Sunday, April 7, 2019
Bombay
A Superb Sunday Ends with Superb 'Vagina Monologues' at the Prithvi Theater
Namaste from Bombay!
A Rude Awakening:
It feels good when you have had a good Sunday to crown off a good weekend! Mine was superb!
It feels blissful to awake at a decent hour and I was still fast asleep when an awful din next door woke me up! These flats really do have paper-thin walls, my door is simply too close to my only neighbor's, they leave their door open all day (a custom among many Hindus, I am told) and they have zero consideration for the fact that there is actually someone (Moi!) living next door. Be that as it may, it sounded as if a gaggle of guys was going off on a picnic.
I waited for a few minutes for the din to subside and when it did not, since I was, by then, wide awake and furious, I got out of my bed, opened the door (just as they were leaving with loud goodbyes to those inside the flat) and said to them, "Could you keep the noise down, please? It is 6.30 on a Sunday!" They had the good grace to apologize (probably they had no idea that there was actually someone living next door) and fled. Silence returned but, by then, my sleep was disturbed and I was up and ready to take on another Sunday.
Dad Takes Ill:
I blogged, checked Twitter, downloaded the Sunday Times of London on my iPad, browsed a bit through the magazine section and then got out of bed. I washed, put a chapatti in the microwave to eat something before leaving the house for Mass and spreading it with Sainsbury's Three Fruits Marmalade, I wolfed it down with coffee. Simultaneously, I got dressed and then left for church where I was doing the commentary (Introduction, Prayers of the Faithful and Notices for the Week) at the 9.15 Mass. Just before leaving my studio, I called Dad to ask if he would meet me at the gate of his building, only to hear him sounding dreadful on the phone. I knew immediately that he was unwell. Turns out he had the beginnings of an attack of vertigo (after absolutely ages)--thanks, he thinks, to the continuous hours of IPL cricket matches to which he has been riveted on TV. He popped a couple of pills and decided to take the morning easy while I hurried on for Mass.
All went well although I was a tad nervous as I had never done the commentary at Mass before. After Mass, I picked up a Punjabi samosa for Russel as the vada pau were over and then went over to see Dad. He was lying down quietly and said that he was feeling dizzy although he has no nausea. Thankfully, Rohit had taken care of Russel's breakfast and everything was in control. I read out the notices for the week to Russel but then realized that I had taken a photo of the wrong set from the church notice board--last week's instead of this week's. Anyway, I left Dad's place quickly and told them I would return with Lunch.
Lunch with Dad and Russel:
Back home, I made myself a small bowl of muesli as I realized that I was already hungry with the one chapati I had eaten. I also got down to transcribing one interview (part of my backlog) with Alfred D'Souza of the Stop Gaps choir, and then ordered lunch over the phone from Bandra Gym. Not too long after, I received a call telling me it was ready and off I went to pick it up.
Lunch was Sweet Corn and Chicken Soup, East Indian Roast Pork and Methi Malai Mattar--all quite delicious indeed--with naans. I told Rohit to blend the roast pork for Dad who really enjoyed the soup and the peas--which were really creamy and good.
After lunch, Dad who was feeling so much better, had a long chat with me about all sorts of things: the IPL matches (he can't get over how exciting they are), the state of current Indian politics in the run-up to the elections which should start soon and Russel's situation. I left his place at 2.00 pm and returned home and told them I would not see them in the evening as I had other plans.
Back home, I had a short and lovely nap and then decided to continue reading the magazine section of The Sunday Times--I ended up having the sort of Sunday I usually have at home in Southport when I literally while away time in an attempt to enjoy my leisure.
Off to Prithvi Theater for The Vagina Monologues:
At 3.00 pm, I jumped into the shower and got dressed and ready for my evening's appointment. I was meeting my Fulbrighter friend Michelle at the corner of our lane and together we hopped into a bus that took us to the Prithvi Theater where I had a complimentary ticket given to me by the director to see a performance of The Vagina Monologues. I had never ever seen the play before although I know that it has had many resurrections over the years all over the world. Michelle who works on violence against women had already seen it 5 times (in different parts of the States) but told me that it has always been adapted to what is going on in the world and, therefore, is always different.
We had a hard time reaching the Prithvi because we took the wrong bus by mistake--we ought to have taken the 56 instead of the 51. Still, the driver told us where to get off and which bus to connect to--I did exactly what I always do in London: I hop into any bus going in my direction and then the driver guides me and tell me where to get off and which bus/es will take me forward.
The wait for the connecting bus made us a bit frantic and we were about to take a rick when our bus came. Then, it crept and crawled through the Juhu area and past the beach and literally got us to the theater door with only minutes to spare before the curtain went up. I picked up my comp, Michelle bought a ticket for Rs. 500 and we got the last two seats in a Full House! Can you believe it? Well, the Prithvi is small with seating capacity for only 185 and there were literally 4 shows that day! We were at the one that began at 5.00 pm.
Well, what can I say about a play that this group has been putting on for 17 years except that it was stunning? And it was! I mean the script was simply scintillating and the acting was breathtaking--especially by Mona Ambegoankar and Swati Das. The other two cast members were Dolly Thakore and Mahabanoo Kotwal who also directed the play and gave us very humorous instructions on how to turn off our mobile devices before the play began.
It was topical to the hilt with many references to the various atrocities committed against women in India. The monologues were done by Indian women from a variety of backgrounds (Maharashtrian, Sindhi, Gujarati, South Indian) and in each one of them, the first two actors I have mentioned gave us sterling performances as they got the mannerisms and the accent of these communities spot-on.
I had no idea what to expect and I have to say that Eve Ensler's play is brilliant--I can now see why it has had repeated stagings over the years in different parts of the world. I am only sorry I had not seen it earlier. It was truly a memorable experience. Performed without an intermission, combining sadness and humor and evoking anger and disbelief in the audience, the play was minimally produced with just four red high-stools presenting four women who were dressed in delightful costume avatars of black and red--each sporting a gash of bright red lipstick and presented with very effective lighting and sound additions as it marched on. What a grand evening at the theater! It is performances and productions like these that make me realize how much on par Bombay is with the rest of the world when it comes to the arts and culture and how tremendously enriched a life one can have in this city if one has a wide range of interests and the money with which to enjoy them.
Cake and Lassi at the Prithvi Theater Cafe:
Michelle and I were both peckish after the play (which, by the way, Michelle also loved) and we thought we would crown a lovely evening with a bite in the iconic Prithvi Theater Cafe where, in my youth, I had sipped my fair share of Irish coffees. This time we were seduced by a mile-high cake called Chocolate Vertigo (because it was so high, got it?) and quite appropriate a thing for me to eat on a day when Dad's vertigo revisited him! I ordered a mango lassi and Michelle got a big bottle of chilled water. The cafe was simply packed...so we found a quiet corner on a marble seat around a tree and feasted on our very delicious cake (which we shared) as we made plans for tomorrow.
Michelle is at the end of her Fulbright assignment in Inda--she had arrived here in Bombay much before I did--and she leaves to return to the States this Thursday. She has been a great friend and super help to me at a time when I was crumbling from the disaster of my lost files on my computer. She is also a computer geek and I have leaned from her how to save my precious files on Google Drive! So I wanted to take her out for dinner and, thankfully, she is free tomorrow night. I also texted my friends Anil and Ninaz immediately to ask if they could make it--and they could! And so, we will be meeting again tomorrow night at the Bandra Gym for us to say goodbye to Michelle and wish her well as she goes on to take up a summer internship with US Aid in Washington DC and will go on to do her Masters in Public Health at Harvard in the Fall. I will be sorry to see her leave and I will miss her much!
