Saturday, April 6, 2019
Bombay
Working To the Bone...then Dinner with Friends
Namaste from Bombay!
The thing about living without Llew is that Saturday is just another day on the calendar for me and one in which I spend doing exactly what I do every single day--working! Oh for the weekends when they actually meant Fun with a capital F!
That said, I was also grateful to be at home on a Saturday when I could catch up with so much that is pending on my laptop--not the least of which is all the interviews I am still playing catch up to transcribe.
So I awoke at 6.30 am, blogged, looked at Twitter, said a few words to Llew by phone and then got on with my day. Brekkie was a broon with spreads and coffee while watching Mary Berry's Quick Cooking show and then sitting chained to my computer.
I had a huge To-Do List for this day and I went out to conquer it with a vengeance. I had a lot of correspondence to attend to in connection with my upcoming trip to Uzbekistan--I have to sort out visa issues and the purchase of my ticket. I then had to fill in my Annual Activity Form for NYU which took me more than an hour (as I have so many professional activities to report this year). This led me to update my CV and formatting it took a while. Next, I sat down to transcribe an interview and by the time I was done, it was lunch time.
I had delicious green chicken curry, kadhi (curd curry) and beans with a chapatti with a bit of Alphonso mango (I am going slow on them as they are loaded with the most delicious calories!). I then showered and feeling really fresh, I sat down to transcribe another interview. I was done by 5.30 when I stopped for a potta (If a cup of tea can be a cuppa, a pot of tea can be a potta, no?) and some nuts and watched more Mary Berry.
Then, I got dressed and decided to spend the evening with Russel which was exactly what I did--Dad was glued to the TV as the IPL cricket matches were on and he was in seventh heaven. Russel and I had a jolly chinwag and at 7.45, when it was time for his dinner and a break between matches, I left and went home. I stopped to buy cakes for two folks I would be seeing later in the evening, stopped off at the dispensary to thank Dr. Abbas for making my stomach gripes a thing of the past and got home to leave my clean laundry behind (which I had picked up from Dad's).
Then, I walked for ten minutes to my cousin Meera's house to see her husband Cyril who was doing very poorly until a couple of days ago with a vicious rash that had developed on his entire body and left him an itching, scratching wreck. Thankfully, he has fared much better in the last couple of days and is back to his regular self again. As he was taking a shower when I got there, I had a chance to visit with Meera and we spent a lovely half hour catching up. When Cyril did emerge from the bath, I was so happy to see him looking so good again--such a relief! I had been praying for him, offering Masses for him and also remembered him at my Novena as he has really been through the Wars. As usual, Mother of Perpetual Succor has delivered!
I left their place and walked for another ten minutes and this time I was headed to the home of my friends Anil and Ninaz who had asked me to join them for dinner at their's. I always have the most wonderful evenings when I am in their company as they are the most generous hosts and the most fun, stimulating company a gal could ask for. They asked after Llew and, of course, I told them how much I am missing him and we talked about the formalities associated with his coming to India. But I did tell them that I will be seeing him in Buenos Aires and could not wait. Anil knows my favored tipple is a G and T and he put one in my hands as Ninaz brought us a host of nibbles--danger is I always nibble a tad too much. Soon it was time to order and, looking at a menu from place called Luck9 (i,e, Lucknow--now is 9 in Hindi!), Anil ordered kachori kebabs, chicken malai kebabs, dal makhni, rumali roti and ulta tava roti!
Whe the food arrived, we dived in and had a great meal together--but for the dal which was ho-hum, the kebabs were excellent and made a very unusual meal.There were Godiva chocolate truffles for dessert---yum,yum,yum!
I felt bad as I lost track of time and it was just past midnight when I jumped up and told them I should leave. They dropped me off in a rickshaw and all I could do was get into the bathroom for a quick wash before I tumbled straight into bed after another exhausting but very productive day!
Until tomorrow...
Saturday, April 6, 2019
Visiting Another Orthopedist, Tea with Professor Friends at Bombay Gymkhana and Dinner with Friends at the CCI
Friday, April 5, 2019
Bombay
Visiting Another Orthopedist, Tea with Professor Friends at Bombay Gymkhana and Dinner with Friends at the CCI
Namaste from Bombay!
Today was another long and very productive day! As summer sets in, I am battling the heat with baseball cap, glares and my little portable fan that works on a digital battery--my Rs. 150 buy from the roadside at Crawford Market! It is making my outdoor work quite pleasant indeed despite the uncomfortable weather.
Celebrating Rohit's Birthday:
So my day began with my blog post and my breakfast--muesli and coffee. I was just sitting down to transcribe one of my interviews when Dad called to tell me that it happened to be the birthday of his Man Friday Rohit and that Dad only got to know about it that morning. As Rohit had requested Dad to buy him a cake (for which he offered to pay), Dad decided to make a small ritual out of the cake-cutting by asking Rohit if he had any friends he would like to invite. He suggested a couple of his pals but only one of them could make it. Dad and I had a doctor's appointment at 1.30 and I was busy in the evening. So we could only make his birthday special at about noon.
Accordingly I showered, went out to Hersch's Bakery and bought mutton patties (forgetting that it was a Friday in Lent!) and wafers and then walked to Venus Bakery to buy him a Black Forest Cake--all of which were Dad's treats. With the goodies in my possession, I took a rick to Dad's and when his friend Priya arrived, in the present of Dad, Russel,myself and Meena, the maid who comes to do the domestic work, we sang for Rohit as he cut his cake and I served out the goodies so that we made it into a mini-party! Of course, he was quite delighted by the fuss we made of him and the cash gift I gave him and with that, Dad and I left and went to the doctor.
Seeing the Orthopedist at Lilavati Hospital:
Lilavati Hospital is one of the finest medical institutions in Bombay and we are lucky to have it close by in Bandra. Dad and I took a rick there and made our 1.30 pm appointment. We were going for a second opinion as we wanted to confirm that the rod insertion surgery to fuse Russel's knee bones might be the best way to proceed. And that was basically exactly what this physician Dr. Shridhar Archik told us too. He did recommend a few (very expensive) blood tests and new x-rays because he wants to confirm that Russel's fractured bones have really healed well before any further surgeries are carried out. Dad and I left feeling very happy with our visit (because it confirmed basically what we had been told by the other doctor, Harish Bhende).
Leaving Lilavati in a rick, we stopped off at Holy Family Hospital so that Dad could go to the Lab and ask for the technicians to be sent home to carry out the blood tests and the X-rays that the doctor has ordered. These tests are, by no means, cheap--so we do hope that we will obtain more clarity on the subject and will be able to take better informed decisions, going forward, for Russel.
I jumped off the rickshaw at my place and had my lunch: curd curry (kadhi), beans with a chapati--as it was Friday in Lent and I was off meat. I also ate my first Alphonso mango (which I picked up a couple of days ago)--it was very good indeed!
I just about finished the transcribing of the interview that I had begun doing when it was time for me to get dressed for my next appointment in the city. I was invited to join in a Tea in honor of Meher Toorkey, a friend who is visiting from London and whom I had met a few days ago at a luncheon at the Yacht Club hosted by my friend Kamal. The tea was hosted by one of my former professors from Elphinstone College, Dr. Shireen Vakil (who has, for the past 30 odd years also been a very dear friend of mine).
Off for Tea:
I hopped into a bus and bought a new monthly pass for myself at the Bandra Train station. Then in the train, I made my way to Churchgate but took a cab for the short distance to the Bombay Gymkhana as walking would have made me very late.
My friends were already there when I arrived. Apart from Shireen, there was Dr. Shakuntala Bharvani as well as Dr. Soonu Kapadia, Meher, of course and a person I was meeting for the first time, Soonu Taraporewala, who once used to be a librarian at the British Council Library--I can still remember her very clearly serving me when I used to be an undergrad student of English and the British Council used to be at Sachivalaya behind the LIC building. In fact, I went out yesterday looking for it and once I reached its immediate vicinity, I was unable to pinpoint the exact building in which it was--I believe somewhere on the fifth floor--gosh all this was in 1976!--so you can just imagine how long ago it was!
