30 May Wednesday

I woke up to another hot and sunny morning. The consistency of the weather is quite striking. It’s probably the sustained nature of the heat that makes summers in Bombay so harsh, not the temperatures or humidity levels which are generally quite moderate. I had a rushed conversation with F. because I had to leave with my parents today morning. I had plans on spending the morning with my cousins Reshmi and Deep. Pishimoni left for Kolkata. She had to go there to receive the truck carrying Pishomoshai and Pishimoni’s furniture. Pishomoshai left moments before we did to drop her off at the airport. We dropped off Baba at his office, the head office of the Great Eastern Shipping Company Limited, called Ocean House. The office is located in the Worli neighborhood of Central Bombay, about forty five minutes from where my parents live. After dropping him off, our chauffer Milind drove my mother and me to the suburb of Bandra to drop Mum off at her school Peridot Nursery. The car then dropped me off at my cousin Reshmi and Deep’s apartment in the Pali Hill neighborhood of Bandra. Reshmi and Deep are relatives on my maternal side. Reshmi’s maternal grandfather and my maternal grandfather are brothers. They live in the second storey of an apartment building. Reshmi is three years younger to me and she is a doctor preparing to move to Boston this fall to pursue a graduate education. Deep just gave his twelfth grade exams and is busy applying for pretty much everything ranging from pure sciences, engineering, medicine, and even hotel management. Reshmi and I got a chance to have a nice chat as I accompanied her to the Bandra-Kurla complex, a massive business district north of Bandra. She had to pick up some paperwork from the headquarters of State Bank of India, the largest bank in the country. Their head office was very impressive but I wasn’t too pleased when they didn’t let me enter because I was dressed in shorts. On our way back we stopped at Carter Road, a long sweeping road hugging the coastline with a lovely promenade, to buy gelato. We then went to Reshmi and Deep’s apartment for lunch. Mum joined us for fried rice and chicken. We then crashed in Reshmi’s bedroom, turned on the air conditioning and chatted for almost an hour. Mum and I got back around four thirty, just in time to open the door for the maids. In the evening Mum and I went out for our usual swim. While we were swimming a coach was training very young children in the shallow end of the pool. One of the children, all of a sudden jumped into the pool without her life vest on. The poor thing nearly drowned and had to be fished out, it was really shocking!!! Children that young should not be allowed in the pool unless their parents are close by. I came home ravenously hungry and we enjoyed a very good dinner of comfort food – rotis, potol, dal, and fish curry. We were all so sleepy that we passed out immediately without me getting a chance to update this blog which I was able to do only much later so it got posted only today: look below.

29 May Tuesday

This is a late post. We had a quite day. Pishomoshai, Pishimoni, Mum and I went out in the morning to the town of Mulund, a few miles north of where we live. We were on our way to a mall called Nirmal Lifestyles. I had very excitedly taken my camera to take a photograph to put up in this blog. Nirmal Lifestyles is a sprawling commercial complex, mostly open air but with air conditioned stores. Its claim to fame is a massive dome covering almost a quarter of the mall. Inside, visitors can see a model of our solar system complete with the Mir space station, astronauts, and a rocket. This is supposedly the largest dome anywhere in the world. Much to my annoyance there were boards everywhere announcing that photography was prohibited. Probably as a security measure. India has been on a high security status for six months now, level two, something that shouldn’t have lasted for more than three or four days, as a result the security measures have been diluted and stupid things such as a ban on photography in Nirmal Lifestyles continues. We first stopped off at a clothing and home goods chain store, FabIndia. Pishimoni had to return something there. They had some excellent pieces of furniture that I enjoyed looking at. We then strolled over to Crosswords, a bookstore chain. I grabbed a copy of Ramchandra Guha’s latest book. Guha is historian who writes pop history books, his latest offering is a history of post independence India. I was pretty excited about the book but got very disappointed by the first chapter. Guha had gotten India’s partition story quite wrong, his theory was almost two decades old. It is now well known in academia that India was partitioned not because of any divide between Hindus or Muslims that existed from time immemorial or even one created by the British, rather it was the political acrobatics that Jinnah and the Congress were involved in that resulted in partition. Contrary to Guha, Jinnah did not want a separate state, all he was after was a federalist structure that he felt would be a safer bet for Muslims, the Congress refused him. Jinnah gambled and upped the stakes by making a demand for an independent Islamic state hoping that the Congress would back down. Unfortunately for him, the Congress called his bluff. The Congress was quite willing to live with partition if that was the cost they’d have to pay for a centralized India. In came Mountbatten who had no clue of what was going on, all he heard were two groups talking about partition and much to Jinnah’s horror, Mountbatten partitioned India, patted himself on the back, and left for England. Guha desperately needs to Ayesha Jalal’s The Sole Spokesman. After some time we walked over to an Indian restaurant called Pulses for lunch. I ordered a combo meal of Naan (North Indian bread) and Mutton curry which was served with Raita (a very liquidy yogurt). The food was pretty good. After this excellent lunch we went back home. The other interesting thing I did during the day was to go for a swim. The swimming pool was undergoing repairs all these days and had finally been opened. The chlorine levels were quite unimaginable, but besides that I enjoyed my swim.