Exploring Food Hall in Santa Cruz:
We took a rick back home and en route stopped off at Food Hall, a swanky new two-level supermarket that has opened on Linking Road in Santa Cruz which I have been meaning to check out for a while. Michelle has been and is very familiar with this place and has bought some exotic goodies, she said, that have been much appreciated by her American friends in the States!
Well, I have to say, it was a revelation. I thought I was in Waitrose, which, as everyone knows, is my favorite supermarket chain in the UK. There is everything you could ever want from fine fresh produce to frozen treats such as salmon fillets and unusual ice-cream. In the mango section alone, there were at least a dozen varieties of mango and I am kicking myself now for not taking a picture. It would have been just wonderful on Twitter! There is a bakery section (the almond croissants looked divine) and a whole section upstairs selling chocolates--hand made individual beauties that made me believe, for a minute, that I was at Harrods in London! There is also a cafe du the upstairs where people were sipping a cuppa and enjoying fresh pastries--again, the pastries were so pretty that I could have been in Angelique in Paris! I was hugely floored! Of course, I don't need to tell you that all this comes at a pretty price--but at least it is available! There were so many different kinds of fresh mushrooms, every condiment you can imagine, massive sections on tea and coffee (alas! Nothing was decaf--so I will have to get those supplies from overseas for the rest of my life, once I move here) but hey, you can't get everything, can you? I felt like a kid in a candy shop and I enjoyed every second except for one obnoxious kid whose parents and grand parents had no control over him and who was making an absolute nuisance of himself!
Michelle bought some more of the fancy teas that her friends have told her to carry back home for them to the US and I bought nothing as I do not need anything for the moment. But it is good to know that this Aladdin's Cave of goodies exists not far from me, if I ever have Trader Joe or Waitrose Withdrawal Symptoms!
We took a rick back home from there and Michelle dropped me off before she got back to her home. I walked one block to my place and then (because the cake and lassi were my dinner), I had a long chat with Llew on the phone and then sat down to watch Bloopers of some of my favorite British TV shows (As Times Goes By, Keeping Up Appearances, Absolutely Fabulous)--all on You Tube and fell asleep really really late as I did not want a really superb Sunday to end!
Until tomorrow!
Showing posts with label Juhu Beach. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Juhu Beach. Show all posts
Sunday, April 7, 2019
Thursday, March 28, 2019
A Physiotherapy Session for Russel and an Interview at Prithvi Theater
Wednesday, March 27, 2019
Bombay
A Physiotherapy Session for Russel and an Interview at Prithvi Theater
Namaste from Bombay!
Time is fleeting and I am trying hard to catch up with my past Fulbright interviews which were wiped out on my computer. I have to say that I am not doing too badly and slowly, but steadily, they are being re-input.
So brekkie was muesli with coffee before I whipped off to Dad's for Russel's physio session with Valerian. As it turned out both he and Dad had a lousy night--Dad's implants are causing Russel anxiety and keeping him up at night and when he is up, so is Dad. Suffice it to say that Dad looked dreadful when I saw him and Russel was fast asleep at 9.00 am when I got there! When he awoke, he was insistent that we should cancel our appointment, but Dad managed to convince him to co-operate. It was clearly not going to be the best of sessions, that was for sure!
Valerian did come around and as Russel all but refused to even walk to the living room, exercises were confined to his bed. Dad was very disappointed but Russel was simply not in the mood or the right frame of mind and kept telling me what a bad night he'd had. All we could do was make the best of a bad show and with Valerian completing exercises and reiterating that we should see another orthopedist about the instability in Russel's left leg that will always prevent him from walking independently and keep him prone to falls and fractures, he left. Dad was pretty despondent by the prognosis and told me as much in the evening when he said he is praying very hard that we will be inspired to go to the right doctors who will, in turn, be inspired to heal Russel.
Running Errands:
When Valerian left, I did too. I went straight to my photocopy man Jay to get the SBI form printed out for change of my online passwords. The loss of my Documents has hit me hardest in the loss of all my passwords. I have no idea now how I will get into my subscriptions of The New York Times, The Times of London, Waitrose in London, the Bobst Library at NYU or even my Fulbright shells! It is all a mess and I am really regretting that I had never emailed that file to myself! I guess I will cross each bridge as I come to it--for the moment, I have also lost my Twitter password and have no idea what to do to reset that! However, the banking one is most urgent as I need to stay abreast of my balance in my Indian bank account--hence the need to address that issue first.
Jay did the job in minutes and with the forms in duplicate, I walked to the SBI--only to find a huge notice on their front gate to say that all employees have been relegated to election duty training and so the bank would remain closed! Can you even believe it???!!! Apart from the fact that it causes so much inconvenience to patrons, just think of the loss to their business at a time when India's economy is in the doldrums and needs every shot in the arm it can get to boost it! I was aghast! However, with really nothing I could do in the matter, I returned home and got down to the task of transcribing interviews.
I managed to transcribe two more--with Mark Nunes and Francis Mendes of the Symphony Orchestra of India--before it was time for me to have my lunch: chicken mince with potato, dal and okra--and then to shower and get dressed for my next appointment. This involved an interview at the Prithvi Theater in Juhu and since it is quite far away, I gave myself more than an hour to get a bus (which goes right up to the spot from very close to my home) to get there.
But as fate would have it, the bus did not come for 20 minutes and since I did not want to be late, I hailed a passing rick and sailed off down Carter Road to Juhu Beach and was at the venue on time. So much for my consciousness to be on time. I was settled down in a spot where mosquitoes were eating me alive and told that Kunal Kapoor, whom I was scheduled to meet, had been delayed in a previous meeting and would be with me in 15 minutes. They were excruciating minutes as the mosquitoes made mincemeat of me! And his 15 minutes turned into a half hour. Good Job I had carried along my former student Priti's novel to read: Out With Lanterns--which, by the way, I am enjoying immensely. It is beautifully written and quite quite funny indeed.
An Interview with Kunal Kapoor:
Apart from finding out about the Prithvi Theater itself, which Kunal runs as a Trustee of the establishment, I was keen to find out about his pedigree in terms of English-language theater. He is the grandson of two famed theatrical families--on his paternal side, his grandfather is Prithviraj Kapoor, founder of the Prithvi Raj Studios and on his maternal side, his grandparents are Geoffrey and Laura Kendal who founded the traveling theater troupe in India that was called Shakespeareana. As a child, I'd had the privilege of seeing them perform in my school (when I was in Std VII) and it was definitely my first introduction to Shakespeare. I can clearly recall seeing Laura play Lady Macbeth in the famous "Out Damned Spot" monologue and Geoffrey playing Othello in the scene before he strangles poor Desdemona. It is only now in retrospect that I realize how lucky I was to have been witness to history for the Kendals brought The Bard to the attention of countless school children in India. As Kunal put it, it is unlikely that anyone in India over the age of 55 who went to an English medium school did not have the pleasure of watching his grandparents in action. Of course, they were joined in this endeavor by their daughters, Jennifer, who met her future husband Shashi Kapoor when he joined the troupe, and Felicity who, after her parents folded up their business, went to London and pursued a career in acting there. She aced it quite early in the game with Good Neighbors (a show I love--with Penelope Keith, Richard Briers and Paul Edington--all of whom became small-screen stars in the UK). In more recent years, I have seen Felicity on the London stage at the Trafalgar Studios playing opposite Nicholas Le Prevost in The Last Cigarette. And, of course, she became a household name in the US with Rosemary and Thyme, the TV show, in which she plays the role of a amateur gardening detective, opposite Pam Ferris.
