Working Hard and Meeting a Fellow Fulbrighter

Wednesday, September 26, 2018

Bombay

Working Hard and Meeting a Fellow Fulbrighter

    Namaste from Bombay!

     In another far from fascinating day, I stuck quite steadfastly to routine. I awoke at 5. 30 am and blogged until 7.00 am when I left home for my daily morning walk at Joggers Park.  It makes so much sense to go there earlier before the heat envelopes the city and makes my exercise far more sweaty. This time I listened to America's Greatest Hits and the beginning of the Beach Boys Greatest Hits. Not being the sort of person who listens to a lot of music on her phone, I am really breaking from routine in this respect--and enjoying it enormously.

     I reached home to shower only to discover that I had no hot water!  Crumbs! I had a cold shower then--luckily, it is warm enough in Bombay that you can get away with a cold shower and not suffer too much. So naturally I had to call my Dad to get the phone number of his electrician, Clement. He told me he would come to my place around 2.00 pm--which would suit me fine. 

     I then had my breakfast and began working. I spent almost the entire morning working on my laptop but for a few calls I needed to make to get the internet and cable guys in to complete installing wiring in my studio. I finalized and sent out one abstract for a conference in Calcutta as well as a query for my memoir. 

     Lunch was at 12. 30pm by which time I was feeling rather hungry. My new tiffin had arrived in the morning but I had leftovers of the previous one to finish. After lunch, I napped and began reading Amy Bloom's novel White Houses that is the choice of my Book Club group in Connecticut. It is a piece of historical fiction that looks at the relationship between Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, one of America's most beloved Presidents and a woman called Lorena 'Hick' Hickok, journalist and an aide to Eleanor. I am at the very beginning of the novel but I am already reeling from the innuendoes of the lesbian relationship that went on between the clearly butch Hick and Eleanor.  Told from the point of view of Hick, I am trying to assess just how much of this novel is fiction and how much fact. 

      At 2.30 pm, Clement arrived to fix my geyser. I had to borrow a tall stool from my next door neighbor (as I do not have anything of the kind) and with it, Clement managed to get to the ceiling of my bathroom which is a false one. Above it lies the geyser concealed. He discovered that it had to be reset and he did so in a second.  I also asked him to get my exhaust fan working as I could not identify the switch  It turned out that all he had to do was take a pen and nudge the blades of the fan to work--and hey presto, it did! So My work was done in less than twenty minutes.  Clement returned the stool and for a house call, this amazing hand man charged me Rs 150 (a bit more than $2)! 

     I then took a nap and awoke to get back to work. I finished editing the article that Rudy Otter has written on me for an online magazine called Desh Aur Diaspora. There were a few minor aspects of it that I needed to correct before it can go into print. I also corresponded with the Principal of St. Xavier's College to set up a meeting--which he thinks might happen next week.

     I left my home at about 5.45 pm to get to my Dad's place to see Russel and to spend some time visiting with him. Then Dad left to prepare for conducting his Novena and I followed him about 15 minutes later. The Novena to Our Mother of Perpetual Succor was followed by Mass that finished at 7.30 pm. 

Meeting with my Fulbright colleague, Richard Chen See:

     I walked down Zig Zag Road and on to the connecting road going down to Linking Road as I had made plans to meet my fellow Fulbrighter Richard Chen See at KFC. I was stunned by the vast number of restaurants that have opened up on that road--there is almost every offering imaginable from Mini Punjab to Karachi Cafe and Bakery, from a hip placed called Poetry to another place called 99 Pancakes. You could eat your way through the eateries there for a week and not comb them all. Truly Bandra is so 'happening' in terms of its restaurants that it is a foodie's paradise. 

     To my astonishment, I discovered that KFC had closed down. I was told by the watchman that there is now only one branch of it in Andheri. Fortunately, right across the street was McDonald's--so there I went. I called Richard (who was taking his first Hindi class nearby) where I was seated so that he could join me there. 

     At this point I received a phone call from Russel's physiotherapist Lenita telling me that we ought to keep our 10.00 am appointment tomorrow with Dr. Derrick D'Lima at Holy Family Hospital as the doctor will be away for the next 20 days.  We had no choice in the matter.  Although Russel's knee is still oozing, it will be necessary to get the fiberglass cast on his shin to stabilize it and then address the knee. I called Dad and gave him the update and called Ewell, my friend, who usually arranges for the ambulance and got the number from him so that I can call for it tomorrow.  He gave me the numbers but told me that he would call tomorrow. Truly, these ambulance runs are also becoming routine for me.

     Richard arrived at about 8.30 pm and the two of us decided to go to McDee's for dinner.  I had last been there about four years ago with my niece and nephew when I had taken them out for a treat on one of my visits to Bombay.  We ordered a combo meal that consisted of a Rice Bowl (Cheesy for me, Spicy for Richard) with Chicken and a Chocolate Milk Shake each. The Rice Bowl was delicious and although the milk shake was okay, it made me crave the fabulous, super-thick, ice-creamy, absolutely unbeatable Chocolate Fudge Milk Shakes from Shake Shack which are truly one of the great indulgences of my life and which I would like to be a part of my last meal--if ever I was offered such a choice!    

     Richard and I caught up on what has been happening in each others' lives--I had to tell Richard that my brother's condition has meant that almost all of September has gone without my being able to get any Fulbright research done. However, I am not entirely frustrated on the work-front as I managed to get a lot of other work-related things done which are all part and parcel of my regular output--like reading final proofs of my Goa Book and finalizing a new plenary address for the conference in Hyderabad as well as designing the Powerpoint presentation that will be part of it--not to mention meeting with a new publisher and sending out a query to another one for my memoir. No, I have been more than productive in the circumstances and I ought not to feel guilty. 

     Richard told me that his dance classes at Dance Works and at two outfits in Dadar and Bandra are going well. He is the first Fulbrighter to come to India to teach modern dance and from what he told me, his schedule is grueling. Plus he is learning Hindi and trying to integrate himself as well as he can in the life of the city.  He lives in a one-bedroom apartment in chaotic Andheri but likes it as it is walking distance to the dance class with which he is most frequently affiliated. 

     Richard and I parted company at 9.15pm and I took a rickshaw home. I tried to watch a bit of Tunnel while eating custard-apple ice-cream for dessert; but I was falling asleep all over my iPad and gave up the fight at 10.15 pm when I prepared for bed by brushing and flossing my teeth.

     Until tomorrow...