Tea was a delightful affair with a range of delicious eats: chili cheese toast, mushroom toast (so good!), idli sambhar, vegetable samosas. I had a fresh lime soda which is the most refreshing thing you can have in the humid stickiness of Bombay weather at this time of year. We caught up on a whole host of things. Sadly, my Ph.D. mentor Dr. Vrinda Nabar was not around as she had taken ill--I was so looking forward to meeting her as we met only very briefly at the Elphinstone College Reunion in November and I am very keen to spend some more time with her before I leave. Our friend Dr. G (Firdaus) was very much missed but he has scooted off for two months' holiday in Europe (the lucky sod!) and will be following the opera route through Covent Garden in London, La Scala in Milan, Italy, and then Berlin in Germany! I am already missing his company here in Bombay.
One never knows where time goes when you're having fun, reminiscing about old times and folks who have passed away, lovely people we once knew who are now ailing, plans we'd once made together and friends we had in common. By 6.15 pm, however, the lovely little tea party broke up and we went our separate ways. Shireen, Shakun and Soonu K. went off in a cab and I hopped into another cab with Meher (who is a trained concert pianist in London) and Soonu T. who were off to the NCPA to attend a concert being given by two pianists. They actually had an extra ticket and asked if I wanted to join them. Had I nothing else to do, I would have gone. But I had dinner plans myself with more friends--this time at the Cricket Club of India--and so they offered to drop me there.
Dinner with Aban and Rusi at the CCI:
So it turned out that I spent the entire evening in the company of a whole bunch of Parsis--all close friends of mine and very lovable people indeed.
I was early and so sat and played with my phone in the main lobby of the club overlooking the iconic Brabourne Stadium--I have been coming to this place far more often that I had every expected. My Friend Aban Davar was a fellow-Professor at Jai Hind College (where she had taught French and I had taught English) three decades ago. She still teaches French at the Alliance Francaise de Bombay and does a lot of interpretation and translation work for French corporations in Bombay. She speaks French far better than many French people I know and I have always been in awe of her abilities. Her husband Rusi, a chartered accountant by profession, is a wonderfully interesting person and in the many times we have met in Bombay and in the States (they have been our house guests in Southport, Connecticut), we've always had fun.
So Aban joined me when her meeting upstairs was done and together we sat on the lawns and shot the breeze until the dining room opened at 8.00 pm for dinner. Russia joined us very shortly and since it was a Friday and there was the Fish and Chips special on the menu, both Rusi and I decided to have the prix fixe menu: we started with clear Vegetable soup, went on to Beetroot Salad, then ate the Fish and Chips with Tartar Sauce and ended with Praline Pudding. Of course, although the food was good, the main focus was the catching up with did as we talked about Aban's work, Rusi's health, their upcoming trip to Eastern Europe--they are also intrepid travelers--and our mutual interests in books and TV shows (Rusi is a voracious reader).
At 9.30, they dropped me off to Churchgate station from where I took a fast train and was in Bandra in 20 minutes. The bus came along in about 10 minutes and by 10.30 pm I was home and very sleepy. It did not take me long to merely brush and floss my teeth, take my medication and get straight into bed after what had been another incredibly enjoyable day!
Until tomorrow...
Bombay
Visiting Another Orthopedist, Tea with Professor Friends at Bombay Gymkhana and Dinner with Friends at the CCI
Namaste from Bombay!
Today was another long and very productive day! As summer sets in, I am battling the heat with baseball cap, glares and my little portable fan that works on a digital battery--my Rs. 150 buy from the roadside at Crawford Market! It is making my outdoor work quite pleasant indeed despite the uncomfortable weather.
Celebrating Rohit's Birthday:
So my day began with my blog post and my breakfast--muesli and coffee. I was just sitting down to transcribe one of my interviews when Dad called to tell me that it happened to be the birthday of his Man Friday Rohit and that Dad only got to know about it that morning. As Rohit had requested Dad to buy him a cake (for which he offered to pay), Dad decided to make a small ritual out of the cake-cutting by asking Rohit if he had any friends he would like to invite. He suggested a couple of his pals but only one of them could make it. Dad and I had a doctor's appointment at 1.30 and I was busy in the evening. So we could only make his birthday special at about noon.
Accordingly I showered, went out to Hersch's Bakery and bought mutton patties (forgetting that it was a Friday in Lent!) and wafers and then walked to Venus Bakery to buy him a Black Forest Cake--all of which were Dad's treats. With the goodies in my possession, I took a rick to Dad's and when his friend Priya arrived, in the present of Dad, Russel,myself and Meena, the maid who comes to do the domestic work, we sang for Rohit as he cut his cake and I served out the goodies so that we made it into a mini-party! Of course, he was quite delighted by the fuss we made of him and the cash gift I gave him and with that, Dad and I left and went to the doctor.
Seeing the Orthopedist at Lilavati Hospital:
Lilavati Hospital is one of the finest medical institutions in Bombay and we are lucky to have it close by in Bandra. Dad and I took a rick there and made our 1.30 pm appointment. We were going for a second opinion as we wanted to confirm that the rod insertion surgery to fuse Russel's knee bones might be the best way to proceed. And that was basically exactly what this physician Dr. Shridhar Archik told us too. He did recommend a few (very expensive) blood tests and new x-rays because he wants to confirm that Russel's fractured bones have really healed well before any further surgeries are carried out. Dad and I left feeling very happy with our visit (because it confirmed basically what we had been told by the other doctor, Harish Bhende).
Leaving Lilavati in a rick, we stopped off at Holy Family Hospital so that Dad could go to the Lab and ask for the technicians to be sent home to carry out the blood tests and the X-rays that the doctor has ordered. These tests are, by no means, cheap--so we do hope that we will obtain more clarity on the subject and will be able to take better informed decisions, going forward, for Russel.
I jumped off the rickshaw at my place and had my lunch: curd curry (kadhi), beans with a chapati--as it was Friday in Lent and I was off meat. I also ate my first Alphonso mango (which I picked up a couple of days ago)--it was very good indeed!
I just about finished the transcribing of the interview that I had begun doing when it was time for me to get dressed for my next appointment in the city. I was invited to join in a Tea in honor of Meher Toorkey, a friend who is visiting from London and whom I had met a few days ago at a luncheon at the Yacht Club hosted by my friend Kamal. The tea was hosted by one of my former professors from Elphinstone College, Dr. Shireen Vakil (who has, for the past 30 odd years also been a very dear friend of mine).
Off for Tea:
I hopped into a bus and bought a new monthly pass for myself at the Bandra Train station. Then in the train, I made my way to Churchgate but took a cab for the short distance to the Bombay Gymkhana as walking would have made me very late.
My friends were already there when I arrived. Apart from Shireen, there was Dr. Shakuntala Bharvani as well as Dr. Soonu Kapadia, Meher, of course and a person I was meeting for the first time, Soonu Taraporewala, who once used to be a librarian at the British Council Library--I can still remember her very clearly serving me when I used to be an undergrad student of English and the British Council used to be at Sachivalaya behind the LIC building. In fact, I went out yesterday looking for it and once I reached its immediate vicinity, I was unable to pinpoint the exact building in which it was--I believe somewhere on the fifth floor--gosh all this was in 1976!--so you can just imagine how long ago it was!
Tea was a delightful affair with a range of delicious eats: chili cheese toast, mushroom toast (so good!), idli sambhar, vegetable samosas. I had a fresh lime soda which is the most refreshing thing you can have in the humid stickiness of Bombay weather at this time of year. We caught up on a whole host of things. Sadly, my Ph.D. mentor Dr. Vrinda Nabar was not around as she had taken ill--I was so looking forward to meeting her as we met only very briefly at the Elphinstone College Reunion in November and I am very keen to spend some more time with her before I leave. Our friend Dr. G (Firdaus) was very much missed but he has scooted off for two months' holiday in Europe (the lucky sod!) and will be following the opera route through Covent Garden in London, La Scala in Milan, Italy, and then Berlin in Germany! I am already missing his company here in Bombay.
One never knows where time goes when you're having fun, reminiscing about old times and folks who have passed away, lovely people we once knew who are now ailing, plans we'd once made together and friends we had in common. By 6.15 pm, however, the lovely little tea party broke up and we went our separate ways. Shireen, Shakun and Soonu K. went off in a cab and I hopped into another cab with Meher (who is a trained concert pianist in London) and Soonu T. who were off to the NCPA to attend a concert being given by two pianists. They actually had an extra ticket and asked if I wanted to join them. Had I nothing else to do, I would have gone. But I had dinner plans myself with more friends--this time at the Cricket Club of India--and so they offered to drop me there.