My interview with Kunal went along smoothly. He was kind and thoughtful enough to call for a mosquito coil when he found how much I was fidgeting under the onslaught of those pesky mosquitoes. He offered me refreshment but I took nothing as I'd just had lunch and was counting calories. He spoke with ease about his memories of the Kendals and his contribution to Prithvi Theater and what their aims and objectives continue to be as the establishment enters its 40th year. It was a time for back-patting but also for reaching forward. Kunal then put me on to two books that were upstairs in the offices of Prithvi Theater--the autobiography of Geoffrey Kendal and a commemorative book called The Prithviwallahs that was brought out on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the theater.
Expressing my gratitude to Kunal, I made my way up into the bowels of the theater, through semi-darkness, past the wings and the Green Rooms and arrived at the office where I then spent the next hour browsing through the books. I have added them to my bibliography and hope to find them at the library of the NCPA as Kunal could not part with them--and very sensibly too! If I do not get them at the NCPA library, I shall see if my South Asian Studies section librarian Aruna Maguier at the Bobst Library at NYU can get them for me when I go back home. Finally, there is always Amazon through which I can purchase the books using my faculty development funds--but, of course, this will have to be after I get back home.
I left the Prithvi Theater after taking pictures of some of the posters of its English plays. I also surveyed the premises--the book store and the cafe of which Kunal had spoken--and then I was on my way. I took a rickshaw and got home feeling ready for a hot pot of lemony tea and a slice of cake.
At this point, a nap felt very temping and I curled up for one. About a half hour later, I left straight for church for the novena which began at 6.45 followed by Mass at 7.00.
Dad and I walked back home to his gate together where I took my leave and went home. At my door, my next-door neighbor--bless his heart--asked me if I was up for a vegetable sandwich! I told him I would be delighted. He told me they were making them at home. About fifteen minutes later, he rang my doorbell and presented me with a freshly toasted sandwich filled with cucumber, tomato, beetroot and potato--the typical Bombay vegetable street sandwich that is absolutely delicious with a lick of tomato ketchup. I enjoyed it while watching the second part of Hinterland. Then, a quick chat with Llew who is hard at work in our Southport home installing central air-conditioning ducts, and I found myself feeling really sleepy. I decided not to fight it. But 9.30 pm, I switched the light off, ignoring the determination I had felt to input one more interview before calling it a day. You simply have to succumb to fatigue, sometimes!
Until tomorrow...
Bombay
A Physiotherapy Session for Russel and an Interview at Prithvi Theater
Namaste from Bombay!
Time is fleeting and I am trying hard to catch up with my past Fulbright interviews which were wiped out on my computer. I have to say that I am not doing too badly and slowly, but steadily, they are being re-input.
So brekkie was muesli with coffee before I whipped off to Dad's for Russel's physio session with Valerian. As it turned out both he and Dad had a lousy night--Dad's implants are causing Russel anxiety and keeping him up at night and when he is up, so is Dad. Suffice it to say that Dad looked dreadful when I saw him and Russel was fast asleep at 9.00 am when I got there! When he awoke, he was insistent that we should cancel our appointment, but Dad managed to convince him to co-operate. It was clearly not going to be the best of sessions, that was for sure!
Valerian did come around and as Russel all but refused to even walk to the living room, exercises were confined to his bed. Dad was very disappointed but Russel was simply not in the mood or the right frame of mind and kept telling me what a bad night he'd had. All we could do was make the best of a bad show and with Valerian completing exercises and reiterating that we should see another orthopedist about the instability in Russel's left leg that will always prevent him from walking independently and keep him prone to falls and fractures, he left. Dad was pretty despondent by the prognosis and told me as much in the evening when he said he is praying very hard that we will be inspired to go to the right doctors who will, in turn, be inspired to heal Russel.
Running Errands:
When Valerian left, I did too. I went straight to my photocopy man Jay to get the SBI form printed out for change of my online passwords. The loss of my Documents has hit me hardest in the loss of all my passwords. I have no idea now how I will get into my subscriptions of The New York Times, The Times of London, Waitrose in London, the Bobst Library at NYU or even my Fulbright shells! It is all a mess and I am really regretting that I had never emailed that file to myself! I guess I will cross each bridge as I come to it--for the moment, I have also lost my Twitter password and have no idea what to do to reset that! However, the banking one is most urgent as I need to stay abreast of my balance in my Indian bank account--hence the need to address that issue first.
Jay did the job in minutes and with the forms in duplicate, I walked to the SBI--only to find a huge notice on their front gate to say that all employees have been relegated to election duty training and so the bank would remain closed! Can you even believe it???!!! Apart from the fact that it causes so much inconvenience to patrons, just think of the loss to their business at a time when India's economy is in the doldrums and needs every shot in the arm it can get to boost it! I was aghast! However, with really nothing I could do in the matter, I returned home and got down to the task of transcribing interviews.
I managed to transcribe two more--with Mark Nunes and Francis Mendes of the Symphony Orchestra of India--before it was time for me to have my lunch: chicken mince with potato, dal and okra--and then to shower and get dressed for my next appointment. This involved an interview at the Prithvi Theater in Juhu and since it is quite far away, I gave myself more than an hour to get a bus (which goes right up to the spot from very close to my home) to get there.
But as fate would have it, the bus did not come for 20 minutes and since I did not want to be late, I hailed a passing rick and sailed off down Carter Road to Juhu Beach and was at the venue on time. So much for my consciousness to be on time. I was settled down in a spot where mosquitoes were eating me alive and told that Kunal Kapoor, whom I was scheduled to meet, had been delayed in a previous meeting and would be with me in 15 minutes. They were excruciating minutes as the mosquitoes made mincemeat of me! And his 15 minutes turned into a half hour. Good Job I had carried along my former student Priti's novel to read: Out With Lanterns--which, by the way, I am enjoying immensely. It is beautifully written and quite quite funny indeed.
An Interview with Kunal Kapoor:
Apart from finding out about the Prithvi Theater itself, which Kunal runs as a Trustee of the establishment, I was keen to find out about his pedigree in terms of English-language theater. He is the grandson of two famed theatrical families--on his paternal side, his grandfather is Prithviraj Kapoor, founder of the Prithvi Raj Studios and on his maternal side, his grandparents are Geoffrey and Laura Kendal who founded the traveling theater troupe in India that was called Shakespeareana. As a child, I'd had the privilege of seeing them perform in my school (when I was in Std VII) and it was definitely my first introduction to Shakespeare. I can clearly recall seeing Laura play Lady Macbeth in the famous "Out Damned Spot" monologue and Geoffrey playing Othello in the scene before he strangles poor Desdemona. It is only now in retrospect that I realize how lucky I was to have been witness to history for the Kendals brought The Bard to the attention of countless school children in India. As Kunal put it, it is unlikely that anyone in India over the age of 55 who went to an English medium school did not have the pleasure of watching his grandparents in action. Of course, they were joined in this endeavor by their daughters, Jennifer, who met her future husband Shashi Kapoor when he joined the troupe, and Felicity who, after her parents folded up their business, went to London and pursued a career in acting there. She aced it quite early in the game with Good Neighbors (a show I love--with Penelope Keith, Richard Briers and Paul Edington--all of whom became small-screen stars in the UK). In more recent years, I have seen Felicity on the London stage at the Trafalgar Studios playing opposite Nicholas Le Prevost in The Last Cigarette. And, of course, she became a household name in the US with Rosemary and Thyme, the TV show, in which she plays the role of a amateur gardening detective, opposite Pam Ferris.
