Thursday, August 1, 2019
Bombay
Giving a Lecture at SNDT University, Lunch and Dinner
with Friends
Namaste
from Bombay!
It was strange to wake up in my parental
home again after a year. I’d had quite a disturbed night with two wake-ups
in-between. Luckily, I fell back asleep pretty soon each time, but the end
result was that it was about 7.15 am by the time I was ready to rouse myself.
Breakfast was two bruns which I walked out
to the small corner shop at my Dad’s front gate to buy—I decided I needed two
as I did not know when my lunch would be and I did not fancy being hungry. I
ate it with mango jam that had been gifted to me by my friend Marianel who made
it herself. That, a piece of mango (the very last of them) and some gorgeously
sweet and very dark cherries that had been sent for my Dad and Russel by my
brother Roger through a crew-member friend of his, saw us through breakfast.
After breakfast, I sat and blogged for a
while, but soon it was time for me to get ready for my afternoon’s assignment:
I had been invited to give a talk at the SNDT Womens’ University at Churchgate
by my friend Margaret who is a retired Professor of English herself. I had
known Margaret years ago when we were both English majors at Elphinstone
College. Margaret too became a university professor, ending her teaching
career, a couple of years ago, at SNDT University—she continues to teach at
Hinduja College today as an adjunct. It was she who had arranged for me to be
invited by the Graduate department of English of the university to speak about
my research on Anglo-Indians.
And so it was that I made my way from
Dad’s place to the bus-stop at Perry Cross Road to wait for the 220 bus which
came along just as I reached there. With
the fares down to half now, the buses are more crowded. However, I still
managed to get a seat as peak hour had passed. At Bandra Station, I bought a
second-class ticket (again, because trains are not crowded at 11.00 am) and
found myself going through a very comfortable journey. Well, either my
standards are low or I am open to a certain amount of discomfort; but I still
do not get why people in Bombay turn their noses up at public transport. It is
cheap, easy and superfast—what’s not to like???
Once at Churchgate station, I asked around
and was soon at the gate of the university where I found my way up to the 7th
floor in the elevator. What a huge difference one finds immediately in the look
and atmosphere of a government college (which this one is) and the private
ones. Having given lectures at Mithibai College and Narsee Monjee College of
Management Studies, I was so floored by the premises there—these, by contrast,
left much to be desired. I was told that being a government college, there is
almost no money to go around and this was certainly reflected in the paltry sum
of money they gave me for the guest lecture—that said, I really wasn’t expecting
anything at all; so it was a small bonus.
I spoke to the grad students (M.A. and
M.Phil. in English) on my research among Britain’s Anglo-Indians and I am
pleased to say that the classroom was packed with very bright, articulate and
intellectually curious students who asked me all sorts of questions at the end
of it. I was particularly questioned by a Goan girl who is working on Goans who
left Goa after the liberation and settled in Lisbon in Portugal where they,
too, she says, have acquired invisibility (as the Anglo-Indians have done in
the UK). It was fun talking to her about her research.
I was happy to meet Drupadi, one of the
faculty members who earned her Ph.D. most unusually from the University of
Heidelberg (Europe’s oldest) in Germany. She had talked to me about her
research and she kept insisting that I return to lecture to the students again.
I was pleased to see that the students really did seem to enjoy my talk as much
as I enjoyed giving it. This is
literally my last assignment in Bombay before I return to the US and I was
happy to close on a nice note.
Lunch with Margaret:
It was 2.00 pm by the time we finished and
I suggested to Margaret that we find a place where we could go and get a bite
to eat. I suggested the West End Hotel where
I had started my life in Bombay, a year ago; but Margaret did not fancy going
to a three-star hotel and suggested we go to a small South Indian place called Satkar which was about five minutes
away. I was so famished by then, I could eat a horse—but I settled for a plate
of dahi batata puri and a royal
falooda, by the end of which I was really stuffed. Margaret had a rava masala dosa and a fresh lime soda. I
will miss all this amazing Indian food so much!!!
Best
of all, we got to catch up and talk about our lives after our grad school years
at Elphinstone. Margaret gave me the
heartbreaking news that she had lost her only child at age 21 to dengue—the
dangerous mosquito-inflicted disease of which I was quite terrified when I came
to live in Bombay. When she explained to me the speed with which he died, four
years ago, I could barely contain my tears. It was just too too sad. We talked
also about a lot of other former colleagues and classmates and then, when we
had both eaten our fill, we walked together to Churchgate station where we got
into a slow train. I got off at Bandra and Margaret carried on to Andheri, four
stops away. I was very grateful to her for arranging for me to give this
talk—she had also arranged for me to give the talk at Mithibai College.
Back home after getting the 220 bus from
Bandra Station, I arrived again at Dad’s and immediately took a half hour nap.
When I awoke, I had a cup of tea and a small piece of cake before I relaxed a
bit with Twitter. I spent some time chatting with Russel. Next, I had a shower
and got dressed for my evening’s appointment.
Dinner with More Friends at Bandra Gymkhana:
My next appointment was with more
friends—friends from my youth, literally! I invited my lawyer friend Denzil and
his wife, Ruth (as well as some others). We go back a really long way to when I
was 18 years old and Denzil’s family used to live in Dad’s building. I became
very friendly with all of his siblings (there are five of them) and have
continued to stay closely in touch with them even though they are spread out.
Denzil recently helped me draft an affidavit for the change of my name that
would help me release my bank account in my maiden name. Denzil is married to
Ruth, who is the sister of a very good physician friend of mine, Chris D’Souza,
the famous ENT Specialist in Bombay. I had also invited Vinita, who was also
(with Denzil and me) in the Youth Movement in my church of St. Anne at Pali
Hill. Vinita is married to Herman, an amateur historian, whom I had met at
Denzil and Ruth’s place when they had invited me for lunch, several months ago.
In turn, Vinita and Herman had then invited me for a dinner party to their home,
a couple of months later. I have really enjoyed the company of these couples
who also happen to be very good friends. The other person I invited was Persis,
my Parsi friend, who lives down the road from my place and whom I keep bumping
into, on the street, very often. I had been telling her that I would call her
so that we could get together and that was indeed why I invited her too. I do
not have the room in my studio to entertain anybody and I was keen to
reciprocate the many invitations I have been receiving through the year—hence,
this gathering.
We all met at Bandra Gymkhana at 8.00 pm
and after introductions were made, we found our way to the restaurant upstairs
where we settled down to enjoy a really good meal. We decided to order drinks
first and got chicken wontons and chicken reshmi kebabs to begin with as we
settled down with beers and whiskey and soft drinks. Everyone decided to go the
Goan route, so dinner was Pork Vindaloo, Chicken Cafreal and Prawns Caldine
with Chinese Vegetables in Black Bean Sauce (because the Goans do not do
vegetables!). For dessert, everyone had a different choice from Caramel Custard
and Chocolate Ice-cream to kulfi and serra dura. We had such a grand chinwag
that we all lost track of the time. It was about 11. 30 pm when we eventually
decided to get going. Denzil and Ruth dropped Persis and me to our respective
gates. It was almost midnight when I got home and everyone else at Dad’s was
fast asleep. So I crept around the bathroom to change and brush my teeth and did
not lose any time getting to bed.
Until tomorrow…
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