Dinner with Aban and Rusi at the CCI:
So it turned out that I spent the entire evening in the company of a whole bunch of Parsis--all close friends of mine and very lovable people indeed.
I was early and so sat and played with my phone in the main lobby of the club overlooking the iconic Brabourne Stadium--I have been coming to this place far more often that I had every expected. My Friend Aban Davar was a fellow-Professor at Jai Hind College (where she had taught French and I had taught English) three decades ago. She still teaches French at the Alliance Francaise de Bombay and does a lot of interpretation and translation work for French corporations in Bombay. She speaks French far better than many French people I know and I have always been in awe of her abilities. Her husband Rusi, a chartered accountant by profession, is a wonderfully interesting person and in the many times we have met in Bombay and in the States (they have been our house guests in Southport, Connecticut), we've always had fun.
So Aban joined me when her meeting upstairs was done and together we sat on the lawns and shot the breeze until the dining room opened at 8.00 pm for dinner. Russia joined us very shortly and since it was a Friday and there was the Fish and Chips special on the menu, both Rusi and I decided to have the prix fixe menu: we started with clear Vegetable soup, went on to Beetroot Salad, then ate the Fish and Chips with Tartar Sauce and ended with Praline Pudding. Of course, although the food was good, the main focus was the catching up with did as we talked about Aban's work, Rusi's health, their upcoming trip to Eastern Europe--they are also intrepid travelers--and our mutual interests in books and TV shows (Rusi is a voracious reader).
At 9.30, they dropped me off to Churchgate station from where I took a fast train and was in Bandra in 20 minutes. The bus came along in about 10 minutes and by 10.30 pm I was home and very sleepy. It did not take me long to merely brush and floss my teeth, take my medication and get straight into bed after what had been another incredibly enjoyable day!
Until tomorrow...
Thursday, April 4, 2019
Three Interviews, A Library Session and a Dinner Party in Navy Nagar
Thursday, April 4, 2019
Bombay
Three Interviews, A Library Session and a Dinner Party in Navy Nagar
Namaste from Bombay!
What a day! Honestly, it could not have been more packed or more productive!
Awake at 6.30 am (I am finally waking up at a decent hour, have you noticed?) I blogged, checked Twitter and my email feeds, had breakfast of a broon with spreads and coffee, showered and left for my first appointment in the city--an interview in Churchgate with Dhun Khandalavala, widow of Pesi Khandalavala who was once a prolific producer on the Bombay stage.
I took a bus to Bandra station, then a train to Churchgate and since I was very early, I killed some time at the Burger King right outside the station. Ten minutes later, I left, found Dhun's place at Nagin Mahal opposite Gaylord Restaurant and spend a wonderful hour with her. My new friend Sam Kerawala who had put me on to Dhun, also happened to be present and together we ended up having a lovely chinwag.
My next interview was at the library of the NCPA with the head of the Opera section, Jimi Bilimoria. Sam happened to be going to the same place and so we took the shuttle bus that stands outside Churchgate station and in ten minutes, we were at the venue. My interview with Jimi was a laugh riot as I have gotten to know him really well and now consider him a good friend. He joked his way through our interview which ended up being a load of fun.
That interview done, I took a bus and made my way to Tea Villa near the CCI where I had my next interview scheduled at 2.00 pm with a lovely young actor, writer, producer and director called Faezeh Jalali who is very highly regarded in Bombay English theater circles. It was a pleasure chatting with her too. I was deeply impressed by her body of work, her superb training in the States (BFA and MFA in Performance) and the manner in which she is conducting a full-time professional career in Bombay through Acting alone. She gave me a whole load of information about the changed scene in Bombay with regards to theater, the amount of opportunities that are available as so many internet possibilities are opening up for actors and about the compulsion to be involved in every aspect of theatrical production--from writing original material to seeing it performed on stage. What's best about doing these interviews is how much I am learning in the process of data-collection. It is really gratifying in every way.
My next appointment was at 7.30 pm at Navy Nagar where my friend Angie who is visiting from Connecticut had invited me to join her and a few other invitees for dinner at her brother's place where she is staying. As I had about four hours to kill in-between, I walked to the Library of the NCPA (where I had been in the morning) and spent about two hours reading. I have found a brilliant book by Shanta Gokhale called The Scenes We Made which is offering me invaluable information and corroborating a lot of what the various interviewees I have spoken to so far have told me. I found the book compelling. In fact, I believe that I shall try to find a copy of it and shall buy it.
At 5.30 pm, my friend Sam called and told me to come over to his place at Cusrow Bagh on Colaba Causeway to relax and freshen up before going for my dinner appointment. I decided to take him up on his offer, so I cabbed it from the NCPA Library to his place and had the pleasure of a short power nap in his home (he made me very comfortable indeed) and then a quick wash which made me feel ready for my dinner date with a very dear and very old friend.
I left Sam's while it was still bright as I did not want to have to search for Angie's brother's place after dark--as I was not familiar with that part of Navy Nagar. I have visited Angie in this place before--but it was several moons ago and I had no recollection of how to get there. Sam had told me which bus to take and I jumped into a passing 123 that dropped me off at Afghan Church from where I had directions to walk down a lane, past a Parsi Agiary (Fire Temple) to get to the waterfront where the building, Oyster Apartments, is located.
What a lovely reunion I had with Angie! How great it was to see someone known and familiar from my life in Connecticut! It was just fantastic! I also spent a long while chatting with her brother Tony who is just as much fun and equally gregarious. And then the guests came trooping in--most of them Parsis and most of them classmates of Angie from her days as an undergrad at St. Xavier's College in Bombay or from her days in the Xavier Institute of Communication. They were an extremely friendly lot--mainly ladies with a few of them bringing their spouses--and before long, I felt very much at home. Although all of them knew each other, I ended up chatting with a few with whom I had so much in common.
Food-wise, you cannot be anything other than impressed when you go to Angie's as her hospitality is bountiful. This time round, however, as she is a visitor herself to Bombay, she ordered all the food from a place called Charcoal Kitchen--mutton biryani, three different kinds of kebabs, raita, salad and chutney. And as if that were not enough, Angie made pea pullao and dal for the single vegetarian in the group and a lovely baingan bharta. Dessert was mango cheesecake, Indian mithai and chocolate--just a wonderful spread of food eaten in the company of wonderful people.
I had wanted to leave by 9.30 so as to reach home no later than 10.30, but guests at the party offered to give me a ride as far as Peddar Road and then put me in a cab. I thought it was a good idea and that was what we did. When we finally left, after a fab evening, it was 10.45 and close to 12 midnight by the time I reached home.
What a long day it turned out to me! But like I said, how productive too! I did nothing more than brush and floss my teeth and take my medication before I hit the sack.
Until tomorrow...
Bombay
Three Interviews, A Library Session and a Dinner Party in Navy Nagar
Namaste from Bombay!
What a day! Honestly, it could not have been more packed or more productive!
Awake at 6.30 am (I am finally waking up at a decent hour, have you noticed?) I blogged, checked Twitter and my email feeds, had breakfast of a broon with spreads and coffee, showered and left for my first appointment in the city--an interview in Churchgate with Dhun Khandalavala, widow of Pesi Khandalavala who was once a prolific producer on the Bombay stage.
I took a bus to Bandra station, then a train to Churchgate and since I was very early, I killed some time at the Burger King right outside the station. Ten minutes later, I left, found Dhun's place at Nagin Mahal opposite Gaylord Restaurant and spend a wonderful hour with her. My new friend Sam Kerawala who had put me on to Dhun, also happened to be present and together we ended up having a lovely chinwag.
My next interview was at the library of the NCPA with the head of the Opera section, Jimi Bilimoria. Sam happened to be going to the same place and so we took the shuttle bus that stands outside Churchgate station and in ten minutes, we were at the venue. My interview with Jimi was a laugh riot as I have gotten to know him really well and now consider him a good friend. He joked his way through our interview which ended up being a load of fun.