My interview with Kunal went along smoothly. He was kind and thoughtful enough to call for a mosquito coil when he found how much I was fidgeting under the onslaught of those pesky mosquitoes. He offered me refreshment but I took nothing as I'd just had lunch and was counting calories. He spoke with ease about his memories of the Kendals and his contribution to Prithvi Theater and what their aims and objectives continue to be as the establishment enters its 40th year. It was a time for back-patting but also for reaching forward. Kunal then put me on to two books that were upstairs in the offices of Prithvi Theater--the autobiography of Geoffrey Kendal and a commemorative book called The Prithviwallahs that was brought out on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the theater.
Expressing my gratitude to Kunal, I made my way up into the bowels of the theater, through semi-darkness, past the wings and the Green Rooms and arrived at the office where I then spent the next hour browsing through the books. I have added them to my bibliography and hope to find them at the library of the NCPA as Kunal could not part with them--and very sensibly too! If I do not get them at the NCPA library, I shall see if my South Asian Studies section librarian Aruna Maguier at the Bobst Library at NYU can get them for me when I go back home. Finally, there is always Amazon through which I can purchase the books using my faculty development funds--but, of course, this will have to be after I get back home.
I left the Prithvi Theater after taking pictures of some of the posters of its English plays. I also surveyed the premises--the book store and the cafe of which Kunal had spoken--and then I was on my way. I took a rickshaw and got home feeling ready for a hot pot of lemony tea and a slice of cake.
At this point, a nap felt very temping and I curled up for one. About a half hour later, I left straight for church for the novena which began at 6.45 followed by Mass at 7.00.
Dad and I walked back home to his gate together where I took my leave and went home. At my door, my next-door neighbor--bless his heart--asked me if I was up for a vegetable sandwich! I told him I would be delighted. He told me they were making them at home. About fifteen minutes later, he rang my doorbell and presented me with a freshly toasted sandwich filled with cucumber, tomato, beetroot and potato--the typical Bombay vegetable street sandwich that is absolutely delicious with a lick of tomato ketchup. I enjoyed it while watching the second part of Hinterland. Then, a quick chat with Llew who is hard at work in our Southport home installing central air-conditioning ducts, and I found myself feeling really sleepy. I decided not to fight it. But 9.30 pm, I switched the light off, ignoring the determination I had felt to input one more interview before calling it a day. You simply have to succumb to fatigue, sometimes!
Until tomorrow...
Friday, December 7, 2018
Transcribing and A US Consulate Event on 'Women and Violence'
Friday, December 7, 2018
Bombay
Transcribing and A US Consulate Event on 'Women and Violence'.
Namaste from Bombay!
As I have said before, the thing about my life in Bombay is how unpredictable it is and how each day is completely different from the one before it. Today was one such day.
I awoke early actually--about 5.30 today, and used the time to blog, read my Twitter feed and respond to email. This part of my life has become routine. I was also determined to go to the gym today. I ate my entire breakfast (Muesli and coffee) while watching The Two Fat Ladies whom I have discovered on You Tube--they were in Winchester at the Cathedral cooking for the choristers just before Christmas. How cool was that? I used to own their entire set of programs on VHS--but now, of course, with all of us using DVDs exclusively, I miss them so much!
And then I was off. It was a late start at the gym (I got there just before 10.00am) and I stayed till it closed at 11.00 am. Felt great to get back to my workout. Hopefully, I will keep this up. Morning interviews in the city make it difficult for me to fit in a workout unless I am willing to wake up at 4.30 and 5.00 as I used to do! The extra sleep is certainly better for me.
Back home from the gym, I had a shower and was about to get down to work when I called Dad to tell him I would come to his place just before lunch to complete an errand. He told me that Russel's boot maker would be arriving in half an hour and he wondered if I would like to be present while Russel took his first steps with it. I decided to go there although I would be right in the middle of some work.
So I started transcribing my interview with Pooh Sayani and half an hour later, I dressed and went off to Dad's. The boot maker had just arrived and had fitted the boot on Russel's foot. This gives him stability and will probably facilitate his attainment of mobility.
I did not stay long as I then went on to the bank. When I got there, I found a crowd at the window. I asked if the crowd was there to deposit money and I was told that all functions were being carried out at one window only (as the second clerk was absent today) and that the "machine" (by which I think they mean the computer) had broken down. I was darned if I was going to stand in such a long line when I had so much work to do. So I made a right about turn and thought I would return to the bank tomorrow. This is one of the occupational hazards of living in India. Things such as banking (which ought to go hand-in-hand with great customer service) are generally a hassle. I am banking with one of India's best and most reputed banks (The State Bank of India) and I still run into these sorts of road blocks. It can get very frustrating--which is why I restrict my banking as much as possible and go there only when absolutely essential.
Back home, I finished transcribing my interview with Pooh--by which time it was about 2.00 pm. I stopped for lunch and decided to proof read it after I had eaten. I ate more bits and bobs from my fridge as I want to finish up my leftovers--in fact, I suspended my meal delivery service until Monday as I do want to finish up all my food. I continued watching The Two Fat Ladies as I ate. In some ways, my TV entertainment is exactly the same as it was when I lived in London, two years ago.
I took my 20 minute power nap, finished proofreading Pooh's interview and contacted Michelle, my Fulbright colleague, to find out at what time and where we would be meeting for our next appointment. We had been invited by the US Consulate in Bombay to attend an evening of screening of short films on 'Women and Violence'. This event was being co-sponsored by the Consulate and was held at the poolside of the Novotel at Juhu. It was scheduled to run from 6-8 pm.
I, therefore, decided to have an early visit with Dad and Russel. When I got there at about 4.00 pm, Russel's physiotherapist Lenita, was almost at the end of her session with him. She told me that Russel is doing better with the walking stick instead of the walker and that the boot is helping. But sometimes, when he gets tired, he does not place his leg correctly on the floor and is appears to twist. We all knew that Russel's rehabilitation would be a long and slow road--so I do not feel unduly unhappy that he is not progressing as quickly as we would like. I know that with patience (and prayer), he will do better and better as the days go by. It is his knee that does not provide him with the support he needs, plus he is reluctant to put weight on his fractured leg. Instead of picking up his good leg and stepping on it in the normal course, he keeps dragging it. He also tires easily and is reluctant to keep at it--he seems to lack the motivation to do so.
After Lenita left, I stayed with Dad for another hour. I darned one of his pairs of shorts as it needing some mending and I also told them where I was headed.