May 28, Monday

I overslept and as a result was too late to catch F. online. Anyways I enjoyed my breakfast of left-over fish kachoris. I spent the morning helping Pishomoshai figure out some emailing issues and reading an excellent book. Esther David’s Book of Rachel is a lovely novel about Rachel, an elderly Jewish lady fighting to preserve an abandoned synagogue in Alibaug, a few hours north of where my parents live. It was an excellent look at the difficulties thrown up by the migration of Bene Israeli Jews from India to Israel in particular, and of migration in general. Anirudh dropped in for lunch. He’s getting ready to move to the Hague sometime later this week. He seemed quite excited about it but was restraining himself since he hadn’t quite completed all his paperwork. We had rice, vegetables, dal, mutton curry, and fish curry. For dessert I had some of the leftover tiramisu from Bubai Kaka’s hotel. We went for a nice stroll in our complex afterwards and after getting back watched a DVD. Unfortunately Mr. and Mrs. Smith turned out to be a particularly brain dead film. I went to the gym in the evening and had a pretty good workout. Later on in the evening we all went over to Sangita Aunty, and P. P. Singh uncle’s party. P. P. Singh is a close friend and former colleague of my father’s. They live in the same building, six storeys below us. Some other family friends were around as well. Sachdeva uncle, his wife Deshi aunty, and their daughter Ginnu, and also Atul uncle and his wife had come. The funny thing about this gathering was that all of us had gotten to know each other in Kolkata. Now, after a long time we were all living in the Kanjurmarg area. It’s really striking how many of by father’s college classmates now live in the Great Eastern Gardens complex alone. One of our former neighbors Siddhart ordered Chinese food for us Noodles, rice, vegetables, and two chicken preparations. We had a very nice time there especially when laughing about Pishomoshai and Pishimoni’s run ins with the local bureaucracy as they prepared to leave for Singapore. We came home really late, almost midnight.

May 27 Sunday

May 27 Sunday
I woke up to another hot and sunny day. It turned into a very nice day. Not least because I was able to talk to F. twice, once in the morning and again in the evening. Baba was at home today. We went out a couple of times. The first time around we drove to the neighboring city of Thane. We went there to buy some mutton. Baba can’t stand the sight of carcasses and so I had to do the shopping. I wasn’t too bothered by the carcasses, but was a little taken aback when I noticed the tails hanging from the skinned bodies. On our way back we stopped near Kanjurmarg station to buy some Basmati rice and some yogurt. We also got a chance to have a nice chat. This was also my first ride in Baba’s new car. I completely fell in love with it. Around lunchtime, all my father’s relatives living in the Bombay area turned up. As I have already mentioned in previous posts, Pishimoni and Pishomoshai are staying with us. They were joined by Bubai Kaka, his wife Suchishmita Kakima, his father, and his son Igloo. One of my father’s cousins and her husband also came, as did their daughter Rinku and her husband. We had a very nice lunch. I fixed bloody marys which turned out pretty well. For lunch I had rice, dal, mutton, and fish. For dessert I had a mango based sweetie. I started feeling very sleepy late in the afternoon, however I did have a fun time showing my cousin Igloo images on Google maps. After they all left I went down for a workout at the gym. When I came up I saw that my father’s former colleague and batch mate Tangri uncle and his wife had turned up. After they left my father’s friend Chatterjee uncle and his wife came over. Mum was feeling quite tired at this point so I insisted on ordering out. I called China Valley and ordered Chicken Fried Rice, Chicken Hakka noodles, Schezwuan Fish, and Sweet and Sour Chicken. The food was quite good but I was feeling very full. Of course that didn’t stop me from having some bhappa doi (sweetened yogurt) made by Rinku for us. I fell asleep dog tired. It might sound unbelievable but my parents do this practically every weekend.