That interview done, I took a bus and made my way to Tea Villa near the CCI where I had my next interview scheduled at 2.00 pm with a lovely young actor, writer, producer and director called Faezeh Jalali who is very highly regarded in Bombay English theater circles. It was a pleasure chatting with her too. I was deeply impressed by her body of work, her superb training in the States (BFA and MFA in Performance) and the manner in which she is conducting a full-time professional career in Bombay through Acting alone. She gave me a whole load of information about the changed scene in Bombay with regards to theater, the amount of opportunities that are available as so many internet possibilities are opening up for actors and about the compulsion to be involved in every aspect of theatrical production--from writing original material to seeing it performed on stage. What's best about doing these interviews is how much I am learning in the process of data-collection. It is really gratifying in every way.
My next appointment was at 7.30 pm at Navy Nagar where my friend Angie who is visiting from Connecticut had invited me to join her and a few other invitees for dinner at her brother's place where she is staying. As I had about four hours to kill in-between, I walked to the Library of the NCPA (where I had been in the morning) and spent about two hours reading. I have found a brilliant book by Shanta Gokhale called The Scenes We Made which is offering me invaluable information and corroborating a lot of what the various interviewees I have spoken to so far have told me. I found the book compelling. In fact, I believe that I shall try to find a copy of it and shall buy it.
At 5.30 pm, my friend Sam called and told me to come over to his place at Cusrow Bagh on Colaba Causeway to relax and freshen up before going for my dinner appointment. I decided to take him up on his offer, so I cabbed it from the NCPA Library to his place and had the pleasure of a short power nap in his home (he made me very comfortable indeed) and then a quick wash which made me feel ready for my dinner date with a very dear and very old friend.
I left Sam's while it was still bright as I did not want to have to search for Angie's brother's place after dark--as I was not familiar with that part of Navy Nagar. I have visited Angie in this place before--but it was several moons ago and I had no recollection of how to get there. Sam had told me which bus to take and I jumped into a passing 123 that dropped me off at Afghan Church from where I had directions to walk down a lane, past a Parsi Agiary (Fire Temple) to get to the waterfront where the building, Oyster Apartments, is located.
What a lovely reunion I had with Angie! How great it was to see someone known and familiar from my life in Connecticut! It was just fantastic! I also spent a long while chatting with her brother Tony who is just as much fun and equally gregarious. And then the guests came trooping in--most of them Parsis and most of them classmates of Angie from her days as an undergrad at St. Xavier's College in Bombay or from her days in the Xavier Institute of Communication. They were an extremely friendly lot--mainly ladies with a few of them bringing their spouses--and before long, I felt very much at home. Although all of them knew each other, I ended up chatting with a few with whom I had so much in common.
Food-wise, you cannot be anything other than impressed when you go to Angie's as her hospitality is bountiful. This time round, however, as she is a visitor herself to Bombay, she ordered all the food from a place called Charcoal Kitchen--mutton biryani, three different kinds of kebabs, raita, salad and chutney. And as if that were not enough, Angie made pea pullao and dal for the single vegetarian in the group and a lovely baingan bharta. Dessert was mango cheesecake, Indian mithai and chocolate--just a wonderful spread of food eaten in the company of wonderful people.
I had wanted to leave by 9.30 so as to reach home no later than 10.30, but guests at the party offered to give me a ride as far as Peddar Road and then put me in a cab. I thought it was a good idea and that was what we did. When we finally left, after a fab evening, it was 10.45 and close to 12 midnight by the time I reached home.
What a long day it turned out to me! But like I said, how productive too! I did nothing more than brush and floss my teeth and take my medication before I hit the sack.
Until tomorrow...
Wednesday, April 3, 2019
More Physiotherapy for Russel and More Transcribing For Me
Wednesday, April 3, 2019
Bombay
More Physiotherapy for Russel and More Transcribing For Me
Namaste from Bombay!
Same old, same old! Nothing very exciting to report today--so I shall keep it brief. Well, the trips I will take soon are exciting...but that apart, nothing much.
Awake at 6.30, blogged, read my Twitter feed and made my breakfast of muesli and coffee while watching Mary Berry--whom I am delighted to find on You Tube.
Next. I left my place, walked briskly on a beautiful April morning to Dad's to be present while Valerian conducted physiotherapy with Russel. Dad and I had a chat with him and congratulated him on his being so astute in telling us where we ought to be heading with regards to Russel's condition. He reassured us that the knee fusion surgery through the use of a rod will be the best way to go as he has seen the huge difference it has made in patients that he has treated. He assured us that Russel will walk so much better than he is doing now--that he will be stable and able to move about with so much more assurance and confidence. It was very heartening to talk to him.
I can see that poor Dad is feeling so disheartened to have to face this complicated surgery that lies ahead for Russel, but I am trying my best to boost him up and make him feel more optimistic about things. I keep telling him to focus on the positive. I keep telling him that we must face up to reality--that Russel may never have the the kind of lifestyle he had earlier, but that we must be grateful for the many years in which he had full and complete freedom to go wherever he chose. I have to tell him that this is a natural process of ageing--we have to give up some things we enjoyed doing and accept a more sedentary lifestyle--sadly, it is happening to Russel earlier than most--but we need to accept this as part of God's plan for him and take it with fortitude and stoicism.
I know that Dad feels that although he has been praying so much, his prayers are not being heard. But I feel just the opposite. I feel that the Lord is answering our prayers in His own ways--by sending Valerian to us, he has sent another Angel who was astute enough to tell us to go to other orthopedists and get other opinions. And in being pro-active and going to these specialists, we are getting the best counsel--so that we now need to make some decisions that will all work towards helping Russel get better rather than keeping him as helpless as he currently is. All of this is God's work, I feel--His answers to our prayers are coming in concrete ways. I find that a lot of my work here in Bombay is counseling Dad and rah-rahing him towards the next objective and then being there to support him as all of us go through Russel's treatment together.
Back home, I spent the rest of my day transcribing. I was chained to my laptop as I finished transcribing two interviews (all part of my past backlog) and was in the middle of the third when I had to leave for the Novena and Evening Mass. In-between I had my lunch and a pot of tea with a few nuts. In keeping with my GP's advice, I am now eating one chapati per meal--so I have added healthy carbs now to my diet but I have knocked off the unhealthy carbs I was eating at tea-time (cakes, cookies, etc). I finished the five day course of tablets he had prescribed for my inexplicable stomach gripes and I am very happy to say that they are a thing of the past. Hopefully, cutting off dal (which I always thought was so good for us!) and adding a second vegetable each day, will work well for me and also keep my weight low! The whole idea of cutting off carbs was to keep down weight and make my clothes feel comfortable because I am not going to shop for anything new while here! It seems to be working...fingers crossed.
Meanwhile, at my laptop, in corresponding with people in different parts of the world, I have finalized a trip at the end of May and into early June to South America where I shall be participating in a Liberal Studies conference with all my NYU colleagues in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Llew will be joining me there--so I am already looking forward very much to seeing him again soon. As I also want to follow up the research I am doing here with Catholic Goans on the Portuguese colonial legacy of their involvement in Western music, the two of us will make a detour to Rio de Janeiro in Brazil where we will be the guests of our professor friend Rosana de Freitas from the University of Rio. Llew has never been to Brazil--so it will be a good holiday for him--I have been to Rio, about four years ago, and did the tourist circuit quite throughly then..so I shall focus a lot more on my research interests while there.
Also very exciting is a new Fulbright teaching opportunity that has opened up for me in, of all places, Uzbekistan--former Soviet Republic. I have been invited by Tashkent State University to teach Writing Workshops for their students--this was a result of the contacts I made during the Fulbright conference in Cochin. All travel and visa formalities are now being sorted for my departure at the end of this month. Time is short and I have a lot of preparation to do before I leave--but hopefully, everything will fall into place as I get to Tashkent. It is my hope, while there, to visit the fabled cities of Samarkand and Bukhara and I am hoping I will have the company of another Fulbrighter based in Tashkent, Greig, to do some day trips to these exotic cities.
Dad is really enjoying the IPL cricket matches and each evening after Mass, when we part at his gate, I can see that he is in a hurry to go home to switch on his TV set--he keeps telling me that each match is more exciting than the next. When I meet him the next morning, he explains such things to me as "run-out" and how it affected a recent match that gave victory to the Mumbai Indians because the other side did not protest soon enough! The next night, he said, the match was even more exciting. He keeps telling himself that he should try to go to bed by 11.00 pm, but he says that the matches are so compelling that he stays put at the TV set. And he was so glad he did because in one match he was witness to someone getting a "hat trick" which is a very rare occurrence in cricket. Russel goes by the clock...so he does not watch the IPL matches--he is fast asleep by 9.00 pm on most nights.
