some hidden pockets of India the old values with which I was raised are still alive and kicking.  But sadly, not for long.  I see all around me a rapidly changing set of values, the replacement of honesty and hard work by greed and commercialism. But it precisely for this reason that when you come face to face with all that is clean and giving and caring, it is necessary to pause and appreciate it. 

            I am usually waking up by 5’oclock in this hotel.  But I do believe that I am getting enough sleep as I do not wake up in-between. I packed up my small case, showered and went down excitedly for brekkie: Indian today—chole poori (with the fresh hot pooris delivered right to my table by the personable young man who has been waiting on me for the past few days), idli sambhar, coffee and fresh fruit. I said my thanks and told the staff that I was very grateful for their attention to me over the past week.  Truly, they were all lovely people.

I was just finishing my coffee when I got a text from my friend Rashida (my former student at Jai Hind College) informing me that she was already in the lobby, where we had plans to meet. I got change from the Reception counter, paid tips to the wait staff that had been so kind to me and then I left. I had a nice reunion with Rashida who is a warm, bubbly and affectionate person. We went up to my room and sat down for a long chat during which I ordered a fresh lime soda for her through Room Service.  It came in a jiffy—another great example of the kind of impeccable service this hotel has offered.

By 10.30 am, I checked out, said more Thank-yous, called an Uber (my first one in Bombay) and left after taking a few pictures of the interior and the exterior of the West End Hotel. It had been a great initiation into the city and a wonderful way to get me introduced again to the use of public transport (trains, buses), providing proximity to the places in which I shall be doing most of my work and yet offering a sanctuary of my own at night so that I could settle down with the use of wifi and catch up with my work.    

In the Uber taxi, I almost gagged—the body odor from the driver was so sickening that I almost threw up. It was an air-conditioned cab and so I opened the window to let in some fresh air. I had a horrid journey all the way to Bandra even though, thankfully, there was barely any traffic on the street (being that it was a Sunday) and we flew. 

Back in my Dad’s house, I called Shahnaz, my friend who was bringing her car to help me with the move, and decided to do it within the next hour.  Meanwhile, Dad ordered a Sunday meal from a Chinese restaurant named Mr. Chow and we settled down to have Hot and Sour Soup, Fried Won-Tons, Chilli Chicken and Noodles with Chicken and Vegetables. I really ought to get these take-out menus and keep them at my place too.

After lunch, Shahnaz came along and with the watchman that my Dad had organized to help carry my bags from Dad’s flat to Shahnaz’s car and from her car to my new studio (which was on the first floor in a two-storey building with no lift), we accomplished the move in a very short time. Shahnaz then dropped Dad and the watchman back to his place and the two of us drove off to Vijay Sales on Linking Road so that I could make the remainder payment on my microwave oven and my electric kettle, both of which were available for me to take home right away. Shahnaz then came back, sat for a little bit, and left. She is now in-charge of organizing the removal of the TV from her daughter’s room and the installation of it in my studio as she has offered to lend it to me for a year. I am hopeful that this will occur soon.

As soon as Shahnaz left, at about 4.00pm, I set about unpacking and organizing my things. I did it in a very systematic manner and without tiring myself too much. I stopped at 5.30 pm as I was accompanying Dad to the Sunday evening Mass and needed to walk to his place. I was there in five minutes, picked him up at his gate and off we went for a Thanksgiving Mass. I am so delighted and grateful to the Lord for giving me my own rental studio in Bandra (as studios are really very hard to come by) and that too so close to my Dad’s home.  Truly, it was the answer to all my prayers. Once again, I felt as I had done, ten years ago, after I’d moved into my flat in London (which had then seemed like the answer to all my prayers). Now I can only hope that I will be happy in this home and that it will be a productive haven for me and my work.

After Mass, during which I met my friends Ewell and Nina, I had dinner (Chinese food from the afternoon) at Dad’s place and then left at 8.30 pm for my first night in my new home.  I had one last suitcase to unpack which I did before going to bed. I was able to organize all my clothes (with unused hangers that I borrowed from Dad) in my closet, plus find room for my medication and year’s supplies of other items (such as cosmetics) that I brought along. It will be a lot of fun settling down and I am looking forward to the process of finding my quiet center within this quiet retreat. 

At 10.00 pm. I was already too tired to stay awake and decided to call it a night—my first night in my new place. I am quite excited as a new adventure begins.

Until tomorrow…