An Evening Out at Juhu:
At 5.15 pm, I left and met Michelle at the corner of my street. She arrived in a rickshaw that took us to Juhu. Finding the hotel was not difficult with Google maps-what would we ever do without it??? And what did we ever do before it???
When driving in the rickshaw past Juhu Beach and in the area that is now almost unrecognizable to me because it is just crammed with upscale designer boutiques, expensive eateries, etc. that tap into the pockets of India's ultra-rich, I told Michelle about my college years when we used to hang out at the beach (much less crowded then), have camel rides on the sand (yes, camel rides during which the ascent and descent were the scariest things and always accompanied by peels of giggles), eat bhel puri and kulfi on the sands and go back home--that was a great afternoon out wth college buddies. In later years, once Chriselle was born, my parents and I would take her to the beach on a Saturday morning (when the beach was virtually empty) and they would sit facing the water while Chriselle and I frolicked amidst the waves. My Dad would then dig her a well so that she could stand in it and I would be helping her build a huge sand castle. We did this regularly for a couple of years at least and looking at the wide expanse of beach from the poolside of the hotel, I was filled with all these beautiful memories of years gone by in India.
At 6.00 pm sharp when we walked into the venue, there was barely anyone there. This was one occasion on which I found that no one kept strict time. I suppose the moment you have a bunch of celebrities invited to an event, you can be sure that it will begin at least an hour late. The Pool was surrounded by chairs and tables and there were two gigantic screens assembled there. A few US Consular staff could be seen but other than that, it was mainly the film-makers and their teams milling around.
The hotel had a fabulous location and the pool where we hovered overlooked the Arabian Sea. The sun had just set and the sky was streaked with pearl-like luminescence. Next door, I was tickled to find the Sun and Sand Hotel, the oldest hotel in Juhu and the snazziest one before the international hotel chains came along. It is still holding its own in the midst of so much gentrification that I said Three Cheers to its longevity.
Michelle and I found seats right in front that offered an unobstructed view of the screen (since we had first dibs) and chatted about her background. She happens to be from the North Mariana Islands. I was shocked that I had never heard of this place--I who pride myself on my knowledge of global geography! It turns out to be one of the territories of the United States (such as Puerto Rico, Guam and Samoa-of which I have heard!) Who knew? They are located just north of Australia and Papua New Guinea and are a part of Micronesia. They used to be a Spanish colony until the 1940s when the US used them as a military base and then annexed them! Same story as in Hawai'i!
Michelle looks like the native Hawaiians do--she is dark skinned and has very curly (corkscrew) hair. She could pass off for an African-American but, as she told me, she has no African blood at all. She is pure Polynesian! How cool is that??!! She went to school on her island--the syllabus is exactly like that of any US public school--and studied in the mainland US (at the University of Iowa) before securing her undergrad Fulbright Scholarship to India. She is working with the Tata Institute of Social Sciences on "Women and Violence in India" and was fully familiar with the context of the awards' ceremony. I was very pleased that I had the opportunity to get to know her a little bit.
A really funny thing then happened...funny and unexpected. The two of us got talking to the women behind us--they all looked about my age and they were all film-makers. When I introduced myself and said my name, one of them asked if I had studied at Elphinstone College. When I said yes, she told me, we have been chatting on the Whatsapp group. I asked her name and she said Rashmi. And I said, "Rashmi Lamba?" And she said, "Yes". So there we were, recognizing each other from our names on our Elphinstone College Reunion chat group!
As someone who is not on Facebook, this was quite fascinating to me--that we were able to make the connection. Naturally, she introduced me to her friends--one of whom I remembered well. She turned out to be Lijja Mathews who used to be a producer for Bombay TV (known as Doordarshan) and I had often appeared on her show which was called Young World as my Elphinstone College classmate Sharmila Mukherjee happened to have worked as her assistant producer on the same show! What a small world! Lijja is now a well-known director of films on women. Rashmi also makes films on Womens' issues--turns out that like me, she has returned to Bombay after many years as an ex-pat: she lived with her banker husband in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and then Toronto, Canada, before they returned to retire in Bombay. She lives in Juhu and she told me that she absolutely loves her life in Bombay--and I can see why. She has easily picked up all her connections with other women film-makers and now falls within a neat coterie of female professionals who are doing meaningful work in an environment that strongly supports their talents.
The show itself turned out to be interesting. A few short speeches from US Consular officials including the Consul-General who welcomed the audience followed by a screening of five entries. These were 'shorts--films that ranged from one to five minutes each. We stopped for a beverage and snacks break--there were sandwiches, chicken quiche, chicken patties, brownies and cake. The screening of five other films followed after which the audience was invited to opt for their winner as a special People's Choice award would also be given. The dazzling team of judges were people connected in some way or the other with the depiction of women in films and other media--I have to admit that, as a result of suffering from cultural illiteracy (I have been away from India for too long)--none of the judges' names meant anything to me. But I believe some of them were stars of local TV shows. As I do not watch any local shows, I do not recognize these local celebrities.
A very long and very high brow discussion on stage among members of the jury followed during which most of the audience began to leave. It was a time when they were counting the votes actually--so they had to have some kind of activity going on then. But I thought it was hardly the right time to launch into such an intellectual dissection on the condition of women in film-making and of the depiction and portrayal of women in films as well as the sexual conditioning that we all undergo from birth and the sexism to which we are exposed every single day. If they had scheduled this discussion earlier in the evening, it would have been far more fruitful.
The awards were finally announced and I was happy to see that my choice won second place--it was the first film screened (An Independent Day) and it had the entire speech that Prime Minister Nehru made on August 15, 1947, in the background--the 'Tryst With Destiny' speech as it is known played ("At the stroke of the midnight hour, while the world sleeps, India awakes to freedom, etc"). Hearing that speech--no matter how often--never ceases to bring goose bumps to my skin. I thought the overall concept in that film was really great.
It was 9.30 when the event ended. Michelle and I bought bread from the French bakery attached to the hotel and with our parcel, we hailed a rickshaw using OLA and got home at 10.15 pm. I invited Michelle to come up to my studio to check it out--and made the disheartening discovery that my gun-throated neighbor (the blushing bride of two days ago!) is back and yelling lustily every time she opens her mouth! Michelle too loved my place and told me how lucky I was to have found it. She did not stay long.
We have made plans to organize a Fulbright holiday party for the few Bandraites here and shall have a screening of Love, Actually--which is a part of my annual Christmas rituals--together with some good wine and victuals and shall bring in the holiday season soon.We will hold it at Michelle's larger apartment that she shares with a room-mate down the lane at Turner Road.
I was asleep not long after Michelle left at the end of what turned out to be a most unusual day!
Until tomorrow....
Bombay
Transcribing and A US Consulate Event on 'Women and Violence'.
Namaste from Bombay!
As I have said before, the thing about my life in Bombay is how unpredictable it is and how each day is completely different from the one before it. Today was one such day.
I awoke early actually--about 5.30 today, and used the time to blog, read my Twitter feed and respond to email. This part of my life has become routine. I was also determined to go to the gym today. I ate my entire breakfast (Muesli and coffee) while watching The Two Fat Ladies whom I have discovered on You Tube--they were in Winchester at the Cathedral cooking for the choristers just before Christmas. How cool was that? I used to own their entire set of programs on VHS--but now, of course, with all of us using DVDs exclusively, I miss them so much!