I got home, had my dinner and watched Traitors on Netflix as the actress Keeley Hawes tweeted about it (I follow her on Twitter). I found it rather confusing and am hoping it will make sense soon.
A quick chat with Llew and I turned the light down and fell asleep.
Tomorrow is a very busy and very long day for me as I start off with an interview at 10.00 am, will do three of them and will return home only after dinner in Colaba where I have been invited by a friend who is visiting from America.
Until tomorrow...
Bombay
More Physiotherapy for Russel and More Transcribing For Me
Namaste from Bombay!
Same old, same old! Nothing very exciting to report today--so I shall keep it brief. Well, the trips I will take soon are exciting...but that apart, nothing much.
Awake at 6.30, blogged, read my Twitter feed and made my breakfast of muesli and coffee while watching Mary Berry--whom I am delighted to find on You Tube.
Next. I left my place, walked briskly on a beautiful April morning to Dad's to be present while Valerian conducted physiotherapy with Russel. Dad and I had a chat with him and congratulated him on his being so astute in telling us where we ought to be heading with regards to Russel's condition. He reassured us that the knee fusion surgery through the use of a rod will be the best way to go as he has seen the huge difference it has made in patients that he has treated. He assured us that Russel will walk so much better than he is doing now--that he will be stable and able to move about with so much more assurance and confidence. It was very heartening to talk to him.
I can see that poor Dad is feeling so disheartened to have to face this complicated surgery that lies ahead for Russel, but I am trying my best to boost him up and make him feel more optimistic about things. I keep telling him to focus on the positive. I keep telling him that we must face up to reality--that Russel may never have the the kind of lifestyle he had earlier, but that we must be grateful for the many years in which he had full and complete freedom to go wherever he chose. I have to tell him that this is a natural process of ageing--we have to give up some things we enjoyed doing and accept a more sedentary lifestyle--sadly, it is happening to Russel earlier than most--but we need to accept this as part of God's plan for him and take it with fortitude and stoicism.
I know that Dad feels that although he has been praying so much, his prayers are not being heard. But I feel just the opposite. I feel that the Lord is answering our prayers in His own ways--by sending Valerian to us, he has sent another Angel who was astute enough to tell us to go to other orthopedists and get other opinions. And in being pro-active and going to these specialists, we are getting the best counsel--so that we now need to make some decisions that will all work towards helping Russel get better rather than keeping him as helpless as he currently is. All of this is God's work, I feel--His answers to our prayers are coming in concrete ways. I find that a lot of my work here in Bombay is counseling Dad and rah-rahing him towards the next objective and then being there to support him as all of us go through Russel's treatment together.
Back home, I spent the rest of my day transcribing. I was chained to my laptop as I finished transcribing two interviews (all part of my past backlog) and was in the middle of the third when I had to leave for the Novena and Evening Mass. In-between I had my lunch and a pot of tea with a few nuts. In keeping with my GP's advice, I am now eating one chapati per meal--so I have added healthy carbs now to my diet but I have knocked off the unhealthy carbs I was eating at tea-time (cakes, cookies, etc). I finished the five day course of tablets he had prescribed for my inexplicable stomach gripes and I am very happy to say that they are a thing of the past. Hopefully, cutting off dal (which I always thought was so good for us!) and adding a second vegetable each day, will work well for me and also keep my weight low! The whole idea of cutting off carbs was to keep down weight and make my clothes feel comfortable because I am not going to shop for anything new while here! It seems to be working...fingers crossed.
Meanwhile, at my laptop, in corresponding with people in different parts of the world, I have finalized a trip at the end of May and into early June to South America where I shall be participating in a Liberal Studies conference with all my NYU colleagues in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Llew will be joining me there--so I am already looking forward very much to seeing him again soon. As I also want to follow up the research I am doing here with Catholic Goans on the Portuguese colonial legacy of their involvement in Western music, the two of us will make a detour to Rio de Janeiro in Brazil where we will be the guests of our professor friend Rosana de Freitas from the University of Rio. Llew has never been to Brazil--so it will be a good holiday for him--I have been to Rio, about four years ago, and did the tourist circuit quite throughly then..so I shall focus a lot more on my research interests while there.
Also very exciting is a new Fulbright teaching opportunity that has opened up for me in, of all places, Uzbekistan--former Soviet Republic. I have been invited by Tashkent State University to teach Writing Workshops for their students--this was a result of the contacts I made during the Fulbright conference in Cochin. All travel and visa formalities are now being sorted for my departure at the end of this month. Time is short and I have a lot of preparation to do before I leave--but hopefully, everything will fall into place as I get to Tashkent. It is my hope, while there, to visit the fabled cities of Samarkand and Bukhara and I am hoping I will have the company of another Fulbrighter based in Tashkent, Greig, to do some day trips to these exotic cities.
Dad is really enjoying the IPL cricket matches and each evening after Mass, when we part at his gate, I can see that he is in a hurry to go home to switch on his TV set--he keeps telling me that each match is more exciting than the next. When I meet him the next morning, he explains such things to me as "run-out" and how it affected a recent match that gave victory to the Mumbai Indians because the other side did not protest soon enough! The next night, he said, the match was even more exciting. He keeps telling himself that he should try to go to bed by 11.00 pm, but he says that the matches are so compelling that he stays put at the TV set. And he was so glad he did because in one match he was witness to someone getting a "hat trick" which is a very rare occurrence in cricket. Russel goes by the clock...so he does not watch the IPL matches--he is fast asleep by 9.00 pm on most nights.
I got home, had my dinner and watched Traitors on Netflix as the actress Keeley Hawes tweeted about it (I follow her on Twitter). I found it rather confusing and am hoping it will make sense soon.
A quick chat with Llew and I turned the light down and fell asleep.
Tomorrow is a very busy and very long day for me as I start off with an interview at 10.00 am, will do three of them and will return home only after dinner in Colaba where I have been invited by a friend who is visiting from America.
Until tomorrow...
Seeing Two Physicians: A Dentist for Dad, An Orthopedist for Russel
Tuesday, April 2, 2019
Bombay
Seeing Two Physicians: A Dentist for Dad, An Orthopedist for Russel
Namaste from Bombay!
As my title says, this is pretty much what I did today. I woke up at 6.30 and began transcribing my interview with Melville Rodricks which brought me up to date with my current interviews. A quick brekkie of broon with spreads and coffee (after I caught the bread man and summoned him upstairs) and I was off to pick up Dad for his 10.00 am appointment with his dentist. The stitches from his lower set of gums needed removal today.
It was actually far more painless this time than it was last week when Dad dealt with stitch removal of his upper set. This time the doctor used a local pain-killer which made Dad's mouth and tongue very heavy (and kept them that way for a couple of hours) but he did not feel a thing. We were home within the hour.
Dad then requested me to accompany him to his bank which I was very happy to do. He brought his passbook and Russel's up to date and found out what his balance was. The bank was packed but somehow he managed to get his tasks done as I assisted when I was needed. I then got back home and finished up transcribing my interview with Melville.
My next appointment was in the evening at 5.00 with a new orthopedist whose opinion we are seeking with regards to Russel's ability to walk going forward. That left me the afternoon to get substantial work done, so I did not waste a second.
Meanwhile, email from NYU kept me busy too as I had to respond urgently to a few items. I am also in the process of organizing the teaching of a workshop in another part of the Fulbright world--hopefully, things will fall into place and I shall know soon where I stand.
I had my lunch: chicken curry with gherkins and chole with one chapatti--I realize how much I missed them for I am really enjoying them. Sadly, I haven't been able to go to the gym for a while and I do really miss it. After lunch, I sat and transcribed another interview--this time with Dolly Thakore while also making phone calls to finalize and schedule a few more interviews in the next couple of weeks.
I finished typing my interview with Dolly but had to keep the proof-reading for later. I dressed again and went off to Dad's at 4.00pm and then after he'd put together the X-rays--old and latest--we were on our way. For some reason, Uber told me that there were no cars available. I don't know if there is something wrong with the service or with what is happening on the app where I am concerned, but we had to end up taking one of the yellow cabs--which was annoying.