May 26

May 26 Saturday
It was another hot and sunny morning. Pishimoni fixed breakfast, fish kachoris (an Indian fish preparation). After breakfast, Pishimoni, Pishomoshai, and I went out. Pishomoshai had to get a haircut, and both Pishimoni and I had a couple of chores to do. We drove up to the Hiranandani Gardens complex in the neighboring suburb of Powai. We went in Pishomoshai’s Swift. The Hiranandani Gardens complex is one of the most peculiar neighborhoods that I have ever encountered. It is an entire neighborhood that has been constructed by a single developer, and designed by an architect Hafeez Contractor. Contractor’s designs are a little peculiar. He likes a Neo-Classical look, but generally goes a little overboard with odd gigantic statues of eagles and such. Anyway, Pishimoni and I went to Haiko, a grocery store while my uncle went for a haircut. After completing our shopping, I walked over to Crosswords, a bookstore chain. After spending some time there Pishomoshai gave us a call telling us that he was done. We then went back home for lunch and a short nap. I was feeling very full after I woke up and decided that I needed to hit the gym very badly. I went down and had a pretty good workout. I even felt a little hungry afterwards. Around seven, the five of us got into Baba’s Honda City and took off for a drive into the city of Navi Mumbai. We were on our way to visit one of my uncles, Bubai Kaka. Bubai Kaka is my father’s first cousin. His father was my grandfather’s younger brother. This grand uncle lives in Kolkata but was visiting Bubai Kaka. Bubai Kaka is married, to Suchishmita, I call her Suchishmita Kakima (Kakima means Kaka’s wife). They also have a son whose pet name is Igloo. Bubai Kaka lives in a hotel where he’s the general manager. I found his apartment to be quite American, it had a wooden floor, and a kitchen designed reminiscent of an American house. We were served an excellent dinner cooked up by the hotel’s chef. We had chicken, fish, paneer, and potol as appetizers, biriyani (rice and meat) as a main course, and tiramisu and mango soufflé for dessert. The food was excellent and innovative. I got a little tipsy on Chardonnay. It was Sula wine, a local brand grown in the slopes of the Deccan Platue near the city of Nashik, not too far from Bombay. The wine was pretty good. I fell asleep on the way back, but we reached home before midnight. Another day had finally ended.

May 24

Daily Log
25 May 2007
This was a warm, sunny Friday. It was my first full day in India after flying in Thursday morning. It also turned out to be an excellent day. I was sadly unable to contact F because of a faulty internet connection. I did however have an excellent breakfast of parathans (a North Indian bread), aloo (potatoes), and delicious achaar (Indian pickle). My uncle and aunt are staying with us. I call them Pishomoshai (my father’s sister’s husband), and pishimoni (my father’s sister). They’re going to be here for a few days before making a possible move to Singapore. Baba (my father) had left for work early. The rest of us, Pishomoshai, Pishimoni, Mum, and I took off after breakfast. We got into Pishomoshai’s new car, a Suzuki Swift, and headed towards the suburb of Chembur to buy some fish. We got there after a short drive down the Eastern Express Highway. The market was an all out assault on the senses. It was visually very stimulating. The fishmongers were sitting on waist high platforms laid out in rows inside a large hall. Customers walked around in the passages that separated the platforms. The fishmongers either worked alone or in groups. We patronize the largest of these groups. The fish lie whole on the platforms, some quite alive. When a customer gives an order, the fishmonger chops up the selected fish in the manner requested by the customer. I watched fascinated as the fishmonger chopped off the head of a particularly lively fish, and the chopped off head actually continued to slither around. The place was also quite noisy. Customers and fishmongers were shouting to and fro as well as a large number of crows cawing incessantly. The crows were quite disciplined, taking care to pick at only those pieces of fish that had been thrown aside as waste. Their droppings on defunct light fixtures were the only really disgusting feature of the place. The most striking sensory effect of the place however was its smell. The stench of fish was quite overwhelming. I initially thought that I could bring over F to the place, but I’m not sure anymore. We came home for lunch, and were joined by one of my friends Aman Sachdeva. I knew him threw my father Aman’s father and my father were batch mates in college and worked at the Indian Register of Shipping for a long time. Aman is a senior at the Dalhousie Maritime Engineering Training Institute, Mumbai (Bombay). Unfortunately my jetlag began to hit around this time, and I started feeling very sleepy. Poor Aman might have gotten bored trying to make conversation with a very tired me. Lunch was excellent. Mum served mutton, fish, dal (lentils), and paneer (cottage cheese), with rice. After my afternoon nap I had a glass of cold coffee. Baba came back around eight. We had roti (another North Indian bread) with egg curry, and chicken curry. We then went out to a movie theatre down the street to watch Cheeni Kum (Short on Sugar). The cinema hall Huma Adlabs is in a mall called Huma. The mall was very crowded and we could not get parking and had to park on the street. The film itself was about a sixty four year old Indian chef in London, and his thirty four year old Indian girlfriend. The plot was a little too simplistic but the script was quite funny. I finally got to ride Baba’s new car, a Honda City, I loved it, but I’m still waiting to get a really good look at it tomorrow morning. We finally got home and went to sleep at two in the morning. It was excellent first day in India, and a very promising start to my trip.