So far, it's been a very hectic vacation indeed. To top it all, coming to India when it is at its near hottest has been energy sapping and tiring. On the flip side, of course, it was my first opportunity in over five years to be in Mumbai at the height of the "hapoos" (alphonso) mango season. The alphonso mango is the king of mangos, and among the top in the tastiest fruit of the world. I was very fortunate to get to eat this fruit repeatedly. One of my medico friends Dr. Patankar actually enhanced my happiness by gifting me 2 boxes of the original, untreated variety of the fruit that is known as the "Devgad" alphonso, after its place of origin. He gave these to me when his family and ours met each other at Goa, where I had gone for a two-and-a-half day vacation.
I visited my mom for the first time after she was struck down with a paralytic stroke in January this year. She is now confined to bed, but is mentally alert and plods on with the help of a 24x7 maid by the name of Tehmina. I found her to be going through a kind of depression as she struggles to understand why she, among all, was afflicted with this life-limiting illness.
Among the other highlights of my brief vacation was my completing the formalities for renewal of my registration with the Maharashtra Medical Council for the next five years; my meeting most of my mom's side relatives at a function organised by my younger brother Murtuza to celebrate his son's misaaq; my visit to Nishrin's sister-in-law Balwinder's home with Inas; our entire family visiting Nishrin's cousin sister Dalvir Kaur's home; our family's outings to see Bahubali 2 (Inas and I went separately, while Nishrin went with Hannah); my gathering of the various foodstuffs I am going to carry back with me to the U.K. (including farsans, chapatis, dry fruit, etc.); our family's visit to a stand-up comedy show (a delight); our eating out at various restaurants, esp the "Lemon Leaf" restaurant behind the Taj at Colaba, and "Oh! Calcutta", where we had dinner on the 14th to celebrate Mother's Day AND Hannah's birthday.
In addition, our family also went for dinner to other friend's places. And, on one happy occasion, I had lunch with a school friend Farhad Khursetjee. This was at Sassanian's - a Parsi Irani cafe located near the Metro Cinema. I must not forget the excellent dinner and experience my wife and I had when we went to attend a wedding reception of the son of Dr Shailesh Joshi - a visit to a hall in Hiranandani Powai property. This was remarkable!
I must say that we spent the best days of my vacation in Goa, where we went on the 2nd of May. We stayed at the Hotel Ibis styles at Calangute. This was a well-appointed resort. You can read my review of this on Tripadvisor HERE. We went to the beach at Calangute to participate in water-sports. Also, on all the two or three days we stayed in Goa, we had traditional Goan seafood on most of the occasions. The hotel's own meals were quite delicious. We also ate at Britto's at Baga beach.
During my stay, there were unhappy events as well. Mrs. Sakina Palitanawala - the lady who minded and loved my girls when they were very young - passed away, as did Mr. Shabbir Disawala, a school friend who died from cancer.
How can I forget my meal with the Kedy doctors - Muhbeen, Arif and Ashfaq. As usual, we met at the Persian Darbar and had a goat raan biryani - this is so huge in size that we are never able to finish it. I took a large portion of the remnant as a parcel for Hannah, who loves it a lot and had asked me to bring some if any was left over.
I returned to Blackpool on the 16th of May in the early part of the afternoon.
I visited my mom for the first time after she was struck down with a paralytic stroke in January this year. She is now confined to bed, but is mentally alert and plods on with the help of a 24x7 maid by the name of Tehmina. I found her to be going through a kind of depression as she struggles to understand why she, among all, was afflicted with this life-limiting illness.
Among the other highlights of my brief vacation was my completing the formalities for renewal of my registration with the Maharashtra Medical Council for the next five years; my meeting most of my mom's side relatives at a function organised by my younger brother Murtuza to celebrate his son's misaaq; my visit to Nishrin's sister-in-law Balwinder's home with Inas; our entire family visiting Nishrin's cousin sister Dalvir Kaur's home; our family's outings to see Bahubali 2 (Inas and I went separately, while Nishrin went with Hannah); my gathering of the various foodstuffs I am going to carry back with me to the U.K. (including farsans, chapatis, dry fruit, etc.); our family's visit to a stand-up comedy show (a delight); our eating out at various restaurants, esp the "Lemon Leaf" restaurant behind the Taj at Colaba, and "Oh! Calcutta", where we had dinner on the 14th to celebrate Mother's Day AND Hannah's birthday.
In addition, our family also went for dinner to other friend's places. And, on one happy occasion, I had lunch with a school friend Farhad Khursetjee. This was at Sassanian's - a Parsi Irani cafe located near the Metro Cinema. I must not forget the excellent dinner and experience my wife and I had when we went to attend a wedding reception of the son of Dr Shailesh Joshi - a visit to a hall in Hiranandani Powai property. This was remarkable!
I must say that we spent the best days of my vacation in Goa, where we went on the 2nd of May. We stayed at the Hotel Ibis styles at Calangute. This was a well-appointed resort. You can read my review of this on Tripadvisor HERE. We went to the beach at Calangute to participate in water-sports. Also, on all the two or three days we stayed in Goa, we had traditional Goan seafood on most of the occasions. The hotel's own meals were quite delicious. We also ate at Britto's at Baga beach.
During my stay, there were unhappy events as well. Mrs. Sakina Palitanawala - the lady who minded and loved my girls when they were very young - passed away, as did Mr. Shabbir Disawala, a school friend who died from cancer.
How can I forget my meal with the Kedy doctors - Muhbeen, Arif and Ashfaq. As usual, we met at the Persian Darbar and had a goat raan biryani - this is so huge in size that we are never able to finish it. I took a large portion of the remnant as a parcel for Hannah, who loves it a lot and had asked me to bring some if any was left over.
I returned to Blackpool on the 16th of May in the early part of the afternoon.
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