Anyway, we got there at just past 5.00 pm--the clinic of Dr. Harish Bhende is called Laud Clinic. It is at the bottom of Tilak Bridge in Dadar East, close to the Hindu Colony. We were kept sitting there till 8.00 pm if you can believe it! This is not usual, we were told, as several things went wrong today that delayed all appointments! Unbelievable! Luckily, I had carried my former student Priti's novel (Out With Lanterns) and I pretty much finished reading it while waiting. Thankfully, I'd had the foresight to carry some reading material or I might have torn all my hair out in impatience. Poor Dad! He remained stoic through it all.
The consultation with the orthopedist was very good indeed and certainly worth the wait. Although we left his office deeply disheartened at Russel's prognosis, we feel that the consultation was sound. We now have a clear idea of what lies ahead and what decisions we need to take. However, in the cab on the way back, both Dad and I were almost speechless. We were offered a lot to digest and I told Dad that we would talk things over tomorrow--which he completely agreed we should do.
Back home, I ate my dinner--a repeat of my lunch while watching the final episode of Season 3 of Line of Duty--which was absolutely scintillating. I knew I would have difficulty falling asleep as my mind was raging with foreboding thoughts, but somehow, after a while, sleep did come--mercifully.
Until tomorrow...
Bombay
Seeing Two Physicians: A Dentist for Dad, An Orthopedist for Russel
Namaste from Bombay!
As my title says, this is pretty much what I did today. I woke up at 6.30 and began transcribing my interview with Melville Rodricks which brought me up to date with my current interviews. A quick brekkie of broon with spreads and coffee (after I caught the bread man and summoned him upstairs) and I was off to pick up Dad for his 10.00 am appointment with his dentist. The stitches from his lower set of gums needed removal today.
It was actually far more painless this time than it was last week when Dad dealt with stitch removal of his upper set. This time the doctor used a local pain-killer which made Dad's mouth and tongue very heavy (and kept them that way for a couple of hours) but he did not feel a thing. We were home within the hour.
Dad then requested me to accompany him to his bank which I was very happy to do. He brought his passbook and Russel's up to date and found out what his balance was. The bank was packed but somehow he managed to get his tasks done as I assisted when I was needed. I then got back home and finished up transcribing my interview with Melville.
My next appointment was in the evening at 5.00 with a new orthopedist whose opinion we are seeking with regards to Russel's ability to walk going forward. That left me the afternoon to get substantial work done, so I did not waste a second.
Meanwhile, email from NYU kept me busy too as I had to respond urgently to a few items. I am also in the process of organizing the teaching of a workshop in another part of the Fulbright world--hopefully, things will fall into place and I shall know soon where I stand.
I had my lunch: chicken curry with gherkins and chole with one chapatti--I realize how much I missed them for I am really enjoying them. Sadly, I haven't been able to go to the gym for a while and I do really miss it. After lunch, I sat and transcribed another interview--this time with Dolly Thakore while also making phone calls to finalize and schedule a few more interviews in the next couple of weeks.
I finished typing my interview with Dolly but had to keep the proof-reading for later. I dressed again and went off to Dad's at 4.00pm and then after he'd put together the X-rays--old and latest--we were on our way. For some reason, Uber told me that there were no cars available. I don't know if there is something wrong with the service or with what is happening on the app where I am concerned, but we had to end up taking one of the yellow cabs--which was annoying.
Anyway, we got there at just past 5.00 pm--the clinic of Dr. Harish Bhende is called Laud Clinic. It is at the bottom of Tilak Bridge in Dadar East, close to the Hindu Colony. We were kept sitting there till 8.00 pm if you can believe it! This is not usual, we were told, as several things went wrong today that delayed all appointments! Unbelievable! Luckily, I had carried my former student Priti's novel (Out With Lanterns) and I pretty much finished reading it while waiting. Thankfully, I'd had the foresight to carry some reading material or I might have torn all my hair out in impatience. Poor Dad! He remained stoic through it all.
The consultation with the orthopedist was very good indeed and certainly worth the wait. Although we left his office deeply disheartened at Russel's prognosis, we feel that the consultation was sound. We now have a clear idea of what lies ahead and what decisions we need to take. However, in the cab on the way back, both Dad and I were almost speechless. We were offered a lot to digest and I told Dad that we would talk things over tomorrow--which he completely agreed we should do.
Back home, I ate my dinner--a repeat of my lunch while watching the final episode of Season 3 of Line of Duty--which was absolutely scintillating. I knew I would have difficulty falling asleep as my mind was raging with foreboding thoughts, but somehow, after a while, sleep did come--mercifully.
Until tomorrow...
Monday, April 1, 2019
More Transcription, Two More Interviews
Monday, April 1, 2019
Bombay
More Transcription, Two More Interviews
Namaste from Bombay!
A new week and a new month have dawned and I get closer to the end of my tenure here in Bombay as a Fulbrighter. There is a sense of urgency now developing within me that makes me feel compelled to finish up my interviews by the end of this present month so that I can keep the month of May for gaining access to pictures and other visual material. So I am projecting ahead...
Awaking after an almost sleepless night (during which the combination of caffeine in a coffee and a Diet Coke kept me awake), I blogged, chatted with Llew, then got my muesli and coffee breakfast organized. A quick shower later, I was out of the house and heading to my first interview with a man named Melvin Rodricks (known in local circles as Melrod). He was once a force to reckon with in the organization of the local Bandra 'Zonals' of St. Andrew's Church and although he has now retired from active volunteer service with the Zonals, I was sure that he would have much archival material to share with me.
I arrived at his apartment on the dot and sat down to a very nice conversation with him. As it turns out, he is vaguely and distantly related to me on my mother's side and we renewed those connections before he spoke about his contribution to the Zonals. After an hour, I left his place and walked back home. He has promised to find me printed material and has suggested I contact him again after Easter.
I spent the rest of the morning transcribing the interview I did with him, stopping only for lunch (Valerie has sent me a new tiffin but I still have leftovers from the old one!) and taking a brief siesta. Then I was at my computer again, transcribing two more interviews.
In the evening at 6.00 pm, I had yet another interview to do--this time with Roger Drego, who is the king of sound engineering in Bombay. Our meeting took place in his office at St. Andrew's Auditorium in Bandra. Again, we had a very nice chat about his role, over the decades, in serving as sound engineer and mixer for some of the biggest musical and theatrical events that the city has ever seen.
At 7.00 pm, as he had another meeting, I took my leave and walked straight to see Russel. I knew that Dad would be at Mass but I had a very nice evening chatting with Russel and catching up with him. When Dad returned, I left and got back home for my own dinner (chicken curry and gherkins with one chappati--no dal!) and watched Line of Duty which is simply riveting. But my lack of sleep of the previous night caused me to feel very sleepy indeed and by 10.00 pm, I switched off the light after a day in which I had done two interviews and transcribed three.
Until tomorrow...
Bombay
More Transcription, Two More Interviews
Namaste from Bombay!
A new week and a new month have dawned and I get closer to the end of my tenure here in Bombay as a Fulbrighter. There is a sense of urgency now developing within me that makes me feel compelled to finish up my interviews by the end of this present month so that I can keep the month of May for gaining access to pictures and other visual material. So I am projecting ahead...
Awaking after an almost sleepless night (during which the combination of caffeine in a coffee and a Diet Coke kept me awake), I blogged, chatted with Llew, then got my muesli and coffee breakfast organized. A quick shower later, I was out of the house and heading to my first interview with a man named Melvin Rodricks (known in local circles as Melrod). He was once a force to reckon with in the organization of the local Bandra 'Zonals' of St. Andrew's Church and although he has now retired from active volunteer service with the Zonals, I was sure that he would have much archival material to share with me.
I arrived at his apartment on the dot and sat down to a very nice conversation with him. As it turns out, he is vaguely and distantly related to me on my mother's side and we renewed those connections before he spoke about his contribution to the Zonals. After an hour, I left his place and walked back home. He has promised to find me printed material and has suggested I contact him again after Easter.
I spent the rest of the morning transcribing the interview I did with him, stopping only for lunch (Valerie has sent me a new tiffin but I still have leftovers from the old one!) and taking a brief siesta. Then I was at my computer again, transcribing two more interviews.