And then I was off. It was a late start at the gym (I got there just before 10.00am) and I stayed till it closed at 11.00 am. Felt great to get back to my workout. Hopefully, I will keep this up. Morning interviews in the city make it difficult for me to fit in a workout unless I am willing to wake up at 4.30 and 5.00 as I used to do! The extra sleep is certainly better for me.
Back home from the gym, I had a shower and was about to get down to work when I called Dad to tell him I would come to his place just before lunch to complete an errand. He told me that Russel's boot maker would be arriving in half an hour and he wondered if I would like to be present while Russel took his first steps with it. I decided to go there although I would be right in the middle of some work.
So I started transcribing my interview with Pooh Sayani and half an hour later, I dressed and went off to Dad's. The boot maker had just arrived and had fitted the boot on Russel's foot. This gives him stability and will probably facilitate his attainment of mobility.
I did not stay long as I then went on to the bank. When I got there, I found a crowd at the window. I asked if the crowd was there to deposit money and I was told that all functions were being carried out at one window only (as the second clerk was absent today) and that the "machine" (by which I think they mean the computer) had broken down. I was darned if I was going to stand in such a long line when I had so much work to do. So I made a right about turn and thought I would return to the bank tomorrow. This is one of the occupational hazards of living in India. Things such as banking (which ought to go hand-in-hand with great customer service) are generally a hassle. I am banking with one of India's best and most reputed banks (The State Bank of India) and I still run into these sorts of road blocks. It can get very frustrating--which is why I restrict my banking as much as possible and go there only when absolutely essential.
Back home, I finished transcribing my interview with Pooh--by which time it was about 2.00 pm. I stopped for lunch and decided to proof read it after I had eaten. I ate more bits and bobs from my fridge as I want to finish up my leftovers--in fact, I suspended my meal delivery service until Monday as I do want to finish up all my food. I continued watching The Two Fat Ladies as I ate. In some ways, my TV entertainment is exactly the same as it was when I lived in London, two years ago.
I took my 20 minute power nap, finished proofreading Pooh's interview and contacted Michelle, my Fulbright colleague, to find out at what time and where we would be meeting for our next appointment. We had been invited by the US Consulate in Bombay to attend an evening of screening of short films on 'Women and Violence'. This event was being co-sponsored by the Consulate and was held at the poolside of the Novotel at Juhu. It was scheduled to run from 6-8 pm.
I, therefore, decided to have an early visit with Dad and Russel. When I got there at about 4.00 pm, Russel's physiotherapist Lenita, was almost at the end of her session with him. She told me that Russel is doing better with the walking stick instead of the walker and that the boot is helping. But sometimes, when he gets tired, he does not place his leg correctly on the floor and is appears to twist. We all knew that Russel's rehabilitation would be a long and slow road--so I do not feel unduly unhappy that he is not progressing as quickly as we would like. I know that with patience (and prayer), he will do better and better as the days go by. It is his knee that does not provide him with the support he needs, plus he is reluctant to put weight on his fractured leg. Instead of picking up his good leg and stepping on it in the normal course, he keeps dragging it. He also tires easily and is reluctant to keep at it--he seems to lack the motivation to do so.
After Lenita left, I stayed with Dad for another hour. I darned one of his pairs of shorts as it needing some mending and I also told them where I was headed.
An Evening Out at Juhu:
At 5.15 pm, I left and met Michelle at the corner of my street. She arrived in a rickshaw that took us to Juhu. Finding the hotel was not difficult with Google maps-what would we ever do without it??? And what did we ever do before it???
When driving in the rickshaw past Juhu Beach and in the area that is now almost unrecognizable to me because it is just crammed with upscale designer boutiques, expensive eateries, etc. that tap into the pockets of India's ultra-rich, I told Michelle about my college years when we used to hang out at the beach (much less crowded then), have camel rides on the sand (yes, camel rides during which the ascent and descent were the scariest things and always accompanied by peels of giggles), eat bhel puri and kulfi on the sands and go back home--that was a great afternoon out wth college buddies. In later years, once Chriselle was born, my parents and I would take her to the beach on a Saturday morning (when the beach was virtually empty) and they would sit facing the water while Chriselle and I frolicked amidst the waves. My Dad would then dig her a well so that she could stand in it and I would be helping her build a huge sand castle. We did this regularly for a couple of years at least and looking at the wide expanse of beach from the poolside of the hotel, I was filled with all these beautiful memories of years gone by in India.
At 6.00 pm sharp when we walked into the venue, there was barely anyone there. This was one occasion on which I found that no one kept strict time. I suppose the moment you have a bunch of celebrities invited to an event, you can be sure that it will begin at least an hour late. The Pool was surrounded by chairs and tables and there were two gigantic screens assembled there. A few US Consular staff could be seen but other than that, it was mainly the film-makers and their teams milling around.
The hotel had a fabulous location and the pool where we hovered overlooked the Arabian Sea. The sun had just set and the sky was streaked with pearl-like luminescence. Next door, I was tickled to find the Sun and Sand Hotel, the oldest hotel in Juhu and the snazziest one before the international hotel chains came along. It is still holding its own in the midst of so much gentrification that I said Three Cheers to its longevity.
Michelle and I found seats right in front that offered an unobstructed view of the screen (since we had first dibs) and chatted about her background. She happens to be from the North Mariana Islands. I was shocked that I had never heard of this place--I who pride myself on my knowledge of global geography! It turns out to be one of the territories of the United States (such as Puerto Rico, Guam and Samoa-of which I have heard!) Who knew? They are located just north of Australia and Papua New Guinea and are a part of Micronesia. They used to be a Spanish colony until the 1940s when the US used them as a military base and then annexed them! Same story as in Hawai'i!
Michelle looks like the native Hawaiians do--she is dark skinned and has very curly (corkscrew) hair. She could pass off for an African-American but, as she told me, she has no African blood at all. She is pure Polynesian! How cool is that??!! She went to school on her island--the syllabus is exactly like that of any US public school--and studied in the mainland US (at the University of Iowa) before securing her undergrad Fulbright Scholarship to India. She is working with the Tata Institute of Social Sciences on "Women and Violence in India" and was fully familiar with the context of the awards' ceremony. I was very pleased that I had the opportunity to get to know her a little bit.
A really funny thing then happened...funny and unexpected. The two of us got talking to the women behind us--they all looked about my age and they were all film-makers. When I introduced myself and said my name, one of them asked if I had studied at Elphinstone College. When I said yes, she told me, we have been chatting on the Whatsapp group. I asked her name and she said Rashmi. And I said, "Rashmi Lamba?" And she said, "Yes". So there we were, recognizing each other from our names on our Elphinstone College Reunion chat group!
As someone who is not on Facebook, this was quite fascinating to me--that we were able to make the connection. Naturally, she introduced me to her friends--one of whom I remembered well. She turned out to be Lijja Mathews who used to be a producer for Bombay TV (known as Doordarshan) and I had often appeared on her show which was called Young World as my Elphinstone College classmate Sharmila Mukherjee happened to have worked as her assistant producer on the same show! What a small world! Lijja is now a well-known director of films on women. Rashmi also makes films on Womens' issues--turns out that like me, she has returned to Bombay after many years as an ex-pat: she lived with her banker husband in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and then Toronto, Canada, before they returned to retire in Bombay. She lives in Juhu and she told me that she absolutely loves her life in Bombay--and I can see why. She has easily picked up all her connections with other women film-makers and now falls within a neat coterie of female professionals who are doing meaningful work in an environment that strongly supports their talents.
