Twenty- five Seven

A Memory house

December 2, 2024

Over the past five and a half months we’ve been giving our house a new look. This obviously involved a lot of work. What began as a small job, dragged on for months and turned out to be more than just a job. It actually was a life-changing experience.

For the first time, we realised what living in a multigenerational family really meant. Not only were we four different generations living together, but we also had multi-generational artefacts, often going beyond the four generations present. We had books, walking sticks, rackets, photo albums, pots and pans belonging to Uncles and Aunts of earlier generations!

So in the house clean-up, we discovered many things that had to be put away, nay, buried in a graveyard or donated to a museum of late 19th Century life in India.

However, Hubby Dear being extremely sentimental refused to part with any object. So we decided to pack things up and keep them in an empty flat that we had purchased in Talegaon. That would be our ‘Memory House’. It was also a cheaper option than keeping it in storage.

Thank God for men who pee on the road!

We set off last Saturday in our tiny Hyundai i10 which is also old and retired from active Sales. However, it has hardly any mileage on its dashboard and is still a trusty car.

Or so we thought.

No sooner had we passed the last available petrol pump at the end of the Atal Setu, we developed a flat.

Pulling to the side of the road, the driver somehow managed to jack-up the car and began the process of removing the wheel to fix the stepney. We didn’t realise the 7 years of scanty use would cause rubber degeneration and a jammed wheel. No amount of kicking and pulling released the stubborn wheel.

So we packed up the stepney and continued ahead till we found the next petrol pump. Highway assistance is hard to come by. Slowly, with our hearts in our mouths, we crawled along for a few kilometres or so before we saw a tow van packed on the side. Alleluia! Help was at hand.

But the van was driverless and looking ahead, we spotted him a few metres away having a pee. For the first time in my life, I wasn’t disgusted at this filthy practice. Hubby Dear jumped out of the car and grabbed the man’s attention before he could zip up.

Luckily he agreed to help. This time round, he went to his van, picked up a huge sledgehammer and thwacked the stubborn wheel out of its comfort zone.

Thanking him profusely in cash and kind, we continued our journey to the ‘Memory House’.

I also thanked God for men who pee on the road!

Ciao
Book Review

November 27, 2024

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

A Fistful of My Sky – Memories of Jawhar by Anand Gokani Md.

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A simple book about a medical intern’s experience with the Aboriginals living just a few hundred miles out of Mumbai. One can hardly believe that two cultures can co-exist just a few miles apart. The sophisticated, cosmopolitan world of Mumbai contrasts with the simple, basic, almost back-to-nature life that Dr. Anand Gokani finds in Jawhar, during his compulsory internship rounding off four gruelling years of MBBS.
Initially shocked, the young doctor and his four colleagues quickly adapt to the simple living space and ill-equipped hospital. Though most cases are snake bites and deliveries of newborns, some challenging situations demand quick thinking and a lot of good luck.
The doctor navigates easily with his patients who range from simple village folk to townspeople and royalty.
Finding solace in long walks in the countryside and interacting with all the people he meets in rural practice, the doctor discovers new insights and meaning into life that help shape his character.
Simply written in a lucid style, this book is an easy read and recommended to all those young graduating doctors who would rather skip the rural internship.

So grab a copy this weekend and enjoy a lazy Sunday read.

Ciao
Fifty Years On

November 13, 2024

I woke up yesterday morning, gripped by a strange fear. I had spent the whole night tossing and turning, paralysed with the thought of our 50 year Reunion. Yes, it’s been 50 years since we did our school leaving examination – the ISC which has long been scrapped. Luckily, the school still exists as do most of my classmates. I haven’t seen most of them for over 50 years while I’ve been meeting some on and off and a few who are my dear friends till today.

School friends are a completely different kettle of fish. They know you almost inside out. They’ve seen you stumble through adolescence and probably helped you find yourself as you progress to adulthood. They can be brutally frank and honest, easily reverting back to the familiarity that existed in our schooldays.

Quite honestly, even though I managed to control my absolute fear, I am still a bit apprehensive.

Over the past month, I’ve helped in collating information about our classmates and compiling a ( for want of a better word ) Slambook. Seeing their photos and reading about the amazing things they’ve done since leaving school has left me dazed. Not only have they left the gawkiness of our teen years behind, but have been winners in the careers they have chosen.

Always the outsider

Growing up an itinerant Naval kid meant meant changing schools. Thus, I never felt I really belonged to any particular school. Even though I only went to three schools, I missed the closeness of my classmates who had shared memories of kindergarten, car pools, teachers who hadn’t taught me and events that I hadn’t participated in.

In January this year, I was invited by my classmates from class 4- class 7 for the 50th Reunion of their ( which would have been mine too ) school-leaving class at St.Mary’s School , Pune. This school still has a special place in my heart but I declined the invitation.

Coming to the present

I am not one for nostalgia because you can’t really turn back the clock. Over the years I’ve bumped into many of my school mates and it’s always been fun reminiscing about the days gone by.

But I prefer to look ahead.

So I’m off now to get set for the evening and hope that many of the photos of my classmates have been photoshopped !

Ciao