In the evening at 6.00 pm, I had yet another interview to do--this time with Roger Drego, who is the king of sound engineering in Bombay. Our meeting took place in his office at St. Andrew's Auditorium in Bandra. Again, we had a very nice chat about his role, over the decades, in serving as sound engineer and mixer for some of the biggest musical and theatrical events that the city has ever seen.
At 7.00 pm, as he had another meeting, I took my leave and walked straight to see Russel. I knew that Dad would be at Mass but I had a very nice evening chatting with Russel and catching up with him. When Dad returned, I left and got back home for my own dinner (chicken curry and gherkins with one chappati--no dal!) and watched Line of Duty which is simply riveting. But my lack of sleep of the previous night caused me to feel very sleepy indeed and by 10.00 pm, I switched off the light after a day in which I had done two interviews and transcribed three.
Until tomorrow...
A Sunday Ramble in the Heart of Bombay--Byculla, Dongri and Ballard Estate
Sunday, March 31, 2019
Bombay
A Sunday Ramble in the Heart of Bombay--Byculla, Dongri and Ballard Estate
Namaste from Bombay!
I had a most unusual Sunday! Awaking in the quiet serenity of my air-conditioned guest room in the home of my friends Nafisa and Hosefa in Byculla, I washed, dressed and joined them for breakfast at their kitchen dining table--muesli with cold milk, two slices of toast with cheese spread and very good coffee--it was not decaf and I was bound to count sheep all the way into the wee hours!
Mass at my Childhood Church:
I left their place at 8.15am for the swift stroll up Nesbit Bridge to get to Mass at the church in which my parents were married and my siblings and I were baptized. St. Anne's Church which adjoins the famous St. Mary's School, sits in a quiet oasis of sporting grounds, a beautiful Neo-Gothic sentinel of Catholic worship in the heart of Central Bombay. This area was once a stronghold of Anglo-Indian inhabitants--when it was bristling with Westernization. With their exodus en masse westwards to Blighty and eastwards Down Under, the population of the church has dwindled so badly that there was literally just a handful of folks at Mass that was said by Fr. Laurie Ferro.
The original church was built in 1787 by Rose Nesbit (after whom the bridge and road are named). It was entrusted to the Carmelite priests who were succeeded by the Capuchins. The Jesuits took over in 1858--they planned and erected the present structure under the supervision of Bro. Herman Lau, S.J. in 1880-81. It was raised to the status of a parish on the Feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola on July 31, 1887. I got this information from a plaque at the entrance of the church.
Everywhere you look, there are remnants of the Victorian life of Catholic Bombay--the glorious Gothic fan vaulting, fonts containing holy water carved in white marble, vignettes that form the Stations of the Cross--that are simply the best I have ever seen in any church in Bombay, and the gorgeous stained glass windows that remind me very much of the style of Edward Burne-Jones.
It is hard for me to describe the deep joy that nostalgia brings me as I sit in this church and look back (inevitably) on the child and teenager I once was. This was where we would come as a family, Sunday after Sunday, as my Dad Robert was the Lector at the 8.30 Mass at this church for more than half a century--that is fifty years of proclaiming the Word! I can remember my brothers' First Holy Communions, my and their Confirmation and any number of Christmas Midnight Masses heard on the vast grounds of the church facing the lovely giant clock on the school and rectory walls. Like all Jesuit properties, this is beautifully maintained and it was a pleasure to explore the back where I once heard Youth Masses and where the Auditorium is located. How I wish I could have gone upstairs and entered the Hall again--alas, it was securely padlocked and with no one around to assist me, I merely browsed around, took a few pictures and left.
A Ramble with Nafisa to Places of Worship:
Entering a Synagogue:
As we intended to take a bus to Ballard Estate where we wanted to start our walk and as we were actually passing by the Jewish Synagogue, Nafisa suggested we make a detour there--which we did. The Magen David Synagogue is a striking turquoise building with white highlights. There is a clock tower here too. Inside, as it turned out, service was in progress; so we stood at the back respectfully and listened as the priest read from the holy books and the congregation responded. Both Nafisa and I took pictures and then were accosted by a man who demanded that we pay Rs. 500 each for taking pictures. He told us that there was a notice at the entrance saying that we need to pay for a camera. We apologized to him for not having seen it and even offered to erase our pictures. But there was no need. He overlooked our error and we were on our way. The synagogue is as beautiful inside as it is on the exterior.
Entering a Mosque:
Nafisa was keen then that I see what she described as one of the most interesting mosques in the Muslim Quarter that is known as Dongri. She described it to me as a mosque that was built by Arabs and is restricted to the use of the Ismaeli Khoja community in Bombay. We jumped into a No. 3 bus when it came along and got off at Dogri. We had to traipse through some of the most ugly and unsightly of lanes, bylanes and buildings--all of which are in a drearful state of disrepair. As if the visual onslaught were inadequate, the place stank to high heaven and we literally had to cover our noses as we passed by open drains carrying raw sewage through the streets, piles of garbage that remained uncollected and all sorts litter at every turn. It was very hard to find the mosque in question through the maze but by asking people (and being informed that there are 50 mosques at least in the area), we did eventually find the place.
And as Nafisa had described, it was a very quiet oasis in a crazy environment. We admired the vast interior courtyard, the lovely clock tower (there are a lot in this area as people in the Victorian Age did not own their own watches), the community hall and entrance and the marble altar right at the front.
We could not linger too long, however, as I was supposed to get back to Bandra in time to have lunch with Dad and Russel--and so we jumped into a cab and reached Ballard Estate about ten minutes later.
A Ramble in Ritzy Ballard Estate:
Ballard Estate used to the commercial hub of British India. It was and still is the headquarters of the Bombay Port Trust at a time when all global trading was done on the high seas. Each of its buildings is in some way or the other connected with the mercantile marines. Built in a well-planned manner with solid stone buildings, it was once the hub of banks, shipping companies, oil enterprises, etc. This was, in other word, the Nariman Point of colonial Bombay. The area is a maze of beautifully laid-out streets punctuated with ancient banyan trees that spread their gigantic arms across the street providing much-needed shade. On every street, there was a cricket match in progress--you must admire the resourcefulness of India's youth who see the potential in the use of empty streets on a Sunday to start cricket matches. We passed by the Grand Hotel (once the fanciest hotel in the city and the popular stop for sea-farers of a previous era) and saw the beautiful Port Trust buildings which had the prows of ships jutting out of the sides of the building to form gargoyles. We also saw the Port Trust War Memorial which stands in a protected island on the street bearing the names of the officers who died in the Great War. Finally, we also did see a cruise-liner dock at the harbor as dozens of white people disembarked to get their first sights of Bombay and be mobbed by the taxi-drivers waiting like sharks to take them for a sightseeing spin.
Truly, this was a lovely ramble through a very historic part of Bombay and I was glad Nafisa suggested we walk around on a Sunday. Spending the night in her house allowed me to do this and it turned out to be such a lovely experience.
Back to Bandra on the Train:
We left the serenity of this glorious part of Bombay behind to walk briskly to Victoria Terminus where I bought a ticket that took me to Dadar where I needed to change trains to get the Western Railway line. Isn't it amazing how easily I have adapted to all these varied commuting experiences in the heart of Bombay? Truly the city has such a fantastic public transport system that I am delighted to be able to use it with the élan with which I am doing so--not even the locals use public transport here as I do and I am very proud of myself indeed.
I had placed an order for Prawn Biryani with fried Bombay ducks (a local fish) and raita for lunch at the Bandra Gymkhana and I took a rickshaw from Bandra Station that took me straight to the gym from where I picked up my food order and went straight to Dad's. There, we ate our lunch together and gabbed about my evening out and the great time I'd had at Nafisa's.
When Dad and Russel relaxed and took their afternoon siestas, I left and got back home to begin drafting my newsletter for the month of March as I shall send it out tomorrow. This took me more than an hour after which I spoke to Llew and planned out the itinerary we would use for our travels in South America--we shall be visiting Argentina (Buenos Aires and the Iguazzu Falls) and Brazil (Rio de Janeiro) after participating in a faculty conference at NYU. After formulating an itinerary, I told him that I would email it to him. I then sat down and transcribed my interview with Carl Mendes. By the time I was done with the major pieces of work on my computer, it was time for dinner and I made myself a G and T and had the vegetables and mince curry that were in my fridge with a bit of Waldorf Salad. While eating, I decided to watch TV and I returned to the fantastic British cop show called Line of Duty to which I had become introduced in October of last year. I had taken a break from it and found that I was able to return to it with renewed delight. It is truly a great show and I did something I usually do not do--I binge-watched 3 episodes of it, back to back, as the coffee pf the morning continued to see me wide awake. It was only in the wee hours of the morning that I actually feel asleep.