The show itself turned out to be interesting. A few short speeches from US Consular officials including the Consul-General who welcomed the audience followed by a screening of five entries. These were 'shorts--films that ranged from one to five minutes each. We stopped for a beverage and snacks break--there were sandwiches, chicken quiche, chicken patties, brownies and cake. The screening of five other films followed after which the audience was invited to opt for their winner as a special People's Choice award would also be given. The dazzling team of judges were people connected in some way or the other with the depiction of women in films and other media--I have to admit that, as a result of suffering from cultural illiteracy (I have been away from India for too long)--none of the judges' names meant anything to me. But I believe some of them were stars of local TV shows. As I do not watch any local shows, I do not recognize these local celebrities.
A very long and very high brow discussion on stage among members of the jury followed during which most of the audience began to leave. It was a time when they were counting the votes actually--so they had to have some kind of activity going on then. But I thought it was hardly the right time to launch into such an intellectual dissection on the condition of women in film-making and of the depiction and portrayal of women in films as well as the sexual conditioning that we all undergo from birth and the sexism to which we are exposed every single day. If they had scheduled this discussion earlier in the evening, it would have been far more fruitful.
The awards were finally announced and I was happy to see that my choice won second place--it was the first film screened (An Independent Day) and it had the entire speech that Prime Minister Nehru made on August 15, 1947, in the background--the 'Tryst With Destiny' speech as it is known played ("At the stroke of the midnight hour, while the world sleeps, India awakes to freedom, etc"). Hearing that speech--no matter how often--never ceases to bring goose bumps to my skin. I thought the overall concept in that film was really great.
It was 9.30 when the event ended. Michelle and I bought bread from the French bakery attached to the hotel and with our parcel, we hailed a rickshaw using OLA and got home at 10.15 pm. I invited Michelle to come up to my studio to check it out--and made the disheartening discovery that my gun-throated neighbor (the blushing bride of two days ago!) is back and yelling lustily every time she opens her mouth! Michelle too loved my place and told me how lucky I was to have found it. She did not stay long.
We have made plans to organize a Fulbright holiday party for the few Bandraites here and shall have a screening of Love, Actually--which is a part of my annual Christmas rituals--together with some good wine and victuals and shall bring in the holiday season soon.We will hold it at Michelle's larger apartment that she shares with a room-mate down the lane at Turner Road.
I was asleep not long after Michelle left at the end of what turned out to be a most unusual day!
Until tomorrow....
Sunday, September 9, 2018
Celebrating Bandra Feast! And Meeting a Youthful Publisher
Sunday, September 9, 2018
Bombay
Celebrating Bandra Feast! And Meeting a Youthful Publisher.
Namaste from Bombay!
My mornings have taken on a routine of their own--and so it was today: blogging, reading, responding to and drafting email. Awoke early at 4.30 am--used 'morning brain' to get on with work. Brekkie was my birschersmuesli with hot hazelnut coffee and more reading of Anthony Horowitz's The Word is Murder--getting quickly to the end of the whodunit and still baffled. Have now downloaded a Harlan Coben novel from my library and will shortly start reading it.
Also got down to a few chores while still feeling energetic: swabbed my tiny studio, cleaned toilet and bathroom sink. Everything takes me 10 minutes and very little sweat equity because this studio is so tiny. What are we thinking, in the US, living in humongous homes that take so much maintenance?
I spent a good relaxed morning while reading and then suddenly I received a call from a friend Joe asking me if I could meet a publisher who was keen on working with me. I had a phone chat with the young chap named Ishaan and make an appointment to meet him at 4.00 pm at the Juhu Ville Parle Gymkhana. I had no idea where this was but he suggested I take an Uber back and forth--which was a very good idea. And this time I was not plagued by the drivers' BO.
Ordering Lunch from Bandra Gym:
I then showered, dressed a bit more formally for our meeting and left my home at 11.30 am to stroll to Bandra Gym to pick up take-out lunch for Dad, Russel and me as today is the day Bandrites celebrate Bandra Feast--the birthday of our Blessed Mother. The gym was already full of merry-makers. I learned the drill: you study the menu, catch hold of one of the waiters, place an order for takeaway food and wait. In the future, I know to call ahead and order our meal and then arrive there only to pick it up They do not deliver at home. A lovely friendly lady called Deirdre Rodrigues helped me figure out what to order--she kept recommending things and telling me that everything is delicious! I ordered Pork Sorpotel (you cannot celebrate Bandra Feast without this traditional classic!), Chicken Pullao, Crispy Vegetables (sort of like Vegetable Manchurian) and Greek Salad. It took me a whole half hour to get the order but I managed to get to my Dad's flat by 12.45 so that we could start with lunch.
Bandra Feast Lunch with the Bombay Family:
And it was great fun! Everything was delicious! We had 7 UP and port wine to accompany our meal and really enjoyed the food which was enormous in quantity. There was more than enough for us for dinner so Dad asked me to return in the evening. We spent a long while chatting about the more controversial items in the papers--just as we used to do on the phone, we are now talking in person. I know that Dad is grateful for the chatter and the company and the mental stimulation that he otherwise lacks with just Russel for company. I then took a short nap to recharge my batteries.
At 3.30 pm, I called for an Uber and at 4.15, I was at the venue--traffic was awful even on a Sunday. I am simply amazed at the way the Western suburbs have developed in the three decades of my absence. The place reeks affluence. Very swanky new restaurants, designer boutiques, shops offering the most fancy digitalized equipment and gadgets, are available for the asking in the Bandra-Juhu corridor of Bombay where income levels have skyrocketed and people live like kings. I have seen similar demographics in Manilla in the Philippines where poverty and affluence exist cheek by jowl.
A Very Fruitful Meeting:
Ishaan Jajodia came to the entrance of the Gymkhana to meet me--I was struck by his youthfulness. At merely twenty (he looks sixteen), he heads a successful publishing house called Bombay Kala that he runs while completing his undergraduate studies in Architectural History at Dartmouth! I know!!! I was simply floored. Our mutual friend Ashley joined us a few minutes later. We spent the rest of the evening over lemon tea and the most delectable dahi batata puri I have ever eaten as we discussed one of my current books that is awaiting publication. I also made a pitch for a memoir that I wondered if he'd be interested in publishing. Fingers crossed as he takes a look at the manuscript.
Back Home for Dinner and a Visit with my new Neighbors:
After more than two hours during which we gabbed and laughed, the meeting ended and we said goodbye to Ishaan who flies off to Dartmouth tonight for his first semester as a Junior, Ashley joined me in the Uber and rode with me to Bandra. This time the driver took me via Juhu Beach--an area that continued to amaze me by its ambience. Clearly, this is where the rich and famous live. Money was evident at every turn--in the huge bungalows, the upscale high-rise apartment buildings, the kind of shops that have mushroomed and that seem to want to imitate offerings in London or New York or Dubai. At the beach, I saw tour buses that bring Indian tourists to show them what used to be such a sleepy beach when I was growing up. Once again, the place was crowded--quite understandable on a Sunday evening. It reminded me so much of China and the throngs we saw at all sites of tourist interest.
Ashley slipped off at Bandra Gym where he thought he could shoot the breeze with friends. I carried on to Dad's place, then had dinner with him and Russel--afternoon's leftovers--still delectable.
I left Dad's at 8.30 am and was just putting the key into my door when my next-door neighbors, the Dedhias, invited me into their flat. I knew that they were trying to be friendly and to get to know me better--and so I accepted their invitation. In true Indian style, they wished to offer me dinner. I declined as I told them I had already eaten. However, they brought me dahi wadas in a bowl and told me to take it home and enjoy it. I will eat them for breakfast tomorrow. They are a Jain family of four, of Kutchi descent: father, mother (who has rheumatic arthritis and is practically bedridden except for movement with a walker), a daughter who is a trained freelance beautician and hair stylist named Forum and a son who is a college student at nearby Rizvi College. I met Forum's finance named Kiran, an engineer who lives in Pune and who is visiting her for the weekend. They mother only speaks Hindi but her children are fluent in English. I have lucked out again--I had similarly friendly and hospitable neighbors, ten years ago, in London. This time too I have next-door neighbors who are friendly and caring. How lucky am I???!!!
I left them to go home next-door, got ready for bed and read a bit before switching off my light. Then, to my horror, I discovered that having drunk two glasses of caffeinated lemon tea at 4.00 pm, I would remain wide awake for a good long time. I only fell asleep at 4.00 am!!! It was absolutely nuts!
Until tomorrow....
Bombay
Celebrating Bandra Feast! And Meeting a Youthful Publisher.
Namaste from Bombay!
My mornings have taken on a routine of their own--and so it was today: blogging, reading, responding to and drafting email. Awoke early at 4.30 am--used 'morning brain' to get on with work. Brekkie was my birschersmuesli with hot hazelnut coffee and more reading of Anthony Horowitz's The Word is Murder--getting quickly to the end of the whodunit and still baffled. Have now downloaded a Harlan Coben novel from my library and will shortly start reading it.
Also got down to a few chores while still feeling energetic: swabbed my tiny studio, cleaned toilet and bathroom sink. Everything takes me 10 minutes and very little sweat equity because this studio is so tiny. What are we thinking, in the US, living in humongous homes that take so much maintenance?
I spent a good relaxed morning while reading and then suddenly I received a call from a friend Joe asking me if I could meet a publisher who was keen on working with me. I had a phone chat with the young chap named Ishaan and make an appointment to meet him at 4.00 pm at the Juhu Ville Parle Gymkhana. I had no idea where this was but he suggested I take an Uber back and forth--which was a very good idea. And this time I was not plagued by the drivers' BO.
Ordering Lunch from Bandra Gym:
I then showered, dressed a bit more formally for our meeting and left my home at 11.30 am to stroll to Bandra Gym to pick up take-out lunch for Dad, Russel and me as today is the day Bandrites celebrate Bandra Feast--the birthday of our Blessed Mother. The gym was already full of merry-makers. I learned the drill: you study the menu, catch hold of one of the waiters, place an order for takeaway food and wait. In the future, I know to call ahead and order our meal and then arrive there only to pick it up They do not deliver at home. A lovely friendly lady called Deirdre Rodrigues helped me figure out what to order--she kept recommending things and telling me that everything is delicious! I ordered Pork Sorpotel (you cannot celebrate Bandra Feast without this traditional classic!), Chicken Pullao, Crispy Vegetables (sort of like Vegetable Manchurian) and Greek Salad. It took me a whole half hour to get the order but I managed to get to my Dad's flat by 12.45 so that we could start with lunch.
Bandra Feast Lunch with the Bombay Family:
And it was great fun! Everything was delicious! We had 7 UP and port wine to accompany our meal and really enjoyed the food which was enormous in quantity. There was more than enough for us for dinner so Dad asked me to return in the evening. We spent a long while chatting about the more controversial items in the papers--just as we used to do on the phone, we are now talking in person. I know that Dad is grateful for the chatter and the company and the mental stimulation that he otherwise lacks with just Russel for company. I then took a short nap to recharge my batteries.
At 3.30 pm, I called for an Uber and at 4.15, I was at the venue--traffic was awful even on a Sunday. I am simply amazed at the way the Western suburbs have developed in the three decades of my absence. The place reeks affluence. Very swanky new restaurants, designer boutiques, shops offering the most fancy digitalized equipment and gadgets, are available for the asking in the Bandra-Juhu corridor of Bombay where income levels have skyrocketed and people live like kings. I have seen similar demographics in Manilla in the Philippines where poverty and affluence exist cheek by jowl.
A Very Fruitful Meeting:
Ishaan Jajodia came to the entrance of the Gymkhana to meet me--I was struck by his youthfulness. At merely twenty (he looks sixteen), he heads a successful publishing house called Bombay Kala that he runs while completing his undergraduate studies in Architectural History at Dartmouth! I know!!! I was simply floored. Our mutual friend Ashley joined us a few minutes later. We spent the rest of the evening over lemon tea and the most delectable dahi batata puri I have ever eaten as we discussed one of my current books that is awaiting publication. I also made a pitch for a memoir that I wondered if he'd be interested in publishing. Fingers crossed as he takes a look at the manuscript.
Back Home for Dinner and a Visit with my new Neighbors:
After more than two hours during which we gabbed and laughed, the meeting ended and we said goodbye to Ishaan who flies off to Dartmouth tonight for his first semester as a Junior, Ashley joined me in the Uber and rode with me to Bandra. This time the driver took me via Juhu Beach--an area that continued to amaze me by its ambience. Clearly, this is where the rich and famous live. Money was evident at every turn--in the huge bungalows, the upscale high-rise apartment buildings, the kind of shops that have mushroomed and that seem to want to imitate offerings in London or New York or Dubai. At the beach, I saw tour buses that bring Indian tourists to show them what used to be such a sleepy beach when I was growing up. Once again, the place was crowded--quite understandable on a Sunday evening. It reminded me so much of China and the throngs we saw at all sites of tourist interest.
Ashley slipped off at Bandra Gym where he thought he could shoot the breeze with friends. I carried on to Dad's place, then had dinner with him and Russel--afternoon's leftovers--still delectable.
I left Dad's at 8.30 am and was just putting the key into my door when my next-door neighbors, the Dedhias, invited me into their flat. I knew that they were trying to be friendly and to get to know me better--and so I accepted their invitation. In true Indian style, they wished to offer me dinner. I declined as I told them I had already eaten. However, they brought me dahi wadas in a bowl and told me to take it home and enjoy it. I will eat them for breakfast tomorrow. They are a Jain family of four, of Kutchi descent: father, mother (who has rheumatic arthritis and is practically bedridden except for movement with a walker), a daughter who is a trained freelance beautician and hair stylist named Forum and a son who is a college student at nearby Rizvi College. I met Forum's finance named Kiran, an engineer who lives in Pune and who is visiting her for the weekend. They mother only speaks Hindi but her children are fluent in English. I have lucked out again--I had similarly friendly and hospitable neighbors, ten years ago, in London. This time too I have next-door neighbors who are friendly and caring. How lucky am I???!!!
I left them to go home next-door, got ready for bed and read a bit before switching off my light. Then, to my horror, I discovered that having drunk two glasses of caffeinated lemon tea at 4.00 pm, I would remain wide awake for a good long time. I only fell asleep at 4.00 am!!! It was absolutely nuts!
Until tomorrow....
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