Until tomorrow...
Bombay
A Sunday Ramble in the Heart of Bombay--Byculla, Dongri and Ballard Estate
Namaste from Bombay!
I had a most unusual Sunday! Awaking in the quiet serenity of my air-conditioned guest room in the home of my friends Nafisa and Hosefa in Byculla, I washed, dressed and joined them for breakfast at their kitchen dining table--muesli with cold milk, two slices of toast with cheese spread and very good coffee--it was not decaf and I was bound to count sheep all the way into the wee hours!
Mass at my Childhood Church:
I left their place at 8.15am for the swift stroll up Nesbit Bridge to get to Mass at the church in which my parents were married and my siblings and I were baptized. St. Anne's Church which adjoins the famous St. Mary's School, sits in a quiet oasis of sporting grounds, a beautiful Neo-Gothic sentinel of Catholic worship in the heart of Central Bombay. This area was once a stronghold of Anglo-Indian inhabitants--when it was bristling with Westernization. With their exodus en masse westwards to Blighty and eastwards Down Under, the population of the church has dwindled so badly that there was literally just a handful of folks at Mass that was said by Fr. Laurie Ferro.
The original church was built in 1787 by Rose Nesbit (after whom the bridge and road are named). It was entrusted to the Carmelite priests who were succeeded by the Capuchins. The Jesuits took over in 1858--they planned and erected the present structure under the supervision of Bro. Herman Lau, S.J. in 1880-81. It was raised to the status of a parish on the Feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola on July 31, 1887. I got this information from a plaque at the entrance of the church.
Everywhere you look, there are remnants of the Victorian life of Catholic Bombay--the glorious Gothic fan vaulting, fonts containing holy water carved in white marble, vignettes that form the Stations of the Cross--that are simply the best I have ever seen in any church in Bombay, and the gorgeous stained glass windows that remind me very much of the style of Edward Burne-Jones.
It is hard for me to describe the deep joy that nostalgia brings me as I sit in this church and look back (inevitably) on the child and teenager I once was. This was where we would come as a family, Sunday after Sunday, as my Dad Robert was the Lector at the 8.30 Mass at this church for more than half a century--that is fifty years of proclaiming the Word! I can remember my brothers' First Holy Communions, my and their Confirmation and any number of Christmas Midnight Masses heard on the vast grounds of the church facing the lovely giant clock on the school and rectory walls. Like all Jesuit properties, this is beautifully maintained and it was a pleasure to explore the back where I once heard Youth Masses and where the Auditorium is located. How I wish I could have gone upstairs and entered the Hall again--alas, it was securely padlocked and with no one around to assist me, I merely browsed around, took a few pictures and left.
A Ramble with Nafisa to Places of Worship:
Entering a Synagogue:
As we intended to take a bus to Ballard Estate where we wanted to start our walk and as we were actually passing by the Jewish Synagogue, Nafisa suggested we make a detour there--which we did. The Magen David Synagogue is a striking turquoise building with white highlights. There is a clock tower here too. Inside, as it turned out, service was in progress; so we stood at the back respectfully and listened as the priest read from the holy books and the congregation responded. Both Nafisa and I took pictures and then were accosted by a man who demanded that we pay Rs. 500 each for taking pictures. He told us that there was a notice at the entrance saying that we need to pay for a camera. We apologized to him for not having seen it and even offered to erase our pictures. But there was no need. He overlooked our error and we were on our way. The synagogue is as beautiful inside as it is on the exterior.
Entering a Mosque:
Nafisa was keen then that I see what she described as one of the most interesting mosques in the Muslim Quarter that is known as Dongri. She described it to me as a mosque that was built by Arabs and is restricted to the use of the Ismaeli Khoja community in Bombay. We jumped into a No. 3 bus when it came along and got off at Dogri. We had to traipse through some of the most ugly and unsightly of lanes, bylanes and buildings--all of which are in a drearful state of disrepair. As if the visual onslaught were inadequate, the place stank to high heaven and we literally had to cover our noses as we passed by open drains carrying raw sewage through the streets, piles of garbage that remained uncollected and all sorts litter at every turn. It was very hard to find the mosque in question through the maze but by asking people (and being informed that there are 50 mosques at least in the area), we did eventually find the place.
And as Nafisa had described, it was a very quiet oasis in a crazy environment. We admired the vast interior courtyard, the lovely clock tower (there are a lot in this area as people in the Victorian Age did not own their own watches), the community hall and entrance and the marble altar right at the front.
We could not linger too long, however, as I was supposed to get back to Bandra in time to have lunch with Dad and Russel--and so we jumped into a cab and reached Ballard Estate about ten minutes later.
A Ramble in Ritzy Ballard Estate:
Ballard Estate used to the commercial hub of British India. It was and still is the headquarters of the Bombay Port Trust at a time when all global trading was done on the high seas. Each of its buildings is in some way or the other connected with the mercantile marines. Built in a well-planned manner with solid stone buildings, it was once the hub of banks, shipping companies, oil enterprises, etc. This was, in other word, the Nariman Point of colonial Bombay. The area is a maze of beautifully laid-out streets punctuated with ancient banyan trees that spread their gigantic arms across the street providing much-needed shade. On every street, there was a cricket match in progress--you must admire the resourcefulness of India's youth who see the potential in the use of empty streets on a Sunday to start cricket matches. We passed by the Grand Hotel (once the fanciest hotel in the city and the popular stop for sea-farers of a previous era) and saw the beautiful Port Trust buildings which had the prows of ships jutting out of the sides of the building to form gargoyles. We also saw the Port Trust War Memorial which stands in a protected island on the street bearing the names of the officers who died in the Great War. Finally, we also did see a cruise-liner dock at the harbor as dozens of white people disembarked to get their first sights of Bombay and be mobbed by the taxi-drivers waiting like sharks to take them for a sightseeing spin.
Truly, this was a lovely ramble through a very historic part of Bombay and I was glad Nafisa suggested we walk around on a Sunday. Spending the night in her house allowed me to do this and it turned out to be such a lovely experience.
Back to Bandra on the Train:
We left the serenity of this glorious part of Bombay behind to walk briskly to Victoria Terminus where I bought a ticket that took me to Dadar where I needed to change trains to get the Western Railway line. Isn't it amazing how easily I have adapted to all these varied commuting experiences in the heart of Bombay? Truly the city has such a fantastic public transport system that I am delighted to be able to use it with the élan with which I am doing so--not even the locals use public transport here as I do and I am very proud of myself indeed.
I had placed an order for Prawn Biryani with fried Bombay ducks (a local fish) and raita for lunch at the Bandra Gymkhana and I took a rickshaw from Bandra Station that took me straight to the gym from where I picked up my food order and went straight to Dad's. There, we ate our lunch together and gabbed about my evening out and the great time I'd had at Nafisa's.
When Dad and Russel relaxed and took their afternoon siestas, I left and got back home to begin drafting my newsletter for the month of March as I shall send it out tomorrow. This took me more than an hour after which I spoke to Llew and planned out the itinerary we would use for our travels in South America--we shall be visiting Argentina (Buenos Aires and the Iguazzu Falls) and Brazil (Rio de Janeiro) after participating in a faculty conference at NYU. After formulating an itinerary, I told him that I would email it to him. I then sat down and transcribed my interview with Carl Mendes. By the time I was done with the major pieces of work on my computer, it was time for dinner and I made myself a G and T and had the vegetables and mince curry that were in my fridge with a bit of Waldorf Salad. While eating, I decided to watch TV and I returned to the fantastic British cop show called Line of Duty to which I had become introduced in October of last year. I had taken a break from it and found that I was able to return to it with renewed delight. It is truly a great show and I did something I usually do not do--I binge-watched 3 episodes of it, back to back, as the coffee pf the morning continued to see me wide awake. It was only in the wee hours of the morning that I actually feel asleep.
Until tomorrow...
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